[ris] Tips for beginners

[tarquel]

Hi all

 

Thought I'd start this thread, primarily because I want to start using RIS. It may work out easier in the long run than bothering with ghost installs

 

So far, to install RIS on your 2003 server, I've found what looks like a handy starting point:

 

Windows Server - Install Configure Microsoft RIS (Remote Installation Service)

 

Anyone else care to add and tips and tricks, do's and don'ts - it would be handy.

 

My only thought right now is how I can keep the naming convention I have thus far?

 

0101HPDX2000

 

where:

red = room

green = computer number

DarkBlue = Manufacturer

Violet = Model / mini-description

 

Any ideas on the above would be good.

 

Sorry - I havent checked the wiki on this - I'm just a forum guy I guess hehe

 

Cheers

Nath

[ChrisH]

Prestage your computers in AD according to their GUId or mac address that way each PC has its own name and you wont have to faff around when you reinstall it. Its a bit of work but you combine this effort making reserved IPs which will make controlling the internet and other stuff easier.

[Dos_Box]

As Chris said, Presatging your PC's will save you a lot of time and effort later on and allow you to keep your naming convention. Be warned though, the name is then tied into the MAC address, so if you start moving computers around things may get interesting.

[Inox]

What exactly do you mean when u say prestage the pc's ?

[ChrisH]

When you create the computer account in AD somewhere in the wizard you tick this is a managed PC. You then fill in the GUID or the mac address with 20 or so 0 in front of it.

[E1uSiV3]

And for anyone in the dark about where to get the machines GUID, it is usually available in the BIOS and look sort of like this:

 

dc6ab140-9f0a-11da-a746-0800200c9a66 (this one was randomly generated by a website for my example)

 

If the machine does not have a GUID, you would add the MAC address to the end like so:

 

00000000-0000-0000-0000-0800200c9a66

 

with 0800200c9a66 being the mac address

[Quackers]

Is it not quicker and less hassle to set the PC name when you start the install on the client? If you choose the custom setup you can type in a computer name and it will create that computer account for you, then just move them to the correct OU. Thats how i do it.

[ChrisH]

Yes but you have to do that everytime you install it. This way may take a little longer initially but saves time later. I guess at the end of the day though its down to personal preference.

[john]

Slightly OT, but is there any easy way to move RIS from one to another machine? I set it up on a test server for a test, but we love it and i want my cube back now for Vista, so can I just copy the files over and re-install RIS and it will find it, or is it a bin it and start again time?

[ChrisH]

You can set up RIS and copy your images back over to your new install without any trouble.

[Dos_Box]

Is it not quicker and less hassle to set the PC name when you start the install on the client? If you choose the custom setup you can type in a computer name and it will create that computer account for you, then just move them to the correct OU. Thats how i do it.

 

If you prestage the PC and have the correct script in place it will do all of that automatically. Totally hands free installs were the whole point of RIS. You can do entire suites with minimal fuss.

[Quackers]

Yes but you have to do that everytime you install it. This way may take a little longer initially but saves time later. I guess at the end of the day though its down to personal preference.

 

I'm confused. When i redo a RIS on that same PC, it knows what the PC name is and where it belongs just select Automatic setup. Its only the first time out of the box you would have to set the PC name, which is less hassle then typing in a PC name and the long GUID.

 

Have i got the wrong end of the stick? but the idea of typing in the GUID's for every PC seems like a very long winded task when RIS does it automatically for you the first time you use RIS on a client PC.

[john]

You can set up RIS and copy your images back over to your new install without any trouble.

 

Excellent new Chris, I didn't fancy the prospects of spending a few hours modifying a couple of ini files from HPCompaq as it took me about 3 hrs to get it working 1st time, but now they work perfect each time.

[Dos_Box]

Yes but you have to do that everytime you install it. This way may take a little longer initially but saves time later. I guess at the end of the day though its down to personal preference.

 

I'm confused. When i redo a RIS on that same PC, it knows what the PC name is and where it belongs just select Automatic setup. Its only the first time out of the box you would have to set the PC name, which is less hassle then typing in a PC name and the long GUID.

 

Have i got the wrong end of the stick? but the idea of typing in the GUID's for every PC seems like a very long winded task when RIS does it automatically for you the first time you use RIS on a client PC.

 

No it doesn't. RIS reads the GUID\MAC address straight from the motherboard. It does this to check whether you computer is on a managed account. If you prestage the computer i.e. create the account and manually enter the MAC adress or GUID, then when you log onto RIS on the client computer it will automatically show the computers name before imaging starts. If the computer is not prestaged it will give it some random name (RIS1, RIS2, RIS3 etc).

[MkII]

Is it not quicker and less hassle to set the PC name when you start the install on the client? If you choose the custom setup you can type in a computer name and it will create that computer account for you, then just move them to the correct OU. Thats how i do it.

 

If you prestage the PC and have the correct script in place it will do all of that automatically. Totally hands free installs were the whole point of RIS. You can do entire suites with minimal fuss.

 

can you clarify this bit - so you're saying prestage then script = hands free - but then prestaging involves some manual intervention??

[GrumbleDook]

for security you must authenticate when running RIS when you start the machine up.

 

Not bad though ... the only thing you have to do once you have the machine out the box is note the GUID and enter it into AD and then logon and walk away ...

[Dos_Box]

Yes. You never get anything for free Here is a scenario for you.

