NetBoot Casper Imaging El Capitan.

rblaas
Contributor II

Hi All,

I am stuck with NetBoot. I just can't seem to image a computer with Casper Imaging and successful boot.

Here is what I got.. I have setup a NetSus server (not the appliance) and create a NetBoot NBI with AutoCasperNBI I also have create a Base OS.dmg using AutoDMG. Only updates are applied. No other software. Uploaded the NBI to the NetSus and uploaded the Base OS.dmg to casper admin and set it to prio 1

Created a config in Casper admin using only the Bas OS.dmg.

I can NetBoot and I can select the config within Casper imaging. But when the machine reboots I get a folder with a question mark in it.

I did try to restore the Base OS.dmg via Casper imaging using an external (USB) boot. and then all goes fine.

Any ideas? I have read things like trusting the NetBoot server but I am unsure weather this applies to me. ALso I do not have a recovery partition on the machine (which I am also trying to restore using the Base OS.dmg)

Any ideas are most appreciated.

16 REPLIES 16

mpermann
Valued Contributor II

@rblaas is your Base OS.dmg file in Casper Admin showing a priority of 1 under the Option panel with nothing else checked? Usually things get uploaded with a priority of 10. I've always been told you should set your Base OS to priority 1. If you take a screen shot of your Casper Imaging screen (obscure your JSS info) it might help us figure out what is wrong.

ivanlovisi
New Contributor III

when the computer restarts with question mark, you've tried hold the ALT key and check if the Machintosh HD is available? and boot from them? Perhaps the boot volume is wrong......

rblaas
Contributor II

@mpermann Yes, I specific checked this. It is set as priority 1 and no check boxes are selected.

rblaas
Contributor II

@ivanlovisi When I boot with the option key I see no volumes (other then netboot)

When I check the partitions with diskutil (external booted) I see this:
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical): #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER 0: GUID_partition_scheme *251.0 GB disk0 1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1 2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 250.1 GB disk0s2

I am missing the recovery partition.

ivanlovisi
New Contributor III

Volume is not bootable, but do you can see anything in target mode on the Hard Drive? the jamf log? do you can post it?

rblaas
Contributor II

It gets even weirder .... I just external booted the machine.

The local drive gets mounted but the only thing that is in their is a Library folder which has only root access.

There is also a /private/var/log/jamf.log on the local drive. which is saying that an error occurred mounting the Base OS.dmg ... (ok that is probably why the machine won't boot, but why an error??)

rblaas
Contributor II

@ivanlovisi Ok,

So there is definitely a problem mounting the Base OS.dmg. This image is hosted on our JDS. We only have HTTP available on the JDS. Maybe the image can only be mounted /downloaded via AFP ?

ivanlovisi
New Contributor III

Yes, you need to activate the AFP Sharing in our JDS
i hope this is helpful
https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/article.html?id=369

rblaas
Contributor II

@ivanlovisi I have seen that discussion. The thing is.. That Python script is written for OS X we have our JDS on Ubuntu. So I guessed it did not apply.

I will however enable AFP on the JDS. As it seems to be the logical thing to do in this situation.

thanks for the insights!

bentoms
Release Candidate Programs Tester

Ah. For imaging from a JDS you need AFP

rblaas
Contributor II

hmm I just setup AFP on our JDS. Made sure all packages are available on that share but still no luck.

What I do see is that within my NetBoot At the time of copying the Base OS.dmg (block base..) the local space is not enough.. I see my free space draining to zero.

So I must have a step somewhere wrong ?

stevewood
Honored Contributor II
Honored Contributor II

@rblaas check out this article to enable on Linux:

Enable AFP on JDS on Linux

Once enable you have to choose the AFP share as your distriubution point in Casper Imaging in order for it to work.

rblaas
Contributor II

@stevewood Thanks for chipping in.

I have installed an AFP share and added it to the JSS as a distribution point. I have selected this distribution point in Casper Imaging and still it fails..

I see errors in the /var/log/jamf.log There was an error mounting the fileserver at.......

rblaas
Contributor II

ok I have some success.. I had to create a directory 'Packages' on my AFP share (how I love debug)

Now the image is placed.

Other question: What is common to do? Run enrolment policy during imaging or just a base and let the JSS do it all ?

rblaas
Contributor II

------ duplicate message -------

bentoms
Release Candidate Programs Tester

@rblaas It depends. This is what I used to do.