Imaging over network

Markatomic

Markatomic

Markatomic

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Joined
22 Sep 2006
Posts
337
Location
Kent, England
Good Afternoon all,

I am after some suggestions for an imaging over network software. For use on a site with approx. 300 machines.

It is likely we are taking on another 200 plus machines and I want to invest in some software to make the whole process as simple as possible.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Mark
 
Altiris is probably the best solution as you can set up scripts to add it to the domain, etc.

Ghost corporate with PXE boot will do the job but then there's the manual side where you enter the name, key, etc. afterwards though you could script it but it becomes more complicated that Altiris.



M.
 
Microsoft RIS server? Theres also a Linux app which does this (build a machine, it takes the image and saves it on the server) but I can't remember it. Acronis should also do this

- Pea0n
 
We use Windows Deployment Services (the new RIS). Works well for us, allows quick addition of new machine builds/drivers etc without having to build images for each type.
 
m4cc45 said:
Altiris is probably the best solution as you can set up scripts to add it to the domain, etc.

Ghost corporate with PXE boot will do the job but then there's the manual side where you enter the name, key, etc. afterwards though you could script it but it becomes more complicated that Altiris.



M.
Click to expand...

Ghost Enterprise suite does all the joining domain stuff.

We use Ghost solution suite for all our imaging, it's quick and easy and does all we need.

No scripting needed, just set certain options and away you go. If it's a new machine you just give it a name in the console and that's the machone name it'll get.

My process is along the lines of the image is sent and applied (can either be in windows already or pxe booted), machine name and domian, then a postbuild set of software is run with all the basics required (java, flash etc).

I don't put the extra software in the image as when there are updates for them it means I don't need to redo the image every time.

Total time to build a machine/group of machines (same time if i'm building 1 or 10 or whatever) is about 8 minutes followed by however long the postbuild stuff takes. But a user can logon durung that as it's just run after everything else is complete.

Altiris is very good and very powerful but also a lot more expensive.
 
Thanks very much for your comments, leaning towards Ghost enterprise suite as it offers what I need and at a reasonable price.

Thanks Ev0 for those comments, very useful

Mark
 
kefkef said:
We use Windows Deployment Services (the new RIS). Works well for us, allows quick addition of new machine builds/drivers etc without having to build images for each type.
Click to expand...

I've set this up at our place, very simple and efficient.
 
m4cc45 said:
Ah it's changed since I last used it (as we then moved to Altiris) - but then again Symantec did buy out Altiris so that doesn't suprise me that it has changed.

M.
Click to expand...

It's been like that for the last 4 years or so, since it became Ghost Solution Suite at least as I only started using it when it was all rebranded GSS. That was about 4/5 years ago now.

Different solutions do it differeny ways, have a play and see which suits you best.

Ghost is good for me as we don't have different hardware types, we have 1 model of desktop throughout and the laptops are all standard models, so I only need one image.

I'm not sure how well Ghost can cope with single image/different hardware stuff but I know that WDS copes with this better. But a build with WDS takes longer I think?

I might take another look at OSD within SCCM when I come to roll out 7, didn't bother with it in SMS as it wasn't great back then.
 
I've just started playing with FOG on a Ubuntu server. Its not that good really. Think I will revert back to WDS for now.

The only thing I cant work out with WDS is how to include programs in the image, not sure its possible.
 
J.B said:
I've just started playing with FOG on a Ubuntu server. Its not that good really. Think I will revert back to WDS for now.

The only thing I cant work out with WDS is how to include programs in the image, not sure its possible.
Click to expand...

Cant you use a batch file and or dsmod to add them to a software deployment group?
 
Last edited:
Ev0 said:
Ghost Enterprise suite does all the joining domain stuff.

We use Ghost solution suite for all our imaging, it's quick and easy and does all we need.

No scripting needed, just set certain options and away you go. If it's a new machine you just give it a name in the console and that's the machone name it'll get.

My process is along the lines of the image is sent and applied (can either be in windows already or pxe booted), machine name and domian, then a postbuild set of software is run with all the basics required (java, flash etc).

I don't put the extra software in the image as when there are updates for them it means I don't need to redo the image every time.

Total time to build a machine/group of machines (same time if i'm building 1 or 10 or whatever) is about 8 minutes followed by however long the postbuild stuff takes. But a user can logon durung that as it's just run after everything else is complete.

Altiris is very good and very powerful but also a lot more expensive.
Click to expand...

Can ghost handle dis-similar hardware? or do all the desktops have to be identical?

The reason I ask is we are all Dell but have a range of different models
 
We use ghost solution suite for around 120 machines. Works very well. Aside from imaging it can do stuff like capture user profiles, image the machine, and put the user profiles back. Usefull for us as we don't use roaming profiles.

With regards to imaging dissimilar hardware it's apparently possible with DeployAnywhere which is available in GSS 2.5. Can't say much about it as I've never used it. They do provide a trial version though: http://www.symantec.com/business/ghost-solution-suite

edit: Just thought I'd mention that ghost can have a fit if a machine has AHCI enabled in the BIOS. It'll fail to copy the virtual parition over to the client machine. Took me hours of troubleshooting to figure it out. Only started hapenning recently with newer machines. http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/on-technology.nsf/docid/2006122711492225?Open&seg=ent
 
Last edited:
ruffneck said:
Can ghost handle dis-similar hardware? or do all the desktops have to be identical?

The reason I ask is we are all Dell but have a range of different models
Click to expand...

I honestly don't know as I've not tried it! Both rollouts and subsequent support I've done with ghost have always been on same hardware.

As said it does have deployanywhere stuff with it but not touched it myself.

Depending on how many machine types you have though it can be just as quick to whip up an image. Where I worked previously they had a winpe disc you booted from and it got the machine all ready for an image to be gathered, all you needed to do was to stick the drivers in a folder on the network.

Things like WDS/SCCM tend to handle this better.
 
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