Norton Ghost & Multicasting?

[Rubicone]

Could one save the cost of buying CDROMs for workstations and simply use Norton's Ghost to image the OS and corresponding applications in a multicast from the server?

 

[Vegito]

yes... but multicast during production time gets slow, etc.. but make sure all the system is the same before u multicase..

 

[Rubicone]

What precisely do you mean by "make sure all the system is the same before you multicast." The same in what way hardware, software wise or both? What problems could arise if there are differences? If you have experienced problems then I would appreciate some examples.

 

[FFIV]

What he means is that all the "HARDWARE" have to be the same because when you clone PCs, that is, when you're using ONE IMAGE to clone multiple PCs, you OBVIOUSLY need to keep all the hardware the same or you WILL get problems --> registry, dirvers, etc etc..

Now there're SOME THINGS that you CANNOT clone, mainly NT SIDS and computer name, each PC MUST have a unique name in the network. Period. So you use "GHOST WALKER" to change those. OK?

 

[overmars]

If you're going to install images across a network, I suggest trying this prog: IC3, instead of ghost. Demo

 

[Rubicone]

To FFIV: Since this particular network will have 10 486DX/66 computers and the rest will be new additions I suppose that one can multicast a specific image for each group of computers.

To Overmars: What are the advantages of using the application you are suggesting as opposed to Ghost technically and cost-wise?

 

[Shadow07]

How many machines are you planning to ghost? What OS are you planning to use? What type of network typology is in place now?

 

[Rubicone]

To Shadow07:
How many machines are you planning to ghost? 20
What OS are you planning to use? Win98Se for Workstations & Win NT 4.0 for the NOS
What type of network typology is in place now? Ethernet

Note: 10 of the workstations are 486DX/66 and the balance which will be added are new.

 

[Shadow07]

Then, you are going to have to create multiple images for every machine that has different hardware. If you were going to use Windows 2000, you can use SYSPREP, and only use 1 image for every machine. Now, the world of imaging or ghosting, which ever you want to call it, is a whole new can of worms. If the machines are of like (similar) hardware, the PnP manager in Windows 98 can handle your needs. But, if you are planning to (or hoping to) use only on Windows 98 and Windows NT 4 image, you will run into problems.

Now, with Windows NT, remember that you cannot install this on different hardware platforms. The OS does not have the same kernel extensions in the Excutive area of the NT kernel, like that of Windows 2000. What I'm trying to say is, for every machine you plan to install Windows NT 4 on, you better make sure that the hardware is exact. Otherwise, you will run into problems. But, remember also, you cannot use SYSPREP on a Windows NT 4 machine, only Windows 2000.

If you have any problems with this, I have created numerous images, and developed numerous systems for the automated installation/roll-out of new machines.