ajbritton

You need to use the 'multicast server' feature in Ghost on your server. You set this up to either receive or transmit and image. Basic procedure is as follows... 1 - Sent Multicast server to receive 2 - Upload the master image from the template PC 3 - Set Multicast server to transmit 4 - Boot target PCs and let the connect to the server 5 - Hit Send on the server and the images will be send to the PCs Recent versions of Ghost included the Ghost Console and if you're using this, then I believe the procedure is as follows; 1 - Push the Ghost client out to all PCs 2 - Use Ghost console to pull an image from your template PC 3 - Use Ghost console to push the image tou tour target PCs I'm no longer a Ghost user so my terminology will not be entirely accurate, but the principles should be right.

I've noticed a potential problem with this. Some of a access rights granted by SIMSPERM are not available to PowerUsers (something on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT IIRC). I'm working on an AutoIT script which sequences the installation, including copying SIMSPERM.BAT and SUBINCAL.EXE to a local temp folder then running them with the SIMSUSERS group as a parameter. I'll post this when it's tested.

Doesn't SIMSLOAD look at the network for the latest version? If so, running it at startup won't work 'cos startup scripts run in the SYSTEM context, which has no network access. Unless you manage to do a RUNAS in some way... Incidently, I found a problem with my MSI. It fails to install .NET1.1 from SIMSInfrastructureSetup. I think this is because, in effect, it's a nested MSI. I'd not noticed the problem before because I always deploy .NET1.1 to all PCs via GP anyway.

Methinks a WiKi section of WMI filters would be useful...

Sounds like DNS to me. MS go to great lengths to ensure the ADMT PES feature is secure (encryption key etc.), so it would not surprise me to find that it only works with users that have been migrated, not with users that have been manually created on the new system. Me not the expert though. It used to be possible to copy passwords with the COPYPWD utility. This exports the password hashes to a text file. You then use the same utility to import the hashes on the target server. I then the SAM Account names have to match (or I suppose you could maybe edit the text file). I don't know if this still works in 2K3. It claims to work on NT4/2000, and it certainly did. It was great for small numbers of users.

Today I'm replacing a Win2K server with a new Win2K3 one, but I also need to move the domain into a different forest. I want to keep the same domain name (and server name come to that), so here's what I'm proposing... 1 - Build new server with 2003 2 - Install Virtual Server and build another VM 2003 server 3 - Create a temporary domain on the VM server 4 - Use ADMT to migrate AD to the temporary domain 5 - Robocopy all the data from the old server to the new server 6 - Un DCPROMO the old server and rename it (this frees up the domain name and computer name) 7 - Create the new domain in the right forest 8 - Use ADMT to migrate AD to the new domain If the SID history works, then all the files transferred to the new server should now be accessible. I'm fairly confident, and I've got a back out plan just in case, but if anyone can see any major flaws or problems with this, then please let me know.

This is not usually a problem. As long as the installation path remains the same.

Only when the titles are short enough to fit in the space allocated on the taskbar. Not always the case. Some apps are so egotistical that they like to have their own name in the title bar ahead of any document name or whatever.

I know of one site that uses it. I recently replaced their server and had to transfer the software to the new server. As it's a client/server database, I had to do a full synchronise/backup before shutting it down on the old server, but after that it was fairly easy. The RM support site is quite good and has quite a lot of KB articles relating the Maths Alive / Kaleidos.

Kyle, If you've never set up a 2K or 2K3 server before then DNS can be a bit daunting. If it's a single server setup though, then the Active Directory installation wizard (DCPROMO) gives you the option to 'set up DNS on this server', which works well. Basically it does the following... 1 - Install the DNS Server service. 2 - Create a forward lookup 'zone' for the DNS domain you specified (e.g. yourdomain.int). 3 - Modifies the DNS properties in TCP/IP on the network adapter to point to the server itself. To get your workstations working, you need to configure the DHCP server as follows; 1 - IP Address range (duh!) 2 - Scope properties; Default Gateway (usually your router) 3 - Scope properties; DNS Server - Set this as the IP of your new 2K3 server When you boot your workstations, they will pick up an IP from DHCP and set their DNS client to point to the 2K3 server. The 2K3 server can now do DNS lookup for it's own domain (enabling workstations to logon) and it can usually take care of off-site lookups by using the root hints table. If your ISP restricts DNS lookups to its own DNS servers, then you can set the 'forwarders' property on the DNS server to point to the DNS servers of your ISP. The 2K3 DNS server will resolve internal queries (relating to yourdomain.int) and pass others (eg http://www.google.co.uk) over the your ISP's DNS servers. Why is DNS crucial? Only because 2000/2003/XP use it as the primary mechanism for finding services/hosts on the local network. When a 2K/2K3/XP domain participant starts up, it tries to find a domain controller using DNS. I think that if this fails a few times, then XP will still try a local broadcast to get a DC, but it's very inefficient. Hope this helps.

