Mac Mini - Macbooks and Ipads

[Techdw]

Hi Guys,

 

I have a brand new Apple Mini and 30 Macbooks, now I am a Windows guy and don't have a clue how to start with setting this up on the network.

 

Any one have a guide? Need to be able to do things like mapped drives and set an image up so we can image machines from the Mac Server. Will vlans with a mac mini and imaging be an issue?

 

Server 2012/Cisco Network.

 

Thanks

[Norphy]

First of all, get a copy of Deploystudio to make and deploy and configure images of your Macs.

 

Imaging across VLANs shouldn't be a problem but like with DHCP and PXE, you will need to put some IP helpers in the VLANs that your clients are in which point at your Mac Server.

 

You don't necessarily need to have a Mac server running on your network for authentication etc, they will bind to Active Directory quite happily without one. However, you will need to set up an Open Directory if you want to push configuration files and software to them using the Apple tools. They should automatically map the user's home area if you've got that set in their AD profile but if you have other network drives you want to map, you'll have to set up a script to do so.

 

It's a broad subject that can't be adequately explained in a forum post. The documentation that comes with OS X Server is quite thorough, it's probably also worth looking at these articles on Ars Technica to get an overall idea of what OS X Server can do too:

 

Server, simplified: A power user’s guide to OS X Server | Ars Technica

A power user’s guide to OS X Server, Mavericks edition | Ars Technica

A power user’s guide to OS X Server, Yosemite edition | Ars Technica

[davidacland]

As @Norphy said, its a broad topic. Here's a few specific bits and pieces I would recommend:

 

- Binding to AD, avoid unchecking the "Force local home directory on startup disk" as it will tell the Mac to store the user home folder only on the network and you will have huge stability problems.

- Use a modular deployment method leveraging something like Munki (free) or Casper (commercial)

- Use AutoDMG to easily create a base OS image

- Use a first boot script to get the Mac configured after deploying the base image (full guide here: Creating Your First Boot Script)

- Avoid using the internal drives on the Mac mini unless you have no other choice as they are (as standard) 5400-rpm and really struggle

- Don't use Time Machine to back up the server. It doesn't work properly when you restore.

- Consider using a different MDM server rather than the built-in Profile Manager. PM works ok but has a habit of dying for no apparent reason and is quite difficult to backup / restore. I would go for either Casper (if money was available) or Meraki which is a free MDM service. Alternatively Munki 2 can install configuration profiles now, although you have to make them with another tool.

 

There's loads more to know about it but hopefully this list will help give you a head start.

 

David Acland - Amsys