I'm a long time user of apple's NetBoot system. Although this system is totally dead on new machines, I still use it from time to time when I'm working on old systems. My home server is a 2012 Mac mini formerly running 10.11. On that OS, I ran everything normally without any problem. For other reasons, I've had to upgrade that mini. It is now running 10.15. So I set up a 10.11 virtual machine and installed the Server.app on that. This all works just fine with one catch: I do not want to store all 200+ GB of netboot images inside the virtual machine's disk image. I want to store those images natively on the file system of the host machine, the 10.15 machine. According to the NetBoot docs, you are supposed to be able to choose to store NetBoot Images, NetBoot User Data, or both, on any of your physical hard drives OR NFS shares. So ultimately what i'm trying to do is a lot simpler than it sounds. I'm trying to run the netboot server on the 10.11 virtual machine, using images stored on the 10.15 machine. The fact that one is virtual doesn't really matter. What I'm going for should work the same even if these were two separate physical Mac minis, one with 10.11 and one with 10.15. I thought all I needed to do was share a folder on 10.15 over NFS, connect to it from 10.11, and it would show up and be ready to use. But alas, that did not work. The more I searched, the more it seems there are actually many ways to share and mount an NFS share, and I can't find any documents specifying exactly HOW the NetBoot service or the Server.app wants the share setup. Like everything Apple server related, the docs are SLIM and so is the number of users who use it. To be clear on my progress, I am able to share a folder on the 10.15 machine over NFS, and I can connect to it on the 10.11 machine. But it never shows up in Server.app as a possible storage location for the NetBoot (NetInstall) Service. This is Server 5.2 on 10.11. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. If I can't get it going this way, I'm going to have to move all of the images INSIDE the virtual machine which will be a real big mess I would rather avoid! Thanks!

I have another particular issue with my iMac. Every time I hold the N key on startup to boot from a NetBoot server, it shows a globe icon (I know it was flashing) for just 20-30 seconds and then it just continues to start up normally. Does anyone know how to fix this issue?

I'm trying to configure a NetBoot image so that a script will automatically launch on the target machine after it boots from the image I've been using this article as a reference: https://medium.com/@fahimhossain_16989/adding-startup-scripts-to-launch-daemon-on-mac-os-x-sierra-10-12-6-7e0318c74de1 my question is: when the following command is run... # -w flag permanently adds the plist to the Launch Daemon sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.startup.plist ...where is the resulting permanent configuration entry stored on the hard drive? **To clarify: I'm not asking for the location of the .plist file, I'm asking how/where does the system remember the .plist files that you've configured to run on startup using the 'sudo launchctl load' command?**

Apple has removed, among many other things, DHCP serving and NetBoot Serving from their 'server' app in conjunction with the new OS. This won't affect 99.5% of people but I'm in the minority. I fix Macs for a living and have been using Netbooting for 10 years as my faster, better version of booting a customers Mac off a USB utility disk. I use NetInstall images too for installing the OS but I primarily use Diskless NetBoot images to diagnose and repair disk problems. I run this on my laptop, plug into someone's network, and BAM. Or what is more often the case, on wifi-only networks, I just plug in directly mac to mac and use DHCP service also running on my laptop. Well both services are gone. DHCP is easy enough to replace I'm sure, but NetBoot serving doesn't seem as straight forward. I did some googling but only found solutions that support NetInstall, and not diskless-NetBoot images. I need the latter more than anything. I know Apple may be working towards killing NetBooting entirely, but it's not dead yet. And I tend to work on older computers more than new, so I still need NetBoot for years to come. I am currently playing around with running 10.11 in a virtual machine on my laptop. But that's not an ideal solution, i'd rather run a direct, native server. BSDPy does not support diskless netbooting, so that option won't work. I was eyeing DeployStudio but its not clear if that app IS it's own NetBoot server, or if it just works with Apple's NetBoot server?

Is there a way I can tell which NetBoot server a client machine has booted off of, from within the client machine itself? This is kind of an obscure question, but I am in an environment that has two identical NetBoot servers. On the Startup Disk System Pref pane, each NetBoot 'volume' has the server IP address associated with it. But once the client has booted, is there a way I can determine which server it used/is using?

I've got a Mac Mini running the latest version of OS X Server, and two iMacs. Both iMacs are the same model (Mid 2007 20-inch, 2 Ghz Core 2 Duo). On one of the Macs I have installed 10.9.4 and installed all of our software, and I used it to make the NetRestore image on the server. I've tried the image on other (newer) Macs around and it seems to work fine, but when I try to run it on this second iMac (which is identical to the original iMac that I made the image from), it fails. Does anyone have any ideas about what might be going on or how to go about fixing it? 

