Macintosh: Support, Installation, Troubleshooting and Configuration in the production environment

Hi,

This is related to the Macintosh (Support, Installation, Troubleshooting and Configuration) in the enterprise network. I need help from experts who have these experiences in daily basis at the production environment (would you answer some of my questions below please).

I am used to with the PC support (Microsoft Windows) in the production environment; the things that I did (in daily basis) are as the followings:

+1) For PC Support(Microsoft Windows Support)
      +i) User Support: Helping and Troubleshooting all users related to Operating system (XP, Vista, 7), email (outlook, owa, lotus notes), remote (RDP, PCanywhere, citrix, etc), microsoft office , etc
      +ii) Hardware Support: Add or change the RAM, DVD, Nics, HD (Desktop or Laptop), etc

+2) For PC Installation (Microsoft Windows)
      +i) Install the new os (xp, vista, 7) to the desktop or laptop (migrated from xp to 7); installed all “basic softwares”
      +ii) Note#1: We usually have the Windows CD for it (XP, Vista or 7); for new machines, I usually “enabled the OS” (No need the CD)

+3) For PC Troubleshooting (Microsoft Windows)
      +i) Troubleshooting all problems related to software, hardware or connection for any user in the company

+4) For PC Configuration (Microsoft Windows)
      +i) This is executed for any installed PC (Desktop or Laptop) …
      +ii) Joined to the company’s domain
      +iii) Some need the assigned IP; some get the IP from the DHCP server (For the assigned IP, I have to provide the IP, subnet mask, default gateway and DNS)
      +iv) Configured the IE (internet explorer); put some web sites in the trusted site; put the DNS; put the DNS suffic, etc
      +v) Configured the host file
      +vi) Configured the screen saver with the company logo
      +vii) Assigned the agreed password for the Local Administrator to the machine
      +viii) Enabled Local Administrator (of the machine) for Win 7
      +ix) Installed all “basic and required software for the company”
      x) Assigned the Local Administrator right for certain users (especially for an engineer)
      xi) Etc


I am still confused related to the Macintosh machine. Would you explain or answer a little bit for the following questions:

+1) For Mac Support( Mac machines)
      +i) question#1: For User Support: What is it? (please specify the items)
      +ii) question#2: For Hardware Support: What is usually to be replaced or added?

+2) For Mac Installation
      +i) question#1: Do we need the operating system CD for Mac?
      +ii) question#2: is it usual for Mac machine that we “wipe out” the OS and install back?
      +iii) question#3: How do we clone the Hard Disk? (Is there any special software such as Ghost for it? Or we do “other things” for it?)

+3) For Mac Troubleshooting (Mac Machines)
      +i) What do usually to be troubleshot in daily basis? Please provide a little bit common problem
      +ii) questio#1: Software problems: what is it?
      +iii) question#2: Hardware problems: what is it?
      +iv) question#3: Connection problems: what is it?

+4) For Mac Configuration
      +i)Please provide the basic common configuration (which we should not miss it)
        +ii) Question#1: TCP/IP setting? (which one?)
        +iii) question#2: Wireless?
        +iv) question#3: Joining the domain? (or not necessary?)
        +v) question#4: what about host file?
        +vi) question#5: or just provide "what do you usually do"? (it is as simple as only "3 items", "5 items" or what please?

Thanks,
tjie