I've got an extra dual-g5 tower and I'm looking to use it as an image/install server so we can cut down on the time it takes to reinstall/reformat customer computers. I'm willing to do a linux install, but a native Mac alternative would satisfy the lazy in me a bit better. It has to be able to handle different machines and multiple images. The ability to update images easily would be a plus and so would customizable boot prompts that allow easy image selection. It has to be able to handle windows images without significant difficulty.

We can just get a fairly cheap PC tower if Linux/Mac options aren't worth the hassle, but we don't really want this expensive computer to go to waste.

4/9/2007 4:07:25 PM

uh, ghost boots from CD.

4/9/2007 4:12:50 PM

so you want to be pulling and pushing images over a network via a server? i normally just use the bootable media...are you sure you need a ghost/imaging server? why?


the imaging software i use in addition to ghost is arconis trueimage (which I normally run from windows and not the bootable media). i have no idea if they have a version for mac or not.

4/9/2007 4:26:57 PM

Quote :

"ghost boots from CD."

The install image is over 4 gigs and would require double layer DVD's. There's also about 40 images we'd need to have and continually update. Optical media is not feasible. Also, some older machines have no DVD drives. Yes we could probably get the install image a lot smaller than that, but the need to update them often would still present difficulties.

What I had hoped to do was manage and update the images on a ghost server and have a prompt come up on network boot that has you enter the computer model number, thus selecting an image to install. This would be significantly faster than the manufacturers 7 disc restore process and more secure and effective than restoring to an existing backup. We ideally want something that would purge personal information and viruses fairly effectively.

[Edited on April 9, 2007 at 5:37 PM. Reason : ]

4/9/2007 5:32:19 PM

install a PXE boot server.

Create a PXE boot disk that has some version of dos on it with network support and the drivers for the mac.

Boot to the PXE disk on the mac. Mount a network drive that has ghost.exe. Start imaging.

If you want a selectable thingy, just create a different PXE boot disk for each machine type and script out the drive mount and imaging process.

4/9/2007 5:56:31 PM

The computers being imaged are almost all PC's (thinkpads.) We just want to see if we can use the Mac as the server.

4/9/2007 6:19:56 PM

Im sure theres probably a PXE server for osx. And you can run samba for the network share.

Note that you dont need to run the PXE server on the same server that has the network share. If you have a windows 2000 server Domain Controller you could probably install the PXE service there.

4/9/2007 6:34:24 PM

run samba on the mac, make a boot cd that has network drivers for all the machines you're imaging, and pc dos. have it mount the samba share on the mac, put ghost.exe and all the ghost drivers on the samba share, then just run ghost.exe and copy and image file there or pull an image file from it. don't need pxe

4/10/2007 12:29:45 AM

I'll give those a try. The manager really doesn't want to have to mark a dual g5 powermac down to under 600 bucks so he's desperate to find an in-store use for it. Thanks for the suggestions.

4/10/2007 10:05:07 AM

he's going to waste far more resource time and money than he would just marking the thing down and getting it out of the place.

4/10/2007 10:33:25 AM

[no] Noen you really dont know shit about how we are running our process now

[Edited on April 10, 2007 at 11:02 AM. Reason : 

4/10/2007 10:53:52 AM

It looks worse to the upper management for him to mark it down and take a huge loss than it would be for him to use it in store at this point. Also, this use would save about 30 man hours a week during the slow periods and 80+ during early semester rush. At 9 an hour, the net savings that this project will produce will more than make up for the cost of the machine. Granted, it could be done cheaper with a low priced dell tower (something he's considered) but he'll get less flak for using the existing inventory.

4/10/2007 11:51:03 AM