Instadmg & Lion Server

[PaintedTurtleParticipant]

I find lots of sites mentioning that Instadmg supports Lion Server. And I see that there is a catalog file for Lion Server. But, I’ve found no discussion on how to actually get it to work.

Since the catalog files support comments, in addition to replying here, I’d suggest that some supporting comments be added to the server catalog file answering these and perhaps other appropriate points.

What does one use for the OS installer source to create a never booted Lion Server image? The AppStore downloaded  InstallESD.dmg installers all seem to be for client, not server. And nothing in the catalog seems to add Server.app.

I know that if one has purchased a Mac with Server preinstalled by Apple, that the Recovery Partition will download a special installer including server. But this requires one to have a machine so purchased. And it is also tricky as the installer wants to delete itself after installing.

To get this to work, does one need to run instadmg on Lion Server, or can it be run on Lion Client?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Allister BanksParticipant]

For all intents and purposes, there is little difference between Lion-and-up Client and Server OS’es(10.7, 10.8.) Therefore we removed the prevailing suggestion that people try to not build images on ‘servers’.

The distribution change in Lion where now the MAS is used does make it extremely difficult to get a Lion Server OS installer, the only way I know of is the hardware-specific route, as described here: http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/downloading-lion-os-installers-for-your-specific-mac-model/

As of 10.8 MoLoYoLo, there is no support for the AutoServerSetup.plist, which is just about as final a word on the topic as anyone can offer. It is highly unlikely Apple will consider images and automation a supportable or intended way to move forward with OS X Server as a platform: it’s now an app, self-contained like Xcode. Pardon if I find it not particularly attractive to continue to advertise or document that niche functionality on one OS version of a heavily altered server platform. I will try to remember to squeeze it in with the next catalog revisions, thank you for approaching us so politely.

Allister

@sacrilicious

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