Deployment Solution

I am currently using DS 6.9 with Sp4 on my windows standard 2003 server; I am interesting in upgrading to latest DS 7.0.  I want to know if it’s a good idea.  I like DS 6.9 because it’s easy to use and fast. 

Thanks

Lillian

DS 7.1 is the latest.  As far as if you should make the jump or not, that depends on what features you are heavily using in DS 6.9SP4.  As I am sure you have heard, DS 7.1 is a completely new/different product than DS 6.x was.  If you like the 32 bit console, that is not available in DS 7.x.  Realtime updates are also not as realtime.  Don't get me wrong, it is a great product, however, there are a number of people (including me) that are holding off on the move to DS 7.x until the feature set is closer to what DS 6.x had.

I have not been pleased with the transition from 6.9 to 7.1.  There are many features including the 32bit console that are missing as BHawver has said.  Another glaring ommision is the ability to see whether clients are powered up and logged on or not.  Please refer to this post for additional information.  I would strongly advise that anyone reads through it before making a decision.

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/32bit-console-deployment-solution-7

I do not recommand for any Deployment solution users, only CMS 7.1 one.

honnestly, we still do not recommend existing 6.9 only DS customers (Deployment Solution), to migrate to DS 7.1, all the same SP1, except for specifics requirements. Why ?

• As long as our DS 6.9 customers will loose the harware+basic software inventory when migrating to 7.1: forgot it ! NO MIGRATION
• Symantec makes alreay a 1st step, integrating PCanywhere with DS 7.1, thanks for that: next step now please! (I should make a feature request?)

We OK now start using DS 7.1 for new CMS 7.1 customers, instead installing a DS 6.9 as we were doing previously CMS 7.0. I must say they are a lot of new cool things with 7.1, but not sure all will be enough to invest upgrading 6.9 to 7.1, for most our customers using CMS (Client Management Suite, integrating DS).

So I'm not really sure what the loss is here.  What IS lost, is your jobs.  THAT is the part that hurts.  Basic inventory is a "meh" thing, since with CMS, the inventory we gather is 10x what DS 6.9 gathers, and even without CMS, we gather what DS gathers.  But we still don't have a migration tool for the jobs, and that's the work part.

There are definately pros and cons to moving forward to 7.1, but the simple truth is, there are still features missing.  Make sure to install it in a lab and actually SEE what you're going up against before making the jump.  Some customers love DS 7.1 - really truly.  Some hate it because the feature "they need" is missing.  Understandable.  The question is - what category will you personally fall into?

I don't know if the latest SP1 for ITMS 7.1 is changing this

(out about 2 weeks before?)

But, I heard from 2 different other partners (each more 10 Altiris specialists), the DS 7.1 is now ok in LAB, with few clients, but not a good idea fro 1'000 or more...

They still recommend also keeping the DS 6.9 for OSD remote multiple sites, in production.

Any body know if the latest SP1 for ITMS (or CMS) 7.1 is changing this, or not ?

7.1 RELIABLE?

You are right, must see before rejecting. It is also difficult to predict what's happen, when we switch from 10 clients LAB, to 5'000 clients live... And DS 7.1 seems to be risk for now. Any way, sure will go better and better, and be the future, in 1 or 2 years perhaps? I thanks Symantec for keeping both version "living", and no EOL yet for 6.9.

INVENTORY?

For DS only licensed customers only, moving from DS 6.9 to 7.1 just means loosing inventory. For sure, Inventory for CMS customers is a LOT, LOT more than the basic Device+Software enumeration from Windows registry, DS 6.9 is providing. But switching to DS 7.1 only, just remove any inventory at all, except list of services, that is part of the free NS agent.

OSD future?

Currently, I got a few customers wondering if they should not go to OSD with Microsoft instead. One of the reason is the delay from Symantec for being able to support latest Microsoft OS. We wait a while for getting the Win7 x64 support. But the main reason is the missing support for WinPE 3, just a shame as seems it works using some tricks for DS 6.9... Who want to manage both Vista (WinPE2) + Win7 (WinPE3) criticals drivers (Net+Disk), without any Vista client in production ??? As we can cut this by 2, using a WinPE 3...