How do you manage your Mac workstations?
Solution 1:
We use a combination of Deploystudio, Apple Remote Desktop and Carbon Copy Cloner (when necessary).
Deploystudio manages imaging very well and has the capability to do multicast and differentials. You can integrate scripts and other installations into your package workflows as well.
Apple Remote Desktop is excellent for responding to support requests from users. It also allows you to push packages and even run scripts/command line applications remotely.
Carbon Copy Cloner is a simpler imaging tool that we use to do backups of entire systems etc. Nice thing is it will image the system while it's running.
Solution 2:
Google and a few universities use Puppet. Take a serious look at it. Here are same links that should help you find out more:
- http://northstarlabs.net/2009/01/macworld-2009-puppet-presentation/
- http://www.bestechvideos.com/2008/12/08/rubyconf-2008-a-puppet-story-systems-building-systems
- http://www.redmonk.com/cote/2008/06/11/puppet-at-google-redmonk-radio-episode-48/
- http://code.google.com/p/puppet-mw08/
Solution 3:
Our extremely legacy solution uses a single monolithic disk image that is pushed down to workstations via Netboot and NetRestore (which has been discontinued). Software updates are done in batches which obviously necessitates creating a new image and a whole lot of network bandwidth to update the clients. It's slow, clunky, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. We've definitely been looking into pkg based deployments using tools like DeployStudio. But we're still just in the research phase.
Solution 4:
We currently use NetRestore but are migrating to DeployStudio since NetRestore has been deprecated. DeployStudio is not as clean cut as NetRestore but it definitely has the potential to surpass it. It provides for more flexibility and even setting up triple boot images (although I have yet to use this feature and don't see it being used much in a corporate environment).
If you want to just build packages to push out through ARD, a good tool is LANrev. It's free but you need to enter an email address to receive a serial number.
Solution 5:
Google and some publishing houses use puppet.
I use it on Macs on my home network, and use Puppet professionally on other OSes.
It's not without it's flaws and quirks, but it's free and you can do almost anything you want with it.