and they're hard to pursuade to put in a dedicated airconned server room (I said I'd build it meself).
How do you manage updates on the machines and software installs with such a large installed base, netboot & home directories on the server?
Tell me about it! We have an air-con system that is grossly underpowered, and only after writing a formal letter to both the head of IT and head of the organisation stating that I was not going to take any responsability for the servers melting down as soon as the weather got "better" did they pay any attention! I managed to get an air-con man (sorry, I can't call them engineers - Engineers are people with engineering degrees) in to regas the system, remove the timer from the server room (can you believe they had a 12on-12off timer even in the server room!?) and inspect the whole system. Now I've managed to get permission to get a smaller backup air-con installed; but I feel that with the addition of the new xserves I will be running this as an add-on more than as a backup.
We have fiddled with Apple's update system - so now instead of polling Apple for updates it polls one of our servers. The desktops are set to check the server on a daily basis (on boot) and update automatically. On a daily basis, I check for updates, and anything I feel needs to go out I will test on 2 machines first (intel/ppc - a few more if its a big update). If I feel its "safe" (relying on the all time proven gut instinct mixed with a quick web-search) it gets added to the update server and hence gets pushed out (well, pulled) to all the machines when they reboot.
All our users have network accounts, with no information stored on the local machines other than the actual software (and iMovie files which the Xserves/raids CANNOT handle due to sheer size). All this is handled by apple's built-in user-management system (open directory I believe). The home dirs are on 2 raids (the third being for backups). These get backed up on a daily basis to a on-site machine, and on a weekly basis to an off-site machine (which really is another on site machine, but in another building).
Software gets deployed 2 times a year; we create a total of 4 "base" images every year (intel/ppc, every 6 months). Basically we take 2 computers, format them, install everything we need and uninstall anything we think is useless/dangerous/junk/etc then image the drives - this then gets netbooted and the computer is cloned in about 15 minutes. I tend to do this DURING the actual school year as I can use the IT teachers as aides in the process (it really is just restart, hold n, press spacebar). Any software aquired during the year that needs immediate deployment (its rare, but it happens) gets passed around with remote desktop (a little slow, but it eventually gets the job done).
Me again - the one who started this debate.....
What's the difference between parallel and boot camp - do they do the same thing - i.e. allow windows to be run on an apple computer?
Parallels runs from within OsX. This means you have both operating systems (OsX and Windows) using your ram and processor at the same time. You need to boot first into OsX to get to Windows. That said, once IN OsX, you do not need to reboot to get to windows. Originally, this was though of as a emulation of an x86 (intel compatible) processor, but with the newer macs using intel processors, all this is is a machine virtualisation system.
Bootcamp is a boot-loader; by holding alt at startup, you can choose what operating system to boot. (I have my default set to Windows). This has the advantage of not using as much ram/processor/gfx but it does mean that if you want to run the other operating system - you need to reboot. (That said, I can't think of anything stopping you from running both bootcamp and parallels... other than maybe hard drive space)
If you are the sort of user that likes OsX, but occasionally needs things to run under windows (that aren't too processor intensive) go with parallels. If, like me, you do alot of 3D graphics-intensive stuff - go with bootcamp!
Lastly, bootcamp is free (from Apple) while parallels you need to pay for...
Michele
EDIT: one final advice: irrelevant of which method you use; I recomend making 3 partitions:
- Mac OsX Partition (cant remember now, but I believe HFS+)
- Windows Paritions (NTFS)
- Scratch/Store Partition (FAT32)
The reason for this is that Windows XP/Vista LOVES NTFS and HATES Fat32. Hence, you want it running in NTFS. That said, OsX cannot write to NTFS (but it can read from it) - and windows cannot read nor write to HFS+. As such, you use the third partition (usually alot smaller - I would set it to 5GB on the laptop and 10 on the desktop - enough to move a DVD-r / DVD-dl over) as "swap space". You can think of it as an internal, very fast USB stick. I have on my 160Gb macbook pro:
mac: 100
windows: 50
swap: 10
I realise I violated my advice, but thats because I transfer video files from one to the other(hence the 10 gigs) and use OsX for video editing (hence the 100gigs).
Michele
