farquea Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 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 Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 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 Posted June 23, 2009 Author Posted June 23, 2009 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 Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 I really recommend you look at FOG, trust me you'll never look back! See resent discussion http://www.edugeek.net/forums/nix/35425-fog-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.
clarky2k3 Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 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 Posted June 23, 2009 Author Posted June 23, 2009 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 Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 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 Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 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 Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 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 Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 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 Posted June 23, 2009 Author Posted June 23, 2009 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; http://www.macchighschool.co.uk/uploads/screenshot.png 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 Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 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 Posted June 23, 2009 Author Posted June 23, 2009 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 Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 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!
Crispin Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 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... What about the inevitable move to vista/windows 7? From what I understand sms2003 won't be capable of deploying these os's.
ChrisH Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 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; http://www.macchighschool.co.uk/uploads/screenshot.png 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? It downloads new software from the internet so it will need a live internet connection and you may need to set the proxy address if you have one. You can do that in one of the menus at the top.
tmcd35 Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 It looks like the version of Ubuntu you are using is missing required packages - MySQL and Apache. These are almost certainly installed as standard as part of the server version. If I was you I'd start again with Ubuntu Server. Don't worry about being a server edition, it doesn't mean it will take over your DHCP, DNS, LDAP or whatever else you have your Windows servers doing. All it means is that it includes various server technologies that you can use IF YOU WANT TO. Two of these technologies will be a Web Server - Apache and a Database Server - MySQL - that are required by FOG. Or at least that's what your screenshot is suggesting to me.
sparkeh Posted June 23, 2009 Posted June 23, 2009 You should be able to install on Ubuntu Desktop, in fact the FOG install guide uses the desktop edition. Can't exactly remember but perhaps this is downloaded and installed during the FOG install? As you have no internet connection perhaps it failed?
gshaw Posted June 25, 2009 Posted June 25, 2009 (edited) What about the inevitable move to vista/windows 7? From what I understand sms2003 won't be capable of deploying these os's. It can definitely do Vista with the OSD update so not sure what the status of 7 is though... Will only move when we absolutely have to as I read far too many threads about how bad SCCM is with bare metal installs and unknown clients that it's not exactly selling itself to me at the moment Had it on test twice and both times SMS felt more intuitive and quicker to get working Edited June 25, 2009 by gshaw
bladedanny Posted June 26, 2009 Posted June 26, 2009 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? You are going to need an internet connection, as well as an entered proxy if your behind one. Also, a few FOG installs i have done, failed first time, simply running sudo ./installfog.sh again sorted this out.
bladedanny Posted June 26, 2009 Posted June 26, 2009 I Apologise for the last post, It's friday afternoon and I'm going away for the weekend and my mind being elsewhere didn't realise the page two. Again Sorry.
sparkeh Posted June 26, 2009 Posted June 26, 2009 (edited) I'm sure I just read a question about password behaviour on the pxe boot menu? Now its gone. Anyway to answer the question a quote from FOG forum: This is intentional, we disabled any feature on the boot menu that could be destructive to the client computer. You must regenerate the pxe menu via -> other information -> pxe boot menu in order to get into those options. Edited June 26, 2009 by sparkeh
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now