Deployment Solution

I found an article( HOWTO6474 ) explaining how to distribute an image to remote sites by pulling the from a local site store (i'm assuming that the site store does not have to be a pxe server).

However the article is not very descriptive. (pasted the article at the bottom)

my server name = ns6

I'm i correct in assuming that i do not need pxe servers on all local sites?

(pic1) should my winpe path be \\ns6\express or should it be a variable like \\%SERVERNAME%\express?

(pic2) i took the script and made getsrv.bat and added it to the startup folder.... should i add the "server.lst" in the startup folder aswell?

(pic3) when i create the distribute image job should my path be "G:\image path" or some like \\"%SERVERNAME%\image path" ? 

Article pasted below.....

Question
The DS Image Distribution Framework is a utility that allows large customers ensure that a single PXE configuration is available across the enterprise and different PXE Servers.

It uses a mechanism that looks up the local file server IP address before setting a DOS environment variable that defines the local share to which the agent will connect a given drive (see article 31186).

How can this feature be ported to the Windows automation environment?

Answer
The DS team has incorporated some hooks in the WinPE loading process to allow for OEMs or customers to load custom elements in the registry or WinPE run time environment.

This hook will execute anything that is in the X:\startup folder, as long as the extension are registered with an executable type (so .reg, .bat, .vbs, or .cmd should all execute by default).

This allows you to add VBS scripts to look up the current IP address and, based on the server.lst file, define the entry that should be used to map the local file server before the AClient is loaded.

Here is a batch script that will retrieve the WinPE IPAddress, lookup the server.lst file and set the share (G:\) to the local PXE server.

@echo off
cls

set Debug=0

:GetIpAddress
 IPCONFIG |FIND "IP" > %temp%\TEMPIP.txt
 if not %errorlevel%==0 goto OUT
 FOR /F "tokens=2 delims=:" %%a in (%temp%\TEMPIP.txt) do set IpAddress=%%a
 del %temp%\TEMPIP.txt
 set IpAddress=%IpAddress:~1%
 if %Debug%==1 echo System IP address is:  %IpAddress%

:GetSubnetAddress
 set i=0

:Loop
 if %i% EQU 3 Goto OUT
 set /a i+=1
 for /f "tokens=%i% delims=." %%a in ("%IpAddress%") do set v=%%a
 if %i% == 1 (set s=%v%
  ) else set s=%s%.%v%
Goto Loop

:OUT
 set Subnet=%s%
 if %Debug%==1 echo Subnet address is:  %Subnet%

:GetPXEServer
 type server.lst | find "%subnet%" > %temp%\TEMPPXE.txt
 for /f "tokens=2 delims=," %%a in (%temp%\TEMPPXE.txt) do set PXEServer=%%a
 del %temp%\TEMPPXE.txt
 if %Debug%==1 echo Local PXE Server is:  %PXEServer%

:MapPXEServer
 if %Debug%==1 (echo net use G: "\\%PXEServer%\eXpress" /yes <nul
 ) else net use G: "\\%PXEServer%\eXpress" /yes <nul

Note: The shared folder is set to eXpress, but this could be changed. The batch and server.lst should be in the same directory

1. You are correct in assuming you don't need PXE servers at all local sites as long as the following considerations are taken:

 - iphelpers are setup to direct PXE/DHCP requests to the appropriate servers
 - You are prepared to distribute the WinPE image across your WAN (because of the size and amount of time it sometimes takes and how much bandwidth you have available, you may want to consider putting a PXE server physically at each location).

2.  PIC1 question - This should be mapped to your DS express share.  You will want to map an additional drive for your image store.  Be careful not to use too low of a drive letter, especially when dealing with a machine that already has Windows 7 (i.e. from the PC manufacturer preloaded) and multiple drives.  I have come across a few instances where drive letters were used all the way to drive "I:".  Also, note you cannot use drive "X:".  The getsrv utility should map the appropriate drive for you in your script.  I am going to post my script below (mainly because I have several drive mappings for drivers, image deployment, image backup, etc.).  In the example below, I am using I: as my express mapping.  J: is my image deployment mapping.  K: is my image backup area.  L: is my driver area.  These are split due to the length of the path to get to these areas and Microsoft's memory limitations (number of characters).  This script will replace your winpe "mapdrv.bat".  I would suggest when you get to the file structure, you delete the existing "mapdrv.bat" and then put your own files in the additional files area.  The only other file you would modify would be the server.lst file, do not modify any other batch files.

