[UniMacTech] Opinions on Casper Suite

[David Wikeley]

Chris,
    The idea is not to use Central IT server but to have our own Casper server running to manage our own computers. If computers can be bound to specific servers then what we have been told is not the case, that only one Casper server can be within a university. I realise that this is not the case for distribution points. We would like to separate our computers from those controlled by Central IT. We already run our own 10.5 servers in several locations, also already using NetInstall and ARD package management.


On 25/08/08 2:57 PM, "Chris Lang" <Chris.Lang at vu.edu.au> wrote:

Deej,

Also as to setting up the client to talk to a specific server, the casper suite allows for the creation of an install package that will bind it to a specific Casper server.  Your central IT should be able to create one for you to bind to theirs.  It is about a 2.5 Meg pkg.  Once you install it it will inventory the machine back to the Casper server.  Only caveat is that when they build the package they would need to specify a local admin account that you use on the box as it uses these credentials combined with SSH to manage the machine.

Chris


On 25/08/08 1:51 PM, "David Wikeley" <David.Wikeley at utas.edu.au> wrote:

David,
    Can an institution have more than one Casper server running, with different management roles. Our central IT has purchased Casper and have told us that only one Casper Server can run within the University. Therefore Central IT will not allow us to setup another. Can the Casper client be set to look at a particular Casper Server.


On 25/08/08 1:29 PM, "David Whiteley" <david.whiteley at deakin.edu.au> wrote:

Casper is definitely beyond what ARD can do, as it encompasses everything from imaging to SOE deployment, patching, compliance, auditing, inventory and maintenance, with Windows machines also participating in the auditing/inventorying part. We have been very impressed by the suite. From a small Casper 5.1.3 test playground, I discovered some things about our network and managed SOE of which I was not previously aware.

The imaging portion extends our layering approach (base image with updates, mods, etc applied + SOE app layer + non-SOE app layer) to make the base image itself layered, reducing image build time.

Have so far not experienced any issues with Composer that were not operator error; we have been building software packages manually for years so any templates would be considered gravy rather than SOP. We were particularly impressed by the Adobe CS3 support (both installers and updaters), which allows CS3 apps to be deployed silently, pre-configured and serialized in about 3 clicks, instead of writing install scripts and configuring application.xml.override.

http://jamfsoftware.com/libraries/media_library.php


Cheers,
David.

David Whiteley
Senior Desktop Infrastructure Engineer, Information Technology Services Division

Deakin University Geelong Victoria 3217 Australia
Phone: 03 5227 8914 International: +61 3 5227 8914
Fax: 03 5227 8866 International: +61 3 5227 8866
E-mail: deej at deakin.edu.au
Website: http://www.deakin.edu.au

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On 22/08/08 1:01 PM, "Mark Szota" <mark.szota at infotech.monash.edu.au> wrote:

Hi

I've tried to use Casper Composer for package creation in our student
environment but I'm not a huge fan of it. Seemed buggy under Leopard and
their pre-made 'templates' for packages don't seem to be kept up to date
by themselves or the community of users. Maybe there are newer versions
as I haven't used it for over 6 months.

Haven't used the rest of the suite though so I can't comment on that. I
would think most would suggest using Apple Remote Desktop over Casper,
unless there's some extra bits in Casper that ARD doesn't have.

Cheers
Mark

Carrie Osborne wrote:
>
> Hi everyone
>
> Apparently there are a few Australian uni's using JAMF's Casper Suite
> to manage their macs. If anyone on this list is using Casper (for
> staff and or student environments) - what are your opinions and
> experiences with the product, support, integration, etc?
>
> Kind regards,
> Carrie
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Carrie Osborne
> Senior Computing Support Officer  |  Element IT Services  |  GRIFFITH
> UNIVERSITY
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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> unimactech at auc.edu.au
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>


--
Mark Szota

Campus IT Co-ordinator
Berwick School of IT
Monash University
Clyde Road, Berwick, Victoria, Australia, 3806

Tel: +61 3 9904 7122
email: Mark.Szota at infotech.monash.edu.au


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--
David Wikeley
IT Manager
Faculty of Health Science
University of Tasmania
43 Collins Street
Hobart, Tasmania.
T: 03 62264751
W: www.healthsci.utas.edu.au/
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