Overview

Apple offers 2 features for mac management, SUS, or software update service, and netboot, which allows mac computers to be booted from the network, instead of CD-ROM or USB. Netboot is most commonly used to install OS X on computers. Both of these traditionally have required OS X server, which must be run on an Apple computer, making it difficult to host in datacenters.

The JAMF Netboot SUS/Appliance is configured to run both SUS and Netboot services from an Ubuntu 10.04 LTS virtual machine. Additionally, it includes a webserver for easy configuration and management.

The download and included documentation are available here: https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/viewProduct.html?id=180

Setting up the Appliance

Please be aware that while this appliance is fairly simple to get up and running, it is still a linux based server. If you are unfamiliar with managing an Ubuntu server, please be careful about using this within your IT group

The JAMF appliance is distributed in the .ova format, which is easily imported into Virtualbox. Unfortunately, .ova is not supported by VMWare products. If you are using virtualbox, simply import the .ova file and configure the virtual machine as needed. For VMWare products, the .ova file must be converted to a compatible format, such as .vmx. VMware provides a command line conversion tool that can be used. The download and documentation can be found here: http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/server/vsphere/automationtools/ovf. If you are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with command line tools, more simple instructions are also available: http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/converting-jamfs-netbootsus-appliance-to-vmware/

Configuring the Appliance

The included documentation (https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/redirect.html?url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/jamfsoftware-content/downloads/NetBootSUS+Appliance_v1.0.pdf) has the default passwords and instructions on how to get started. Both Netboot and SUS functions can be configured via a web interface available http://x.x.x.x/webadmin, where x.x.x.x is the IP of the virtual machine.

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