--- Forwarded Message from Bob Majors <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 16:09:54 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Bob Majors <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum
<[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #7648 Ghosting an OS X lab
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
>References: <[log in to unmask]>

> Does anybody have a good idea or application that would work for "ghosting"
> a Mac OS X lab?
>
> So far we have been storing a pristine image of our computers on an
> external harddrive, and that's very unwieldy, so I am looking for a way to
> clean and refresh (or update) machines without re-installing operating
> system and contents one-by-one.

There are a number of choices, depending partly on if you want to
periodically image machines or refresh them at logout/ restart.  The best
single source for this info is:

http://macosxlabs.org/

I create a clone master, run some AppleScripts I've written to automate
some of the processes described at bombich.com as well as to make
international keyboards work when the image is cloned and distributed, use
NetRestore Helper to create the image, place it on an OS X server, then
have the clients NetBoot and NetRestore from the image.  You can deploy
Apple software updates and other packages (.pkg files) that you get from
others or make yourself, using Apple Remote Desktop.  Be sure to look at
RSyncX at the macosxlabs.org site too.

Bob Majors
Language Learning Center
Univesity of Washington