Imaging Process Confusion

[tech1man]

I’m trying to image some iMacs that have been used previously that are not managed. My goal is to wipe these devices, install El Capitan, enroll these devices in JSS, push a Configuration Profile, and push VMware Horizon View and Microsoft Endpoint Protection to the devices. The issue I have is that I don’t fully understand the imaging process. I have created .nbi with AutoDMG of El Capitan 10.11.2, uploaded it to Casper Admin, and created a configuration, once this is done what is the next step? I use Casper Imaging, how do I get it on the client? Previously I was trying to use NetInstall but my test Mac was not communicating with the server, I saw no mention of the device in the log files.

**My understanding with imaging Windows devices:
To create image
-with an exact copy of a machine with setting.
or
-installing the OS then apply setting with group policies.
both of these would reside on a image server.

For the machine to acquire the image
-PXE boot to the image server over the network.**

I know it’s a little different with Apple, but I cannot connect the dots. I have read many articles but they are not helping my understanding, just making me more confused! Can someone please help me?

[mpermann]

@tech1man there are several ways you could approach this. You could use NetBoot to boot the machine. You would have to build a NetBoot set (AutoCasperNBI is your friend here) and have a NetBoot server (you can use Apple's or a third party solution) to serve it up. You could use Target Mode imaging and start the machine you want to image in target disk mode and use another computer to run Casper Imaging from. You could also create an external bootable USB drive that has Casper Imaging on it that you can boot the machine you want to image. What do you have available to you to accomplish the task of imaging? That may determine which of these options is best for you.

[bentoms]

@tech1man further to the above, maybe this helps?

[tech1man]

@mpermann I used AutoCasperNBI to create a image and put it in the folder for the NetInstall service to work. I have server running on a Mac Mini that also has Casper Suite, including Casper Imaging. Eventually the Mac I want to image will be on a different vlan so the NetBoot Server would work great if I could get it to work. My clients just spin then boot into the OS. When I look at the log files on the server I never see the client attempting to communicate with the server. I used the csrutil command on the client to trust the server. @bentoms That does help, and I want to say you do a great job and I just found your site but I am using it more, it's very beneficial, especially for a non-Apple person like me.

I'm going to go over everything from scratch and follow the process.

[mpermann]

@tech1man if you want to use NetBoot and boot across VLANs then you will likely need to have IP helpers setup on your networking gear to facilitate this. You may have some additional work you need to do to verify that your NetBoot server is working properly. In the mean time, you could use AutoCasperNBI to create a restorable DMG that you could restore to an external USB drive to create a local bootable volume to a least try out Casper Imaging.

[bentoms]

IPHelpers are really the way to go.