Ghost or WDS

[farquea]

Hi we currently use an old version of Ghost that was setup and configured by previous members of staff.
We intend to be upgrading and making changes to the school servers in the near future and was wondering if anyone can offer any advice as to pros and cons of maybe moving to WDS?

I've only briefly used WDS while on a training course for SCCM but didnt really much of it in unfortunately.

Also in regard to Ghost, i know to create images and restore etc but ive got a fresh install of the GSS on a mockup server and struggling to configure and get the whole thing working. Are there any nice and friendly guides anyone can point me to as i find the Symantec knowledge base a little overwhelming?

[tmcd35]

Search these boards for 'Ghost', 'FOG' and/or 'Clonezilla' and you'll find lots of help and advice on imaging.

Personally I prefer a combination of Clonezilla and RIS (or WDS). The benefits of Network booting and Ghost like cloning in one.

Also, are you Sysprep'ing your machines prior to creating images?

[farquea]

thanks for that.

Yeah we sysprep the images before deploying, im just thinknig if im gonna learn how to setup and configure GSS from scratch that it might be worth to learn something else if there is a better option.

[maniac]

I really recommend you look at FOG, trust me you'll never look back!

See resent discussion http://www.edugeek.net/forums/nix/35...g-awesome.html

I personally wouldn't even bother looking at ghost, why pay for something which you can do for free elsewhere? WDS works, but can be a pain in the backside to configure and injecting network drivers into the winPE boot environment can be tricky.

Mike.

[bladedanny]

+1 for FOG

[clarky2k3]

thanks for that.

Yeah we sysprep the images before deploying, im just thinknig if im gonna learn how to setup and configure GSS from scratch that it might be worth to learn something else if there is a better option.

We used GGS 2.0 for a while and got wind on these fourms about FOG, never looked back! With is AD domain joining facilities it is sooooo much easier.

[farquea]

i was getting excited about FOG until i just read its linux. we dont have any linux boxes and neither of us have ever really touched anything remotely linux

[ChrisH]

So a perfect opportunity to start. You can run it on VMWare to start. There no point in shying away from it as there are lots of good things that are free and extremely helpful on linux and you will find you can get by on a minimal set of commands for most things.

[clarky2k3]

So a perfect opportunity to start. You can run it on VMWare to start. There no point in shying away from it as there are lots of good things that are free and extremely helpful on linux and you will find you can get by on a minimal set of commands for most things.

I agree, plus if you get stuck on anything there are alot of people on here who can help you out

[sparkeh]

Another vote for FOG.

I am running it on a really old box with 256MB RAM on Ubuntu server and I still reckon its faster than WDS with far more features. Originally it was a test box but works so well I haven't moved it yet

[maniac]

i was getting excited about FOG until i just read its linux. we dont have any linux boxes and neither of us have ever really touched anything remotely linux

Download Ubuntu on CD, and install it on an old box - takes about 10 minutes even if you've never done it before. Then follow the really well written instructions on the fog wiki to install fog. You'll get it up and running in no time, trust me it really isn't anything to shy away from. There's 100's of websites out there to guide you though using linux, and if you get stuck just ask away here as there's loads of fog users on here like myself who will more than happily help you out.

Mike.

[farquea]

ok so i installed ubuntu on a desktop machine, didnt go for server as i intend to use windows server to act as the DHCP server. Ive followed the wiki instructions and got this far;



Its worth noting currently, the test bed network we have this now hooked up to doesnt have an internet connection, is that gonna cause me any trouble?

[clarky2k3]

ok so i installed ubuntu on a desktop machine, didnt go for server as i intend to use windows server to act as the DHCP server. Ive followed the wiki instructions and got this far;

Its worth noting currently, the test bed network we have this now hooked up to doesnt have an internet connection, is that gonna cause me any trouble?

put the command sudo at the start of the command you have just entered. It wil then ask you for a password just put the same password you are using in again.

[farquea]

the command i enter before is the sudo ./installfog.sh it asks for the password, i enter that and it just goes through the setup again asking for ip address, dns etc and gets to the same point and stops again.

do i need to be worried about the line "E: couldnt find package mysql-server"??

[gshaw]

The more threads I read about WDS the less reason I see to move from my trusty SMS 2003 with OSD imaging system that works like a charm... still can't see a compelling reason for the SCCM upgrade yet

Ghost is OK if you can afford the licensing, if not might as well try out all the other options especially if they're this well rated!