[itdiscuss] Mac Automations

[Rob Shaw]

Paul,

Up until just recently we were all PCs.  I agree that Macs can take more
time and can be more difficult to manage... when you have to touch each one
to manage it.  However, I think it is an unfair to compare non-managed Macs
to Windows-based PCs that are managed through Windows-based systems.  If you
do the same with a Mac and Open Directory, management becomes much easier
and, in some ways, even easier that touching MS group policies.

We have just implemented (with great thanks to Jason Lee and team from
Northview) what Mac calls their ³magic triangle².  This joins Macs to your
Windows Active Directory based network by including an Apple Xserve (or
other Apple running OSX server).  The OS X server is joined (bound) to
Active Directory then the individual Macs are joined both to Active
Directory and Open Directory (OS X).  Through Apple¹s workgroup management
console you can manage group-policy-like settings in graphic and quite
flexible manner by creating managed groups where individuals are taken
straight from the Active Directory without any necessary duplication of
users.  Adding printers is also  VERY easy as you can add it once to the
Workgroup Manager and they are then pushed out the next time a user logs in.
Drivers are included for most HP printers and many others are available for
other brands too.  (We¹re making sure for any new printers we use that they
are either supported by OS X or are natively postscript.)

There are definitely quite a few basics that are different between Macs and
PCs... and this more recent ease of management (and embracing of a full SMB
file structure) has caused this MS admin to have to rethink some of my
outdated opinions on Macs.  There are still some problems/quirks that make
the Macs not so viable across a very large-scale or an entire enterprise,
but when used as part of an Active Directory setup for only a couple of
departments or limited users, Apple is finally starting to get it right, in
my opinion.

There¹s quite a bit of information out there, but not all of it is good.
I¹d be glad to point you to some of the other resources that helped us
during this transition, if you like.
 

 




From: "Phillips, Paul" <pphillips at walkthru.org>
Reply-To: IT Discussion Forum <discuss at itdiscuss.org>
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:15:09 -0400
To: IT Discussion Forum <discuss at itdiscuss.org>
Subject: [itdiscuss] Mac Automations

We all operate on ever-changing networks.  Printers may change or drivers
updated; new file shares may become available; new resources and services
are added or updated.  Microsoft makes the management of these changes
across a network fairly easy.  Through tools like Active Directory, VBS,
WMI, etc., a network administrator can control available resources for a
given Windows workstation.  Macs are seemingly not as easy to manage on a
large scale.
 
As an example, I recently upgraded all of our copiers. Of course, the
drivers for these copiers had to be installed for each workstation.  On my
Windows workstations, this was easy.  I simply updated the drivers on my
print server, and the workstations all updated themselves.  On my Macs, the
story was not so painless.  I had to go to each workstation individually and
install the drivers manually.  Not that I have hundreds of Mac workstations
to update, but it was still a pain to coordinate when I could access each
workstation.
 
This is just one example of many changes that occur on any of our networks
over the course of a business year.  As more networks become saturated with
Macs, one of two things has to occur ­ either we find and use tools that
automate these kinds of changes on a Mac as easily as it already is on a
Windows workstation, or we increase our administrative overhead by hiring
more staff.  What tools do you use to push network configuration changes out
to your Mac users? 
 

Paul Phillips
IT Manager

(770) 458-9300 x305
pphillips at walkthru.org
 


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