Quickly NetBoot from a Different Subnet than the NetBoot Server

It was necessary to quickly NetBoot a couple of Macs from a different subnet in our organization than the subnet the NetBoot server is hosted on.  After some searching I came across this command:

sudo Bless --netboot --server bsdp://x.x.x.x --nextonly

Replace the x's with the IP address of your NetBoot server and run this command from Terminal or ARD.  Reboot your Mac and it should attempt to NetBoot to your server.

Managed Printers Using Incorrect Drivers

Recently we started updating our student MacBook Airs to OS 10.8.3 which has gone really well.  However, over the past few weeks we noticed some students were having trouble printing to some of our HP LaserJet 4250 printers.  The printer would produce a page, however, it was a single line of gibberish.  Upon further examination, I noticed that the printer had been using a generic driver.

We use Open Directory for our Mac management and push the printer settings to the clients through Workgroup Manager.  All of the 10.7 clients would detect the printer model and use the correct driver.  After a web search I found that I could specify the PPD that should be used in Workgroup Manager.

To remedy this problem:

1.  You must first make sure the drivers are available to the client.  I am going to make the drivers available to my clients as a required install via Munki.

• Here is the link to the latest HP driver package from Apple.  http://support.apple.com/kb/DL907

2.  If you know the driver is available on the client connect to your OD server with Workgroup Manager.

3.  Select the user or group that has the printer settings assigned to it.

4.  Click the Preference tab, then click the Details tab.

5.  Double-click the com.apple.mcxprinting entry.

6.  Click the triangle next to Always.

7.  Click the triangle next to the printer you want to modify.

8.  Select the printer you want to modify and click the New Key button.

9.  Type PPDPath for the new key name.

10.  Set the type to String

11.  Change the value to the path where the PPD file is located on the client.

• For my LaserJet 4250 it was:

file://localhost/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/HP LaserJet 4250.gz

Reboot the Mac, log in and you should now have the correct driver listed for the printer.

Update Adobe Flash on Macs with Munki

Due to the high volume of updates for Adobe Flash and Java I decided I needed a central way to manage updates for my 300+ Macs.  ARD works well for deploying to desktops that are always connected to the network, but it makes it harder to ensure that all mobile users have the updates available to them to install.  After some research I decided to use Munki.  It is easy to use, set up and manage. You can also point Munki's Managed Software Update application at your Apple SUS server and install Apple updates for users who don't have administrative rights.

Here are the steps to deploy Adobe Flash via Munki.  I am deploying version 11.7.700.169.

• Download the DMG installer from the Adobe Flash Player Distribution site.

• Open the install_flash_player_11_osx.dmg file to mount it.

• Open Terminal and type the following commands:

/usr/local/munki/munkiimport /Volumes/Flash\ Player/Install\ Adobe\ Flash\ Player.app/Contents/Resources/Adobe\ Flash\ Player.pkg

• If you already have Adobe Flash in your Munki repo you will be prompted to use the exisiting item as a template.  Type 'Y' if you would like to do so.

Note:  The following steps may vary depending on how you have set up your environment and naming conventions.

• Enter the following:

Item name:  Adobe Flash (Version)
Display Name:  Adobe Flash (Version)
Description:  Adobe Flash (Version) Released (Date)
Version:  (Version)
Catalogs:  production

• When prompted, type 'Y' to confirm you would like to import the item.

• When prompted, type 'Y' to rebuild the catalogs.

I prefer to use MunkiWebAdmin to manage my catalogs and manifests.  Now that we have added the Adobe Flash install to our repo, we need to assign it to a manifest.

• Log into MunkiWebAdmin

• Click on Manifests

• Click the manifest you would like to apply the update to and click the Edit button.
  

• Click the green "+" next to Managed Installs.

• Type in the Item name for the package we uploaded earlier.

• Click Save.

Now the update should be available via Managed Software Update on any Macs that are set to use this manifest.

I would recommend going to http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ to verify that Adobe Flash was in fact updated.

I have most of my clients set to require the user logout to install the updates.  This keeps users from having applications open that may need to be closed to apply the update.  If Safari is open when you run this update, it will need to be Quit and reopened to activate the latest plug-in version.

For more information on Munki, visit their project page:

http://code.google.com/p/munki/

Quickly Create SCCM Collection for All Windows Clients

I was deploying a handful of updates today and I wanted to deploy the updates to all of my Windows clients, but not my servers.  I am using System Center Configuration Manager 2012 for the deployment so it is easy to create custom computer collections.  I used the following steps to include all computers that have a Windows client OS in a collection called All Windows Clients.

1.  Open the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Console.

2.  Navigate to Assets and Compliance > Device Collections.

3.  Click Create Device Collection.



4.  Enter the name All Windows Clients

5.  Set the Limiting Collection to All Systems and click Next.



6.  Click Add Rule > Direct Rule.

7.  In the Create Direct Membership Rule Wizard window, change the Attribute Name to Operating System Name and Version.

8.  In the value field, type %workstation% and click Next.



9.  You should now see all of the devices that match the value we typed in.  If they match, click Select All to add them and click Next.

10.  A summary of all the workstations that match the rule will now be displayed.  Review it and click Next.  Click Close when the wizard completes.

11.  From the Create Device Collection Wizard window, place a check next to Use Incremental Updates for this Collection.

12. Change the schedule if desired and click Next.

13.  Review the changes and click Next to create the new collection.  Close the wizard.

14.  Click on the All Windows Clients device collection and select Refresh.

To create an All Windows Servers group, replace %workstation% with %server%.  This will gather all computers with a Windows Server OS.