Using Casper Imaging to upgrade from 10.5.x to 10.6.3

[#1]

Hey

I plan on upgrading about 200 managed clients to 10.6.3 from 10.5.x in the next upcoming weeks and I am trying to decide which is better and efficient . Apples Net Install vs Casper Imaging. In my test environment, Apple's Net Install has worked with no problems while Casper Imaging hasn't had the same track record. With Apple's tools, unfortunately, setting up multiple distribution points arent as easy as with the JSS, so I'm really voting for Casper.

Problems I've noticed while and post installation of 10.6.3 with Casper Imaging. No Status during installation, flashing folder with question mark upon start up, basic applications freezing when successful. I'm testing both Apple's Net Install and Casper Imaging on a MacBook (13-inch, Early 2008) with clean installs of 10.5.8 with Casper Suite 7.21. Any suggestions ?

~Joseph

[#2]

Joseph,

In my experience, if you are doing a complete version upgrade it would be
best practice to first erase the hard drive and then deploy the 10.6 image.

While you can do an upgrade via DVD install, it does not apply the same
during the imaging process. All Casper is doing is laying down the OS files
containing the OS. It will not convert, or upgrade files during the process,
which is most likely why you are seeing the '?' on boot.. Odds are some
system files are missing, or permissions are not correct that are needed to
boot.

If you are using Casper Imaging v7.x, it will display the progress during
the imaging process.. Both with a list on the left hand side as well as a
progress bar in the main window.

Hope that helps!

-- Jason Weber
Certified Casper Administrator
Technology Support Cluster Specialist
Independent School District 196
jason.weber at district196.org

[#3]

...As a follow up, I noticed a flaw in my previous response (actually it was
pointed out by a lurker) ;)

Since I normally don't install via creating a DMG copy of the OS X Installer
and then dragging it to Casper Admin; I wasn't aware that you can in fact
run the 'upgrade' process within it's setup options.

But while this does work, I still would recommend doing a fresh install if
you plan on going from 10.5 to 10.6. This was a major version upgrade, so
I'm not sure just how cleanly that will run. I'm still a bit old fashioned
that way, where I prefer a fresh OS over an upgrade!

-Jason

[#4]

Ahh Makes Sense.

Only reason I was Im trying to avoid wiping the machines because the OS and data are both on the same partition.
So the workflow would be , Back Up User Data > Wipe Partition > Fresh 10.6.3 Image > Copy Back User Data.
While a straight upgrade would be Backup user Data > Upgrade and if the upgrade goes wrong, Reinstall > Copy back user data.
Just looking for the best method to chop time efficiently but not necessarily cut corners so I may go with your suggestions and use this to repartition the macs. OS/User Data.

So there is no way to straight upgrade to SL With the Casper Suite?

[tlarkin]

If you have network storage space you could technically automate the process by backing up with a script first. However, I can see this messing up your work flow as every user will have a different amount of data to back up. Can you do home folder syncing? Then after it syncs run the imaging process?

[donmontalvo]

Hence my diatribe some months ago regarding user state migration. Turns out if you add a Restore partition to your Mac, you can script migration of user data off the boot drive, onto other media. Then wipe/ build, and script the data back. I'm sure there'll be some clean up involved (like permissions change depending on the OS you're migrating from/to). Some folks responded about risk of data loss (or success rate). I don't have an answer to that, since I haven't started looking into doing this. Seems like having partitions for OS and User Data might be the ticket, but it's a management nightmare (cost, deployment of such a setup, etc.). Personally, I like to have a stack of drives already imaged...then it's just a matter of inserting the drive and ditto'ing the /Users directory over (and cleaning up of course). :)

Don

[donmontalvo]

...I forgot to mention, we do this in production environments. Typically if a user lacks a scratch disk, we wipe the old disk and name it SCRATCH for the user to assign to Photoshop. It's an old drive, not worth risking putting production data on. No reason why it can't be repurposed. Plus, if you're rebuilding a computer, chances are a new drive will be a lot less risky than re-imaging a drive that's N years old already.

Don

[talkingmoose]

Hi Joseph!
On 5/17/10 3:44 PM, "HUGE | Joseph Simon" <jsimon at hugeinc.com> wrote:

If you use the DVD .dmg in Casper and do NOT enable the Erase option during
imaging then this may very well upgrade your systems. I haven't tried this.

