[FEATURE REQUEST] Migration tool for refreshes

[donmontalvo]

One of the biggest reasons companies buy JAMF Casper Suite is for imaging. A tool that is really needed during workstation refresh is a migration tool. Apple's Migration Assistant falls short...and I think we've all lost hope that Apple will devote any resources to building new enterprise tools. The tool needs to be able to:

1. Migrate user and network settings to an external drive or server volume (from the old computer) 2. Restore user and network settings from an external drive or server volume (to the new computer)

Some current implementations...

Microsoft has their User State Migration Tool (USMT)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_State_Migration_Tool
"Microsoft command line utility program to copy user files and settings from one Microsoft Windows computer to another. It is intended mainly for IT professionals to use in scripted migrations of bigger corporate installations."

Absolute Software has Live Image
http://www.absolute.com/en/products/absolute-manage/features.aspx
"Deploy a disk image while a computer is in use and automatically migrate user folders, network settings and Directory Access settings with no interruption to users."

Filewave
http://www.filewave.com/fileadmin/PDF/Imaging%20Overview%20and%20Quick%20Start.pdf
"User accounts may be preserved in Leopard to Leopard and Tiger to Tiger imaging scenarios; Tiger to Leopard user account migration is not available at this time."...waiting for a call back to see if they support Leopard to Snow Leopard migration.

PS, I BCC'd JAMF Software... :)

Thanks,
Don

[talkingmoose]

A most excellent feature request!
On 1/18/11 11:06 AM, "Don Montalvo" <donmontalvo at gmail.com> wrote:

--

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

[jarednichols]

Don't see why a set of scripts can't accomplish all of this.
-- Jared F. Nichols
Desktop Engineer, Client Services
Information Services Department
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
244 Wood Street
Lexington, Massachusetts 02420
781.981.5436

[talkingmoose]

Exactly how Casper started! ;-)
On 1/18/11 12:07 PM, "Nichols, Jared - 1170 - MITLL" <jared.nichols at ll.mit.edu> wrote:

--

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

[donmontalvo]

Yep, looking for a GUI that a tier1 tech can use to migrate the data. A script with a big, shiny red "Easy" button would be fine. A tool that will enable tier1 techs who have limited knowledge of Mac to image dozens of computers daily (you know, scripts with a GUI). :)

Don

[#6]

Did anyone try the scripts I used before, or were they no longer work, or
not adequate for what was needed?

Sean

[tlarkin]

In Casper there is a constant both during imaging and post imaging, well anytime you launch a casper policy the CasperShare mounts. So, I think I could whip up a script that you can set to run before imaging that will back up user data to the Casper Share, then you just need a post image script to copy it over, you would also probably want to create the accounts though since copying the data over won't create the account. If these are network users you could trigger it as login hooks, and run once per a computer.

If they accounts are local this makes it a bit easier, if they are AD/OD accounts it gets a bit trickier. Even if there were GUI tools provided copying the user's home folder does not create the account in directory services.

Is this something that people would be interested in? Then maybe we can toss it into the resource kit?

thanks,

Tom

[donmontalvo]

Hi Sean,

I'd love to look at the scripts you made. Your earlier post included an attachment that got mangled.

http://list.jamfsoftware.com/pipermail/casper/2011-January/009723.html

Any chance you can post it plain text so we can check 'em out? :)

Thanks,
Don

[#9]

I just sent something like this to Don. Apparently when I posted the scripts I used in the past they got garbled so I sent them again. If anyone else wants to look at them I attached them here.

Sean

[#10]

RE: Local vs. Directory-based accounts

We've been migrating local users accounts into AD-based accounts. So long as the user folder is named to match the AD-based short name and you set the ownership, group, and permissions properly (to match what comes from AD), you don't need the user to already exist (e.g. cached). As soon as the user logs in via AD, they take over that existing home folder. We're not using OD, so I can't speak to that, but I imagine it's similar. If you're maintaining directory-based accounts across the re-imaging, I don't think any modifications would need to be made. You would copy the contents of /Users off and then back on again.

Cheers,
Charlie

-------------------------------------
Charlie Smith
Desktop Engineer
Information Services Department (ISD)
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
244 Wood St. Lexington, MA 02420
Phone: 781.981.0854
E-mail: charlie.smith at ll.mit.edu
-------------------------------------

[jarednichols]

If anyone wants the killer script I crafted to do this, let me know. It probably could use an update for a few glitches we've found, but it would get you started.

j
--
Jared F. Nichols
Desktop Engineer, Client Services
Information Services Department
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
244 Wood Street
Lexington, Massachusetts 02420
781.981.5436

[tlarkin]

Unix doesn't care what the user name is, Unix cares what the UID is of that user. Your home folder is tied to a UID and as long as all of those UIDs match then I suppose you'd be OK. I was unsure if everything already existed if the directory services database would like that, on a freshly imaged machine.

However, if it works, it works then there is no need to fuss about it.

-Tom