[OPLINTECH] PC Image Broadcast Techniques

[JKENZIG]

Hi Eric,

I have looked into a lot of different possible solutions. You hit the
caveat when you ask about printer/workstation management software.  It
depends on what you are using but, most of the products out there use
the workstation name to configure themselves. So you need a product that
on image it is going to be able to give you the ability to assign a
specific machine name to the imaged computer and not some random one.  

 

We have always used Altiris Deployment Solution and it has served us
well. 

 

The problem of course you have with these types of broadcast imaging
software to multiple devices is bandwidth.  You usually can only do a
few at a time and it is a long process. 

 

I've spoke of it before but I will suggest you look at it again and that
is Citrix Provisioning Services for Desktops.  This product uses a
single virtual disk VHD image that all computers Pxe boot from it. 

It has an admin console that lets you assign a computer a name and ip
address if necessary by the use of its MAC address.  This will resolve
the printer workstation management dilemma. 

 

You pick the image from the console that you want the computer to have
and on boot it will load it.  You could easily switch a computer from XP
to Vista to Windows 7 to Linux just by changing to a different VHD
virtual disk image at the console and sending a reboot.  You can have
multiple images on the server and switch at will. 

 

The image stays on the server and it can be set up so no changes are
made to it. Eliminating the need for products like Deepfreeze, antivirus
etc even.  A reboot reloads the image. 

http://www.citrix.com/english/ps2/products/product.asp?contentID=1297541

 

I seriously believe that this is the future of delivering desktops in
organizations. The product once owned by Ardence and purchased by Citrix
has matured quite well over the years.

Search Ardence or Citrix Provisioning on Youtube and you will see some
amazing videos.

This one being my favorite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moIuHqIc-PQ

 

 

Regards, 

Jim Kenzig
Network Manager
Cuyahoga County Public Library 

 

From: oplintech-bounces at oplin.org [mailto:oplintech-bounces at oplin.org]
On Behalf Of Eric Maynard
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 12:20 PM
To: oplintech at oplin.org
Subject: [OPLINTECH] PC Image Broadcast Techniques

 

Looking for input from the list on any imaging products/techniques that
might be in use out there for supporting public (and staff) computers.
More specifically, I am interested in  the potential for using
"broadcast imaging" or some other semi-auto means of updating whole PC
images.

 

I personally have tried a variety of imaging tools using everything from
open source utils to Ghost, but I have settled on Acronis True Image for
last few years.  I would like to consider taking this a step further and
be able to just blast a periodic update to all of our public PCs.
Acronis' Snap Deploy sounds like the perfect product for this, but I was
hoping others might have some input to offer on this or similar
products.

 

Questions I am interested in exploring:

 

How often to broadcast updates?  

 

Is it practical to do this once a month for OS updates and AV?

 

What impact does configuration play into the frequency?  

 

What impact does re-creating a PC have on other management software such
as time or print management?

 

What advantages/disadvantages does this have over central update control
via a thin client solution? 

 

Thanks in advance for any insight or comments you might have to offer on
the subject.


Eric Maynard
Head of Information Technology,
Holmes County District Public Library
Millersburg, OH  44654
Email [emaynard at holmeslib.org]
Phone [330.674.5972 x.224]
Fax   [330.674.1938] 

"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently"



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