Centralized Imaging/OS Deployment
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We have a massive migration that's about to happen in a month.win 7 to 10 upgrades and I think choosing a right image deployment solution at this point is critical. And ongoing deployment would be easier with a centralised image deployment. I see that the help desk team spending a lot of time on system installation and configuration
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@ambarishrh said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
https://www.smartdeploy.com/solutions/#device-drivers looks interesting, i like the driver management part as well, of course this is a licensed product, but I might get approval for that if clonezilla has issues
Anyone used smartdeploy?
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You can build as much or as little setup into your images as you want - just be prepared to make Sysprep Answer files and first time run scripts, etc.
from my experience, the only difference between Fog and Clonezilla (well, other than one is a server and the other is booted from a CD/USB) is that Fog is typically used to boot PXE on the workstations, then you pick your image and deploy. But now in reading the Clonezilla page, Clonezilla can do this too.
Both can do multicast deployments (setup many machines to receive the same image at the same time.
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Yeah I use SmartDeploy. Love it. I can deploy over network or USB. Actually choose USB most of time though. I made an image with our software, loaded all the drivers I will ever need, created an answer file, boot to USB, don't have to touch it again until its ready to log in which I then do so to rename computer per our naming scheme.
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@jmoore said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
Yeah I use SmartDeploy. Love it. I can deploy over network or USB. Actually choose USB most of time though. I made an image with our software, loaded all the drivers I will ever need, created an answer file, boot to USB, don't have to touch it again until its ready to log in which I then do so to rename computer per our naming scheme.
Can you automate things like joining AD
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Yes I auto join our domain.
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I am going to test that!
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They offer a fully functioning free trial. Can use images and things you create afterwards if you decide to buy.
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@jmoore said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
Yes I auto join our domain.
how do you rename then auto join?
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@jmoore said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
They offer a fully functioning free trial. Can use images and things you create afterwards if you decide to buy.
They have several packages but on mobile browser i couldn't compare the difference, mind telling what package you use? I need to check this in detail tomorrow morning
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@dashrender said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
@jmoore said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
Yes I auto join our domain.
how do you rename then auto join?
Sorry I probably was not clear. I set it to join our domain as it is installing. When installation process has finished it comes up to Windows 10 log in screen. It is already joined to our domain according to answer file I created. I log in with my credentials and then rename the pc according to what department it is going to.
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@ambarishrh said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
They have several packages but on mobile browser i couldn't compare the difference, mind telling what package you use? I need to check this in detail tomorrow morning
We have the basic package. The difference in packages is number of help tickets you are allowed and your response time. I'm not aware of any issues that we have had yet.
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@jmoore said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
@dashrender said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
@jmoore said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
Yes I auto join our domain.
how do you rename then auto join?
Sorry I probably was not clear. I set it to join our domain as it is installing. When installation process has finished it comes up to Windows 10 log in screen. It is already joined to our domain according to answer file I created. I log in with my credentials and then rename the pc according to what department it is going to.
Is this something that Windows 10 allows without issue? In the past, I've had troubles changing the name of a domain joined PC. I don't recall specifics, just that doing it wasn't proper (the proper way was leave domain, reboot, change name, reboot, rejoin domain).
You're saying this is no longer needed? -
You may want to check out WDS. You can pre-register machines in a group and they will auto join the domain when they pxe boot. It's a very powerful tool.
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@coliver said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
You may want to check out WDS. You can pre-register machines in a group and they will auto join the domain when they pxe boot. It's a very powerful tool.
Sure, but that requires the use WDS - and while powerful, it's kinda a PITA compared to Clonezilla. But for large deployments, it's probably worth it.
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@dashrender said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
@coliver said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
You may want to check out WDS. You can pre-register machines in a group and they will auto join the domain when they pxe boot. It's a very powerful tool.
Sure, but that requires the use WDS - and while powerful, it's kinda a PITA compared to Clonezilla. But for large deployments, it's probably worth it.
Sure for the one offs it's not ideal. But for large deployments it's pretty good. It does all the driver management for you... After you upload them to the wds server.
The best part is other then the windows tax it's free.
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I am not changing the name of the domain. I am changing my pc name after I can log in.
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@jmoore said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
I am not changing the name of the domain. I am changing my pc name after I can log in.
yes I understand that.
example - the PC is originally named test123, joined to domain ad.acme.com
In the past (perhaps I was working under bad information) you couldn't change the name Test123 to myPC123 without leaving the domain first. It "worked" but normally had problems after the fact.
But I can't recall what the issues were.
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@dashrender said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
@jmoore said in Centralized Imaging- Clonezilla:
I am not changing the name of the domain. I am changing my pc name after I can log in.
yes I understand that.
example - the PC is originally named test123, joined to domain ad.acme.com
In the past (perhaps I was working under bad information) you couldn't change the name Test123 to myPC123 without leaving the domain first. It "worked" but normally had problems after the fact.
But I can't recall what the issues were.
I've done it many times renaming workstations after joining to a domain. Renaming domain controllers and File Servers with Dfs Namespace can have issues.
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Oh ok I see. I don't have any problems doing that yet.
