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NetSUS vs. Netboot

P
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Should have labeled this "NetSUS vs. Netboot on Mac Server" but you get the idea.
We've been using Netboot for a while now, and as we roll out Casper to our regions the questions has been asked again about hosting NetSUS on Linux, specifically the Netbooting abilities. We already have a couple of Linux instances of NetSUS that we use for Reposado updates, but have never used the Netboot side of things, because I have always heard that it is problematic, funky, requires hand-holding, etc.

Has this changed? Is using the NetSUS for netboot climbing down a rabbit hole? How is the support on the Netbooting end of things for the NetSUS?

Our other option is to ship Mac Minis, but that runs contrary to the business's attempt to virtualize it all...

Thanks for any input.

    RobertHammen
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    • RobertHammen
    • Esteemed Contributor
    • November 17, 2015

    I've not had good success with the NetSUS and JAMF hasn't done anything with it for a long time. Might want to take a look at BSDPy.

    BSDPy

    M
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    • mattware
    • Contributor
    • November 17, 2015

    @RobertHammen The NetSUS was just updated not that long ago, did you not realize?

    I mostly use it for the updates portion, but I have tried the netboot function and it does work as expected for me. It can only have one active image at a time but that's not a deal breaker for me.

    B
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    • bmarks
    • Contributor
    • November 17, 2015

    I manage 37 remote imaging labs, and I have been slowly replacing Mac minis with the NetSUS appliance in our offices that have deployed an ESX environment. I strongly recommend it, but with the caveat that it officially only supports one NetBoot image at a time. With that said, I have never had any downtime over the past 18 months with the NetSUS appliance.

    If you do go this route, be sure to utilize the NetSUS appliance in conjunction with the AutoCasperNBI app, which makes creating NetBoot images to be used with Casper incredibly easy and automated. It has a checkbox for making sure your naming convention works with the NetSUS appliance (no spaces, etc.)

    C
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    • calumhunter
    • New Contributor
    • November 17, 2015

    If you are deploying multiple NetBoot servers to remote locations.
    There is absolutely only one solid solution that fits the bill
    BSDPy

    NetSUS is clunky and flakey. Requires configuration on each server that is not easily automated or scripted.

    BSDPy can be deployed to a linux host using Docker extremely easily. I run over 2000 netboot servers, each one is at a different site. BSDPy is deployed as a Docker container, all managed with Puppet.

    Less than 5 minutes to bring a NetBoot server online at a remote site.

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    • Philsto
    • Contributor
    • November 19, 2015

    Thanks for all the feedback, appreciated. I will look into BSDPy.

    P
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    • Philsto
    • Contributor
    • November 19, 2015

    @calumhunter Looking for a list of of BSDPy requirements and not seeing much. Would you mind sharing the optimal VM settings from your experience?

    We're looking at testing with CentOS.

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