I'm like Jason. I prefer a clean OS install vs. an upgrade. This is the one
time you have to put a user's system into a known good state. You won't be
second-guessing when troubleshooting later.

You could use this as an opportunity to create a "Users" partition in
addition to your primary "Macintosh HD" and "Restore" partitions. Put all
the data there and you'll be able to completely re-image the system drive
without touching user data. Creating extra partitions is a feature in Casper
7.0.

--

William Smith
Technical Analyst
Merrill Communications LLC
(651) 632-1492

[stevewood]

I don't see how partitioning the drive out is a management nightmare.
On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 4:59 PM, Don Montalvo <donmontalvo at gmail.com> wrote: Especially not with what you've listed being the drivers: cost,
deployment, etc. Seems like your method of using ditto, or rsync for that
matter, is just as much work.

I split my drives on all new installs now. It's a simple pre-image script
(thanks Thomas) that partitions the drive into a Macintosh HD and Users
partition using size percentages to determine how much to give to each. Since most machines now-a-days are coming with drives larger than 360GB,
even splitting the drive in half should be plenty of space. And yes, Casper
has the ability to make the partitions as part of the

--missing content--

partition. But once you've done that the first time, unless the hard drive
completely dies, you can nuke and pave the OS to your hearts content.

How does this cause higher cost?

As for the original intent of this question, the way I would handle this
would probably be the following:

1. Create a BASH script, or some other, to re-partition the hard drive, splitting it into two equal partitions.
2. In same script, use rsync to move all user data over to the new second partition:

rsync -aEv /Users/* /Volumes/Users/

1. Verify the user data copies over: i.e. no errors from rsync.

2. Boot system off a NetBoot image and let Casper Imaging re-image the
   Macintosh HD partition. Autorun data having been created in the JSS, of
   course.

3. After the system is up, log in as the user then log out. Log in as an
   admin and go into System Prefs and point their user to the correct home
   folder on /Volumes/Users.

4. Open Terminal and verify the permissions are correct on the
   /Volumes/Users home folder. If they are not, re-push wtih:

chmod -R user:staff /Volumes/Users/user

1. Log out and let the user have the machine.

Seems like a lot of steps, but it really isn't. The one caveat to this is
to TEST THE HECK OUT OF IT!!!!

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

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Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<br><br><div class"gmail_quote">On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 4:59 PM, Don Mon
talvo <span dir"ltr">&lt;<a href"mailto:donmontalvo at gmail.com">donmon
talvo at gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class"gmail_quote" style"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
since I haven&#39;t started looking into doing this. Seems like having part
itions for OS and User Data might be the ticket, but it&#39;s a management nightmare (cost, deployment of such a setup, etc.). Personally, I like to h
ave a stack of drives already imaged...then it&#39;s just a matter of inser
ting the drive and ditto&#39;ing the /Users directory over (and cleaning up of course). :)<br>
<font color"#888888">
<br>
Don</font><div class"im"><br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I do
n&#39;t see how partitioning the drive out is a management nightmare. =A0Es
pecially not with what you&#39;ve listed being the drivers: =A0cost, deploy
ment, etc. =A0Seems like your method of using ditto, or rsync for that matt
er, is just as much work.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I split my drives on all new installs now. =A0It&#39;s a simple pre-image script (thanks Thomas) that partitions the drive into a Macintosh HD and Users partition using size percentages to determine how mu
ch to give to each. =A0Since most machines now-a-days are coming with drive
s larger than 360GB, even splitting the drive in half should be plenty of s
pace. =A0And yes, Casper has the ability to make the partitions as part of the=A0</div>
<div><br></div><div>From there it&#39;s just a matter of moving the user&#3
9;s data over to the Users partition. =A0But once you&#39;ve done that the first time, unless the hard drive completely dies, you can nuke and pave th
e OS to your hearts content.</div>
<div><br></div><div>How does this cause higher cost?</div><div><br></div><d
iv>As for the original intent of this question, the way I would handle this would probably be the following:</div><div><br></div><div>1. =A0Create a B
ASH script, or some other, to re-partition the hard drive, splitting it int
o two equal partitions.</div>
<div>2. =A0In same script, use rsync to move all user data over to the new second partition:</div><div><br></div><div>rsync -aEv /Users/* /Volumes/Use
rs/</div><div><br></div><div>3. =A0Verify the user data copies over: =A0i.e
. no errors from rsync.</div>
<div><br></div><div>4. =A0Boot system off a NetBoot image and let Casper Im
aging re-image the Macintosh HD partition. =A0Autorun data having been crea
ted in the JSS, of course.</div><div><br></div><div>5. =A0After the system is up, log in as the user then log out. =A0 =A0Log in as an admin and go in
to System Prefs and point their user to the correct home folder on /Volumes
/Users.</div>
<div><br></div><div>6. =A0Open Terminal and verify the permissions are corr
ect on the /Volumes/Users home folder. =A0If they are not, re-push wtih:</d
iv><div><br></div><div>chmod -R user:staff /Volumes/Users/user</div><div><b
r>
</div><div>7. =A0Log out and let the user have the machine.</div><div><br><
/div><div><br></div><div>Seems like a lot of steps, but it really isn&#39;t
. =A0The one caveat to this is to TEST THE HECK OUT OF IT!!!!</div><div><br
</div><br clear"all"><br>Steve Wood<br>Director of IT<br><a href"mail
to:swood at integer.com">swood at integer.com</a>=A0<br><br>The Integer Group | 1
999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201=A0<br>T 214.758.6813 | F 214.7
58.6901 | C 940.312.2475=A0<br>
<div>=A0</div></div>

