Deployment Solution

I have been trying to learn this Altiris Deployment Solution 7.1 all on my own.  I am learning a lot but also starting to hate it more and more.  I am trying to sell this product to a university and am having issues.  I am under a deadline, well sort of, but need answers as soon as possible.  So here's my current issue.

I am trying to create an image.  Something very simple but yet keeps failing on me.  I go and I add the task.  I create the "Prepare For Image".  I create the "Create Image", and I do the "Reboot to" tasks.  The sysprep seems to work and it says it is completed.  It goes and starts the 2nd task, which is the creating the image and it fails pretty quickly.  It gives no details and when I try to look at the logs, I don't see anything about  it.  I am almost at the point of giving up and trying a new piece of software from another company.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  It seems Symantec doesn't like to help unless you buy the software first.

Note:  I have created a folder for the "HTTP" option for creating the image under Advanced settings.  I can browse the folder just fine and permissions on are correct, but I don't think it's this because it's failing before that.  I am not sure if PXE won't work correctly or not...still very stumped on this.

This is a screenshot of what happens when trying to "create the image".

Hello Cyclones

First of welcome to Connect.

I have a guess that the machine is unable to boot to WinPE environment using PXE.

For troubleshooting purpose I would just give the task reboot to PXE and select proper automation environment (LinuxPE for Linux, WinPE for Widnows machines). Now just walk to that machine and see what is going on on the screen is booting with PXE, does it get the WinPE image and start loading. Are the drivers loaded and can you ping the Deployment Server(the server you have Deployment Solution installed on).

After we know on what point the capture is failing we can start checking things and troubleshooting the things that is failing, because at the moment we only sees that image capture fail and I guess with error1, that is very common error and it only say's fail nothing more informational.

Sidenote to capture/deploy image Symantec recomends to use Ghost tool to capture/deploy a Windows Images.

In addition you can click the "Failed" link on the Task Instance Details screen to soetimes get more info about the failure.

If your PC is booting into PXE there are logs on it you can look at, c:\program files\altiris\agent\logs, I think.

Well, when I select the reboot to PXE, and it shows PXE for a quick moment and then it shows Windows XP and the Symantec options to boot from, but it goes so fast I wouldn't even have time to select one.  I guess that could be the issue.  What would I have to do to fix that part?  I ran the PXEInstall_x86.exe file on the PC.  I am not sure what else I can do.  I upgraded the BIOS as well.

Yeah I tried that as well and it gives no details. :(  I tried to look at the logs but not sure what to look for.  I didn't see anything about it failing.

OK sees like we can not PXE boot :).

That is still useful information, Now lets check that te machine is in the same subnet then the PXE server (Dement erver), Does our PXE server have _netboot services running i yes then lets try to restart them in the order (interface, server, nssigal, mtftp), Also try to manually boot to PXE(default key with most machines is F12).

Let me know of the results

After the "prepare for image capture" does it actually reboot to PXE and then fail?  You should watch the system you're capturing and see if it attempts to come up to PXE or not.  If it actually reboots back into production, the capture image task will fail, very quickly, because GHOST is not intended to run in production.

Be sure the BIOS is set on the system to boot to the network as a first option, or it wont even try.  OR you can install Automation Folders on the system, and then we can boot to automation that way.  No matter what you do though, it will NOT successfully capture an image unless you can boot into an automation environment (generally done by using PXE, but not always).  The automation environment allows us to isolate the production environment (no files in use) and capture a clean image.  If you're actually IN the OS, then we get a bunch of ... well, it's not good, so we have to get into WinPE somehow. (Or Linux if you prefer.)

So, per the previous comment, if you use F12 to manually choose to boot to PXE, or something "like" that it will help.

There are some additional caveats though if you do.  1) PXE services are not, by default, enabled in DS 7.1. If they're not enabled, then even if the client system attempts to find a PXE server, it will not get a response and boot into production.  These are started manually (unless you change the service settings) in Service manager.  2) you have to have a configured/built Preboot envirionment.  To do this, you need to got o Settings | Deployment | Preboot whatever, and make a new PXE environment.  32 bit is generally OK.  Remember, this is for PXE, and there is a different process if you choose to use Automation Folders instead.  Once you make this, you then have to 3) allow BootWiz to run on the server and/or site server(s) to make said environment and ready the PXE services.  This takes time, and patience is required.

That's the short version.  If you've not done the above paragraph, or are unfamiliar with it, then my guess is you can not, yet, PXE boot, even if you've configured the system to do so.

