Managing Mac labs with radmind

ABSTRACT

The research systems Unix group at the University of Michigan have created a nice set of free tools for managing Macintosh computers called radmind. The tools can check the whole filesystem of a client computer against the server's master list, and make changes based on the differences. This means you can add or remove files anywhere on the machine (e.g. applications, user templates and system updates). Together with some simple shell scripts, this makes it possible to have flexible, robust labs with great uptime.

We've been using radmind at Reed College since 2002, and barring mechanical failures (and occasional administrative mistakes!) all machines in our managed labs have been functional all day every day since then.

We've refined our use of the tools to a fairly precise science, including making application transcripts that are modular enough to be added or removed as line items from lab command files without affecting other parts of the system.

In the paper and talk, I'll give some examples of how we've organized our radmind system, show some scripts we've written, and give some strategies for making successful modular transcripts.

Index Terms

• Software and its engineering

  • Software organization and properties

    • Contextual software domains

      • Operating systems