User Guide
Table Of Contents
- System Imaging and Software Update Administration
- Contents
- About This Guide
- PartI: System Imaging Administration
- Understanding System Imaging
- Creating NetBoot and NetInstall Images
- Using System Image Utility
- Creating Images
- Understanding Workflows
- Workflow Components
- Configuring the Customize Package Selection Action
- Configuring the Define Image Source Action
- Configuring the Add Packages and Post-Install Scripts Action
- Configuring the Add User Account Action
- Configuring the Apply System Configuration Settings Action
- Configuring the Create Image Action
- Configuring the Enable Automated Installation Action
- Configuring the Filter Clients by MAC Address Action
- Configuring the Filter Computer Models Action
- Configuring the Partition Disk Action
- Assembling Workflows
- Adding Software to NetBoot and NetInstall Images
- Setting Up NetBoot Service
- Setting Up Clients to Use NetBoot and NetInstall Images
- Managing NetBoot Service
- Solving System Imaging Problems
- PartII: Software Update Administration
- Understanding Software Update Administration
- Setting Up the Software Update Service
- Managing the Software Update Service
- Manually Refreshing the Updates Catalog from the Apple Server
- Checking the Status of the Software Update Service
- Stopping the Software Update Service
- Limiting User Bandwidth for the Software Update Service
- Automatically Copying and Enabling Updates from Apple
- Copying and Enabling Selected Updates from Apple
- Removing Obsolete Software Updates
- Removing Updates from a Software Update Server
- Identifying Individual Software Update Files
- Solving Software Update Service Problems
- Glossary
- Index
Chapter 1 Understanding System Imaging 21
Property List File
The property list file (NBImageInfo.plist) stores image properties. The following table
gives more information about the property list for Mac OS X image files.
Initial values in NBImageInfo.plist are set by System Image Utility and you usually don’t
need to change the property list file directly. Some values are set by Server Admin. If
you must edit a property list file, you can use TextEdit or Property List Editor, found in
the Utilities folder on the Mac OS X Server Administration Tools CD.
Boot Server Discovery Protocol (BSDP)
NetBoot service uses an Apple-developed protocol based on DHCP known as Boot
Server Discovery Protocol (BSDP). This protocol provides a way of discovering NetBoot
servers on a network.
NetBoot clients obtain their IP information from a DHCP server and their NetBoot
information from BSDP. BSDP offers built-in support for load balancing. See
“Performance and Load Balancing” on page 64.
Property Type Description
Architectures Array An array of strings of the architectures the image supports.
BootFile String Name of boot file: booter.
Index Integer 1–4095 indicates a local image unique to the server.
4096–65535 is a duplicate, identical image stored on multiple servers
for load balancing.
IsDefault Boolean True specifies this image file as the default boot image on the subnet.
IsEnabled Boolean Sets whether the image is available to NetBoot (or Network Image)
clients.
IsInstall Boolean True specifies a Network Install image; False specifies a NetBoot image.
Name String Name of the image as it appears in the Mac OS X Preferences pane.
RootPath String Specifies the path to the disk image on the server, or the path to an
image on another server. See “Using Images Stored on Other Servers”
on page 22.
Type String NFS or HTTP.
SupportsDiskless Boolean True directs the NetBoot server to allocate space for the shadow files
needed by diskless clients.
Description String Text describing the image.
Language String A code specifying the language to be used while starting from the
image.