We have some getting started guides and such that can help you through these processes.  Detailing it all here is... fascinating.

There's also a quick trick you can try just to see if you CAN PXE boot.  Create a task to "Reboot To" and set it to PXE.  If you can make this task, test the system to see if it will do it.  If it does, and you end up in WinPE, you're set to run your job again.  If you can not, then you're not ready.  When you build the task, you'll be prompted to select a PXE image, if there is none, then you haven't done step 2 in the above paragraph.  If you CAN select it, but when you get to automation, there is no image, then step 3 may not have run, and possibly step 1.

OK - all of that is how to make sure the background actions have been taken to prepare your system for this process, IF you're using PXE.  Unfortunately, there is no good shortcut for getting PXE servers up and running, no matter what product you're using.

Let us know what you learn!  Again, there are some pretty decent getting started guides and such out here.  :D

Thank you all for the suggestions!! I will try them tonight...I am only there two nights a week, so it's kind of hard to troubleshoot. :)

Update:  I restarted the services on the server and got no errors.  I created a task to "reboot to pxe" and the machine got the task and it rebooted.  I got the PXE as the first boot device.  It starts to go through the process of looking for the PXE server, but states it can't find anything on port 4011.  It then wants to boot to production.  

I did create a task later to try and capture the image.  The PC gets the task but instantly fails.  It doesn't do anything...doesn't try to reboot to attempt to capture.  I am not sure if this has anything to do with PXE because it's not even attempting to get to that point first.

Is there something I configured incorrectly for the PXE server?

Maybe I missed a step somewhere.  Can you explain the BootWiz? I created two environments, but still can't get it to work.  

Here's another update.  I ended up using BootWiz to create a PXE.iso and was able to run it on my PC.  It loaded up fine and it reminds me of the old 6.9 look and feel.  I was able to ping my server just fine using the CD.  So I guess the next question would be...how do I push this to the PC to be able to boot into all this automatically without using a CD.  It seems to not work that way.  Also...the same thing above still fails when trying to capture the image.  It instantly fails...doesn't try to reboot or anything.

Also, the "boot" folder from the Automation Deployment folder seems to be on the PC as well.  I feel like there's just one little piece missing, and once I find it...it'll all work.  I am not sure where or what that piece is right now.  Ugh!

Okay...here's another update lol.  Sorry if it seems like I am spamming, but I want to keep everyone up-to-date.  I was able to do a "reboot to automation" and it actually worked.  I was able to boot into the automation folder and it is at the next step after that.  So...what should the next step be?  I will play around with it and see if I can figure it out. :)

Ohhh I might have figured it out!! I will let you know soon!! :)

One step at a time. You need to find out why you can't PXE boot, where the 4011 error is coming from.#

Usually that means that the PXE server has responded to the DHCP broadcast (on ports 67 & 68) but then fails when it tries to use port 4011 for PXE communication. The first thing I'd check is if the firewall is truned on on your PXE server. Then check any other firewalls that may be in between.

Then check that Option 60 is not set on the DHCP server if the PXE server is on a different server or check the Option 43 settings on the DHCP server if Option 60 is set.

Then check for "rogue" PXE servers.

Forgive me if this has been resolved already, but you have to configure your DHCP server.  I used the PXEForcedMode_Utility to help.  I'm probably slow, but it took me a whole day to work it out.  Option 43 was the most difficult thing for me to work out (I tried in vain at first before using the PXE Forced Mode Utility).

My DHCP Server options:

43 (I won't list the value because yours will be different)
60 PXEClient
66 (IP address of your server running PXE services, in my case my local task server.  FYI, you have to start the services manually: interface, server, nssignal, mtftp)
67 Bstrap\x86\bstrap.0  (dig around on your server and you will find this path and file)
 

I read that earlier about doing that, and I think it's because of it why PXE won't work.  There's no way of me to configure it since this is for a University.  I was, however, able to get the Automation Folder to work for my PC.  I started to capture my image last night, and it was working great, but I forgot to uncheck the box to kill the task after 90 minutes.  I will have to run the task again next week and see how it goes. :)  I will definitely keep your notes for future reference, so thank you very much!!

If you can't modify DHCP, you can ask someone about IP helpers, OR do what you're doing with automation folders.

I personally think you've resolved your problem.  Good testing/troubleshooting!

Thank you for all the replies.  I will mark it as solved since I am using the Automation Folders.  It seems to be the method I will have to use.  I was actually able to 100% successfully capture an image last night.  I tried deploying it, which it failed, but will try again tonight to see if I can figure it out.  If not, guess I will open another post. :)