Ethernotes

Ignore your phone calls today. Tenshi is his puppy. We will get a link back to the pdf for the slideshow.

The SM Lifecycle Task: Keep track of stuff , deploy stuff (annually in most spots, not RPS), workflow, license management: knowing how many you own and stopping more than that from using, Patch upgrades and app updates, helpdesk.

Proper planning is critical: “We’ve got a new 1-1 initiative, but what if everyone uses it at the same time?”, laptops have to recharge during the day, did you plan for it: outlets in hallways and cafe, battery swap programs.

After september, “Hair on fire” period, we review our lifecycle and begin the “loop.” How do we do it better next year?

Testing: Have yet to find a school that is successful with imaging without an honest to goodness testing lab (what! BCH 109 is not enough?: Servers, 2 desktops clients, 2 laptop clients. 5 machines is good.

ARD

• Asset Managment (at district level)
• lab level teachers use for controlling for education of students.
• ARD task server (Mac Mini) 24/7: Takes ARD to next level.
  • 1 per building is best in our case?
  • Saves you from seeing “unavailable” computers that are really available.
  • Works across multiple subnets.

IMAGING:

• Bombich’s Netinstall discontinuation is throwing us into a tizzy.
• There are other options.
• This is what Compucraft and I are doing this summer.
• Where Ghost costs “too much” on the Windows side, the same capability is 10.5 built in.
• Universal Installer is provided, not Universal Image (this explains my problems with creating new images). Need layered deployments like I do with Radmind.
• Prepopulate distributions with Home Directory templates.
• Terminal: man asr to get the instructions.
• Maco OS Deployment Guide 10.5 at Peachpit is better

USAGE MANAGEMENT

• Keep people from doing dumb stuff to machines,
• Allow them to use the computer.

PATCH/UPGRADE

• Software Update Server (SUS)
• Direct mirror of the Apple Site
• Control of which are installed.
• Create Tree of SUS if desired: Master and replicas. Replicas can have only a subset.
• Never, ever perform SUS updates when logged in.
• 3rd party software
  • No Apple license management
  • Apple tried, but no Windows Remote Desk client
  • Helpdesk and reporting (identify PD opportunities)
  • JAMF Software’s Casper: Cross platform asset management. Powerful for Windows and Macs
  • LANrev: Cross platform asset management: Tim Kamps at HC. Every 20 minutes take a screenshot and a shot of who’s sitting at the computer. InstallEase available for free.
  • Sassafras: K2, management of software licenses. Used by Apple worldwide. The most cost effective solution. Say 30 licenses purchased, the 31st computer will get a message. Eliminate drag drop stealing.
  • Filewave Asset Trustee: Asset management and software distribution.
  • Faronics Deep Freeze: A must for any programming lab. Protects at Root level. We use this on our Windows.
  • Web HelpDesk: What RPS began using for these tickets. This is what they do and they do it best. Integrates with Caspar and LANrev

Filed under: Macintosh