--0016e64a9a88fc7db90486d18067--

[donmontalvo]

Hmmm...scenario 3 might work for one of our large multimedia customers. Just thinking out loud, since I'm not yet ready to do any kind of proof-of-concept testing yet. Assuming we follow our usual routine of delivering a pre-imaged drive to the user, if we partition the new drive so it has (1) Macintosh HD and (2) Restore partitions, we should be able to remove everything off the old drive except for the /Users directory (then I guess follow the necessary steps to mount /Users in the old drive).

Don

[#11]

Well at the current moment, it seems like my team and I will be touching every mac unfortunately. So this might be the best time to Partition the drives.

I Like the idea of using the script to re-partition.

Steve would you be able to point me in the direction of said script or email it to me directly, so I can tweak it ?

--missing content--

artition. But once you've done that the first time, unless the hard drive completely dies, you can nuke and pave the OS to your hearts content.

How does this cause higher cost?

As for the original intent of this question, the way I would handle this wo
uld probably be the following:

1. Create a BASH script, or some other, to re-partition the hard drive, sp litting it into two equal partitions.
2. In same script, use rsync to move all user data over to the new second partition:

rsync -aEv /Users/* /Volumes/Users/

1. Verify the user data copies over: i.e. no errors from rsync.

2. Boot system off a NetBoot image and let Casper Imaging re-image the Mac
   intosh HD partition. Autorun data having been created in the JSS, of cours
   e.

3. After the system is up, log in as the user then log out. Log in as a
   n admin and go into System Prefs and point their user to the correct home f
   older on /Volumes/Users.

4. Open Terminal and verify the permissions are correct on the /Volumes/Us
   ers home folder. If they are not, re-push wtih:

chmod -R user:staff /Volumes/Users/user

1. Log out and let the user have the machine.

Seems like a lot of steps, but it really isn't. The one caveat to this is to TEST THE HECK OUT OF IT!!!!

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

--000_C818269B151D1jsimonhugeinccom
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--missing content--

artition. =A0But once you've done that the first time, unless the hard driv
e completely dies, you can nuke and pave the OS to your hearts content.<BR>
<BR>
How does this cause higher cost?<BR>
<BR>
As for the original intent of this question, the way I would handle this wo
uld probably be the following:<BR>
<BR>
1. =A0Create a BASH script, or some other, to re-partition the hard drive, splitting it into two equal partitions.<BR>
2. =A0In same script, use rsync to move all user data over to the new secon
d partition:<BR>
<BR>
rsync -aEv /Users/* /Volumes/Users/<BR>
<BR>
3. =A0Verify the user data copies over: =A0i.e. no errors from rsync.<BR>
<BR>
4. =A0Boot system off a NetBoot image and let Casper Imaging re-image the M
acintosh HD partition. =A0Autorun data having been created in the JSS, of c
ourse.<BR>
<BR>
5. =A0After the system is up, log in as the user then log out. =A0 =A0Log i
n as an admin and go into System Prefs and point their user to the correct home folder on /Volumes/Users.<BR>
<BR>
6. =A0Open Terminal and verify the permissions are correct on the /Volumes/
Users home folder. =A0If they are not, re-push wtih:<BR>
<BR>
chmod -R user:staff /Volumes/Users/user<BR>
<BR>
7. =A0Log out and let the user have the machine.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Seems like a lot of steps, but it really isn't. =A0The one caveat to this i
s to TEST THE HECK OUT OF IT!!!!<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Steve Wood<BR>
Director of IT<BR>
<a href"swood at integer.com">swood at integer.com</a>=A0<BR>
<BR>
The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201=A0<BR>
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475=A0<BR>
=A0<BR>
<BR>
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[stevewood]

