WDS Multicasting

[Gatt]

Ok having just installed the RTM of Windows 2008, I thought I'd have another bash at multicasting..

But no.. I chose my WIM image - selected "create multicast transmission" swne through the wizard (start when 3 clients connect) and it appeared under the Multicast Transmissions folder in WDS - so far so good..

Went to my clients (3) and connected to WDS, chose the Image but instead of waiting for all 3 - they all started straight off..

No sign of the clients in WDS either...

What did I do wrong?

[srochford]

I've not yet tried this yet but I thought that the "big idea" with the WDS multicasting was that they would start when they're ready (unlike Ghost). Because the WIM file contains just a set of files it just sends them in sequence and continually (so your first machine gets files 1-1000; the next one gets files 50-1000 and then 1-49 and so on)

The benefit of this is that you shouldn't get dropouts - with Ghost, if one machine loses a bit then everything has to wait until it catches up or gives up. With WDS it should be possible to miss (say) file 234 on the first go but just carry on and pick it up on the next run through. This could mean that some machines take a long time to finish on a dodgy network but they should all manage in the end.

[Bezwick]

Hello, i am trying WDS and Multicasting on 2008 at the moment and having this exact same problem, is anyone else?
Gatt did you ever manage to sort it out?

Thanks

Bezz

Ok having just installed the RTM of Windows 2008, I thought I'd have another bash at multicasting..

But no.. I chose my WIM image - selected "create multicast transmission" swne through the wizard (start when 3 clients connect) and it appeared under the Multicast Transmissions folder in WDS - so far so good..

Went to my clients (3) and connected to WDS, chose the Image but instead of waiting for all 3 - they all started straight off..

No sign of the clients in WDS either...

What did I do wrong?

[Gatt]

No, but To be honest not had a real play with it recently...
Will try again now we have the RTM of 2008 installed...

[Bezwick]

Help

Been having a bit more of a play WDS & Multicasting, and solved a couple of problems 1 = IGMP snooping wasn't enabled - DOH!
2 = Apparantly you need to set up the WDS server with the boot.wim file from either the Windows Server 2008 DVD or Vista SP1 DVD as the orginal vista version doesn't support multicasting.

This has worked to a fashion, now i can get the system to detect multiple machines and start automatically when it reaches the right amount.
Sounds great eh? Well erm no yep it works but it transfers at around 200kb/sec. Yep you heard that right its so slow its unusable. However it works perfectly if i use unicast.

I have tried it with a Dell Dimension 1100 & HP DX5150 both with the same problem. I am running all this on a 3Com 3824 Switch.

Anyone got any ideas why this is happening?

Cheers

Bezz

[Quackers]

I went back to RIS/WDS on 2003 Server, found the WDS Multicasting was so slow! Took longer to image 80 Workstations using Multicasting than the normal WDS way. Plus i missed having RIS too, and you cannot do legacy mode on 2008 Server

[nocor]

any luck with the multicast? I have similar problems. the clients are appearing in the session fine but sit there at "waiting". it is an Auto-Cast session with the win2008 boot.wim
they just dont seem to start. i have tried both enableing and disableing all types of broadcast control and IGMP snooping but they just wont start imaging. the server and client are both on the same switch
any ideas appreciated.
Conor

[A5Ben]

I have been setting up WDS with Multicasting on my network and am very happy with it. I can deploy an XP image around 5.5GB to 30 workstations in 25 minutes start to logon.

The multicasting speed is determined by the slowest computer connected to the session as well as your network topology.


HTH,
Ben

[cyr0n_k0r]

Has anyone solved this yet? We are having the EXACT same problem where the XP images do not wait for other computers, they just start and then disappear from the multicast session inside the WDS manager.

I have a question opened on the technet forums as well.
WDS and multicasting - session is starting too soon

[loucoll-Dave]

Has anyone looked into this more?
i have tried this the boot images from 2008, 2008 sp2 and vista with sp2, to no effect....

[cyr0n_k0r]

We solved the problem.

It seems multicasting wasn't setup correctly in the switch.
We run the microsoft provided tools called "mcast.exe" to test to see if multicasting was working correctly outside of WDS. Once we identified that WDS wasn't the issue we found our problem.

[loucoll-Dave]

Cheer's will try this tomorrow

[eean]

I went back to RIS/WDS on 2003 Server, found the WDS Multicasting was so slow! Took longer to image 80 Workstations using Multicasting than the normal WDS way. Plus i missed having RIS too, and you cannot do legacy mode on 2008 Server

WHAT!
No legacy mode in 2008? We're supposed to be upgrading over the summer and I've just finished sorting out the legacy mode setup! I don't care if the new one is better... legacy is what I know, and it works!

[tmcd35]

No Legacy Mode? That settles it then! The imaging server can remain as a 2003R2 VM for the foreseeable future.