Mac OS X 10.5 fast system deployment practices-making core system images (1) V1

MacOS X 10.5 fast system deployment practice

Quick system deployment practices for Mac OS X 10.5

Note:
The previous article is here: Mac OS X 10.5 fast system deployment practices-Plan (2) V1
Create a core system image

Core System Image

The system image (System
Image) concept refers to a file that stores the system and configuration of a computer's disk, and restores the file to the disk, the computer can run as originally scheduled. In general, the clone method is used to copy the system.
. The previous ghost method was available in windows, and Microsoft developed the WIM file structure based on the file method. DMG file format is generally used on MAC systems. Of course
DMG files can be used not only to store system images, but also for many other purposes and to encrypt content.

Why can't I reinstall the image from the installation disk? The reason is very simple. The re-installation system also needs to be customized and tested before users can use it. customization is especially challenging in enterprises.
Output. Imagine that 1000 computers need to be allocated to different departments. If a platform is installed and configured, the first is a waste of time, and the second is unable to ensure the consistency of the configuration. It sounds like a brand-name server approval.
Mass production is the same, but that is another story. In short, it can be said that with the system image technology, the system deployment and troubleshooting become simple and feasible. (Note: This is detailed in other blogs)

With the system image, there is also a way to restore the image to the target machine, so as to obtain a new system that is the same as the original system and can be used. In the Windows world, ghost is generally used by everyone.
Solution, there are many other third-party manufacturers can choose from, you can also use the free business provided by Microsoft
Deploy method. There are also a lot of software and methods for MAC systems, among which Apple Asr (Apple Software
As the basis, ASR can be used for both production and recovery. We may seldom talk about ASR later, but it does not mean it is useless.

Why should we add a "core" attribute to the title? After you understand and master the system image, you may think that I have completed all the software and configuration of the company, and then made a system mirror.
In this way, if the machine needs to be re-formatted, isn't it easy? In my experience, in some cases, this is a good method, and the deployment is the fastest, simple, and effective. However, most scenarios are: system and
Software needs to be updated,
In this way, you can only create a core system image, and then install and update application software in other ways. This is a good way to reduce the maintenance of image files, experience can be stored in the system
Test the new software package.

In my work practice and experience, after a core image is created in an enterprise, it may also be based on the needs of different departments (often due to technical reasons and have ), make a system image of a department to be full
Meet special requirements of the Department. As far as the core system image is concerned, its production is a crucial step in the overall deployment, and it also requires comprehensive knowledge and experience. It may require the production personnel to have a certain degree of knowledge.
Shell programming capabilities, you also need to have a deep understanding of different versions of the system, and can achieve the same goal in different system versions.

Next we will explain step by step how to create the image file of the core system and the most important part that needs to be carefully considered. Of course, there will inevitably be omissions.

Of course, there are other methods that can be used to create core system image files, which will be mentioned later. Select computer hardware for software and hardware Environments

As mentioned in the previous plan, for MAC system features, we need to use the latest computer hardware in the company and the latest operating system that can be found, which guarantees the most, system images can be widely used on other computers.


Of course, sometimes this may not be the case, especially when the enterprise's internal hardware age span is relatively large, it may need to be on a system that is not supported by the latest system, create an image of the old operating system for the old system. For example, the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system requires that the CPU is
PowerPC G4 above 867mhz, for old hardware
For systems such as iMac G3, you need to prepare a system image of 10.4 or even 10.3 until the last batch of old systems have been replaced by the enterprise.

System and partition

To find the hardware, you must first reinstall the system. We recommend that you delete and repartition the disk content to ensure a clean system. MAC system images are created based on partitions.
If it is a large disk, it can be easily divided into three partitions, one is the system mirror partition, the system mirror is obtained from this partition, for a brief description, we use the Mac default partition name: Macintosh

HD. One is Data Partition. We call it data. The last is the working partition used to create a disk image, which is called work. The Macintosh
The Mac OS X operating system must be installed in both the HD and work partitions, preferably in the same version.


