Computer imaging software?

[Papa_Complex]

Does anyone have a line of software for imaging a number of computers, with the same setup?

We used to use Norton Ghost, but later switched to Altiris at Symantec's recommendation. The older version of Ghost won't support WinVista or Win7. We're now pretty much out of licenses for Altiris and they want stupid money for more, so we're looking for another product (preferably open source, if possible) to image a large number of PCs, of different types.

We maintain our installation files on a server, for fast recovery and initial installation.

[Trip]

demonoid altiris...lol

[Papa_Complex]

We operate on the legal side of the street, thank-you very much ;)

[LeeNetworX]

I've used various methods/apps and Altiris is THE best we've used, IMO, hands down. Shame your company can't afford the renewal of the licenses. Have you tried negotiating with them/your contact? They may be willing to do so if you explain your situation and point out the cheaper/free alternatives.

[Papa_Complex]

I've used various methods/apps and Altiris is THE best we've used, IMO, hands down. Shame your company can't afford the renewal of the licenses. Have you tried negotiating with them/your contact? They may be willing to do so if you explain your situation and point out the cheaper/free alternatives.

We're already getting educational pricing, so it's about as good as it'll get. We have an install base of perhaps 2500 computers, with half of those being in student labs. Those will continue to be handled with Altiris. The problem is the user systems, which generally only need to be imaged once, prior to being put into production. Each one of those needs a license and it's hard to justify.

[LeeNetworX]

The problem is the user systems, which generally only need to be imaged once, prior to being put into production. Each one of those needs a license and it's hard to justify.

Gotcha. Altiris is definitely overkill for those systems. :lol

[Papa_Complex]

Gotcha. Altiris is definitely overkill for those systems. :lol

We might have to reimage those later on, if the hard drive crashes or they're so badly virused that cleaning isn't a reasonable option, but we do that from base image and copy the recovered data.

[tallywacker]

I only used ghost, haven't made the migration to win7 yet.

You could test http://clonezilla.org/ to see if it works.

Win 7 tech thread

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/18971-clonezilla-open-source-image-backup.html

[Papa_Complex]

Ghost doesn't properly image Win7 boot sectors. You can get around it by doing a Windows Repair on each imaged computer, but I don't know that I trust that.

Apparently Clonezilla requires essentially one server per image. When you've got a few dozen images, for old computer models and different operating systems, that's not good.

[tallywacker]

Ghost doesn't properly image Win7 boot sectors. You can get around it by doing a Windows Repair on each imaged computer, but I don't know that I trust that.

Apparently Clonezilla requires essentially one server per image. When you've got a few dozen images, for old computer models and different operating systems, that's not good.

Yeah I didn't read into it, just throwing something out there. That seems to be the most popular open source software for imagining. I wasn't familiar with its limitations.

[Papa_Complex]

Yeah I didn't read into it, just throwing something out there. That seems to be the most popular open source software for imagining. I wasn't familiar with its limitations.

It sounds like a very good option for a specific situation; a computer lab with 20 or 30 identical systems. I've made a note of it for the future, but it won't really work for what we need now.

[LeeNetworX]

I used PartImage in the past for making base and backup images of personal machines; might want to check that out and see if it suits your needs.

[Papa_Complex]

I used PartImage in the past for making base and backup images of personal machines; might want to check that out and see if it suits your needs.

I started messing around with it, but it didn't seem to want to recognize the SATA hard drives in the Dell Optiplex 620 that I use as a test box. I've been meaning to go back and try to find out why.

[miztress6]

I started messing around with it, but it didn't seem to want to recognize the SATA hard drives in the Dell Optiplex 620 that I use as a test box. I've been meaning to go back and try to find out why.

I had a similiar problem with the 760 turned out to be the controller had to turn off the AHCI in the BIOS to get them to work.

We still can't upgrade our systems to Win7 the database version we are at won't even install on it. So we have to wait for programming to catch up

[Papa_Complex]

I had a similiar problem with the 760 turned out to be the controller had to turn off the AHCI in the BIOS to get them to work.

We still can't upgrade our systems to Win7 the database version we are at won't even install on it. So we have to wait for programming to catch up

I'll take a look that that. Thanks.

We can usually go for a year or more before the push becomes too hard for an O/S upgrade, due to compatibility issues, but we essentially skipped Vista. That makes the pressure for upgrade too high.

[Bluestreak]

Have any of you used Kace? www.kace.com

I'm giving this product very serious consideration.

[Papa_Complex]

Hadn't heard of it. Thanks, I'll give it a look.

[LeeNetworX]

Have any of you used Kace? www.kace.com (http://www.kace.com)

I'm giving this product very serious consideration.

Never heard of it. Does the fact that it's a Dell product mean that it only works on Dell machines?

[tallywacker]

Never heard of it. Does the fact that it's a Dell product mean that it only works on Dell machines?

Huh? Why would it matter who pieced the hardware and software software together to make a PC? Dell is the same as anything else except with some sometimes shitty proprietary hardware on occasions.

[Bluestreak]

Never heard of it. Does the fact that it's a Dell product mean that it only works on Dell machines?

They were acquired by Dell in the last 2 years I believe.

Imaging is only 1 piece. Inventory, snapshots, software metering, hardware lock downs etc...

www.kace.com/products/virtual-appliance/virtual-kbox.php

[Papa_Complex]

Looks like it will work on a variety of systems, though embedded asset management from Dell systems might be required for some functions. Things like imaging should be manufacturer transparent.

