how to deploy unattended?

Discussion in 'Other Acronis Products' started by Kirschi, Apr 11, 2006.

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  1. Kirschi

    Kirschi Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2006
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    Hello,

    I'm using the trial version from snap deploy for a customer.

    I just have some simple questions:

    How can I re-image e.g. a few hundred computers without sitting in front of those computers? In detail I want to install Windows XP with SP2 on lets say 200 new computers without an OS. Is that possible with Snap Deploy and if yes how can I do this?

    Or another scenario: I would like to reinstall 100 computers. All of those computers have a identical HAL. How can I re-install those computers also without sitting in front of those PCs?

    When I create an Image from a computer I also cannot just backup one (!) partition but I have to create backups from all partitions. When I then try to restore this backup, I have to reboot the computer and select the backup file manually from your boot menu. Is there a way to do this automatically?

    Thanks in advance for your help,

    Martin
     
  2. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2004
    Posts:
    25,885
    Hello Martin,

    Thank you for your interest in Acronis Complete System Deployment Software.

    You just need to have one computer with Windows XP installed. After that you will able to create a master image of that computer and then deploy it to as many computers as you have using Acronis Snap Deploy.

    Actually, it is necessary to create an image of the entire hard drive because MBR needs to be included into image. If you create an image of a separate partition then MBR will not be included. However, You are still able to create images using Acronis True Image software, this software allows you to create images of a separate partition with MBR included. Acronis Snap Deploy is able to deploy images created with Acronis True Image.

    We would also like to recommend you to read the appropriate User's Guide which you can download from the Documentation section of our web site.

    Thank you.
    --
    Kirill Omelchenko
     
  3. dbldare

    dbldare Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2006
    Posts:
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    Kirill,

    So is his first option a fesable one? "Making an image of a WinXP, Spk2 single drive, single partition computer, then having it deploy to 200+ identical machines (hardware)". Do those machines have to have any software installed? The newly formatted machines, do they need some sort of boot disk? Can this be an automatic scheduled restore as well, like say every other weekend or so?

    BTW. I run a large (to me) peer-to-peer network (200+) machines in all. It's not a server based network. I don't mind throwing in a server box if needed, but prefer the peer-to-peer setup we currently have now.

    Random question. I have run a restore program in the past (Ghost 10) and when I restore the image I get "Duplicate Name Exists on the Network". Is there a way around this other then manually renaming each and every machine that I restore?


    Sorry for the "20 questions", but this software seems to have what I need, and I'm very interested.

    Thanks in advance,
    Mike
     
  4. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2004
    Posts:
    25,885
    Hello Mike,

    Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response.

    Please be aware that in case you want to deploy an image onto a remote machine then it is not necessary that this machine have any software installed. You are able to deploy an image onto unformatted hard drives. You should have those machines booted from Acronis Snap Deploy Agent Bootable CD or from Acronis PXE Server. Please read more about this procedure in the appropriate Acronis Snap Deploy User's Guide which you can download from the Documentation section of our web site.

    I'm afraid that it is not possible to restore machines automatically using any of Acronis Software. Our Development Team currently works on this feature and probably it will be available in one of future versions.

    Please be aware that Acronis Snap Deploy allows you to workaround this issue, because you will be able to specify network properties of computers which you are going to deploy an image to. The information about this feature can also be found in the User's Guide.

    If you have any further questions please feel free to ask.

    Thank you.
    --
    Kirill Omelchenko
     
  5. dbldare

    dbldare Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2006
    Posts:
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    Kirill,

    Thanks for the reply. I downloaded the trial version and I'm gonna give it a whirl. I'll probably be asking some more questions.



    Thanks for the help,
    Mike
     
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