Macs and Windows Servers

[ZippyDan]

I use Munki to deploy my configuration profiles to the client computers. The computer I use to generate profiles does, by necessity, have OD running, but nothing is bound to that computer.
Windows servers don't enter into this particular detail. There are several different MDM options, like Casper/JAMF Pro, which configure systems without the use of Open Directory.

I'm assuming that for this to work, you still have to install some kind of client on each computer to communicate with the profile server. I don't see that as really providing an advantage over a domain system.

That's not universally true. A user on a non-bound computer can generally access file shares by using the login name of domain\username.

True, but that requires extra input and effort from the user.

 

[chrfr]

I'm assuming that for this to work, you still have to install some kind of client on each computer to communicate with the profile server. I don't see that as really providing an advantage over a domain system.

Yes, Munki requires client-side software, but I was already using it to deploy software to the computers I manage, so it was no additional effort. Munki uses just a plain web server on the server side to distribute software and profiles, so that can be as fault tolerant as you'd like it to be.