Until recently when we get new computers from our manufacturer we just use the default load that comes on them. We then have to patch each computer and load the necessary software. Up until recently that has worked fine for us. Granted, it does take us quite a while to deploy new systems. Our last batch of computers had some sort of issue with the image that was loaded to all of the computers and they would lock up frequently. The worst part is that we didn't notice this common issue with the computers until most of them were deployed. I am not fast and furious looking into imaging products so we can clone our default image with all necessary software and patches. I figure I can take a deployment process form 4 hours to less than 1. In come cases if the computer doesn't have any additional software we can bring the configuration time to about 15 minutes which is a serious improvement of 4 hours.
In the past I used the Symantec Ghost product but licensing on it is a little tricky and it has been several years but all I can remember is creating boot disk after boot disk. So, I am looking into some other cloning packages.
I tried to go the free route and use Clonezilla. I am sure it works great but not being super Linux savvy I had massive amounts of trouble. After several days I was able to pull an image but was never able to successfully push an image. Frustrating. My PXE boot would hang during the Linux boot process. I can only guess that my hardware wasn't compatible with the PXE boot image of Linux.
My struggles led me to a vendor called Acronis. I had used one of their products (True Image) so we could backup a production server to an image and restore it to dissimilar hardware. That is kind of what we are trying to do but only on Desktops and Laptops. Browsing around on their site I am persuing their Snap Deploy product It has some wonderful features that I'm very excited about, but it is a little pricey for me.
If I've overlooked some great products I'd sure love to try some others before I go and buy Snap Deploy.
6 comments:
Hey Michael,
Did your problem machines happen to be Dell Optiplex 740's purchased sometime between April & May of 2008? We ran into the same problem with the computers freezing up. Updating the NIC seemed to fix the problem for us.
We are currently using Norton Ghost 2003 for imaging. We push and pull an images to and from a network drive. Ernesto created a bootable CD with the network drivers. Once we boot to DOS w/ network support, we map a drive to the Image server where we have mouse.com and ghost.exe. This works for us.
How's the Exchange 2007 running?
Thanks!
Cisco
We were having the freezing issue on our dell optiplex 740s. Even after updating our network drivers we still had our problems. I even disabled the onboard NIC and installed a PCI one and still experienced the same issues.
How are you licensing Norton Ghost? With the network options it would seem like you would only need to purchase 1 license.
Our Exchange is rocking and rolling. I have liked it very much so far. We had several issues with our old server. I spent several days on the phone with Microsoft and we finally determined our issues were stemming from the fact that .net 1.1 had corrupted our SMTP messaging queue.
Hi Michael,
Have you also checked the BIOS revision(s) on the OptiPlex boxes? Dell has had some known issues lately regarding NIC's, sound cards, and the BIOS installed. I've had issues with Optiplex 755's also, and BIOS + driver updates took care of it.
I'm using Acronis for a workstation here, and I have not had a single issue of any type with their product. I can't say the same for Ghost. From a standpoint of image deployment, Acronis is very high on my list when we go that route. Their combination of hardware-agnostic, adn 64/32-bit are going to be hard to beat.
Shawn
Updating the BIOS actually made things a little worse and tech support actually suggested that we roll back to a previous version. After hearing yours and Cisco's experiences I'm going to update the bios and network drivers again. I'll make a new blog post on the results.
I was recently given a copy of Acronis Universal Restore software and have been VERY PLEASED with the overall performance. I have reduced my deployment time from 4-6 hours to 30 minutes or less depending upon the workstation.
I too am about to go with Snap Deploy and have found that it will cost me about $35 per workstation per year. When you consider 4-6 hours of labor of a technician making say $20/hour, $45 per workstation ($35 for software and $10 for tech time) is a bargain from $80-$120!
Michael,
Save your money (it's hard to come by). We use a FOG (that's Free and Open source Ghost) server to manage image deployment to over 300 computers. It works great and is free. It has a built in PXE boot image which makes all of the imaging a breeze.
You can get it at:
http://freeghost.sf.net/
And I dug up a how to article on using it at:
http://www.howtoforge.com/installing-fog-computer-imaging-solution-on-fedora8
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