Installation Order With Other Products; Securing Your System; Retaining User Data; Managing Deep Freeze Mac Workstations - FARONICS DEEP FREEZE MAC - BEST PRACTICES 4-2-2008 Manual

NOTE: It is recommended that all previous versions of Deep Freeze Mac OS X be uninstalled before
installing a newer version.
Installation Order With Other Products
In order to properly install environments that contain both Deep Freeze Mac and any other product,
either of the following two methods can be used:
• Install the other program(s) first and then install Deep Freeze Mac. This ensures that the
additional programs are part of the Frozen system.
• Install Deep Freeze Mac first in a Thawed state, then install the other program(s). This ensures
that the additional programs are not deleted when the computer(s) is rebooted. The computer
then needs to be set back into a Frozen state.
Securing Your System
Apple provides an application called Open Firmware Password that prevents users from pressing
the keys necessary to boot into single-user mode or boot from an alternative volume at start up. To
download the Open Firmware Password application, refer to Apple's instructions at:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/openfirmwarepassword.html
For Mac OS X 10.4 or later, the updated version of this application can be copied from the software
installation disc, located at Applications > Utilities on the disk. Please note that Intel-based Macintosh
computers can be protected by firmware passwords as well by using Extended Firmware Interface
(EFI) technology.
Retaining User Data
In an environment where the user data needs to be stored on the local machine, it is possible to set up
an area where the user data can be stored. This involves redirecting data to a Thawed location, either
a Global or Individual ThawSpace or a Thawed partition. This re-directing, or Mapping, can be done
directly in the Deep Freeze Mac user interface on the Mapping tab. Refer to the Deep Freeze Mac
documentation for more information.
Managing Deep Freeze Mac Workstations
Now that Deep Freeze Mac has been deployed, the following information provides recommendations
for managing a Deep Freeze Mac deployment.
Apple Remote Desktop Integration
As mentioned above, the Deep Freeze Assistant can install tasks for use with Apple Remote Desktop.
They appear in their own Deep Freeze folder on the ARD sidebar. These tasks can be used as supplied or
as a starting point for controlling Deep Freeze with ARD. Each task mirrors a Deep Freeze Controller
command, although you can also remotely request the Deep Freeze status from any Mac via ARD.
To use the tasks, they must be edited to add site-specific information, eg. usernames and passwords.
For ARD to perform the tasks, the target computer(s) for the task must be specified, the target
computer(s) must have Deep Freeze installed and a user on the target computer must be specified to
run the command.
To target computers with a particular ARD task, select the desired task and drag the preferred
workstations or group of workstations into the lower portion of the task window. The number of
computers assigned to a specific task appears at the bottom of the window
As with deploying the Deep Freeze Mac installer package, any Deep Freeze task can be scheduled
through ARD for automated execution.