Net install Image not being found

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Level 1

5 points

Net install Image not being found

Hello all,

IM new to OS x server and I'm trying to set up a netinstall image right now from the El Capitan installer. I've created the image, have it in the correct Server folder, and get the green light that my image is good to go. Thing is, I'm trying to set this up as a local network. The computer I'm running server on isn't touching the Internet. I have the server machine and the computer I'm trying to run the netinstall on plugged into the same switch, but the computer isn't seeing the netinstall image when holding down Option or N. Am I doing something wrong here, or is there something specific I need to do in server since the computer isn't touching the Internet? Basically I want to make the install only available to other computers plugged into the same switch.

Thanks!

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 6, 2015 9:50 AM

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Answer 1

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Oct 6, 2015 9:57 AM in response to Saiio

Is the switch plugged into your router? And are both Server and client Mac on the same network (not WiFi)? Meaning their IPs are similar (e.g. 10.0.1.2, 10.0.1.10)

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Answer 2

Saiio Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 6, 2015 10:13 AM in response to keg55

Keg,

The setup I want is a LAN setup, so right now nothing is connected to the switch besides the two computers. Because of this, I would assume they both have a similar IP. Do I need to enable dchp or anything in Server to get it working?

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Answer 3

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Oct 6, 2015 10:32 AM in response to Saiio

I'm no network guru, but the only hardware I know that allows 2 computers to talk to each other without a router in between is with an ethernet crossover cable.

I don't know if you can just use a switch to create a Local Area Network without a router. If it's possible, you can try enabling DHCP on the Server to serve up IP addresses. I really don't know if that will work. You will know when you go into System Preferences/Network on each computer to check IP addresses and subnet.

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Answer 4

Saiio Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 6, 2015 4:45 PM in response to keg55

Keg,

After some more testing, I can confirm they have similar IPs, and it's not the switch, as I can ping each computer from each other computer. They can obviously see each other, I'm just not sure why it can't see the NetInstall image.

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Answer 5

Oct 6, 2015 8:16 PM in response to Saiio

DHCP is required to perform any NetInstall actions. If your addresses are 169.254.n.n then you do not have DHCP enabled. If your network setting is set to Manual and you have assigned addresses, then you may not have a DHCP server on the network.

In Server.app, take a look at the NetInstall service. What is the value next to the Enable NetInstall on setting on the General tab? It should be your network interface, as mentioned, this should not be wireless (it will work but it will be slow).

Next, try switching your image to NFS. To do this, select the image from the Images list box. Press the Gear menu and choose to Edit Image Settings...

Set Make Available Over to NFS and press OK.

Stop and Start the NetInstall Service.

From your client, confirm the NFS service has started by running this command:

showmount -e <ip_address_of_server>

You should receive a response similar to the following:

Exports list on <ip_address_of_server>:

/Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0 Everyone

Reboot with the Option key down or look in System Preferences > Startup Disk to see if you can see the service. The N key will only work if you define an image as the default image.

Reid

Apple Consultants Network

Author "El Capitan Server – Foundation Services" :: Exclusively available in Apple's iBooks Store

Author Mavericks Server and Yosemite Server series, also available in Apple's iBooks Store

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