Casper Imaging ver 9.6x and Yosemite

[easyedc]

Is anyone else having this issue? I have been testing using Casper Imaging to install OS X Yosemite in our test environment. It works without much issue if the host is already OS X 10.10, but seems to fail if it's 10.9? Not sure if it's something in our environment (we have LOTS of security tools in place) or if it's the actual Casper Imaging app not working.

[davidacland]

I haven't had any issues going from 10.9 to 10.10 with Casper imaging. I've been using a package installer made with createOSXinstallPkg. How are you creating the installer?

[RobertHammen · Accepted solution]

The only version of Casper Imaging that can image 10.10.2 correctly is 9.65. Make sure you start there. You can use 9.65 with previous versions of the Suite - I have some clients still on 9.63. The jamf binary will be downgraded after enrollment.

Having said that, I pretty much always image from a like NetBoot set. Image Mavericks from a 10.9.5 NetBoot and image Yosemite from a 10.10.2 NetBoot.

[easyedc]

That is most likely my issue. I upgraded my test environment to 9.65 since I can do that without oversight and it works in test. My production environment requires more controls/check-offs to upgrade and it's still running 9.63, and so we provide the 9.63 tools (Casper imaging in this case) to our Techs.

[RobertHammen]

9.63 and 9.64 Casper Imaging have some nasty bugs - besides the bad version detection that sees 10.10.2 as 10.2, they also have incorrect/beta versions of the jamf binary embedded in them. I had zero success with 9.63 and imaging (never got all the config profiles post-enrollment) and 9.64 had some major massive issues and was recalled. So, strongly suggest you try Casper Imaging 9.65 with JSS 9.63.

[dferrara]

Are people having success with JSS 9.65? The critical bugs in 9.64 spooked us into staying put with 9.63. This is the first I've heard of 9.63 having serious issues with 10.10.2.

[easyedc]

I actually had more success with my workflow on 9.65 than I did on 9.63. I also may be working outside of JAMF's recommended workflow and trying to work my way back into that. That could also be playing a part.

[jhalvorson]

Had some issues with 9.63 and was eager for the next version. Elected to skipped 9.64 based on posts by others. I'll 2nd @easyedc remark that 9.65 has been working well since we updated 3 weeks ago.

[dferrara]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[rcorbin]

We have just started to experiment with Yosemite imaging. We are running 9.63. We noticed the imaged machines were not booting properly. My first thought was that maybe its an issue with our OS Package (10.10.3). Then I read this. I'm thinking of trying it again with a 9.65 imaging app. @RobertHammen I take it that this goes for 10.10.3 as well ? The other option is to also upgrade to 9.65 or 9.7. 9.63 has been pretty good so I was waiting for the 9.7 thing to settle in before upgrading. Sounds like 9.65 is going well for @easyedc and @jhalvorson. Any advice on 9.7 ? Right now my netboot images are also 10.9.5 so I'm thinking of building a 10.10.3 netboot as well to go with this.

[RobertHammen]

@rcorbin, I have clients that stayed with 9.63 (due to the recalled 9.64, the DP issues in 9.65, and the http distribution points/possible Casper Imaging bugs in 9.7) but just used the 9.65 imaging app. Worked well, even with 10.10.3.

And yes, no surprise that Casper Imaging 9.63 or earlier can't lay down a 10.10.2 OR 10.10.3 OS properly. The OS version detection code is broken and sees 10.10.2 as 10.2 and does a file-by-file copy that doesn't include Recovery and doesn't boot. Presuming 9.63 and older versions of Casper Imaging have a similar issue with seeing 10.10.3 as 10.3.

Why this isn't a sticky (does JAMF Nation even have that ability), I do not understand.

[dferrara]

@rcorbin Are you using AutoDMG and/or AutoCasperNBI to create your base image? We jumped from 9.63 to 9.65. I'm reluctant to jump to 9.7 unless it fixes more bugs with imaging. I created a 10.10.3 NetBoot set this way and it's very unstable. If I try to apply the 10.10.3 image that AutoDMG created, it errors out and never gets past the erase disk stage.

[easyedc]

I moved my test server to 9.7 when it came out and haven't had the imaging problems that I had with 9.63. Seems to be on par with 9.65 for me. Scheduled a change to 9.7 upcoming for my production environment. Looking to also leverage the changes on policies (where you can see whats pushed/failed/pending from the console).

[RobertHammen]

@dferrara Not having that same experience with multiple clients, 9.65, and AutoDMG-created 10.10.3 OS images. Images fine, has recovery partition...

[dferrara]

@RobertHammen Thanks. Are you using the same AutoDMG-created 10.10.3 image to create the NetBoot set? I'm doing something wrong, I just know it...

[easyedc]

Ah, I stuck to 10.10.2 for us. We were just getting YOSX set up in our world and 10.10.2 was what we tested and certified fur use.

[jhalvorson]

I used AutoDMG version 1.5.3 to create a 10.10.3 base OS. Then used Casper Admin 9.65 to up load the dmg to our 9.65 environment.

For netboot, I used the System Imaging Utility included with Server 4.1 to create a 10.10.3 Netboot with Casper Imaging 9.65.

It is placing the OS and recovery partition as expected.

[RobertHammen]

@dferrara Yes. Used AutoDMG to build the up-to-date never-booted base 10.10.3, then fed that DMG into my AutoCasperNBI workflow (using the beta 1.17 version). Worked fine for both uses.

[dferrara]

@RobertHammen Thanks, that helped me narrow it down! If folks run into this, you have to turn on the modified rc.netboot option when building from AutoCasperNBI.