I have an old MacBook running Lion Server that I want to be an El Capitan NetBoot server. I downloaded the Install El Capitan Application on a supported computer, and then copied it to the Applications folder of the server. When I launch System Image Utility to create the image for El Capitan, there is nothing under the "Sources" dropdown. TLDR: My Mac running Lion Server, but I need it to host an El Capitan NetBoot Image. How do I go about doing this? Thanks in advance!

I'm trying to add an Active Directory service to macOS image. I know how to bind AD on a Mac but I was looking for an automated way to do it for a large deployment 50–100 Macs, **i.e add it in an image profile.** What's the best practice for this?

When trying to boot a NetInstall or NetRestore image over the network all works fine until the client tries to download the

file. At block 3005, the client keeps sending ACKs for block 3004 (s. screenshot). **Edit:** There seem to be some problems loading the image, so here's a rough transcription: Server -> Client: Data Packet, Block 3004 Client -> Server: Acknowledgement, Block 3004 Server -> Client: Data Packet, Block 3005 Client -> Server: Acknowledgement, Block 3004 Server -> Client: Data Packet, Block 3005 Client -> Server: Acknowledgement, Block 3004 Server -> Client: Data Packet, Block 3005 Client -> Server: Acknowledgement, Block 3004 The kernelcache file is below the (old) magic threshold of 32M. Server: - macOS 10.12.4 - Server 5.3 Client: - macOS 10.12.3 (if that matters at all) - MacBookPro12,1 (so nothing outdated)

I have one Mac Mini with Server installed and the NetInstall service On. It looks like this:  I plugged an ethernet cable into this Mini, and plugged the other end into a MacBook. I'm now trying to boot the MacBook to the netboot image. I tried holding down Option during boot; the only option I see is the local HDD. I tried holding down N during boot; it does not find anything. What else to I have to do to make this work? I tried turning on the DHCP server on the Mini but that doesn't seem to provide addresses to either machine. Not sure why auto-assigned addresses wouldn't work for this though, since this is just an isolated ad-hoc network. If this works I will add a network switch so I can do 5-10 Macs at once. So I'm not looking for an easier offline solution that will only let me do one at a time.

I've been trying for a couple of ways in every way imaginable to create a Netboot image for sierra. Up until now I've tried doing the following: - Mounting the disk from a vm and using that as source - Using the Install Sierra.app as source - Using a tool like autoNBI - Doing the whole workflow through the automator But when using the disk image utility it always gives error 2 after the "Creating cache" step. Any clues? Creating a netrestore image is no problem by the way.. I tried running the commandline tool imagetool instead. It gave me a very similar error. Here is the complete output: imagetool --netboot --index 2000 --source /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD\ 2 --destination '/Users/Styleshoots/Desktop/netboot\ images/' --name 'sierra netboot' 2016-11-01 14:20:46.182 imagetool[788:13710] Imaging failed. Error: Error Domain=System Image Utility Code=2 "(null)" 2016-11-01 14:20:46.596 imagetool[788:9044] imaging tool has completed '/Users/Styleshoots/Desktop/netboot\ images.nbi' 2016-11-01 14:20:46.596 imagetool[788:9044] image creation took 536.859359 seconds.

- Testing netboot on a Macbook Pro 9,2 with Yosemite installed. - Infoblox DHCP/DNS (Linux style) giving out IP address. - Reservation for this Mac is set - Logging into OSX provides correct IP etc. - I have a OSX Server with Netinstall running. If I try a netboot (press N at power on), this results in the globe flashing but eventually just reverts to disk boot. Checking the Netinstall server logs, there is no activity - the client didn't attempt to conact. If I try to boot to menu (press Option key), I get an option of booting from the disk, or selecting a WiFi network. There is no ethernet network option. If I press N at this point, nothing happens. It *appears* that the ethernet port is not working at this stage in the process, even though it works when booting to OSX. Can anyone advise? How can I check this? Using the latest available: - BOOTROM: MBP91.00D3.B08 (EFI 2.9) - SMC: 2.2f44 (SMC 1.8)

We have more than 70 subnets and lots of switches. I want to install Mac OS X to client computers. By the way the computer may have an operating system installed or not. I want to put an Apple Server in one place and all clients install Mac OS X from there. In the local network everything is fine but in a different subnet net install does not work. I searched some techniques but I think they are not for us. For example my Mac OS server's IP is 10.10.4.40 and the destination computer's IP is 10.10.12.23 Also our switches' configs are fine for netboot/netinstall (portfast and etc.) But our technicians says "Computer cannot see the OS X Server". I also read bootpd, Apple shell script solution vs. but the main problem is destination computer may not have operating system. Please give me easy way to do it.

