Casper imaging new mac pro

[jmercier]

hi

has any one succeeded using new mac pro and casper imaging ?

i am able to net boot them... no problem... but when casper imaging gets to the point of downloading the image DMG on the drive... it just freezes right away and casper imaging closes... and thats it...

all the other 10.9 models, macbook pro, imac etc... works fine...

[pblake]

Have you tried using a new 10.9.2 Base Image from Apple?

[jmercier]

Hi

yes thats what im using...

i restored the mac pro... update everything... captured the image... copied it to casper admin... and thats it... im trying to restore it...

[kraigschroth]

I haven't tried this specific scenario, but the last time I saw this particular symptom during imaging, it was because I forgot to set the diskless boot option:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4316

[jmercier]

hi

maybe i dit not explain properly...

Actually, i am able to net boot... with 10.9.2 net boot and its working fine...

My problem occurs when casper imaging starts automatically to reimage my mac pro... its goes through all the items to be installed really fast and then casper imaging closes by itself and nothing happens...

[kraigschroth]

@jmercier yeah. That would be the point. You can successfully netboot without diskless enabled; however, then the contents of your netboot set are downloaded and cached locally on the internal hard drive. When you start the imaging process (which I assume also includes an erase/format/partition command) you nuke the OS for the current running environment, causing casper to hang and fail to complete. Expected behavior at that point would be to restart and have everything appear to netboot normally, except for when you went to image again, as you then overwrite the local system that you're booted off of, etc.

I assume then that you've checked that and there's something more happening. Have you tried running with Console open during image to see what is happening during the image? Verbose readout of the image process might shed a little more light on the issue at hand.

[bajones]

I had a similar issue using Casper Imaging 9.23 and 9.24. Have you tried using Casper Imaging 9.22 in your netboot image?

[Caitlin_H]

I suggest looking into the diskless issue like @kraigschroth suggested. You can make some alterations to your net boot, found here http://www.macos.utah.edu/documentation/administration/setup_netboot_service_on_mac_os_x_10.6.x_client.x_client/setup_netboot_service_on_mac_os_x_10.6.x_client-diskless_netboot.html, and it will support diskless net boot. Then you will have no issues unmounting during imaging and can strike that off the list of possible issues.

I have found the SSD machines, like the Macbook Pro with Retina displays, to be picky until you hammer out a process.

[Caitlin_H]

I forgot to mention that the above fix still works with 10.9.2. I realized after posting it says 10.6.x but we are still currently utilizing this with our 10.9.2 net boot.

[jmercier]

@bajones, actually the same net boot works with all other machines... new imac, new macbook pro retina etc... since the image of that net boot comes from the same mac pro...

the problem seems to be related only with the new mac pro... which i tried deploying 2-3 different dmg...

For the modification to the net boot... ill try it... but i just can't figure out why the same net boot image works on everything except that mac pro...

[alexjdale]

This sort of thing is why we stopped using Netboot at my company. It was pretty inconsistent (mainly around diskless mode), so we switched to USB boot media only. It's faster and significantly more reliable.

Even if you need to use Netboot for large deployments, I also recommend having a USB boot drive on hand. You have to at least be able to eliminate Netboot as a root cause for imaging issues.

[stevewood]

You say you've tried 2 or 3 different DMGs....how are those DMGs created? What machine were they created on and are they 10.9.2? Are you laying down just apps, or are you trying to lay down a new OS on the MP?

[jmercier]

here's all the details...

netboot : created from the mac pro 10.9.2 : working for all computers

in casper imaging :

imac : DMG created from the last imac : working fine
mbpro retina : DMG created from the last model : working fine
mac pro : DMG created from the new mac pro : NOT working

either with or without any apps.... just the deployment of the OS not working... casper imaging takes 1-2 secondes, rolls over the block copy operation and then casper imaging quits automatically with no error messages.

The DMG are created with casper composer.
the net boot was created with SIU

[stevewood]

Did you compile the configuration in Casper Admin? In the past I've had the same symptoms with configurations that I have compiled. If I left the config un-compiled it was fine and didn't speed through imaging.

And just because I know I overlook stuff all the time, in Casper Admin you do not have the DMG checked as an OS X Installer (general tab) and you have it set to Priority 1, right?

[jmercier]

hi...

my configurations are not compiled...

they were migrated from my old server... and on the same configuration, other computers work... by changing the DMG of course

[lashomb]

I don't use Casper Imaging, I use DeployStudio. But I create my images using AutoDMG. Works for me (on the Mac Pro). Might be worth a shot.

https://github.com/MagerValp/AutoDMG

[bentoms]

If you create a 10.9.2 OS DMG, you shouldn't need to have one per model.

Have you a 10.9.2 OS DMG created via the Mavericks Installer.app?

[marcusransom]

I have imaged several of the new Mac Pros with Casper Imaging so I don't thing there is anything particular about this model that is incompatible. We have experienced all the usual Casper Imaging issues described above but aside from that it has worked. We did a lab of 25 Mac Pros with target imaging and I have reimaged some of our test Mac Pros a whole bunch of times without any problems.

[ctangora]

You are not alone. The new Mac Pro's seem to be having some issues with us as well.

[#20]

A quick test to see if diskless NetBoot is working correctly - before running Casper Imaging, can you dismount the Pro's HD? If so, it is, if it refuses to eject the volume, it isn't.

And a huge +1 to using AutoDMG to build never-booted, up-to-date base OS images w/a Recovery partition. With 10.9.2 currently being universal, you should have zero issues running AutoDMG on machine A to install onto machine B. I've built such images on a Mac mini server, that ended up on new Mac Pro's, no issues (other than the kernelcache >32 MB NetBoot issue w/10.9.x, mentioned here in various threads on JAMFNation).