Deployment Solution

I´m just starting to evaluate Altris (several years experience of SCCM and OSD), and first I hit DS technology. I´m running 7.1 SP1 single NS with all client management roles installed.

First I want to capture Windows 7 image to use it for deployment inside in Altiris. I created a task steps with:

Partition fails:

[2012/02/13 17:25:52.186 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp:865 Partition Disk Task,ExecuteCommand() returned 0
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.186 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@250 Number of disks mentioned in XML = 1. Actual number of disks present on the target machine = 1
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.186 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@291 ClientPartitionDisk::GetPartitionData()
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@323 DiskNumber = 1, Total disk size of current disk = 61440
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@368 Not logical partition. So adding PartitionSize to nTotalPartitionSizeinPercentage.
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@377 Total Partition Size in Percentage = 90
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@449 ClientPartitionDisk::ValidatePartitionSize()
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@455 Processing Disk number = 1
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@460 Validating Primary and Extended Partition.
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@461 Checking is Total Partition Size is equal to 100 percent or not?
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@481 Validating Logical Partitions.
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@999 There is not enough space for partition on disk number 1!
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@1000 Available space=6136    Partition size=55296
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 0] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@175 ERROR: There is not enough space on the disk for partition. value=4, error=0

[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@942 Output @errorMessage=There is not enough space on the disk for partition. value=4, error=0
[2012/02/13 17:25:52.201 1840:1856 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientPartitionDisk\Tcube_ClientPartitionDisk.cpp@951 Partition Disk completed. Failure return!!

I don´t get it, what should I do?

I added Erase Disk step before partitioning, and now partition step pass. But now it fails at installing OS with:

[2012/02/13 18:39:36.820 1836:452 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientSOI\Tcube_ClientSOI.cpp@1078 Child Process returned error=1
[2012/02/13 18:39:36.883 1836:452 0] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientSOI\Tcube_ClientSOI.cpp@1532 Connection closed for Mapped Drive = Z:

[2012/02/13 18:39:36.883 1836:452 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientSOI\Tcube_ClientSOI.cpp@353 Output @errorMessage=Create Process failed value=1, error=183
[2012/02/13 18:39:36.883 1836:452 2] apps\DeploymentClient\ClientSOI\Tcube_ClientSOI.cpp@362 ClientSOI completed. Failure return!!

To gather an image, first configure your computer as desired, then create a Job that has three tasks: Prepare for image capture, Create image, and Reboot to production.  The other steps you have are unnecessary for proving the concept of an image capture.  Later, as a more mature topic, if you wanted you could create a Scripted OS Install for Windows 7 that would go through and partition the disk, install Windows against an unattend.xml you supply, copy drivers, run post-patch, install the agent, install base software (if desired), and then prepare for image capture and create an image.

But as a first step, I recommend starting with the simple three-task job.  If you do this, are you successful?

Thanks!

Couple of questions:

- Should any devices or/and drivers been removed from device manager if I´m capturing Win7?
- Should the computer be a member of domain
- Any other issues I should be aware of before capturing?

This method, capturing from a reference machine is very used with Windows XP, but in SCCM with Windows 7 we use on-a-fly method which means install&capture right away. That´s why I was trying this first.

Well, if you are new to Altiris, I'd recommend that your first job is actually Reboot to: WinPE, Gather back-up image, Reboot to: Production.  Then confirm you can deploy the back-up Ghost image to the same machine with a job Reboot to: WinPE, Restore back-up image, Reboot to: Production.

The next step to build on would be a Disk Image as I recommended above, then deploying it to a different machine -- though probably one with similar hardware, just in case.

You do not need any of the above steps.  You can drop it into a workgroup if you like.  Device manager needs no touching.

If you are doing SOI for 64bit OS than Preboot environment must be of 64 bit and same for 32bit OS SOI should have Preboot Env of 32bit.Please confirm.

Thanks.

Damn, you got me confused mclemson

With SCCM, I have 2 ways to create an image. By word "image", I mean pure Operating System installation image, with nothing else attached or installed.

1. Install reference machine manually, make any desired changes of OS, distribute a sccm client and distribute a task or start with capture media which will save a .wim file to the sccm system.
2. Create a build and capture task, which will automatically install OS from source files and run the capture after that. This would be runned on a empty machine.

With Altiris, I first read this article: https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/deployment-solution-7x-end-end-8-hours-part-1-ns-only ...but I´m not getting, why I need to create so many steps.

Also this got me thinking: you could create a Scripted OS Install for Windows 7 that would go through and partition the disk, install Windows against an unattend.xml you supply, copy drivers, run post-patch, install the agent, install base software (if desired), and then prepare for image capture and create an image.

- I would like my installation enviroment to be working like generic / dynamic, meaning that I could do any change with tasks/steps. If I need to remove old flashplayer version from the installation, I don´t want to poke into image and do recapturing again. I just want to modify/delete/add steps in installation which contains the flashplayer installation. Same thing with drivers and patches as well. Is this kind of installation method possible with Altiris?

Can anyone confirm me simply as possible, what steps are needed to create simply Windows 7 image in Altiris? I can install virtual machine manually and then push the task, or I´ve already imported Win7 OS files to Altiris.

This works pretty much the same as you described above for #1 and #2.

You can set up a machine manually, and get everything configured as you like, then run three tasks:

1. Prepare for image capture (which runs sysprep and reboots to WinPE)
2. Create image (which uses Ghost to capture an image)
3. Reboot to Production (which reboots to Windows)

There are two image types: backup images and disk images.  Backup images do not require sysprep and can be started with a Reboot to WinPE task.  Backup images are not meant to be deployed to multiple systems since sysprep has not run.  Disk images do require sysprep and can be restarted with a Prepare for image capture task, which runs sysprep and reboots to WinPE.  Because sysprep has run, a disk image can be applied to multiple systems.

The second option, to create it using a scripted installation procedure and then capture it, is really just using tasks to automate what you've done manually above.  So instead of manually setting up the machine, you're formatting the drive, using a Scripted OS Install procedure, and doing whatever else is necessary for your environment before you run sysprep.

Does this make sense?

Thanks a lot mclemson for the last response! Now all starts to be clear for me.

Just a detail question - if I´m capturing an image from manually installed machine, altiris client inside, is it okay that it is a member of domain?

It seems that OS installation files of Windows 7 has a sysprep folder, can that source been used for sysprep?

:) "...but I´m not getting, why I need to create so many steps." I think you looked for the wrong article which is basically for end to end understanding of DS.

By seeing Mike's solution; I think more appropriate article for you could be https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/deployment-solution-7x-imaging-windows-7

Thanks