I'm attaching the scripts I use during imaging. Thanks go out to Thomas
Larkin for most of the scripts as he wrote them and I tweaked them a bit.

In fact, I just looked again, and Thomas wrote 98% of the post image script. Thanks Thomas. :-)

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

[#13]

Thanks.

The preimage.sh is def extremely useful. Im pretty sure its gotta be away to mount the Users partition in fstab so that its automatically identified as /Users. IF I find a way to do so within the script I will send you the updated one.

--missing content--

artition. But once you've done that the first time, unless the hard drive completely dies, you can nuke and pave the OS to your hearts content.

How does this cause higher cost?

As for the original intent of this question, the way I would handle this wo
uld probably be the following:

1. Create a BASH script, or some other, to re-partition the hard drive, sp litting it into two equal partitions.
2. In same script, use rsync to move all user data over to the new second partition:

rsync -aEv /Users/* /Volumes/Users/

1. Verify the user data copies over: i.e. no errors from rsync.

2. Boot system off a NetBoot image and let Casper Imaging re-image the Mac
   intosh HD partition. Autorun data having been created in the JSS, of cours
   e.

3. After the system is up, log in as the user then log out. Log in as a
   n admin and go into System Prefs and point their user to the correct home f
   older on /Volumes/Users.

4. Open Terminal and verify the permissions are correct on the /Volumes/Us
   ers home folder. If they are not, re-push wtih:

chmod -R user:staff /Volumes/Users/user

1. Log out and let the user have the machine.

Seems like a lot of steps, but it really isn't. The one caveat to this is to TEST THE HECK OUT OF IT!!!!

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com http://swood@integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

--000_C8182B9D151DBjsimonhugeinccom
Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

--missing content--

artition. =A0But once you've done that the first time, unless the hard driv
e completely dies, you can nuke and pave the OS to your hearts content.<BR>
<BR>
How does this cause higher cost?<BR>
<BR>
As for the original intent of this question, the way I would handle this wo
uld probably be the following:<BR>
<BR>
1. =A0Create a BASH script, or some other, to re-partition the hard drive, splitting it into two equal partitions.<BR>
2. =A0In same script, use rsync to move all user data over to the new secon
d partition:<BR>
<BR>
rsync -aEv /Users/* /Volumes/Users/<BR>
<BR>
3. =A0Verify the user data copies over: =A0i.e. no errors from rsync.<BR>
<BR>
4. =A0Boot system off a NetBoot image and let Casper Imaging re-image the M
acintosh HD partition. =A0Autorun data having been created in the JSS, of c
ourse.<BR>
<BR>
5. =A0After the system is up, log in as the user then log out. =A0 =A0Log i
n as an admin and go into System Prefs and point their user to the correct home folder on /Volumes/Users.<BR>
<BR>
6. =A0Open Terminal and verify the permissions are correct on the /Volumes/
Users home folder. =A0If they are not, re-push wtih:<BR>
<BR>
chmod -R user:staff /Volumes/Users/user<BR>
<BR>
7. =A0Log out and let the user have the machine.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Seems like a lot of steps, but it really isn't. =A0The one caveat to this i
s to TEST THE HECK OUT OF IT!!!!<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Steve Wood<BR>
Director of IT<BR>
<a href"swood at integer.com">swood at integer.com</a> &lt;<a href"http://s
wood at integer.com">http://swood@integer.com</a>&gt; =A0<BR>
<BR>
The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201=A0<BR>
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475=A0<BR>
=A0<BR>
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[stevewood]

There is a way to do it using fstab. You will want to use the vifs command
to safely edit the fstab file in 10.5 and up.

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

[tlarkin]

I am working on a more functional set of post image scripts where you will only need to edit the first 25 lines or so for your personal configurations, and the rest of the script will just work. I haven't had time to code it more efficiently so that if I give it out to anyone they just need to edit the top 20 lines (or comment them out if they don't need that function) and I will post it. End of school is keeping me busy, maybe if I decide to geek out over a weekend I can hammer it out.

