Current state of block copy from JDS using Casper Imaging/NetBoot?

We tried it with 15GB. I can try goring it to 20 or 25. I will try that and report back. Replication between our JDSes is working correctly so I believe everything is set up correctly.

Latest Update:

Some of my JDSes work and some do not. I expanded the image to 20GB and tried it on our Root JDS. It worked. I was feeling pretty good, but we have 22 JDSes so I thought I would try it on another one. It did not work. I compared the two JDSes and they appeared the same. However when I put their HTTPS address in a web browser, one came up with JSS Built-In CA and the other came up with the server self-signed certificate.

Also, on the one that worked thee are two entries under Websites in the server.app for SSL. The one that didn't only had one SSL entry. I looked at my servers and found that only a few were coming up with the JSS Built-In CA. I remembered that the ones that were working, I went through the "Uninstalling a JDS Instance" document but did not take it out of the JSS. I then ran the JDS Installer. Those servers have two SSL entries under websites and when I click on the lock in the web address, they are reporting they have the JSS Built-In CA.

I am trying it out on a few more servers. It seems to be working. The only problem with this is that it has to pull down all the packages again. I can live with that if the JDSes work. Not an optimal solution but it seems to working for me.

@bstrube

At least we've got some progress on it! I'll update the case you've got open with this post so the Support Specialist you're working with is in the loop.

Thanks for your patience!

Amanda Wulff
JAMF Software Support

@stevehahn @bentoms @bstrube @cstout @Roskos

I think I pinged everyone in this thread, apologies if I missed anyone.

At any rate, I figured I’d give you guys an update.

There was an older defect that was closed out with the conclusion of increasing the NetBoot image size with “sudo hdiutil resize -size 15g /path/to/image/file” (or 20g, or 25g if 15g doesn’t work; 15g is just an example size); that defect ID was D-005796, just for reference.

Development has been convinced now that this is, in fact, defect behavior; they opened up a defect for it yesterday evening. D-007061 is the new defect ID, for reference, and it’s essentially all of what we’ve been discussing here, but the stripped down version is: “Netboot/Netinstall doesn’t work if the Master Distribution Point is a JDS.”

The workarounds remain the same as the older defect:

1) We can try resizing the NetBoot image with hidutil until we hit a size that lets it work. When I did testing with it a couple of months back, I had to take mine to 25g before it would work, so if 15 or 20 doesn’t do it for you, give 25 a shot.

2) We can use AFP/SMB file shares for the primary distribution point for imaging. If we don't have an AFP/SMB share already set up, we'll need to create one.

If you do have further questions/concerns on this, I’d recommend contacting your Technical Account Manager so we can get things documented and taken care of.
If you’d like to reference the defect behavior, please use the new defect ID of D-007061.
If you’ve already got a case going, it may be a good idea to reference D-007061 with them so they can get your case attached to the defect for tracking purposes.

TL;DR: You’re not doing it wrong, and you’re not losing your mind; it’s on our end, the JDS really just isn’t working quite right with NetBoot and Netinstall right now.

Apologies for that, we do know this is a pretty big, pretty inconvenient one, especially for environments that use primarily or exclusively JDSes as their distribution points.

Thanks for your patience while we get that ironed out!

Amanda Wulff
JAMF Software Support

Glad to hear the bug is re-opened and hopefully a fix will be forthcoming soon. Unfortunately resizing our NBI up to 25GB did not help.

@stevehahn @bentoms @bstrube @cstout @Roskos

Just to give you all a quick update for workaround options, if your JDS is currently on a Mac, the following KB & included Python script may be helpful in getting it up and running like we'd expect.

Since the article succinctly explains what the script does, I'll just paste it in here as I can't think of a clearer way to reword it: "The python script will create an AFP share, a distribution point in the JSS, and a package monitor that will create links in the AFP share for any package replicated to the JDS instance."

Right now, it's an OS X only solution, and we'll hopefully see one for Linux JDSes soon (unfortunately, I don't have a time table on that, though).

Thanks!

Amanda Wulff
JAMF Software Support

@amanda.wulff, any updates on this?

@amanda.wulff can we get an update?

@jonny74bit @stevehahn

I had a quick chat with the QA engineer assigned to this particular issue, and it is being actively worked on and tested.

I don’t have any concrete release versions or dates to pass along, but I do know this is one of our higher priority issues to get fixed as we know it impacts a pretty big group of customers, so it’s certainly up there on the list to be ticked off and wrapped up soon.

Amanda Wulff
JAMF Software Support

Syncing to File Share Distribution Points is a manual process that can only occur when using Casper Admin on the Mac. This needs ot be fixed.

@amanda.wulff, can you find out the location that the JDS downloads files too before then installing on the target Mac when imaging?

I'm very interested to see how this develops. I came along the block copy /JDS issue last year after being sold the JDS concept with much enthusiasm at a JumpStart. Lost a lot of time and patience in the process. Will be sticking to smb shares until I hear some good news!

same here!!!! I have JDS setup and we don't even use it

I would expect, after at least 16 months since I reported it, that JAMF is not able to do anything constructive on the issue. This issue alone has been enough that I have recommended not renewing Casper to put a dollar amount on the problem. I've been a long time fan of JAMF but that was before v.9 (which on the surface, would have fixed all my woes here at OSU). I seriously would love to work for JAMF just to fix this issue, along with the limits on Sites administration/use, to restore the success they had with v.8 (and v.7). I love the company. I have met some great people there and I have a passion to help make them better. But this is one of those things that gives me poor spirits (or the motivation to apply).

So perhaps a feature request is in order? I searched for a feature request on this and didn't find one but I admit, it was only a half-arsed look. Maybe JAMF needs to see a vote tally to make progress on this matter.

The worst part for me is, with this being such a pain and the limits my overlords have placed on us, I have had to research the open-source solutions and that means my supervisors know I could easily transition us out of the JAMF's sphere of influence and save us much dinero. That would be a pity as I do believe Casper is best-of-breed and, again, I have had a great history with their product/company, but its been over 16 months and two of my major complaints have gone unanswered. That is a ¼ of the time I've been running their product here at OSU and makes it nearly impossible to be the Casper Suite product-evangelist I used to be.

I hope the community or someone like @amanda.wulff can push up the importance of this issue and either just do away with JDS in it's current guise, or make their products work as advertised. Fingers crossed.

Hey all,

At the moment, we’ve got a couple of KBs that should help get the JDS (Linux or Mac) working for Netboot.

For RHEL/Ubuntu JDSes: Adding an AFP Share to a JDS Instance Installed on Linux

For Mac JDSes: Imaging using NetBoot and a JDS Instance

It looks like D-005796, which is mentioned earlier in this thread, is at a reopened status right now, which means our development team is taking another look at it to see what more can be done.

In the mean time, if you haven’t tried the steps listed in one of the two KBs linked above, that would be the next thing to try.

As always, please reach out to your Technical Account Manager if you’d like to get a case going, would prefer to have some additional assistance in going through the steps in the KB articles, or have additional questions that might need more in depth troubleshooting, and feel free to comment here as well.

Thanks!
Amanda Wulff
JAMF Software Support