WDS ver Norton Ghost suite

[Hedghog]

HI,

 

I am trying to come to a decision on which way to go. I think the deciding factor is going to be the ability to "broadcast" images to selected clients.

From reading the forums it seems that Norton has this ability but WDS does not.

Is this correct?

Cheers

 

Peter

[djones]

Server 2003 version of WDS doesn't but Server 2008 does.

 

Dave.

[srochford]

Are you using multicast with 2008? Does it work? Is it easy to setup?

[djones]

Not yet. I'm just starting to 'play' and intend setting up a Virtual DC using 2008 primarily for WDS with multicasting. I'm a little unsure what effect having a 2008 DC alongside the existing 2003 DC will have hence why I haven't got on very quickly!

[saundersmatt]

I've been having an utter nightmare with setting up wds(2008) to deploy vista this week. I've made good progress though and have one final hurdle; getting multicast working.

 

I can create the multicast session fine, and wds will sit waiting for clients. I cannot however see any multicast sessions when I boot winPE.

I am booting winPE 2.1 images (boot.wim from vista sp1 and 2k8 disks)

 

Just wondering if anybody has any ideas or suggestions.

 

Matt.

[maniac]

Check your switch settings, as some managed switches have options to disguard multicast packets I believe, which may mean you can't see anything setup as multicast. We had a simelar problem with muticasting in ghost, it just doesn't work through some of our switches, but unicast is fine.

 

Also if you're using any sort of V-Lan setup, I think this also requires some configuration to handle multicasting, but don't quote me on that as I've not delved into the relm of V-Lans yet, just going by what I've read.

 

Mike.

[gshaw]

I don't rate WDS at all tbh, if you got the cash ghost is a proven product

[saundersmatt]

Cheers for the input guys. We're currently using ghost so it can't be anything to do with multicast filtering. We're looking to use WDS so that we can pre-stage all our clients and future machine building is entirely automated.

 

Matt

[richard.thomas]

Before you go buying Ghost it might be worth checking out FOG :: A Ghost-like Computer Cloning Solution - Home

I've been using this in my primary schools to image machines there (mainly as it's free!). I've got it running on a box in the secondary school aswell. We have ghost aswell as there's still a small amount of machines that don't like FOG (only 1 type now!). Each time we've discovered a machine that FOG doesn't work on I simply tell them on the forums and within a few hours they've released an update which fixes it (that's serious customer service! This is FREE aswell!? Ghost spend weeks on support issues!!)

 

It's a great piece of kit. It's becoming quite a big project with lots of extras built in. My favourite bit is that it's all from a web GUI. No need to remote into a machine to start ghostcast. If you've got the school setup right you can image a whole suite of machines without leaving your office! Check it out... if only I worked on commission!

[Jobos]

Would I need to know about Linux to use FOG and are you running FOG on a separate box or would it be ok on a DC?

[srochford]

Probably a stupid question, but does FOG support multicasting? I can't see any reference to it in the web site.

[fafster]

Probably a stupid question, but does FOG support multicasting? I can't see any reference to it in the web site.

 

Yes it does. One of the previous updates added the feature. This project is moving rapidly as they're releasing updates once a month.

[jsnetman]

I just got my head around WDS this week, suitably impressed to now ditch ghost. One of the main benefits being the ability to edit images using imagex, as in ghost 8.2 I never had this option. Another plus being it's geared up to deliver vista when we should decide to go the vista route. I have been a ghost user all my time as a NM and later used ghost with pxeboot from RIS but now cannot justify paying the licence for ghost. Edited June 11, 2008 by jsnetman

[Ste_Harve]

I used to use ghost entirely until last summer when I decided to move over to WDS. The initial setup configuration was the hardest part. Having to rebuild all the images, and image them.

 

Now the imaging process is almost fully automated, only bit i need to do is pxe boot machine, login into wds, select image and format hdd and then walk away. Takes all of 2 mins. All our machines are staged in active directory and the moment the imaging is finished thats it, the machine is usuable. I also find WDS quicker than ghost, WDS takes about an hour to do a room of about 30 machines and thats from switching first one on to last one being ready to use.

[jsnetman]

Now the imaging process is almost fully automated, only bit i need to do is pxe boot machine, login into wds, select image and format hdd and then walk away.

 

You can automate this process with a WDSUnattended.xml file.