Altiris 7 started to integrate Deployment Server and Notification Server. There are parts of Deployment Solution you can now utilize through the Altiris Agent without the need for the DAgent (AClient). One of these is PC Transplant. This document will cover setting up a PC Transplant Template, creating a Capture Personality Task and also a Deploy Personality Task.
The first step is to verify the Deployment Solution bits are installed and running on the Notification Server. The easiest way to tell what solutions are installed is to check the Symantec Installation Manager (SIM). SIM can be launched from Start -> Program Files -> Altiris -> Symantec -> Symantec Installation Manager.
The installation manager will check first to see if there are any updates available before presenting you with the following screen:
As the figure shows the Deployment Solution is installed. The next step is to enable the Deployment Agent installation. This will install as part of the Altiris Agent and will not be a separate agent. To install the agent, open up the Symantec Management Console and navigate to Settings -> All Settings -> Deployment and Migration -> Deployment Agent Install:
This task will install the Deployment Agent on all managed machines that have the Altiris Agent installed but do not have the Deployment Agent installed.
If you have created a Personality Capture (PCT) Template already created in Deployment Server 6.9 or other versions you can reuse it. We will create a PCT Template from the Notification Server. The PC Template builder can be found in \\SERVERNAME\Deployment\Task Handler\PCT\
Template.exe will launch the PC Transplant Template Editor. The editor works exactly like it does within the standalone version of Deployment Server. For more information on using this see the PC Transplant User Guide. For ease of deployment, save the template in the following folder: \\SERVERNAME\nscap\bin\Win32\X86\Deployment\PCT\EN\
Creating a Task to Capture a Personality
Once the template has been created, we need to create a task to capture the personality. This is down by accessing the menu Actions -> Deployment -> Capture Personality
This will open the Capture Personality Task which looks like the following
Browse to the location of where the Template Package is, and then put a password to secure the package. The task should look like:
The first time I was working with PCT on NS7 I ran into the problem that I did not know where the package was stored. These packages are stored in \\SERVERNAME\Deployment\Task Handler\PCTPackages\.
Deploying the PCT Package
Once the personality has been captured it is time to deploy the personality to the target computer. This done through a Distribute Personality Package found under Actions -> Deployment -> Distribute Personality
Browse to the Personality that has been captured and then assign the task to the computer to deploy the personality onto
When you click on browse you will be presented with all of the personalities that have been successfully captured. Remember they are stored at \\SERVERNAME\Deployment\Task Handler\PCTPackages\
Now you can capture and distribute personality packages without using the Deployment Server or the DAgent (AClient).