I bought a Viglen P4 3 GHz PC with 2Gb RAM and a 120Gb HDD specifically for doing VM stuff. I originally bought it with 1Gb but upgraded it about a year ago. I can happily run a server and 2 workstations, (3 VMs in total) each with 512Mb RAM. Obviously, depending on what each VM is doing, the performance varies, but I don't feel any need to upgrade at the moment. I use the VMs for software packaging and configuration testing. I still use the Connectix release (5.2) of Virtual PC and am not thinking of changing to the MS version until VPC 2007 comes out so I can do some Vista testing.

I'm another non-grouper. I usually drag my start bar up a row or two to make room for all the apps. This also gives you more space for QuickLaunch, which I use quite a lot.

Maybe it's OCTMD - Obsessive Compulsive Tasbar Management Disorder. In my own defence thought I would point out that I no longer have any difficulty walking on the cracks in the pavement.

Happy birthday Geoff. Guess what? It's my wedding anniversary. 6 years!

That'll be the HAL. One will be the 'uni-processor' and the other the 'multi-processor'. I believe it is possible to manually select the 'multi-processor' HAL on a single non-hyperthreading CPU, which should make it portable to a multi-processor (or hyperthreading enabled) system. EDIT: Just re-read Ric_'s post and realised that it contradicts what I have said. My info is somewhat out of date, so please ignore me on this one! EDIT: I just found this though which might be of help.

If all that fails you could always turn it into a Linux based Virtual CD-ROM Jukebox.

OK, well, you configure the things using a utility called CDCON, which connects via a serial cable. They run in either 'operational' or 'configuration' modes. Once in 'configuration' mode you can set the IP address, upload new software and enter the license key codes to make it work. Unfortunately, you can't just download the software from the Avantis web site. You can probably get them to send you a disk, or maybe you know someone else who has a disk which you could use to test if the thing still works before shelling out any cash.

I thought an Avantis CD Server was just a PC with some custom OS. What does the server card do? What connections does it have? Is it the network card? If the CD server is old, then it's probably worthless. Easier these days to just stick ISO images on a server and use DaemonTools.

@StewartKnight: Ner ner ne ner ner!

Thanks indie, I feel much better now.

If you are one of those twisted people who will close applications then reopen them in a different order just to get the taskbar entries in the right order, then fret no more. Just download Taskbar Shuffle and save literally minutes of your life. Or is that just me?

Always up early thanks to my '3 year old boy' alarm clock!

Have you read the documentation that comes with ADMT? I would suggest that if you are new to ADMT, then it would not be wise to use it in a live situation. If possible, try doing a migration in a test lab to get familiar with ADMT. If you are not creating a new domain, then there is no need to migrate user and computer accounts, as these will remain on the existing domain. The new server would become the domain controller. I don't know if ADMT will migrate user data between servers within the same domain. I suspect that it might. If your existing NT4 server can take an upgrade to Windows 2000, you could do the following... (this method does not involve ADMT and you would have to do it all by hand or with scripts) 0 - Backup ALL data (including any databases) and check backup is restorable 1 - Upgrade NT4 to 2000. This will convert the NT4 domain to 2000 domain. 2 - Switch the domain to 'native' mode - This is a simple but non-reversable change 3 - ADPREP the domain ready for the first 2003 server DC 4 - DCPROMO the new 2003 server into the domain 4.1 - Ensure replication is working and that the servers have synchronised. 5 - Transfer FSMO roles and Global Catalog to the new server 5.1 - Check replication again 6 - Transfer all data from the old server to the new server - ROBOCOPY is useful here as it will retain permissions 7 - Un-DCPROMO to old server (so it's no longer a DC) 8 - Remove the old server from the domain (change to WORKGROUP) 9 - At this point, it is possible to rename the new server with the same name as the old server if you wish (change the name of the old server first though) 10 - Recreate shares on the new server as required In summary, if this is your first server migration (and forgive me for saying so but it sounds like it might be), then there is lots to consider. I would strongly recommend that you produce a migration plan which would include every step to be taken. You should also have a back-out plan in case it all goes wrong which would bring the system back to a working state as quickly as possible (This might simple be re-install NT on the old server and restore from backup - although this in itself is no trivial task). It's impossible to give you an exact list of what you need to do without knowing exactly what's on your old server. In my experience, you sometimes only find out what is on your server as a result of going through this kind of migration!

When I deploy SIMS.NET to PCs on Curriculum domains (seperate from Admin domains but connected by trust relationship), the only permissions I grant are as follows; SIMSSETUPS share: Everyone: Read SIMSSETUPS folder: Authenticated Users: Read SIMS folder: SIMSREADLONLY group: Read The SIMSREADONLY group contains users from the Curriculum domain who are allowed to run SIMS.NET On the Curriculum domain I have a SIMSUSERS group, which is just used to limit the users who get the S: drive connected to the SIMS share on the Admin server.

Well, for what it's worth, I did a test this afternoon with a freshly built server. Installed SIMS. Added a workstation and ran those commands. No S: drive required and they worked fine. I've also deployed my MSI to hundreds of workstations on different sites with no problems! SIMS eh? :?