 

1 .You take delivery of a new suite of computers.

 

2. Set them in place on their desktops.

 

3. Power them up and run the RIS installer.

 

4. Once you get to the last screen before the installer begins the RIS client will show you the GUID ID number.

 

5. Take a note of this number and repeat for the rest of the room.

 

6. Goto your Dc or workstation with admin tools installed.

 

7. Create managed accounts for all of your new PC's using the GUIDs' you have previously noted.

 

8. Go back to your new suite and startup one computer booting into the RIS client. Once you get to the last screen before installing it will show you the computer name you have just set it up with in AD. This tells you things are working as they should.

 

9. If the name does not appear then you have proberbly entered the GUID incorrectly.

 

10. Run RIS and install a CD based image.

 

11. The script found in \\%servername%\setup\english\images\%cdimagename% (in my case it is WINDOWSXPSP2) \i386\templates\ristndrd.sif contains all of the details you need to setup a basic image. If unconfigured you will have to fill in some setup details one your PC reboots.

 

12. To get a better idea of how to configure your scripts please view this topic. http://www.edugeek.net/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=54&start=0

[webman]

I prefer the RM CC3 method of using a boot disk, entering the workstation name, admin user and password and entering the AD location

 

Or, once they're already built, use the Local Support Tools to re-build workstations remotely. In bulk. Over remote access. While on holiday in New Zealand. Ok, so the New Zealand bit was a fantasy

[GrumbleDook]

Yep ... once again it shows that RM works for some ...

 

We try and get one extra machine per room as a spare, for our fat clients (heehee ... not that we actually have thin clients running yet ... but getting there) which we get in a week or two before a holiday and we use this to build a full image, including all software.

 

This is then loaded on the RIS box and when the real boxes come in away we go ... loads less hassle.

 

But we have the staff and time to do it ... and time to play with things.

 

Where possible we don't use MSIs pushed over GPOs, we load it from a RIS image. We have just found this to be more stable and is quicker when getting machines back onto desks.

[tarquel]

Prestage your computers in AD according to their GUId or mac address that way each PC has its own name and you wont have to faff around when you reinstall it. Its a bit of work but you combine this effort making reserved IPs which will make controlling the internet and other stuff easier.

 

Sorry for the delay - knew this might be a popular topic to start lol

 

I already have reserved IP addresses at the moment - not completely finished all the pc's yet - but its pretty much there.

 

So am I right in thinking that if you create a computer object [named how you want the computer name to be] in the AD - tell it its MAC or GUID - and tick the managed computer bit, then for that particular machine, its just a matter of installing etc?

 

The link I made on the first page touches upon it tho - but not to the depths that we need it for.

 

From what that article says, its a case of providing RIS with the XP Pro installation files, deploying it to a machine - installing stuff and "sending it back" to be there as a deployable image [for use of a better term(s)]

 

Am I right?

 

Cheers

Nath

[tarquel]

We try and get one extra machine per room as a spare, for our fat clients (heehee ... not that we actually have thin clients running yet ... but getting there) which we get in a week or two before a holiday and we use this to build a full image, including all software.

 

This is then loaded on the RIS box and when the real boxes come in away we go ... loads less hassle.

 

But we have the staff and time to do it ... and time to play with things.

 

Where possible we don't use MSIs pushed over GPOs, we load it from a RIS image. We have just found this to be more stable and is quicker when getting machines back onto desks.

 

Sounds like a holiday every day in your workplace.

 

Did i tell you that you really need another member of staff? ;)

 

lol

 

/digress

 

Nath.

[Dos_Box]

From what that article says, its a case of providing RIS with the XP Pro installation files, deploying it to a machine - installing stuff and "sending it back" to be there as a deployable image [for use of a better term(s)] Wink

 

Yes. RIS will ask for you to insert a CD (or provide the CD files) for any new OS you wish to deploy over RIS. Once these have been uploaded to the server you can then deloy that basic CD to a client (Beware, there may be network card driver faffage to contend with)

Once you have deployed it to your client, installed all of the drivers, software etc you may the 'RIPPREP' the image, which then copies the image back to the server is a custom folder you have designated.

When the RIPPREP is complete it will create a folder called 'TEMPLATES'. In this foler you will find a fil woth a .SIF suffix. This is the file that you can edit to make your RIS operations for this image hands free.

Whn the RIPPREP image is created you will find that not all files are copied back. This is because RIS uses a space saving scavenger service whereby it does not copy files which were present from the CD image back to the server, as they already exist. It simply refernces them.

[E1uSiV3]

Personally i dont bother prestaging, i jus build the RIS image, log in as admin and readd it to the domain, it uses the existing account but renames it. I then move it in AD and jobs a good'un

 

No prestage and no need to give it a name on every build, it picks up the managed account and is faser than running round writing down GUIDs, hell you can even get RIS to log u on as admin first time round if you wanna be lazy lol

[tarquel]

winnt.sif by any chance DB? or something along those same lines I'd wager. Better check the ref help thingy of the deploy tools for info on that - cool.

 

Examples would be welcome [to everyone] tho if anyone cares to share

 

Cheers

Nath

[ChrisH]

The SIF file can be called anything in ris as long as it has an .sif ext . You will find a winnt.sif file in your i386 folder which can be handy to stick in defaults for all installs as it is read from as well.