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Mac computers and Management
I have hopefully a few quick questions…
We are looking at implementing OD in our environment to get a handle on the large number of Mac computers we have on campus. Currently we push a lot of stuff using ARD and a task server. We hope that implementing OD will allow us to manage our Mac computers better and give us a better handle on them. We were given the MacEnterprise list from PSU as a resource awhile back, but wanted to ping you guys…
1) Do you use OD in your environment? If so, How? Do you use it for pushing policies, getting inventory, Deploy Studio integration, Etc.?
2) If you do use it, how is it working for you? What would you do differently if you were doing it from scratch and could change anything?
3) If you are NOT using OD, how are you managing you Mac computer and getting accurate inventories from them?
Thank you!
Matthew
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Matthew:
We do leverage Mac OS X Server (v10.6.8) on Xserve hardware with OD in our iMac student lab environment. We have a few OD user accounts setup that serve as the logins for whatever group of students are using the space for a particular class, as well as, a generic “student” account to use for public consumption. Utilizing the managed preferences through OS X Server to apply towards those different OD accounts has been super easy and extremely valuable in managing and tweaking the various user profiles as needed and on the fly.
Also on the management side, we use a combination of Apple Remote Desktop and Meraki Systems Manager to push out various items as needed, get precise inventory data, and control each Mac, plus DeployStudio to re-image our machines. It’s fully automated and automatically re-images both the Windows and Mac partitions (we have our iMacs in dual boot mode) when needed, which is rare!
All in all, our setup has been extremely rock solid and I’m not sure I would change anything at this point. Don’t fix what isn’t broke! J
Kent Corser | IT Manager - User Services
Main 800.755.5200 | Fax 785.242.0182
Direct 785.248.2494 | OU Help 855.268.4357
www.ottawa.edu | kent.corser@ottawa.edu
University Information Technology Services
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Office: Bolton Hall 234A
Office Phone: 414-229-7253
Email: skleba@uwm.edu