Distribution point - Windows & ExtremeZ-IP...any issues? (was Re: Casper Newbie)

[donmontalvo]

I hope I'm not kidding this thread off course, but just curious...is anyone here having any issues using ExtremeZ-IP for AFP service on a Windows server (distribution point)?

We're trying to limit our Apple Xserve deployment to the absolute lowest requirement - for SUS and NetBoot/NetInstall. We've had great success in moving AFP shares from Apple to Windows running ExtremeZ-IP. It cuts costs down substantially, makes it easier to manage as well.

Does anyone know of any problems creating a distribution point on Windows via AFP (ExtremeZ-IP)?

Thanks,
Don

[talkingmoose]

We use ExtremeZ-IP on a little more than half a dozen Windows servers to
On 5/5/10 1:05 PM, "Don Montalvo" <donmontalvo at gmail.com> wrote:
avoid putting in and maintaining new/different hardware. It works great for
us. No issues to report.

--

William Smith
Technical Analyst
Merrill Communications LLC
(651) 632-1492

[Kedgar]

You may have to do some manual syncronization or dfs or something. I
believe the mac dist points use rsync, windows does not do rsync by
default.

Sent from Ken's iPhone

[donmontalvo]

Thanks Ken and William,

That's kind of the feedback we're looking for. If we use Wintel boxes for JSS distribution points, how reliable is the sync method? Is DFS the preferred sync method?

Thanks,
Don

[talkingmoose]

We don't sync because we don't need all of our packages on all servers. I
On 5/5/10 4:50 PM, "Don Montalvo" <donmontalvo at gmail.com> wrote:
copy what I need to copy manually. Still waiting for that feature request
where we can selectively sync packages to distribution points.

With that said, disk images (.dmg) can be transferred by most any protocol
without worry of corrupting them. Apple Installer package files (.pkg), I
believe, are safe to copy as well, although they can take longer to copy.

--

William Smith
Technical Analyst
Merrill Communications LLC
(651) 632-1492

[John_Wetter]

We have a share on a Windows server from time to time using ExtremeZ-IP. Works great. You just have to manually sync the server, we sync mac servers automatically every night at 2am.

You could share it via SMB as well. Some SAN's now support you doing a direct share from the SAN, cut out the server all together.

John