Mobile distribution point?

[wubbelsl]

Sorry if something like this has been posted before. I did a couple searches but didn't really see anything. I work for a school district and this summer we are re-imaging all our labs and any classroom computers for upgrade purposes. Our issue is 1) we currently only have one distribution point, and 2) most of the switches these devices connect to aren't gigabit so imaging even just a half dozen computers at a time can take hours, and the more you add, the slower it gets.

My question is, would it be possible to set up a Macbook Pro / iMac / Mac Mini as a distribution point and move this computer around to different rooms (mainly the labs) to possible speed it up slightly as well as relieve some network congestion?

[nextyoyoma]

In casper admin, you can replicate distribution points to local drives. Any external hard drive you connect will show up in the sidebar as an available location to replicate. Also, you can use the root of the drive if you create the following folders and then launch Casper Imaging:

/CasperData
/Compiled Configurations
/Packages
/Scripts

I'm not certain you have to create those folders, it may work without it.

If you don't want to replicate the entire distribution point, you can just open Casper Admin, which will mount the distribution point, then open the distribution point in Finder and copy only the packages and scripts you need. You also need to copy the "Casper Data" folder so that Casper Imaging can see the configuration data (Note: you may have to do a full replication to SOME drive and then take the Casper Data folder out of that. Try the other method first, but if you have trouble, try that. This is helpful if (like us) you have 40GB+ of packages but want to use MBA's for distribution in target mode.

You can also add a network distribution point by going to the JSS web client>settings>servers and adding a distribution point there. You can then replicate through casper admin. If possible, it would be a good idea to do a local copy to that network distribution point, as it will often be faster than replicating across the network.

Hope that is helpful!

[wubbelsl]

I'm aware of the replication with Casper Admin, but I'd only be abe to do one computer at a time with the drive, correct? I was aiming more for another network distribution point that I could have connected to the same switch as the computers I'm imaging, so I could still do the entire lab at once, but without the overall network congestion, and hopefully a little bit faster since its on the same switch instead of in another building with several switches between.

[talkingmoose · Accepted solution]

What you're wanting to do should be very possible.

Distribution points aren't anything special. They're just file servers. Even a Mac workstation can act as a file server. You may have to manually update your JSS distribution points list with the IP address of your Mac but that would be the worst problem. If your DNS cooperates then you won't even need to do that.

Mac OS X 10.6 and earlier use to have a limit of 10 AFP/SMB file server connections as oppose to Mac OS X Server with unlimited connections. I don't know how Lion changed that limit. HTTP, however, doesn't have that limit. You may want to create an HTTP distribution point depending on your needs and available system.

[tlarkin]

Hey Landon,

This is absolutely possible. I used three Mac Minis as our mobile imaging solution last summer to mass image 6,000 Macbook Airs over netboot with the Casper Suite. This is how, and why I did it.

Each imaging station had the following:

1 consumer level router running NAT and DHCP
1 Mac Mini server
1 24 port high speed switch, 100% unmanaged

We set up three of these imaging stations in a library at one of our school buildings, then the 6,000 Macbook airs came directly from China to us on pallets. We broke down the pallets, set up an assembly line of unboxing, slapping on asset tag stickers, imaging them, and boxing them back up for deployment. We were imaging 22 Macbook Airs every 30 minutes or so from each Mac Mini imaging station. So a total of 66 every time we did a full cycle at all three. I had Josh Holland and Mike Meyers (from a neighboring school district not the comedian) come check out our set up.

The reason I used consumer routers is I didn't want to fuss with IP helpers, I didn't want to deal with switch management like: Storm control, packet shaping, QoS, spanning tree, etc. It was much easier to just NAT it, and allow traffic out so the new machines can read auto run and prestaging data.

Each Mac Mini had a share point, and it was defined in the JSS by it's IP address. Then in the router, I set the IP address using static DHCP for each mini. Therefore, it was automated and when netboot occured it mounted the share of the Mini it was netbooted to.

Overall, we were able to mass image 6,000 Macbook Airs in about 4 to 5 weeks. That included the whole process of unboxing them, asset tagging them, boxing them back up and deploying them out to the 5 high school buildings. I would say that is a fairly impressive turn around time.

I hope this makes sense and doesn't seem like I am rambling, as I am overseas right now working and haven't fully adjusted to the time and date changes.

Thanks,
Tom