Comments on: Scripts Part 4: Cloning — What’s the Big Deal? http://systemsboy.com/2006/02/scripts-part-4-cloning-%e2%80%94-whats-the-big-deal.html Big, Honkin' Systems Stuff Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:19:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: systemsboy http://systemsboy.com/2006/02/scripts-part-4-cloning-%e2%80%94-whats-the-big-deal.html/comment-page-1#comment-198 systemsboy Tue, 28 Feb 2006 00:15:00 +0000 http://systemsboy.com/2006/02/scripts-part-4-cloning-%e2%80%94-whats-the-big-deal/#comment-198 I'm still trying to crack the NetRestore/SIU nut myself. Never seem to have the time or resources to figure out how to get it working. Hopefully I'll have it by this Summer though. 'Cause yeah, it's clearly the way to go. I’m still trying to crack the NetRestore/SIU nut myself. Never seem to have the time or resources to figure out how to get it working. Hopefully I’ll have it by this Summer though. ‘Cause yeah, it’s clearly the way to go.

]]> By: matx http://systemsboy.com/2006/02/scripts-part-4-cloning-%e2%80%94-whats-the-big-deal.html/comment-page-1#comment-197 matx Sat, 25 Feb 2006 08:01:00 +0000 http://systemsboy.com/2006/02/scripts-part-4-cloning-%e2%80%94-whats-the-big-deal/#comment-197 In my last job, when I worked for a school, I had to reimage 200 machines in two days, every 2 months. In the beginning we did use firewire and disk to disk, but when NetRestore came out it changed everything. The best setup was netbooting entire labs, imaging and post-scripts would rename and put the finishing touches. Now I work in a smaller facility and I am using system image utility in 10.4 server to do this, in combination with NetRestore and the occasional disk to disk. It always depends on how many machines you have, and the amount of time available. Automation might be work to setup, but it's worth it with so many Macs. :) In my last job, when I worked for a school, I had to reimage 200 machines in two days, every 2 months. In the beginning we did use firewire and disk to disk, but when NetRestore came out it changed everything. The best setup was netbooting entire labs, imaging and post-scripts would rename and put the finishing touches. Now I work in a smaller facility and I am using system image utility in 10.4 server to do this, in combination with NetRestore and the occasional disk to disk. It always depends on how many machines you have, and the amount of time available. Automation might be work to setup, but it’s worth it with so many Macs. :)

]]> By: systemsboy http://systemsboy.com/2006/02/scripts-part-4-cloning-%e2%80%94-whats-the-big-deal.html/comment-page-1#comment-196 systemsboy Wed, 22 Feb 2006 18:44:00 +0000 http://systemsboy.com/2006/02/scripts-part-4-cloning-%e2%80%94-whats-the-big-deal/#comment-196 Yes, this is an important distinction. Our lab is fairly small (only about 15 Macs to build each year), and we generally just clone machine to machine via firewire. So this simple ASR cloning is all we (and I suspect a lot of people) need. But, certainly, if you're doing imaging for a large number of machines, ASR might be a bit limited, and there are a lot of really nice tools out there for achieving these goals. I myself have been investigating the System Imaging Utility included with Mac OS X Server Tools for doing network installs, but I've yet to get it working. When I do, I'll post about it for sure.<br/><br/>Thanks for the comments.<br/><br/>-systemsboy Yes, this is an important distinction. Our lab is fairly small (only about 15 Macs to build each year), and we generally just clone machine to machine via firewire. So this simple ASR cloning is all we (and I suspect a lot of people) need. But, certainly, if you’re doing imaging for a large number of machines, ASR might be a bit limited, and there are a lot of really nice tools out there for achieving these goals. I myself have been investigating the System Imaging Utility included with Mac OS X Server Tools for doing network installs, but I’ve yet to get it working. When I do, I’ll post about it for sure.

Thanks for the comments.

-systemsboy

]]> By: matx http://systemsboy.com/2006/02/scripts-part-4-cloning-%e2%80%94-whats-the-big-deal.html/comment-page-1#comment-195 matx Mon, 20 Feb 2006 07:50:00 +0000 http://systemsboy.com/2006/02/scripts-part-4-cloning-%e2%80%94-whats-the-big-deal/#comment-195 CCC started it all. Using ditto command. Cloning is HD to HD is similar but different to imaging, i.e. capturing a "build" to an image file (.dmg) then using that file to restore an army of clones. From the beginning in OSX asr worked one to one, but when NetRestore came out (by Bombich, as well), it was a the killer app. Disk Utility could not clone or restore. The best you could do was boot from an osx server cd and use terminal to run asr, but with NetRestore you could make an image, then store it on a server and netboot then rebuild each client in a lab. Of course now netinstall works from server and netrestore works well, and multicasting asr from any osx client (as server) to any other client is possible... But anyway, I mention all this to differentiate between cloning and imaging. And reasons why the distinction (lab rebuilds, vs safety backups). -matx CCC started it all. Using ditto command. Cloning is HD to HD is similar but different to imaging, i.e. capturing a “build” to an image file (.dmg) then using that file to restore an army of clones. From the beginning in OSX asr worked one to one, but when NetRestore came out (by Bombich, as well), it was a the killer app. Disk Utility could not clone or restore. The best you could do was boot from an osx server cd and use terminal to run asr, but with NetRestore you could make an image, then store it on a server and netboot then rebuild each client in a lab. Of course now netinstall works from server and netrestore works well, and multicasting asr from any osx client (as server) to any other client is possible… But anyway, I mention all this to differentiate between cloning and imaging. And reasons why the distinction (lab rebuilds, vs safety backups). -matx

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