Thanks

Tom

--missing content--

partition. But once you've done that the first time, unless the hard drive completely dies, you can nuke and pave the OS to your hearts content.

How does this cause higher cost?

As for the original intent of this question, the way I would handle this would probably be the following:

1. Create a BASH script, or some other, to re-partition the hard drive, splitting it into two equal partitions.
2. In same script, use rsync to move all user data over to the new second partition:

rsync -aEv /Users/* /Volumes/Users/

1. Verify the user data copies over: i.e. no errors from rsync.

2. Boot system off a NetBoot image and let Casper Imaging re-image the Macintosh HD partition. Autorun data having been created in the JSS, of course.

3. After the system is up, log in as the user then log out. Log in as an admin and go into System Prefs and point their user to the correct home folder on /Volumes/Users.

4. Open Terminal and verify the permissions are correct on the /Volumes/Use
   rs home folder. If they are not, re-push wtih:

chmod -R user:staff /Volumes/Users/user

1. Log out and let the user have the machine.

Seems like a lot of steps, but it really isn't. The one caveat to this is to TEST THE HECK OUT OF IT!!!!

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

--=PartBA900EDD.3
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<html> <head>

</head> <body> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> <font size"3" face"Lucida Grande">I am working on a more functional set of post image scripts where you will only need to edit the first 25 lines or so for your personal configurations&#44; and the rest of the script will just work. &nbsp;I haven&#39;t had time to code it more efficiently so that if I give it out to anyone they just need to edit the top 20 lines &#40;or comment them out if they don&#39;t need that function&#41; and I will post it. &nbsp;End of school is keeping me busy&#44; maybe if I decide to geek out over a weekend I can hammer it out.</font> </p>
<br> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> <font size"3" face"Lucida Grande">Thanks </font> </p>
<br> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> <font size"3" face"Lucida Grande">Tom</font><br><br>&gt;&gt;&gt
; Steve Wood &lt;swood at integer.com&gt; 5/18/2010 10:19 AM &gt;&gt;&gt;<br>I
&#39;m attaching the scripts I use during imaging. Thanks go out to Thomas Larkin for most of the scripts as he wrote them and I tweaked them a bit. </p> <div> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> <br> </p> </div> <div> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> In fact&#44; I just looked again&#44; and Thomas wrote 98&#37; of the post image script. Thanks Thomas. :-&#41;<br clear"all"><br>Steve Wood<br>Director of IT<br><a href"mailto:swood at integer.com">swood at intege
r.com</a><br><br>The Integer Group&#32;&#124;&#32;1999 Bryan St.&#32;&#124;
&#32;Ste. 1700&#32;&#124;&#32;Dallas&#44; TX 75201<br>T 214.758.6813&#32;&#
124;&#32;F 214.758.6901&#32;&#124;&#32;C 940.312.2475<br><br><br> </p> <div class"gmail_quote"> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> On Tue&#44; May 18&#44; 2010 at 10:12 AM&#44; HUGE&#32;&#124;&#32
;Joseph Simon <span dir"ltr">&lt;<a href"mailto:jsimon at hugeinc.com">j
simon at hugeinc.com</a>&gt;</span>&nbsp;wrote:<br> </p> <blockquote class"gmail_quote" style"border-left: 1px #ccc solid; margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-left: 0; margin-left: 0"> <div> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> <font size"11pt" face"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style"font-size: 11pt">Well at the current moment&#44; it seems like my team and I will be touching every mac unfortunately. So this might be the best time to Partition the drives.<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-si
ze: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">I Like the idea of using the script to re-partition.<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">Steve would you be able to point me in the direction of said script or email it to me directly&#44; so I can tweak it &#63;<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"></span></font> </p> <div> <div>
<br> </div> <div class"h5"> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> <br> <br> On 5/17/10 6:11 PM&#44; &quot;Steve Wood&quot; &lt;<a href"http://swood@integer.com" target"blank">swood at integer.com</a>&g
t; wrote:<br><br> </p> </div> </div> <div> <div>
<br> </div> <div class"h5"> <blockquote> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> <font size"11pt" face"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style"font-size: 11pt"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"> <br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"> On Mon&#44; May 17&#44; 2010 at 4:59 PM&#44; Don Montalvo &lt;<a href"http://donmontalvo@gmail.com" target"_blank">don