I have a OS X Lion Server hosting netboot images. I also have a 10.8 Server for creating 10.8 images, but am hosting all images from one 10.7 NetBoot server. When a client machine boots a specific net boot image, my understanding is that it copies at least the most necessary parts of the image via network and stores it somehow on its local resources. Does it only store the data in the RAM or does it save data locally? Where is newly generated session data stored? On the Server or locally ?

We have setup a DeployStudio server on a Mountain Lion server and also a NetBoot set on the server for deploying an image for a lab of about 70 workstations. We are in the process of upgrading them all to Mavericks. After we run the workflow that installs the image we get a kernel panic screen and then the station allows us to move the cursor and continue the startup process (It is the traditional kernel panic screen but allows us to continue). No problems have occurred while using the station. The only issue that we have come across that may be related was when creating the NetBoot set through DeployStudio Assistant it gave us a Recovery Partition version mismatch error but allowed us to create the set anyways. We do not know if this is related to the kernel panic that occurs but it's the only thing out of the ordinary that is happening. Is the recovery partition issue related or is it something else? If there's is more information needed I am happy to provide it. Thanks in advance! EDIT: Here's the backtrace information from the .panic file. I removed what I thought would be not for the public eye. > Anonymous UUID: [Removed] > > Thu May 15 16:29:43 2014 panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff80234b8945): > Kernel trap at 0xffffff7fa4d1938b, type 14=page fault, registers: CR0: > 0x0000000080010033, CR2: 0x0000000000000000, CR3: 0x000000000ccc1023, > CR4: 0x00000000000606e0 RAX: 0xffffff80371c2000, RBX: > 0xffffff8037e8d200, RCX: 0x0000000000000000, RDX: 0xffffff8112b93610 > RSP: 0xffffff8112b92e00, RBP: 0xffffff8112b936e0, RSI: > 0xffffff8112b93738, RDI: 0x0000000000000000 R8: 0xffffff80371c2420, > R9: 0x0000000000000000, R10: 0xffffff80373ec5e8, R11: > 0x0000000000000206 R12: 0xffffff80368def00, R13: 0xffffff8112b938c0, > R14: 0xffffff80371c2420, R15: 0xffffff80371c2000 RFL: > 0x0000000000010246, RIP: 0xffffff7fa4d1938b, CS: 0x0000000000000008, > SS: 0x0000000000000010 Fault CR2: 0x0000000000000000, Error code: > 0x0000000000000000, Fault CPU: 0x0 > > Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address 0xffffff8112b92aa0 : > 0xffffff802341d636 0xffffff8112b92b10 : 0xffffff80234b8945 > 0xffffff8112b92ce0 : 0xffffff80234cebfd 0xffffff8112b92d00 : > 0xffffff7fa4d1938b 0xffffff8112b936e0 : 0xffffff7fa4d1a5a9 > 0xffffff8112b93a70 : 0xffffff7fa4d17311 0xffffff8112b93af0 : > 0xffffff7fa4cd9134 0xffffff8112b93b20 : 0xffffff7fa4ce12aa > 0xffffff8112b93ba0 : 0xffffff802386f789 0xffffff8112b93bc0 : > 0xffffff8023870d30 0xffffff8112b93c20 : 0xffffff802386e74f > 0xffffff8112b93d70 : 0xffffff8023498c21 0xffffff8112b93e80 : > 0xffffff8023420b4d 0xffffff8112b93eb0 : 0xffffff8023410448 > 0xffffff8112b93f00 : 0xffffff802341961b 0xffffff8112b93f70 : > 0xffffff80234a6546 0xffffff8112b93fb0 : 0xffffff80234cf473 > Kernel Extensions in backtrace: > com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily(74.15)[5FA5C6BA-AAB5-3557-976B-69133F3CBDCC]@0xffffff7fa4cc1000->0xffffff7fa4d0bfff > dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.8)[6C1D646D-7E5E-3D7F-A557-2CBA398FF878]@0xffffff7fa3a51000 > dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.3.7)[F16E015E-1ABE-3C40-AC71-BC54F4BE442E]@0xffffff7fa4c2e000 > dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.3.7)[9928306E-3508-3DBC-80A4-D8F1D87650D7]@0xffffff7fa4957000 > com.apple.AMDRadeonAccelerator(1.0.8)[F3C46CFE-A6A0-3021-BA37-1D1881128DF2]@0xffffff7fa4d0c000->0xffffff7fa50c3fff > dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily(74.15)[5FA5C6BA-AAB5-3557-976B-69133F3CBDCC]@0xffffff7fa4cc1000 > dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.8)[6C1D646D-7E5E-3D7F-A557-2CBA398FF878]@0xffffff7fa3a51000 > dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.3.7)[F16E015E-1ABE-3C40-AC71-BC54F4BE442E]@0xffffff7fa4c2e000 > dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.3.7)[9928306E-3508-3DBC-80A4-D8F1D87650D7]@0xffffff7fa4957000 > > BSD process name corresponding to current thread: WindowServer > > Mac OS version: 12F45 > > Kernel version: Darwin Kernel Version 12.5.0: Sun Sep 29 13:33:47 PDT > 2013; root:xnu-2050.48.12~1/RELEASE_X86_64 Kernel UUID: [Removed] > Kernel slide: 0x0000000023200000 Kernel text base: > 0xffffff8023400000 System model name: [Removed] > > System uptime in nanoseconds: 1339164379624 last loaded kext at > 42800815738: com.apple.filesystems.afpfs 10.0 (addr > 0xffffff7fa5367000, size 348160) last unloaded kext at 144857580806: > com.apple.driver.AppleUSBUHCI 621.4.0 (addr 0xffffff7fa3cfa000, size > 65536) loaded kexts: com.apple.filesystems.afpfs 10.0 > com.apple.nke.asp_tcp 7.1.0 com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC 1.60 > com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor 1.9.5d0 > com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet 1.0.0d1 > com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient 3.5.12 > com.apple.driver.AGPM 100.13.12 > com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager 4.1.7f4 > com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyHIDDriver 124 > com.apple.kext.AMDFramebuffer 8.1.6 > com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD3000Graphics 8.1.6 > com.apple.driver.AppleHDA 2.4.7fc4 com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X 7.0.0 > com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyDriver 2.4.7fc4 > com.apple.AMDRadeonAccelerator 1.0.8 > com.apple.driver.AppleBacklight 170.3.5 > com.apple.driver.AppleSMCPDRC 