Archive for the ‘Mass Deployment’ Category
Optical Sharing
I recently needed to temporarily enable optical disk sharing on a couple of machines at a number of different sites (don’t ask why, long story). There were enough to where I wanted to do it sending a script. But where is this stuff stored? Snapshot says: in com.apple.NetworkBrowser.plist. Which keys? diff says: EnableODiskBrowsing and ODSSupported, [...]
In: Mac OS X, Mass Deployment
Connect to Server Name
When connecting to a server from Mac OS X, what name will your system use when you bring up the Connect to Server dialog box? By default it shows the full name of the user authenticated to a client computer. But, not everyone wants this behavior. Therefore, you can change it by altering the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.NetworkAuthorization.plist [...]
In: Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, Mass Deployment
LANDesk Client In Image
LANDesk stores its data files in the /Library/Application Support/LANDesk/data directory. However, there is a uuid file for LANDesk that, if you put the LANDesk client in your image will need to be deleted. The uuid is in the /Library/Preferences/com.landesk.uuid.plist property list. If you rm this file as a postflight imaging task then your client can [...]
In: Mac OS X, Mass Deployment · Tagged with: iMaging, LDANDesk, put landesk client in image, UUID
LoginHook Bonjour
Want users to be able to use Bonjour at home without having their systems registering with Bonjour when they’re on your network? Many environments have taken to wholesale disabling Bonjour. This can be done by augmenting the LaunchDaemon that invokes Bonjour, com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist that is located at /System/Library/LaunchDaemons. You add a -NoMulticastAdvertisements to the ProgramArguments array. [...]
In: Mac OS X, Mass Deployment · Tagged with: crankd, disable bonjour, enable bonjour, howto, kicker, launchd, load, network status, NoMulticastAdvertisements, unload
Import ARD Information Using jamf
It’s pretty common to use keys for ARD for shuttling data back and forth. In an environment where you’re using one tool to image computers and another tool to then perform patch management, the Computer Information fields in ARD are a place where you can keep this information and not run the risk of it [...]
In: Mac OS X, Mass Deployment · Tagged with: create admin account, createAccount, JAMF, pas, populate ARD information, recon
DeployStudio From the Command Line
Recently I did a little article on importing computers into DeployStudio lists. I got an overwhelming number of email requests to go a step further and look at importing computers into DeployStudio from the command line. I’m guessing lots of people want to bolt some middleware onto their mass deployment tools (can’t say I blame [...]
In: Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, Mass Deployment · Tagged with: add computer, add workflow, byhost, Command line, database, defaults, DeployStudio, iMaging, Mac OS X, scripting
Importing Computers Into DeployStudio
DeployStudio has the ability to import a csv file that is populated with the MAC address and a few specific settings. This allows you to prepopulate the database with the names that you want each machine to have. If you purchase a lot of machines from Apple then you can get a list of MAC [...]
In: Mac OS X, Mass Deployment · Tagged with: Casper, Computer Lists, csv, DeployStudio, DSImporter.csv, en0, import, JAMF, MAC Address, order of fields
Adding Objects To The Dock
Using Mac OS X, one of the most trivial things (provided you have permission) is to add an object to the dock. Applications go on the left side of the dock and folders/documents/stacks go on the right. From the command line it isn’t quite as trivial but not that complicated either. To do so from the [...]
In: Mac OS X, Mass Deployment · Tagged with: Add object, array-add, com.apple.Dock, defaults write, dock, manage dock, persistent-apps, persistent-others, script, Shell
Making Every User an Admin
If you deploy a large number of computers to users who are somewhat likely to play practical jokes on each other then you will run into some interesting issues. If you are deploying one computer to every user and you want each user to be an administrator of their computer then you might be tempted [...]
In: Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, Mac Security, Mass Deployment · Tagged with: admin user, append, defaults, dscl, dseditgroup, MAC, make a local admin, Mass Deployment, scutil, Text1
DeployStudio: Rename a Volume with Host Name
DeployStudio has the ability to rename volumes as part of a standard workflow. These are typically set to something like “Macintosh HD” (the default) or “Computer Lab” or something like that. But what if you wanted to name the volume something unique to a given computer, which makes it easier to keep track with what [...]
In: Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, Mass Deployment · Tagged with: computername, DeployStudio, diskutil, get, hostname, rename computer, rename volume, script, scutil, variable, Workflow