montalvo at gmail.com</a>&gt; wrote:<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"></span></font> </p> <blockquote> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> <font size"11pt" face"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style"font-size: 11pt">since I haven&#39;t started looking into doing this. Seems like having partitions for OS and User Data might be the ticket&#44; but it&#39;s a management nightmare &#40;cost&#44; deployment of such a setup&#44; etc.&#41;. Personally&#44; I like to have a stack of drives already imaged...then it&#39;s just a matter of inserting the drive and ditto&#39;ing the /Users directory over &#40;and cleaning up of course&#41;. :&#41;<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"></span></font><span style"font-size: 11pt"><font color"#888888" face"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial" size"11pt"><br style"font-size: 11pt; color: #888888; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">Don<br style"font-size: 11pt; color: #888888; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"></font><font size"11pt" face"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"></font></span> </p> </blockquote> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> <font size"11pt" face"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style"font-size: 11pt"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"> I don&#39;t see how partitioning the drive out is a management nightmare. Especially not with what you&#39;ve listed being the drivers: cost&#44; deployment&#44; etc. Seems like your method of using ditto&#44; or rsync for that matter&#44; is just as much work.<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">I split my drives on all new installs now. It&#39;s a simple pre-image script &#40;thanks Thomas&#41; that partitions the drive into a Macintosh HD and Users partition using size percentages to determine how much to give to each. Since most machines now-a-days are coming with drives larger than 360GB&#44; even splitting the drive in half should be plenty of space. And yes&#44; Casper has the ability to make the partitions as part of the<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">From there it&#39;s just a matter of moving the user&#39;s data over to the Users partition. But once you&#39;ve done that the first time&#44; unless the hard drive completely dies&#44; you can nuke and pave the OS to your hearts content.<b
r style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">How does this cause higher cost&#63;<br style"font-siz
e: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font
-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">As for the original intent of this question&#44; the way I would handle this would probably be the following:<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">1. Create a BASH script&#44; or some other&#44; to re-partition the hard drive&#44; splitting it into two equal partitions.<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">2. In same script&#44; use rsync to move all user data over to the new second partition:<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">rsync -aEv /Users/&#42; /Volumes/Users/<br style"font-
size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"f
ont-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">3. Verify the user data copies over: i.e. no errors from rsync.<br style"font-size
: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-
size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">4. Boot system off a NetBoot image and let Casper Imaging re-image the Macintosh HD partition. Autorun data having been created in the JSS&#44; of course.<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">5. After the system is up&#44; log in as the user then log out. Log in as an admin and go into System Prefs and point their user to the correct home folder on /Volumes/Users.<br style"font-s
ize: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"fo
nt-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">6. Open Terminal and verify the permissions are correct on the /Volumes/Users home folder. If they are not&#44; re-push wtih:<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">chmod -R user:staff /Volumes/Users/user<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">7. Log out and let the user have the machine.<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">Seems like a lot of steps&#44; but it really isn&#39;t. The one caveat to this is to TEST THE HECK OUT OF IT&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">Steve Wood<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">Director of IT<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><a href"http://swood@integer.com" target"
blank">swood at integer.com</a><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">The Integer Group&#32;&#12
4;&#32;1999 Bryan St.&#32;&#124;&#32;Ste. 1700&#32;&#124;&#32;Dallas&#44; TX 75201<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">T 214.758.6813&#32;&#124;&#32;F 214.758.6901&#32;&#124;&#
32;C 940.312.2475<br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><br style"font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"></span></font> </p> </blockquote> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> <font size"7pt" face"Arial"><span style"font-siz
e: 7pt"><br style"font-size: 7pt; font-family: Arial"> </span></font><font size"11pt" face"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style"font-size: 11pt"><br style"fon
t-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"> </span></font> </p> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote> </div> <p style"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> <br> </p> </div> </body>
</html>

--=PartBA900EDD.3=--

[golbiga]

I see that you have Macintosh HD set to 40%. What's the minimum percentage that you would think about setting for that partition. We don't have netboot setup here yet, so I'm thinking about adding a restore partition for now. I just wonder if the user is going to ask me, "where is all my hd space?" So I'm just trying to figure out the best possible breakdown percentage wise.