1.0.0 > com.apple.driver.AppleSMCLMU 2.0.3d0 > com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin 1.0.0 > com.apple.driver.ApplePolicyControl 3.4.5 > com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI 1.0.11d1 > com.apple.driver.AppleLPC 1.6.3 > com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl 1.1.11 > com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB 8.1.6 > com.apple.nke.webcontentfilter 5 > com.apple.driver.DiskImages.ReadWriteDiskImage 345 > com.apple.driver.DiskImages.SparseDiskImage 345 > com.apple.driver.DiskImages.FileBackingStore 345 > com.apple.driver.DiskImages.RAMBackingStore 345 > com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 3.5.6 > com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCardReader 3.3.1 > com.apple.driver.AppleIRController 320.15 > com.apple.driver.XsanFilter 404 > com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 2.3.5 > com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless 1.0.0d1 > com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0d1 > com.apple.BootCache 34 com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub 635.4.0 > com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI 4.9.9 > com.apple.iokit.AppleBCM5701Ethernet 3.6.2b4 > com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 2.6.6 > com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI 621.4.6 > com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 1.8 com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 1.5 > com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.8 com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 1.9 > com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 1.8 com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.7 > com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient 214.0.0 > com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 4.0.39 > com.apple.security.quarantine 2.1 > com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement 214.0.0 > com.apple.security.SecureRemotePassword 1.0 > com.apple.iokit.IOSurface 86.0.4 com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily 10.0.6 > com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 2.4.7fc4 > com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 1.9.2fc7 > com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib 1.12 > com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily 4.1.7f4 > com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily 74.15 > com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert 1.0.4 > com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireIP 2.2.5 > com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 2.4.7fc4 > com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 2.4.7fc4 com.apple.driver.AppleSMC 3.1.5d4 > com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginLegacy 1.0.0 > com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl 3.4.5 > com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport 2.3.7 > com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 5.4.1d13 > com.apple.kext.AMD6000Controller 8.1.6 com.apple.kext.AMDSupport 8.1.6 > com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController 1.0.11d1 > com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltEDMSink 1.2.0 > com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily 2.3.7 > com.apple.driver.DiskImages.KernelBacked 345 > com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHIDMouse 175.8 > com.apple.driver.AppleHIDMouse 175.8 > com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHIDKeyboard 170.2.4 > com.apple.driver.AppleHIDKeyboard 170.2.4 > com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice 3.5.6 > com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily 1.7 > com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily 1.7.1 > com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily 1.7.1 > com.apple.iokit.IOAHCISerialATAPI 2.5.5 > com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapter 2.5.0 > com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPInAdapter 2.5.0 > com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPAdapterFamily 2.5.0 > com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter 1.3.2 > com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice 3.5.6 > com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageClass 3.5.2 > com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 3.5.6 > com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver 623.4.0 > com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub 621.4.6 > com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite 621.4.0 > com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltNHI 1.9.2 > com.apple.iokit.IOThunderboltFamily 2.7.7 > com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 630.4.4 > com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily 4.5.5 > com.apple.iokit.IOEthernetAVBController 1.0.2b1 > com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 3.0 > com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 2.5.1 com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 635.4.0 > com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 2.0 com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 1.8.1 > com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 2.0 com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1 > com.apple.security.sandbox 220.3 com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1 > com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 7 com.apple.driver.DiskImages 345 > com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 1.8 > com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore 28.21 > com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 1.8 com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.8 > com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.4 com.apple.kec.corecrypto 1.0

