Deployment Solution 6.5: Image Distribution Framework. Prepared by:

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1 Deployment Solution 6.5: Image Distribution Framework Prepared by: Brian Palmer, Development Nelson Villegas, Development Jacob Hammons, Documentation January 13, 2006

2 About Altiris Altiris, Inc. is a pioneer of IT lifecycle management software that allows organizations to easily manage desktops, notebooks, thin clients, handhelds, industry-standard servers, and heterogenous software including Windows, Linux, and UNIX. Altiris automates and simplifies IT projects throughout the life of an asset to reduce the cost and complexity of management. Altiris client and mobile, server, and asset management solutions natively integrate through a common Web-based console and repository. For more information, visit Notice The content of this document represents the current view of Altiris as of the date of publication. Because Altiris responds continually to changing markets and conditions, this document should not be interpreted as a commitment on the part of Altiris. Altiris cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. Copyright C , Altiris, Inc. All rights reserved. Altiris, Inc. 588 West 400 South Lindon, UT Phone: (801) Fax: (801) Bootworks U.S. Patent No. 5,764,593. Altiris and Deployment Solution for Servers are registered trademarks of Altiris, Inc. in the United States. Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks, of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other brands and names are the property of their respective owners. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. For the latest documentation, visit

3 Contents Why Use an Image Distribution Framework? Creating a Distribution Framework Step One: Set Up Local Image Stores Step Two: Replicate Images Step Three: Configure the Server Lookup Utility Create a Configuration Create a Server Lookup File GetSRV.EXE Parameter Descriptions Step Four: Create a Boot Disk Creator Configuration Modify Mapdrv.bat to call Getsrv.bat Deploy the Boot Configuration Step Five: Distribute an Image

4 Why Use an Image Distribution Framework? In distributed networks, your ability to effectively manage computers is often limited by the speed of your network link to remote locations. In Deployment Solution, computer imaging can often require file transfers in excess of several gigabytes, even when multicasting. This can cause centralized management to become a major bottleneck, limiting your ability to manage computers at these remote locations. To help reduce this bottleneck when imaging using Deployment Solution, this whitepaper provides a process to centrally assign imaging jobs to computers at any location, then have each computer automatically retrieve the correct image file locally. The following diagram outlines a typical network topology that can benefit by implementing an image distribution framework. It consists of a distributed network with several remote locations and subnets connected using routers over permanent, reliablebut-slow WAN links: Typically, managed computers at remote locations would be required to access image files often over several gigabytes over this LAN link. Implementing an image distribution framework enables you to replicate your images to a local image store for use during imaging tasks. Deployment Solution 6.5: Image Distribution Framework 4

5 Creating a Distribution Framework The following provides a basic outline of an image distribution framework: Each subnet has a file server to host a local image store. All managed computers, regardless of location, connect to the local image store to retrieve images. This eliminates downloading an image over the WAN link before an imaging operation. The location of each managed computer is determined automatically based on IP address using a custom utility. Using this method, the same distribute image task can be used to image one or more computers regardless of location. Complete the following tasks to implement an image distribution framework: Step One: Set Up Local Image Stores (page 5) Step Two: Replicate Images (page 5) Step Three: Configure the Server Lookup Utility (page 5) Step Four: Create a Boot Disk Creator Configuration (page 6) Step Five: Distribute an Image (page 7) Step One: Set Up Local Image Stores A local image store should be set up on a file share at each remote location. Each share hosting an image store should have the same name and folder structure. In other words, the path to your images must be identical with the exception of the server name. To control access to these shares, we recommend creating a domain-level account with read/write access to each share, or alternately, a local account with the same username and password on each server. This account should not possess group membership, interactive login privileges, or any additional rights. This account is specified when creating the boot configuration in Boot Disk Creator, and the username and password must be the same for each share. Step Two: Replicate Images Before an image can be used, it must be replicated to the image store file share at each location. There are a number of file replication solutions available, and most companies already have a process in place for replicating data between remote sites. Before attempting an imaging job, make sure the necessary image files have been replicated to the local image store. Step Three: Configure the Server Lookup Utility To simplify the process of accessing images at remote locations, a tool called getsrv.exe was developed to retrieve the IP address of each managed computer then compare it to a lookup file to find the local image store. Create a Configuration Open getsrv.bat in a text editor. This batch file calls getsrv.exe to populate the server name variable. Deployment Solution 6.5: Image Distribution Framework 5