Thanks
Allen

[stevewood]

I use 40% because I don't have a lot of large apps to install. CS4 Design
Premium is by far the largest. And, since most of my machines have hard
drives larger than 160gb, that's still plenty of room for apps (40% of 160
is 64 gb). That means the User partition is taking up the rest of the
space, roughly 96GB.

For the most part, my machines have 250GB drives or larger since we are on a
3 yr lease schedule, rotating a few machines each month.

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.com

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

[milesleacy]

Hey all,

I think 40% makes sense if you're also using a Users partition. Unfortunately, each environment and set of requirements are different. With that in mind, here's my thoughts on some guidelines depending on your scenario...

All of these scenarios assume modern (3-year old or younger) hard drives.

Like a good scripter, I'll at least loosely define some variables for the below scenarios...
OS = Size of OS package that your Restore partition is based on.
LC = Size of your largest installed configuration
TC = Typical (most often deployed) configuration

Scenario 1:
2 Partitions; Macintosh HD, Users

Here, I'd give the bulk of the disk space to the Users partition. This is where the end users will be keeping all of their stuff. Typically, by comparison, an OS and apps take up a small fraction of the disk space in a single partition system.

Formula:
Macintosh HD = 2*TC
Users = everything else

Scenario 2:
2 partitions; Macintosh HD, Restore

In my mind (and this is not an official JAMF guideline), this is an appropriate formula for a Restore partition's size:

Restore = OS + LC + 5GB

The extra 5 GB should allow for the addition of unforeseen new packages over time, as well as provide some free space for the Mac OS X system on the Restore partition to use for swap files, etc.

Scenario 3:
3 partitions; Macintosh HD, Restore, Users

Using the guidelines discussed above, I come to the following formula:

Macintosh HD = 2*TC
Restore = OS + LC + 5GB
Users = everything else.

If you use a Windows partition, I'll leave it up to you, or whomever builds your Windows images to weigh in on the needs for that partition. I am no expert on disk space requirements for Windows.

Creative partitioning can solve lots of problems. In one scenario I was faced with, the end users had disk quotas because the organization was backing up desktop Macs centrally. The easiest solution I found was to only give them a Users partition that matched the size of the quota, and leave the extra disk space as unformatted "free space", which doesn't get mounted.

I hope this is helpful.

Thanks,

--
Miles Leacy
Technical Training Manager
Mobile (347) 277-7321

miles at jamfsoftware.com<mailto:miles at jamfsoftware.com>
....................................................................
JAMF Software
1011 Washington Ave. S
Suite 350
Minneapolis, MN 55415
....................................................................
Office: (612) 605-6625
Facsimile: (612) 332-9054
....................................................................
US Support: (612) 216-1296
UK Support +44.(0)20.3002.3907
AU Support +61.(0)2.8014.7469
....................................................................
http://www.jamfsoftware.com<http://www.jamfsoftware.com/>

--missing content--

artition. But once you've done that the first time, unless the hard drive completely dies, you can nuke and pave the OS to your hearts content.

How does this cause higher cost?

As for the original intent of this question, the way I would handle this wo
uld probably be the following:

1. Create a BASH script, or some other, to re-partition the hard drive, sp litting it into two equal partitions.
2. In same script, use rsync to move all user data over to the new second partition:

rsync -aEv /Users/* /Volumes/Users/

1. Verify the user data copies over: i.e. no errors from rsync.

2. Boot system off a NetBoot image and let Casper Imaging re-image the Mac
   intosh HD partition. Autorun data having been created in the JSS, of cours
   e.

3. After the system is up, log in as the user then log out. Log in as a
   n admin and go into System Prefs and point their user to the correct home f
   older on /Volumes/Users.

4. Open Terminal and verify the permissions are correct on the /Volumes/Us
   ers home folder. If they are not, re-push wtih:

chmod -R user:staff /Volumes/Users/user

1. Log out and let the user have the machine.

Seems like a lot of steps, but it really isn't. The one caveat to this is to TEST THE HECK OUT OF IT!!!!