@net use i: "\\hqaltiris1\eXpress" /yes

@call x:\tools\getsrv.bat /s "x:\tools\server.lst" /v SERVERNAME /m J: "express\altimages\baseimage" /d "DOMAINNAME" /u "USERNAME" /p "PASSWORD"

@call x:\tools\getsrv.bat /s "x:\tools\server.lst" /v SERVERNAME /m K: "express\images" /d "DOMAINNAME" /u "USERNAME" /p "PASSWORD"

@call x:\tools\getsrv.bat /s "x:\tools\server.lst" /v SERVERNAME /m L: "express\altimages\drivers" /d "DOMAINNAME" /u "USERNAME" /p "PASSWORD"

so much man, this put me on the correct path and it's working a treat now....

i see you inserting drivers the winpe aswell, this is the next thing i have to tackle...

currently my non lan drivers install is done in windows with a script below

so this is not going to allow me to connect to the local remote store to install drivers...

I would like to know how you are tackling this...

echo off
REM Install hardware drivers
REM If model is unknown Windows 7 default drivers will be used
REM and file NO_DRIVERS.txt will be created in C:\ 
REM Windows 7 x86
REM No network drivers
echo Computer model:  %#!computer@model_num%
set modelname=none

rem -------------------HP Desktops-------------------------
REM HP DC7800
if "%#!computer@model_num%" =="0AA8h" set modelname=HP_DC7800
if "%#!computer@model_num%" =="0AACh" set modelname=HP_DC7800
if "%#!computer@model_num%" =="440BX Desktop Reference Platform" set modelname=VM_7

if "%modelname%"=="none" (goto nomodelnumber) ELSE (goto installdrivers)
goto exit

: installdrivers
echo on
set server=%DSSERVER%.TOCATECH.LOCAL
set share=express
set drive=s:
set domain=TOCATECH.LOCAL
set user=ADMINISTRATOR
set password=PASSWORD
net use %drive% \\%server%\%share% %password% /user:%domain%\%user% /persistent:no
start /w %drive%\MYDATA\drivers\Win7x32\dpinst.exe /path %drive%\MYDATA\drivers\Win7x32\%modelname%\
net use %drive% /delete
echo off
goto exit

:nomodelnumber
echo on
set server=%DSSERVER%.TOCATECH.LOCAL
set share=express
set drive=s:
set domain=TOCATECH.LOCAL
set user=ADMINISTRATOR
set password=PASSWORD
net use %drive% \\%server%\%share% %password% /user:%domain%\%user% /persistent:no
copy %drive%\MYDATA\drivers\Win7x32\NO_DRIVERS.txt C:\NO_DRIVERS.txt /V /Y
net use %drive% /delete
echo off
goto exit

:exit
echo Finished.
exit

You can do this a few different ways.  You can use conditions in the job to identify which drivers need to be injected, or you can do a large script that will identify the hardware and copy the appropriate drivers to the drivers folders identified in your sysprep file.  The first script below assumes you are using conditions in your jobs to identify the hardware and are also using WinPE x64 (you can modify this script to be used in WinPE x86 and DOS).  If you need a script for LinuxPE, I have one for that as well.

i:\rdeploy\windows\x64\firm -recurse copy L:\t3500\* prod:\drivers
i:\rdeploy\windows\x64\firm delete prod:\WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll
i:\rdeploy\windows\x64\firm delete prod:\WIDNOWS\system32\ntkrnlpa.exe
i:\rdeploy\windows\x64\firm copy L:\hal\halt3500.dll prod:\WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll
i:\rdeploy\windows\x64\firm copy L:\hal\ntkrnlpat3500.exe prod:\WINDOWS\system32\ntkrnlpa.exe

 

The attached file is an older script that I used to use when I was using DOS as an automation environment. You can modify it to work in WinPE fairly easily, just replace the firm references with the location of the correct firm file from your express\rdeploy share.  After you have modified the file for your needs, rename it to a bat file from a txt file.

Attachment(s)

hii2script_0.txt   9 KB 1 version