Thoughts on PreStage Imaging

[dstranathan]

New to JAMF. Havent done PreStage imaging in production yet.

Im considering using PreStage imaging for a speficic type of workflow. I am hoping to get some feedback on my thoughts below

Back-story: Every fall, IT does a Mac/PC refresh. Most of the systems that get refreshed are also wiped and resold "as is" with a OEM image. Im considering levering PreStage imaging to automate this.

Mac gets pulled from the end-user and replaced with a new shiny Mac. The old Macs are in my Smart Group/PreStage groups and are standing by.

Eventually, all the refreshed Macs physically end up in an IT in a staging room. Asset tags removed, screens cleaned up, etc by Desktop Techs.

Desktop Techs take all the refreshed Macs and Netboot them into Casper Imaging, where my PreStage kicks off and...

-Erases the drives
-Names the computers with a prefix
-Possibly runs a script or two
-Enable the Setup Assistant
-Shuts down

Then IT offers them to employees.. "Have a nice day with your new (four-year old) computer."

Im confused if I should use AutRun or not. Not shure how all that works yet...

[mpermann]

@dstranathan if you go that route you will end up with the management framework on the device you are getting rid of which you might not want. Either that or you'll have to script removal of the management framework before the system is shut down. You may want to use Deploy Studio, Imagr, Disk Utility or the command line asr utility so you don't end up with the JAMF management framework on the system your trying to get rid of. Personally I would probably use asr.

[mikeh]

If these machines are only being offered to employees for their own use, I wonder if you couldn't just use Internet Recovery on the machines to reinstall the OS to the factory-fresh install (minus things like iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, etc.). I think four year old machines should support that.

[mm2270]

As @mpermann said, for a base OS "no management" style refresh it would be better to look at other tools rather than use Casper Imaging. Its not CI's fault of course. Its specifically designed to image Macs and get them into the JSS, so naturally that's what it does.

Also, I'm not sure if you're aware, but Pre-Stage imaging is intended for Macs not already in the JSS. IOW, its not intended for re-images. The only way you could use it for the above scenario would be to ather all the serial numbers of these Macs into a list, delete all the computer records out of your JSS beforehand, go back to your Pre-Stage workflow and copy/paste in all the serial numbers (or use a special Network segment if they are all ine one location) and then booting them into the Pre-Stage imaging workflow. Otherwise Pre-Stage will ignore them since it will see them as already managed systems.

[stevewood]

I utilize an external drive for machines going back to the leasing company or being sold to employees. Boot off the external drive, use diskutil to partition the drive, then use asr to push an image onto the drive. Takes all of about 5 minutes, if that, to complete.

[scottb]

What @stevewood said. Fresh image - create them with AutoDMG. Takes a couple mins from an external source.

[fritz_schlapbac]

We are using a NetBoot image with imagr (created with https://github.com/NBICreator/NBICreator).

Imagr installs a default OS X image created with AutoDMG. It also installs a .pkg that removes the firmwarepassword if the default one is set.

[dstranathan]

Thanks for the inforamtion, much appreciated as always!

I didnt realize that PreStages were for new systems only (Edit - perhaps my JumpStart dude did tell me, but I probably forgot).

I think that Casper Imaging will be fine for me in terms of slapping down an OEM image for resale. I have a script that removes the JAMF framework, ensure that Apple Setup Assistant runs, etc.

Typically, I only have between 25-50 Macs that get refreshed in any gievn year, so they are fairly easy to manage (unlike a massive school district, etc).