
Chapter 8 Client Management Overview 133
Installing and Booting Over the Network
The key to fast initial setup of multiple user computers and rapid refresh of computers
is the use of Network Install and NetBoot images that reside on Mac OS X Server. User’s
computers start up using those images automatically.
You use Network Install images when you want to install software on user computers.
You use NetBoot images when you want users’ computer environments to be refreshed
every time their computers are started.
Using a network-based boot image provides many advantages over booting from a
local hard drive:
• The NetBoot image is locked from the user perspective. It can’t be accidentally or
maliciously damaged. In a training lab where students may make mistakes or in a
computer science class where system protection can’t be used because of
programming tool needs, a NetBoot image allows computers to be restarted to their
original state after each use. No matter what a student does while on the system, the
image snaps back to the original condition at each startup.
• A network administrator who needs to perform maintenance doesn’t need to carry a
case full of diagnostic CDs. Instead, he or she can boot a system using a network
image that contains all of the diagnostic and repair tools.
• Multiple images can be provided on the network from a single server, and multiple
servers can be used to provide a single image for optimum throughput.
The server can host as many as 25 different images, so you can maintain a collection
of customized software configurations for different workgroups and computers. For
example, one image can be used for installing the latest applications needed by
particular users, and another image can be used for booting computers in particular
classrooms, offices, or labs.
Mac OS X
Server
Network Install
images
NetBoot
images
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