Finally got Image deploy to work where it would take the computer name in the console!

It starts with Using ghost(Which is crap IMO). Then Using Symantec's built in Capture image job, then deploy. And you have to use 64bit PE because there is a known issue where 32bit PE does not have Firm which causes the unattended.xml to not get copied, and the job would hang and fail after imaging.

So today, more image testing with 32 bit, and throwing out all the great logic we had planned with this product.

Original logic:

Image x -> Script in the correct agent installer(hierarchy) -> Copy local all base sw -> Boot to windows and use unattend.xml to install all software and agent.

Now it's back to:

Ghost-> Tasks->

So the big hurdle. Since Ghost is doing it's thing in the back ground, we have no way to manipulate the agent(It configures to the aprents server the image...

This week, diving deeper in to the functional side of DS with some Windows 7 testing along with software deploying.

So we all know the new DS is different, but I never knew it was going to be this different. And Different is not good at all from an DS Administrator's perspective. So here is a low down.

• Software manager is a mess. Maybe from an accountant's side this may be decent, but for an admin, it bestows more work, more clutter, and a interface that serves hardly any benefits. Bottom line, Too many steps to create a job, and not any benefits over the existing platform.

• New PXE has some issues. The SBS corrupts at times causing machines to give the Device is Not Capable errors. Again, another solution to a problem that didnt exist in DS 6.x or any of the competitor's products. 

• Software delivery is badly executed as well. There are Tasks and...

The white board sessions seems to get longer, and the endless syntex errors are just a blur dulled by time.

But we are making steady progress. Altiris 7 doesnt suck like everyone said it would, and other than a very crappy(Personal opinion) console design, everything is pretty smooth.

Things accomplished:

Hardware independent image done, took 3 days, completely modular.

Base Software installed through Unattended.xml. Again modular based on what we copy in to the partitioned image duing WinPE.

Agent installer logic build into WinPE with variables to install agent to the correct Parent/Child Server.

PCAnywhere tested and working perfectly.

SQL sort issues kind of resolved- gotta specify ASC and DESC on a few servers. So we just specified for all at the top and let hierchy replicate them down.

The Grocery List for next week:

Populate Software manager for SVS, Desktop Deploymen.

Win...

I just finished a remote session with a customer that found a computer from the database that is not sending data back.

I had received the log files yesterday and the log viewer was all red and blue. Upon inspection it was clear that the agent COM components are not working (not registered or unregistered), so no basic inventory, client session management or sub-agents could perform their normal tasks.

Still the agent was getting it's policy file from the server, but not being able to do anything with the given policy (given its state).

We checked the computer Windows logs and found nothing interesting in there, so we crafted a SQL query to detect other computers with similar issues:

select 
       distinct(s.ResourceGuid),
       i.Name, MAX(_eventtime) 'Last config request',
       MAX(s.ModifiedDate) 'Last Basic Inventory',
       MAX(s.createdDate) 'First inventory',
       DATEDIFF(d, max(s.modifiedDate),
       MAX(c....