Steve Wood
Director of IT
swood at integer.comhttp://swood@integer.com/

The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475

--missing content--

artition. &nbsp;But once you've done that the first time, unless the hard d
rive completely dies, you can nuke and pave the OS to your hearts content.<
br>

<br>
How does this cause higher cost?<br>
<br>
As for the original intent of this question, the way I would handle this wo
uld probably be the following:<br>
<br>
1. &nbsp;Create a BASH script, or some other, to re-partition the hard driv
e, splitting it into two equal partitions.<br>
2. &nbsp;In same script, use rsync to move all user data over to the new se
cond partition:<br>
<br>
rsync -aEv /Users/* /Volumes/Users/<br>
<br>
3. &nbsp;Verify the user data copies over: &nbsp;i.e. no errors from rsync.
<br>
<br>
4. &nbsp;Boot system off a NetBoot image and let Casper Imaging re-image th
e Macintosh HD partition. &nbsp;Autorun data having been created in the JSS
, of course.<br>
<br>
5. &nbsp;After the system is up, log in as the user then log out. &nbsp; &n
bsp;Log in as an admin and go into System Prefs and point their user to the correct home folder on /Volumes/Users.<br>
<br>
6. &nbsp;Open Terminal and verify the permissions are correct on the /Volum
es/Users home folder. &nbsp;If they are not, re-push wtih:<br>
<br>
chmod -R user:staff /Volumes/Users/user<br>
<br>
7. &nbsp;Log out and let the user have the machine.<br>
<br>
<br>
Seems like a lot of steps, but it really isn't. &nbsp;The one caveat to thi
s is to TEST THE HECK OUT OF IT!!!!<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Steve Wood<br>
Director of IT<br>
<a href"http://swood@integer.com/" target"_blank">swood at integer.com</
a>&nbsp;<br>
<br>
The Integer Group | 1999 Bryan St. | Ste. 1700 | Dallas, TX 75201&nbsp;<br>
T 214.758.6813 | F 214.758.6901 | C 940.312.2475&nbsp;<br>
&nbsp;<br>
<br>
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e"font-size:7pt"><br>
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n style"font-size:11pt"><br>
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</div></div></div>

</blockquote></div><br></div>

[#19]

Thanks For the Ideas Miles and the scripts Thomas/Steve. I decided that were going to go with 2 Partitions OS/User. I've written a script to analyze the space used on a fresh install and live partition the hard drive based on the results. Since we have several different image builds based on depts, this script will try to keep the partition sizes standardized Workflow below, script attached. I'm using sym links to mount users on the 2nd partition. Has anyone successfully done this with fstab in OS X ? ~Joseph

Heres the new work flow :
Back Up User Data
Net Boot, Wipe Machine, reparation HD to one big partition if needed
Drop a fresh 10.6.3 image based on dept
Run Script
Reboot to the OS HD
Copy user data to 2nd partition

[fsjjeff]

Hey,

Thanks Steve for posting those scripts, I've been trying to use the preimage.sh script as a base-point for a customized version, and I'm noticing that the test on hard drive size ALWAYS results in true... In other words, the line that says:

if [ $HardDriveSize > 200 ]

always results in true, whether the hard drive is greater than 200GB or not, which means that the option to have a different size partition is probably never happening, even if it should.

Since I'm trying to add a series of if... elif statements to tweak my HD partition sizes for different models of MacBooks (with HDs ranging from 80 - 250GB), this definitely causes problems, and anyone else using the script will probably see problems..

I'm not any kind of Bash expert, but after some fiddling and reading, I've traced this to 2 issues:

1) the line getting the size is returning a string, rather than an integer, and
2) the test line is evaluating with a string comparison (>) rather than a numeric comparison (-gt)

I resolved the first problem by using the 'let' command in conjunction with 'sed' to filter out the trailing .# (ie: 159.1 or 120.0) and coerce the result to an integer. So to get the hard drive size as an integer, I'm using:

let HDSize=diskutil info /dev/disk0 | awk '/Total Size/ { print $3 }' | sed 's/[.].*//'

There's probably a better way of doing this, and I'd love to hear it, but for now this is working correctly for me.

To resolve the second problem I've changed the tests to evaluate numerically, you need to use -lt (less than), -le (less than or equal to), -gt (greater than) or -ge (greater than or equal to), for example:

if [ $HDSize -lt 80 ]; then

or

if [ $HDSize -ge 80 ] && [ $HDSize -le 100 ]; then

This is working correctly for me now, and will hopefully help others to not get caught with this. Again, I'm sure the awk | sed thing could be done much better by a Bash guru, and I'd love to see a better way, but for now it works.

Jeff

[#21]

Little late replying, but you may want to have a look at the attached scripts for mounting another partition to /Users. We've also got a couple of other things we can do to hide volumes from a user's view etc. If you want any more info on this just drop me a line.

Hope this helps

Dan