Need suggestions for end of year workflow

[Caleb_Anderson]

We are a K-12 school with 1:1 MacBook Air 13" from Year 9-12. Last year we used offline imaging via USB with 128gb USBs with Casper imaging and our packages on them. For the most part it worked quite well, but often there would be disparity between which computers would check in to AD or Enrol to the JSS, and which ones wouldn't. We also had problems with the 'Erase hard drive' check box not working, and the image would stop with an error message that the DMG couldn't be copied due to no space on the hard drive. We also had issues with it not booting to the drive after completion.

My Casper Imaging workflow ended up as follows:
- Erase HDD script
- Copy Base OS Dmg
- Set Startup Disk script
- Connect to Open Wi-Fi network
- Bind to AD
- Install Mobile Filter

So, what would be the most efficient way to image 500+ laptops in the shortest time possible?
I'm open to any suggestions, and will be testing methods between now and November.

Thanks!

[PAC]

Any chance of getting hold of a mac server?
A mac mini with a few ethernet adapters?
run netboot over that?

[sdagley]

@kingscollege Thunderbolt imaging is definitely the way to go with MacBook Airs. Use a few of your MacBook Airs in Target Disk Mode as essentially very expensive 128GB Thunderbolt Drives, and imaging from them instead of USB will be much faster. My workflow is similar to yours, although I use DeployStudio instead of Casper Imaging, and it takes approximately 10 minutes to image a machine and complete the AD bind, Jamf enroll, and deployment of initial configuration settings (most of my app installs are Self Service initiated).