Deployment Solution

Hello!

My Altiris DS 6.9 MR5 server is located in a global data center, and when our techs are imaging systems at our various sites around the globe, it take a really long time to load them - is there a way to have the images, software etc.hosted locally on a NAS at the site that they are being built at?

Thank you in advance for any help you may offer,

Best

LovethisDS

We used the article below to help with our process. We have around 215 remote sites that we're imaging at using DS 6.9 in conjunction with NS 7.1 to replicate our image packages.

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/WAN-Nirvana-Deployment-Server-6x

Hi B3tt32,

Thank you for the reply and great reference point for me to start at! I have one small question to add to this in that for this to work, how would i set up my local file shares for me to be able to remap the jobs to?

Is it the case that DS needs to see and reference a folder hierarchy that is the same as that on my DS server now in order to get access to rDeploy etc., and i would just copy that hierarchy from my existing DS Server to my NAS shares, and then create a mapping in the Boot disk creator to that local NAS, or is there more to it than that?

I would not mind recreating jobs per site if that was needed as i do not have too many jobs (really streamlined set up )

Thank you again in advance!

LovethisDS

The only thing that would need to be sync'd/copied over would be your image files and any installers you have. Do you have NS 7.1 or DFS?

There are two mappings that take place.. your existing ds map that will map to your express share on your main server and your local map from which your nas is located. In this instance you'd only need 1 job across the board as long as you had your correct tokens in place for installs.

Hi B3tts32,

Thank you for baring with me on this! What i have tried so far is as follows:

1. created a share on my NAS called \\IPADDRESS\ALTIRIS$
2. in there, i created a folder called images, and gave everyone full control to parent and all subfolders
3. I then mapped a persistant drive to \\IPADDRESS\ALTIRIS$in on the DS server
4. then, i went to the Altiris DS server control panel, and added a drive mapping for \\IPADDRESS\ALTIRIS$ (M:\)
5. I then created a disk image job, and pointed it to M:\Images\IMAGENAME.img
6. I then booted the Thin client with my existing boot disk

At this point, it just flashes up the rDeploy image screen for 1 second and stays on the boot screen

What am i missing out here please?

Thank you again!

LovethisDS

Looksk like you're getting closer..

When you say ds server control panel do you mean the boot disc creator where your winpe mappings live? If so, did you keep your express share mount intact? You should have two mappings.. one for express share M:\ (\\DeploymentServerIP\express) and your second N:\ (\\IPAddress\Altiris$) for the images. You will then need to recreate the winpe file so it can push the new settings when the thinclient boots.

Your distribute disk image job should point to N:\imagefilename.img.

When your thin client boots and loads winpe it should mount both shares and start loading your image. It sounds like when it's booting it's not mounting the second share.

Security wise the new share should only require full access for your service account. 

Hi again B3tts32 - good to know i might be close, and again i appreciate your help on this!

The DS server control panel is the one where i thought i could add persistant mappings also, but i may be confused on the reason for doing this part in the first place (attached screen shot).

The Boot creator piece is correct (another screenshot attached), and i kept the eXpress share intact, and which now shows both mappings. When you say recreate the WInPE file, do you mean recreate the .ISO for the boot disk?

The job does map to that share, but it also provides an error (not sure if this is a standard message if you do not pick up the eXpress share?).

I am wondering then if it is permissions, i gave my Altiris admin account full control of the share, so am scratching my head on this one a little now also :(

Can you take another last look to see if this looks right to you, and if so, i will try to play with the ACL more on the NAS

Thank you again!!!

LovethisDS

Yes you will want to recreate the iso in the boot disk creator. This will be what your client loads when it pxe boots. You shouldn't need the drive mappings piece from the ds control panel. 

What kind of error message are you getting? Can you boot to the client to a wait mode in WinPE then see if you can browse the N:\ drive you have listed as well as your express share with a dir command or something similar.

I finally got it!

I had it set up correctly, but one thing i missed was that i had not copied over the second part of the image file to the share, so RDeploy was giving me an Error code 2: Operation Cancelled in the log file (insert embarrassed face here...)

Thank you so much for all your help and perseverance on this B3tts32 - really appreciated again!

Best

LovethisDS