[MacTUG] initial observations with Maverick on a lab computer (using profile manager, etc)

[Donald Duff-McCracken]

So just a bit more of an update.

We were talking a bit at the meeting about whether Deploystudio would bind
10.9 clients.

I am pretty confident of this as I have done this a few times. And (knock
on wood) it all seems to be working fine. I have tried a few different
accounts ‹ students and staff and it is working well including mounting
the correct N drive.

Dani thanks for the link to
http://malcontentcomics.com/systemsboy/2006/11/directory-access-via-the-com
mand-line.html

As it the deploystudio workflow task is binding fine to AD, most of the
stuff there I do not need, but it is great to have it.

I learned at least one thing from systemsboy¹s info on command line AD
however and that was using the "id random_nexus_username² command to see
if AD is bound to or not. Very cool.

Regarding the non-ad side of me deploying a 10.9 test lab computer. I am
surprised (again, knock on wood) that I have not really ran into any
issues with any of the software that I have installed. I will have to play
with this more.

Next stop: OS X 10.9 Server as a profile manager :-)



>On 10/24/2013 10:41 AM, Donald Duff-McCracken wrote:
>> I might move to Mavericks for my lab, sooner than later. The ³Free²
>>part is a big factor but I am also going to test 10.9 server to see if
>>profile manager is a bit more polished, which is my hope.
>>
>> At any rate, I have updated one of my test lab machines from 10.8 to
>>10.9, still using the 10.8 profile manager server, and I am pleasantly
>>surprised to see that it is generally working . I have not done
>>exhaustive tests but I changed my ³Login Window Message² and that
>>updated successfully. It is possible that some other settings may not
>>work with 10.8 Server, but I plan on moving to testing 10.9 server and
>>really would not plan on deploying 10.9 clients with 10.8 server ‹ after
>>all one of my motivations for doing an early upgrade is that I hope
>>there are improvements in 10.9 server. So I will only be playing with
>>10.9 client & 10.8 server for a day or so before I start seeing how 10.9
>>client & server play together.
>>
>> As I mentioned I found a few interesting little problems so far (all of
>>which I have overcome) but I will share:
>>
>>
>> 1. My User Template Preferences were wiped out: I just ran the updater
>>on an existing 10.8 mac and almost all the gunk I had squirrelled away
>>in the Prefs folder was deleted. This is not a big deal when I deploy
>>10.9 I will do it from a fresh install with the appropriate plists in
>>the User Template. For the time being I reran the Composer Package I use
>>to deploy the User Template prefs and all the ones I care about (Finder
>>settings, dock etc) seem to work fine.
>> 2. Speaking of user template, I need to add one more plist if I do not
>>want the annoying ³sign in to iCloud, give us your apple id, etc²
>>message to show up. The com.apple.SetupAssistant.plist controls this.
>>(Note. This file exists in 10.8 but I have never needed to put it in the
>>User Template to bypass this process.)
>>
>> At any rate, I will likely build a server as 10.9 over the next few
>>days and start playing with it. I will play with both 10.9 and 10.8
>>clients. If it seems robust with 10.8 clients I may upgrade it even
>>sooner (with a clone of it as a 10.8 server). Why? I find the 10.8
>>server is rough around the edges, and one of the nice things about
>>profile manager is that once your clients are set up the way that you
>>want them to be, it is a rather ³safe fail² design. I.E., once the
>>client macs have the profiles they need the server is not really
>>essential until the profile-based settings need to be changed.
>>
>> ------------------------------------
>> Donald Duff-McCracken
>> Technical Services Manager
>> Mapping, Analysis & Design
>> Faculty of Environment
>> University of Waterloo
>> (519) 888-4567 x32151
>> 
>>https://uwaterloo.ca/environment-computing/about/people/donald-duff-mccra
>>cken
>>
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