workstation administration and software distribution

[jeno]

Dear All,

I am wondering how can I administrate multiple Mac workstation across LAN as well as distribute software mpkg. I am thinking of doing this because I don't have a Xserve and ARD is just too expensive.


Cheers,
Jeno

[Giaguara]

You could create a domain admin and allow it on all the systems, making sure ssh is enabled and normal users don't have privileges to tweak it off, and then use ssh for install.
How many Macs do you have in total? If it's tens or hundreds, ARD would give the benefits of better managing what software is installed where...

[jeno]

Originally Posted by Giaguara

You could create a domain admin and allow it on all the systems, making sure ssh is enabled and normal users don't have privileges to tweak it off, and then use ssh for install.
How many Macs do you have in total? If it's tens or hundreds, ARD would give the benefits of better managing what software is installed where...

Thanks Giaguara. But just how am I going to do that?
I have about 70 Macs on the floor.

Cheers,
Jeno

[jeno]

very appreciate if you can show me a step-by-step in doing this

Thanks

[srobadelic]

Part of the rub you are going to find in the IT industry is that any solution which saves money is going to require some research and/or training. Getting your hands dirty. It sounds like you are looking for tools, not procedures. One tool which is actively in use and under BSD-style license is Radmind. The other options involve using cron scripting and file shares to make installer packages available for the systems to copy and install software. This pull method is only as free as the file server you would use.
To do step-by-step on every process is a bit much unless someone else is actively doing this, and if they are doing it they probably don't have enough time to document it.
Best of luck.