Receiving + Imaging New Computers with Casper

Owned by Seth Garrepy
Last updated: Mar 14, 2016
2 min read

This guide is primarily for the Imaging Specialist who is deploying new systems out-of-box within TTS.

Step-by-step guide

Imaging Prerequisites

IMPORTANT! The computer to be imaged must already have the following items created ahead of time:

  1. Computer Name: This sequence number, starting with the prefix "TTS-", will be issued by either the Inventory System or manually by a TTS SysAdmin.
  2. Active Directory (AD) Computer Object: The computer object will be pre-staged in the correct Organizational Unit (OU) by a TTS SysAdmin.

To image a new computer, follow the below procedure:

  1. Unbox the computer.
  2. Connect computer to Ethernet.
  3. While holding the "N" key, turn on the power to the computer. Computer will boot to the default Netboot image provided by the TTS Casper Admin.
  4. Once boot up is complete, Casper Imaging will launch automatically. Log in with your Casper credentials to continue.
    Casper Imaging
  5. Click the "Site" button, as indicated by Circle #1. Select "DU - Trinity Technology Services" from the dropdown list, if it is not already selected.
  6. Look now at the inner gray frame, as indicated by Circle #2. Ensure the following information is provided:
    1. Target Drive
    2. Whether or not you will erase the factory-provided OS
    3. The TTS computer name provided to you
    4. The appropriate imaging configuration
      (If you are unsure, choose one of the "DU - TTS - CFG - General Use..." configurations and/or ask your supervisor)
    5. Check "Boot to target drive after imaging"
    6. Leave Distribution Point alone
  7. As indicated by Circle #3, click the "Image" button to begin the process of installing software.

The computer will begin to download software from the indicated Distribution Point and install the software. After it performs the initial installation, it will reboot and install additional software, bind the computer to AD, and run a configuration script on the computer. A Casper Imaging window will hide the software install process after the reboot for the duration of the imaging process.

Imaging is complete once the computer is sitting at the Mac OS X login window. At this point, the computer is ready for deployment, pending any other custom settings or packages the local IT support requests.