Unfortunately I'm not looking to add to our infrastructure, since cost is one of the main issues that we are currently dealing with. The big server guys can get a couple of million budgeted to a massive, campus-wide project, but we're pretty limited.

[LeeNetworX]

Huh? Why would it matter who pieced the hardware and software software together to make a PC? Dell is the same as anything else except with some sometimes shitty proprietary hardware on occasions.

Dell gets off on using proprietary designs in their products. I was asking if their software would only manage/image client machines that were made by Dell. It's not an unreasonable question.


Looks like it will work on a variety of systems, though embedded asset management from Dell systems might be required for some functions. Things like imaging should be manufacturer transparent.

And this is what I was getting at. Imaging may work but what about patch management, scripting functions, etc.? If that supports those type of functions for all clients, regardless of make, that's good. If not, that sucks.

[Bluestreak]

Dell gets off on using proprietary designs in their products. I was asking if their software would only manage/image client machines that were made by Dell. It's not an unreasonable question.

I'd give you the plus one but I know what that'll do!

Kace has assured me that it will work with any machine. Not just Dell.

Just got a quote. 21k for 160 machines before discounts.

[tallywacker]

Dell gets off on using proprietary designs in their products. I was asking if their software would only manage/image client machines that were made by Dell. It's not an unreasonable question.

It is when you read the website, and know it was existing software. Plus it makes no economical sense to limit a tool like this to only their machines. Hardware makes sense because it requires you to buy from them, but software dell would want to sell to everyone and not limit their market. Both make perfect business sense.

[LeeNetworX]

Just got a quote. 21k for 160 machines before discounts.

Is that high? Seems like it, but I'm a bit out of touch with licensing costs these days. You'll have to forgive my ignorance, I thankfully don't have to deal with software procurement that much, and we have a global license for Altiris that was arranged by some group in the company somewhere, so I have nothing to compare with.

[Bluestreak]

Is that high? Seems like it, but I'm a bit out of touch with licensing costs these days. You'll have to forgive my ignorance, I thankfully don't have to deal with software procurement that much, and we have a global license for Altiris that was arranged by some group in the company somewhere, so I have nothing to compare with.

That's $131.25 per machine. For everything it can do, I don't think it's too bad. They claim to be cheaper than Altiris but I have nothing other than a sales rep's comment to back up that statement.

I was looking at it for the inventory piece and got pulled in by the imaging functions.

I like the fact that I can get it as a virtual or physical appliance.

[LeeNetworX]

It is when you read the website, and know it was existing software. Plus it makes no economical sense to limit a tool like this to only their machines. Hardware makes sense because it requires you to buy from them, but software dell would want to sell to everyone and not limit their market. Both make perfect business sense.

Limiting it to just their hardware means more reason to buy Dell when refreshing your hardware....that is, if it's a good tool. While it seems like a ridiculous plan, big software / hardware companies do stupid shit like this all the time - Hell, my company has made plenty of such dumb decisions in the past. So I respectfully disagree with you and will leave it at that.

[LeeNetworX]

I like the fact that I can get it as a virtual or physical appliance.

We'll be seeing more and more products being made available this way, as cloud computing starts to really take hold these next few years.

On that topic, have you seen that new Windows 7 commerical with the mom doing the photo editing/stitching of her family photos? "To the cloud!" :lol

[tallywacker]

Limiting it to just their hardware means more reason to buy Dell when refreshing your hardware....that is, if it's a good tool. While it seems like a ridiculous plan, big software / hardware companies do stupid shit like this all the time - Hell, my company has made plenty of such dumb decisions in the past. So I respectfully disagree with you and will leave it at that.

http://images.smh.com.au/2009/06/26/604760/michael_thumbsup-600x400.jpg

[Papa_Complex]

That's $131.25 per machine. For everything it can do, I don't think it's too bad. They claim to be cheaper than Altiris but I have nothing other than a sales rep's comment to back up that statement.

I was looking at it for the inventory piece and got pulled in by the imaging functions.

I like the fact that I can get it as a virtual or physical appliance.

I think that's 2.5 to 3X what we pay for the functionality that we have through Altiris. We don't need a global system management solution. In fact, because of the two little words "academic freedom", we can't.

[tallywacker]

I think that's 2.5 to 3X what we pay for the functionality that we have through Altiris. We don't need a global system management solution. In fact, because of the two little words "academic freedom", we can't.

What do you mean by that? How does that limit your implementation?

[Papa_Complex]

What do you mean by that? How does that limit your implementation?

We can't push anything and live monitoring is out, so paying for a full system management solution is rather pointless. We can't mandate a manufacturer or model of equipment either, though we can create disincentives to the purchase of "unsupported" hardware.

Oddly enough, when I explain what can be done with something like a full management solution to profs, they generally think it's a good idea.

[miztress6]

My problem is shittier I have a great systems management tool http://www.kaseya.com/
Win XP is at End of life for OEM sales. I've been buying downgrades with my dell's since 7 came out now dell won't do it. I'm entitled to the downgrade I just have to sweat it and make sure everthing works with XP after I get the hardware

[tallywacker]

We can't push anything and live monitoring is out, so paying for a full system management solution is rather pointless. We can't mandate a manufacturer or model of equipment either, though we can create disincentives to the purchase of "unsupported" hardware.

Oddly enough, when I explain what can be done with something like a full management solution to profs, they generally think it's a good idea.

Funny how PSU is the exact opposite as that. ITS runs the show.