[OPLINTECH] PC Image Broadcast Techniques

[Eric Maynard]

Jim,

As always, I appreciate your insights and advice.  I will check into the
items you suggested especially the Altiris Deployment Solution.

Not sure if this is just a demo, but our new public PCs appear to have a
disc for Altiris Clent Manager version 6.

It doesn't say anything on it about being a demo, but it doesn't have any
licensing info either, so I'm betting it is.

thanks

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"




On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 1:19 PM, JKENZIG <JKENZIG at cuyahogalibrary.org> wrote:

>  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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