Deployment Solution

Ok I am having a couple of small issues that I hope I can get guidance on.

ISSUE #1:  For some reason PXE and WOL do not seem to work when trying to run a job on a computer that is on a different VLAN than the Altiris/PXE server.   It works great as long as the server and computer(s) are on the same VLAN.   I have searched and read many different help articles and already checked for things like if the iphelpers are set up in the routing and they are.    I read somewhere that portfast needs to be enabled on the switches/ports and it is.    I also read that if MultiCast is not set up right in the switching/routing this could be an issue and I am told by my network admin that it IS setup correctly.    I work with computers fine as long as an automation partition is installed and the Altiris Client is installed on the computer.

• The PXE Server is set up on the same server as where Deployment Solution is installed
• We are using a Microsoft DHCP Server on a separate Server
• Computers on the same VLAN as the Altiris PXE Server get an IP and respond when a job is assigned to them
• Computers on a different VLAN get the error Message "PXE-E53:  No boot filename received"
• WOL does not work but I got it to work on computers the client was installed by checking off the force WOL packets option in the Altiris Client Options.    It does not seem to work on computers that do not have any client installed.

ISSUE #2:  Is there a better way to add/update drivers in the Boot Disk Creator.   We have quite a few Dell Vostro 1310/1510 model laptops that seem to have a Realtek RTL8168c NIC and for some reason they do not want to work with Altiris.    I See the driver in the list and I tried to add the updated WinVista PE driver from the one I downloaded from Realteks Website but I still think it is trying to use the old one that comes with 6.9 SP1 MP1.   The error message I am getting is "Restarting DHCP Client Service: retry..." .      I read in a Altiris KB article here that stated something about copying the inf and sys files to  "bootwiz\platforms\winpe\x86\base\i386\inf" and "bootwiz\platforms\winpe\x86\base\i386\system32\drivers"    folders but those do not exist on my DS 6.9SP1 server and this article applies to DS 6.5 so I am not sure if it is still relevent.    How can I add or update the current drivers for this realtek card?

Issue 1: Apparently your network doesn't allow directed broadcasts? If that is the case you need to choose some WOL Proxy machines on the various VLAN's to do your bidding. Also make sure endpoint software isn't blocking 402/UDP.

See:
https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=35517&p=1


As for PXE, you need IPhelpers for both your DHCP and PXE server if they are not the same server. Search kb.altiris.com and get the articles for your admin. Admin's always say it will work the first time. Give this person specific detail on how the process should work from information in the KB.

See:
https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=1331&p=1
https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=40688&p=1


Issue 2: You should open a separate thread since this isn't related.

Thank You so much.   I showed these articles to my Network Admin and he said there was already a IP helper statement in the switch that is doing the routing.   I pointed out that it was for the DHCP server and a separate one needs to be added for the Altiris PXE server since they are not on the same server and he said he wasn't sure.    So I added it anyway and low and behold PXE boot now works.     THANK YOU THANK YOU.

Now if I could get some response on my other issue I posted which I moved to another forum post.

In most cases WOL will not go across subnets by itself.  It is considered a broadcast and is usually stopped at the Switch or Router level.  In order to get WOL to work you will most certainly need a WOL proxy on each subnet or vlan.

As far as updated drivers on the PXE boot images, it should be as simple as just updating or modifying the PXE boot image with the latest drivers.

I find that once a computer is a part of the Deployment Console and has the Altiris Client installed I have the default option of the client to Forward Wake-On-Lan Packets and that works to wake up machines.   It does not work on machines that do not have the client installed which is not a huge deal and should only affect new deployment computers or computers with failed hardware like a hard drive.

In regards to my other issue I have tried and tried to update the drivers but nothing seems to work with these realtek cards.   I used the add driver option in the boot disk creator and I even tried copying the updated inf and sys files to the the directory in the express share where the drivers for WinPE are located and rebuilt my Automation packages.    No matter what I get the "Restarting DHCP client service error message.