We recommend that you use Mac OS extended (
Journaled), Mac OS extended (case-sensitive,
Journaled), the reason is very simple. Case Sensitive may cause some program running to fail. Especially for writing non-strict script programs.



For Mac OS X Leopard systems, the size of a disk image ranges from 7 GB to 10 GB-this varies greatly depending on the actual situation.
After the installation, the system occupies at least 9 GB of disk space. Therefore, the disk space of the two partitions must be at least 10 Gb, and intermediate files need to be generated during disk image creation, so it needs to be almost double
The size of the disk space occupied by the system. That is to say, if 12 GB of system image disk is occupied by the system and data, at least 24 GB of free space is required for the partition of the disk image file.
Available.

When installing Mac OS X, you can select an installation package as needed, such as font, printer, X11, and language. While ensuring the maximum adaptability of the system, install as few software as possible to avoid waste of space and waste of deployed resources.

System update

Generally, Mac updates are provided through system update packages, and some are combo update packages. These update packages can be directly upgraded to the latest version across different versions. Prepare the system mirror
Find the latest system installation disk, use the system update function, download the update package, or go to the official website of apple.com to check system updates and download and retain them.

Mac OS X has the system update function. The second item in the menu in the upper left corner of the screen is software update,
Click "run". By default, it will go to Apple's Update Server to find updates to related local hardware and system software. One of the options is to retain the downloaded update package. See. Later we will talk about how to configure
Set the system to the designated enterprise server that provides the Update Service to search for updates.

If the enterprise uses the Update Server service provided by Mac OS X Server to manage updates in a unified manner, you can set it in Workgroup Manager.

For general core images, automatic update should be disabled and manual (manual) mode should be adopted.

 

Local user

For local accounts, we recommend that you do not use them as much as possible. The local account management may take the Administrator more time and effort, and is not conducive to remote management, and is not easy to comply with enterprise security regulations. however, in some cases, you need to use a local user.

Gui

Using the graphic interface provided by Mac OS x to generate a common account is the easiest way. Only one screen is provided below, and I believe we all know how to create it.

 

Use shell commands

You can use shell commands to create a preliminary account:

Sudo-S Dscl.-create/users/zhangsan Dscl.-create/users/zhangsan usershell/bin/bash Dscl.-create/users/zhangsan realname "Zhang San" Dscl.-create/users/zhangsan uniqueid 1000 Dscl.-create/users/zhangsan primarygroupid 20 Dscl.-create/users/zhangsan nfshomedirectory/users/zhangsan Dscl.-passwd/users/zhangsan "sysadm1n" Dscl.-append/groups/Staff groupmembership zhangsan   CP-r/system/library/user/template/English. lproj/users/zhangsan Chown-r zhangsan/users/zhangsan

In the above bash script, the real name is "Zhang San", the Unix user name is zhangsan, the unique unix id is 1000, and a common local account is created.

 

 

Logon Options

Generally, the automatic login function is not used, and the list of users function is not used on the logon interface,
Disable Fast User Switching. You can use the login in system preferences-> accounts
Options. Alternatively, use the following command line command to set:

Sudo defaults delete/library/preferences/COM. Apple. loginwindow autologinuse Sudo defaults write/library/preferences/COM. Apple. loginwindow showfullname/-bool true Sudo defaults write/library/preferences/COM. Apple. loginwindow showinputmenu/-bool true Sudo defaults write/library/preferences/. globalpreferences/multiplesessionenabled-bool false

Note: In version 10.5.7, an "allow network users to login to this computer" is added. This option is selected by default.

The Recommended settings have different configuration requirements for different requirements, for example, when used as a public lab or kiosk machine, automatic logon and disabling "allow network users to login to this computer" may be required.

 

Continued: Mac OS X 10.5 fast system deployment practices-making core system images (2) V1

 

 

 

Tony Liu

2009 Calgary