Mac OS X diploid

J

jeno

Registered
Hello all,

I am wondering if it is possible to use application like ARD or Casper to diploid Mac OS X operating system. Basically I want to reloaded the whole machine.

Thanks & Regards,
 
By "diploid," do you mean "clone?"

If so, Carbon Copy Cloner, Superduper!, and other programs freely available can "clone" an existing Mac OS X installation to another drive/partition while retaining bootability. You can even do this via Disk Utility when booted from the Mac OS X Install/Restore disk.
 
I finally got a chance to play around with ARD a little bit. I discover that user can only use ARD for software installation, system update, copy files...etc provided that the system has already been setup. Basically you can do just about anything on an operating system but not reinstalling an operating system right from scratch (like inserting the disc to do erase and install like you would normally do manually).

I wonder if any other software can do that?
 
Have you looked into "netbooting?"

http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/features/client.html

The NetBoot service in Mac OS X Server enables multiple Mac systems to boot from a single server-based disk image, instead of from their internal hard drive. This allows you to create a standard configuration and use it on all of the desktop systems in a department or classroom — or host multiple images customized for different workgroups. You can even create server configurations and run all of your servers from one image. Updating the disk image on the NetBoot server updates all of these systems automatically the next time they restart. In addition, you can copy a directory server configuration to all clients using the same system image. For security-conscious organizations, NetBoot permits Mac computers to boot “disklessly” — without having to read from or write to the computer’s local drive.
Click to expand...
 
This is pretty neat. Does this mean by setting a Netboot, I doesn't need a operating system to be installed on every local machine? or it will take the OS disk image on the Netboot server to replace the one that is already exits on the local machine?

Thanks for the information.
 
That's correct -- you install Mac OS X once, then make a NetBoot image of it, then you can use that image stored on the server to boot multiple client machines over the network -- bypassing the client's internal hard drive completely.
 
wow....
but how would the performance will be? would it be slow to running an OS over the network?
by the way, how many OS license do it need to do this? 1 license to run 50 machine?
 
I've done some research on this, you doesn't really has to have a Xserve to do it.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Your-Regular-Mac-a-NetBoot-Server!/

I doesn't understand know how it works but I am concerning about the performance. I am thinking its like using an operating system remotely over the network to do heavy duty job. What happen I have 100 users using the same OS over the busy network. Its gonna be a disaster.

Maybe I am not getting it, hopefully someone will point me out.


Cheers.
 
Yes, you will need to have a fast network if you intend to boot multiple clients from one server image -- a 1000Base-T network should suffice, although I think you'll notice some slowdown over a 100Base-T network.

It will definitely be slower than local booting. Whether or not that makes it unusable is subjective.

You still need one license per machine.
 
I just realized that there is no way to reimaged a computer using ARD or Casper over the network. That is what initially what i wanted to do :(
 
I have a very stupid question that can't figure out:

How do I enable SSH on 10.4.11 Xserve?

Thanks.
 
Enable "Remote Login" in the "Sharing" pane of the system preferences, or for Mac OS X Server, start the "Remote Login" service.
 
done the sharing but I still cant connect to the Xserve. I can see the Xserve and other information listed in ARD but when I try to remote control I will get a "Authentication failed" error.
 
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