Everything was working perfectly last week when I left it and no-one (accessible by only 4 people in our IT department) has touched it. Okay, we use OS X server and Deploy Studio to manage our apple devices. Today, however, deploy Studio was not reachable. I could Netboot a Macbook to the Deploy Studio Assistant, but upon logging in the server and repository could not be reached. Now I then went to check in settings and open the URL of the repository but, again, server cannot be found. I restarted the service and it would not finish config. Restarted and had the same issue (also said repository cannot be found). Then I tested Profile Manager. I opened the link on the server itself and 'Safari Can't Find the Server'. Does anyone know what might cause this? I did renew push certificates last week but everything was running smoothly and no other changes have been made. Thank you!

Using Mac Server on 10.9, with only NetInstall working (we use InfoBlox for DHCP) I can successfully NetBoot to our only image from a iMac Pro (Core2Duo), but not from a MacBook Pro (Intel i7, ~2012). - I captured the NBI on the newer MacBook Pro (Deploystudio Netboot Set) - Both devices list the boot image in the boot options menu at startup. - Both devices allow me to SELECT the image. - Both devices send a BSDP ACK[SELECT] to the server. - Server sends both devices at least an ACK pktsize 300 to the correct IP. The MacBook Pro decides, after all this, that it will just boot to the regular local disk, which is not what should happen. Whereas the main iMac boots to the network disk (Apple Logo with mini spinning globe). Does anyone have any ideas why the MacBook Pro does not boot, considering it is communicating with the server?

A little background, we have a lot of iMacs at my organization, different models. We have about 5 different servers running Deploy Studio. I have found that any of the 14,1 iMacs (late 2013) will only net boot to DS servers that are running OS 10.9+, if I attempt to net boot from a server running OS 10.8.5, using the same image that is hosted on the other servers, the unit will not net boot. The unit stays at the Startup Manager for a few seconds, seemingly frozen, then Apple logo spinning gear, boots to login window of internal HD. I have read that the TFTP protocol has changed, could this be the reason for the discrepancy of net booting from the same image on different Deploy Studio servers?

My optical drive doesn't work on my MacBook Pro, and my Internet connection is too slow to use the recovery partition to download Lion. I have a disk and a Windows PC I can use on the same network. I installed the disk sharing software from Apple on the PC, and used the remote install program that comes on the disc. I hold down Option ⌥ when booting up my MacBook. It is plugged in via Ethernet to the same network, but the network disk never appears. If I press N then the network icon appears, pulsing, but it never finds the Windows shared disk. What am I doing wrong? Will this work better if plug the Ethernet cable directly from the PC to the Mac, skipping over the network?

I work in an environment that utilizes OS X Server's NetBoot and NetRestore on a daily basis for preparing Macs for resale. I am working on a new, custom image for a customer that has a special request. Instead of a simple netrestore of their desired configuration, they want us to collect the Mac Addresses and Serial numbers of all of the machines, and send it to them in an excel file. I am struggling with collecting this information in any automated way. We would look into Mac auditing software if this were a regular occasion, but this is only 40-50 units, a relatively small number for us, so it's basically a one-off. We would also consider using something like Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) for this, but we are regularly NetBooting or NetRestoring many other devices, so distinguishing what devices are part of this batch, and which ones aren't may prove to be difficult. I see that in terminal there are ways to extract the serial numbers (and presumably mac addresses. this link provides an example of a script that collects serial number and model number ), but is there a way that with a similar script, just the serial and mac addresses can be appended to a log on a file share on the network? I want to limit the user interaction as much as possible to automate this process. I need it to be fool-proof as we have helpers that will be assisting us perform the restores that aren't as savvy, and we want it to be faster than going into system profiler and saving it that TL;DR Anyone have any ideas on how to automatically collect Mac Addresses and serial numbers to a file for 40+ machines while netbooted or during a netrestore?