Xserve Cluster Setup Imaging Steps Begin by booting the master Xserve On client open the terminal and run /System/Library/ServerSetup/sa_srchr 224.0.0.1. This will search for all Xserves waiting to be setup via Apple Server Assistant. This will return a line like this: /System/Library/ServerSetup/sa_srchr 224.0.0.1 localhost#unknown#192.168.0.1#00:0d:93:xx:xx:xx#Mac OS X Server 10.3.5#RDY4Setup#2.0#0 Remote login to the Xserve using ssh from the client computer ssh root@192.168.0.1 and enter the first eight digits of the Xserve's serial number for the password. Run Software Update until all updates are installed: softwareupdate --list Man softwareupdate for more information about using the command line version of software update. The remainder of the changes to the master Xserve image can either be done now (while remotely logged into the server) or after creating a read/write image of the Xserve. Shutdown the Xserve using shutdown -h now Boot the Xserve into target mode by powering up and holding down the system identifier light until the top row of the cpu meter lights blink back and forth like Knight Rider. Press the system identifier button until the fifth light on the bottom row is lit. Now hold the identifier light until the system reboots. For more information on the startup options on the Xserve check out this article: Using the System Identifier button to activate a boot menu Attach a firewire cable between the Xserve and client mac. Get-info on the Server HD disk and uncheck ignore permissions. This step is critical! Using Disk Utility create a read/write disk image of the Xserve hard drive (Image menu --> Create Image from Folder). If you have already made all of the changes you need to the image you can skip the Read/Write image and create a compressed image. A compressed image is not necessary, but it will restore faster then any other image type. Mount the Read/Write image and remove any unwanted files/applications and install any additional software like radmind. After you are satisfied with your image, create a compressed image of the mounted disk in the same way as before (essentially making an image of the edited image). Attach a firewire disk that can boot an Xserve to the client mac. I imaged the firewire drive from the new cluster image we just created, however any version of Mac OS X will do. Copy the compressed image to the root of the firewire drive and name it "Server HD.img". Verify that the client computer can boot off of the firewire disk before proceeding. Install the node_config startup item to the /Library/StartupItems folder of on the firewire disk. See the Startup Item page for more details. Using the terminal run the following command on the image: asr -imagescan /Volumes/Image/Server\ HD.img Startup Xserve from firewire hard drive, after booting it will run the startup script and image the hard drive (about 3.5 minutes in our setup using a firewire 800 drive) and reboot. The Server Assistant will then search the firewire hard drive for a folder named "Auto Server Setup" and find the setup file with its serial number. After configuring (about 2.5 minutes) the node will then reboot and be ready for use. Next -> Startup Item