6 Getsrv.bat should look similar to the following: copy F:\server.lst c:\tools\server.lst C:\tools\getsrv.exe /s c:\tools\server.lst /v SERVERNAME > call C:\tools\srvenv.bat c:\tools\srvenv.bat This example copies the server lookup file, server.lst, from the Deployment share to the automation drive. Getsrv.exe is then called with these parameters set correctly. To use this example in your environment, place your server lookup file in a tools folder on your deployment share and name it server.lst. If you are using PXE, change the drive references from C: to A:, since PXE uses a virtual boot floppy represented by A:. This modified file is added to your boot configuration in a later section. Create a Server Lookup File Each server in the lookup file consists of two entries: the IP address/subnet entry and the corresponding server name. The IP address and subnet are separated by a slash ( / ), and the corresponding server name is separated by a comma (,). For example: / ,SERVER / , SERVER / , SERVER 3 Create entries in this file for each IP segment to which you might deploy images. GetSRV.EXE Parameter Descriptions The following table contains descriptions of the getsrv.exe parameters: Parameter Description /s [filename] File containing the list of servers hosting local image stores. This file is typically placed in the deployment share. See Create a Server Lookup File (page 6). /v [variablename] Environment variable containing the selected server. This token is used when creating the boot configuration, and is set to SERVERNAME in these examples. Step Four: Create a Boot Disk Creator Configuration After you have configured getsrv.bat, you need to create and modify a boot configuration. This configuration is used to boot managed computers to the automation environment for imaging. 1. In Boot Disk Creator, create a new boot configuration using your selected automation boot method and environment. 2. Create a drive mapping for your image share, using the %SERVERNAME% variable rather than an actual servername. (The name of this environment variable is specified using the /v flag of getsrv.exe. We recommend using SERVERNAME). This drive mapping should look similar to the following: \\%SERVERNAME%\[share] Deployment Solution 6.5: Image Distribution Framework 6

7 Replace [share] with the share name of your local image stores. 3. Managed computers must be able to resolve the name of the central Deployment Server. If using DOS automation, NetBIOS is used to resolve names, so we recommend adding your Deployment Server to the lmhosts file. We also recommend adding the name and IP address of each server hosting an image store. 4. After the wizard completes, within the configuration, create a folder named Tools and copy the following files: getsrv.exe getsrv.bat Modify Mapdrv.bat to call Getsrv.bat Mapdrv.bat is called to map drives in the automation environment. This file is modified to call the getsrv.bat file you modified in a previous step. After this executes, the server name variable is available to map the drive to your local image store. 1. Launch Boot Disk Creator. 2. Expand the configuration you created in the previous section. 3. Modify mapdrv.bat to add the following line after the first line of the file: call c:\tools\getsrv.bat The completed file should look similar to the following: net use F: \\[your_ds_servername]\express /yes call \tools\getsrv.bat net use [drive]: \\%SERVERNAME%\[share] /yes Deploy the Boot Configuration This configuration is now ready to be deployed using PXE, installed to an automation partition, or copied to boot media. Computers must boot this configuration when performing imaging tasks. Step Five: Distribute an Image You are now ready to test your configuration by deploying an image. Use the standard deploy image task in the Deployment Console, keeping in mind the following: Images must be replicated before the task executes. Deployment Solution 6.5: Image Distribution Framework 7

8 The path to the image file specified in the Deploy Image task should be based on the image store drive you mapped when creating your boot configuration. For example, if you selected G and mapped \\%SERVERNAME%\ds_images, and your images are located in the root folder of that share, the path is G:\imagename.img. The server lookup file must be accessible. Deployment Solution 6.5: Image Distribution Framework 8