There was something like 15,000 - 30,000 Macs out there when I worked at this place plus another 60 to 90 thousand PCs so difference of scale there. Taking a physical inventory was a seriously expensive endeavor.
I really don't know enough about Open Directory to comment on the pros/cons of its capabilities versus those inherent in AD. One benefit of AD and Windows though is that you've got a substantial ecosystem of third party developers and there are A LOT of choices for management add-ons on top of AD if you want the added functionality. When I've had to evaluate this for the Mac platform those third parties have been few and far between. Thanks, Brian Desmond br...@briandesmond.com c - 312.731.3132 -----Original Message----- From: Matthew W. Ross [mailto:mr...@ephrataschools.org] Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 4:40 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Mac and Windows mix That does make it difficult. Then again, so would any dual-booting Linux user on a PC. If you don't want them to do it, don't allow them too. (We make them choose one or the other.) Users with their own personal VMs in VMWare Player or VirtualBox also make management frustrating. How does Microsoft's Active Directory manage users/computers better than Apple's Open Directory? Our district requires a count of computers at least once a year. We do physical counts, not some network scan to see what's out there. That, happily, resolves any "Dual personality" problem. (Not to mention the teachers squirm a little when I ask there the Projector that was assigned to them is.) Oh, and I do admit that we're not a large school. 1000 computers across 6 locations isn't all that much compared to some. But it's a lot for 3 people, and I'm the only Mac/Linux/Network guy. <own horn>Toot!</own horn> --Matt Ross Ephrata School District ----- Original Message ----- From: Brian Desmond [mailto:br...@briandesmond.com] To: NT System Admin Issues [mailto:ntsysad...@lyris.sunbelt-software.com] Sent: Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:37:13 -0700 Subject: RE: Mac and Windows mix > My experience having worked for one of the largest school districts in > the US is that the solution you outlined doesn't really scale. I've > seen it work well for relatively small environments but once you > introduce a large number of Mac machines, things get difficult. When > the solution works, you're still looking at some significant > management overhead and duplication of infrastructure. > > The key issue I've seen with Macs recently is their newfound bipolar > disorder. One day they're a Mac, the next day they're a PC. Good luck > accounting for that in your asset database. > > Thanks, > Brian Desmond > br...@briandesmond.com > > c - 312.731.3132 > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Matthew W. Ross [mailto:mr...@ephrataschools.org] > Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 11:54 AM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: RE: Mac and Windows mix > > Macs are not the burden you make them sound to be. > > Integrating a Mac into a windows network is never going to be > painless; the two systems are inherently different. If what you want > is a Windows experience from your Mac, install Windows. > > Now not everybody likes MacOS X, but the same can be said for Windows. > Insert the problem of subjective preference here. > > Personally, I love working on my iMac, and managing the other Macs in > our district is very easy if you use the provided Apple tools: Mac OS > X server, Open Directory, and Apple Remote Desktop. > > Then again, I hate how a Mac _can_ cost 2x as much as a comparable PC. > I do like that software upgrades are cheaper for Mac, but I don't like > how apple drops support for anything that is not the current > generation or the previous one. If you're 2 generations back, you're out of > luck. > > What can a Mac do that a PC Can't? Nothing. But I would argue that > competition is one of the pillars of innovation. Without Mac OS X > competing against Windows, what would Windows look like today? > > > --Matt Ross > Ephrata School District > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: James Hill > [mailto:james.h...@superamart.com.au] > To: NT System Admin Issues > [mailto:ntsysad...@lyris.sunbelt-software.com] > Sent: Sun, 05 Sep 2010 > 19:28:49 -0700 > Subject: RE: Mac and Windows mix > > > > We have pretty much eliminated all of the Mac's here. > > > > We didn't have 3rd party products to manage them so they always > > required so much manual interaction. Any global change we made we > > could easily automate with PC's thanks to group policy etc but it > > was always a manual change for the Mac's. > > > > They really aren't a corporate product imo. You only have to look > > to Apple for a corporate grade management solution to realise that > > it doesn't > exist. > > > > They do indeed need patching (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222) > > and there is AV products for them. Symantec has one for example. > > Personally I think the day is coming when someone will write a > > decent bit of malware/virus for them and 99% plus will get caught out by it. > > There is a very misguided opinion amongst the Apple community that > > they are safe. Apple's false advertising only strengthens this. > > The facts are that Mac's are more vulnerable than the PC world > > http://www.crn.com/security/226200083 > > > > More importantly, what is the need for the Mac's in the first place? > > For us they were only sued for Adobe CS, which runs just fine on PC's. > > In fact these days Adobe is more behind the PC world than the Mac. > > For example, 64bit Photoshop was first on PC, had to wait for CS5 > > for Mac > to get it. > > That's without going into the Flash debate :) > > > > > > > > > > > > From: David Lum [mailto:david....@nwea.org] > > Sent: Saturday, 4 September 2010 6:07 AM > > To: NT System Admin Issues > > Subject: Mac and Windows mix > > > > I would like to hear from those of you who have a mixed Windows/Mac > > environments: How do you handle management of the diverse environment? > > Presumably with Mac's there is no patching or AV. Can you use GPO's > > on them in any fashion (wondering if there's some add-in to allow > equivalency). > > David Lum // SYSTEMS ENGINEER > > NORTHWEST EVALUATION ASSOCIATION > > (Desk) 971.222.1025 // (Cell) 503.267.9764 > > > > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ > > <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > > > --- > > To manage subscriptions click here: > > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > > or send an email to > > listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbe > > lt > > software.com> > > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ > > <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > > > --- > > To manage subscriptions click here: > > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > > or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com > > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ > <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ > <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
