Newbie: Deployment Solution for IT
Hey everyone,
I apologize if these questions seem basic, but I'm kinda new to the deployment game. I work at an IT company that configures desktop machines and sends them to the end user (different companies), and I've been asked to develop a solution for easy system deployment to about 8 machines at a time. I've got a couple questions that maybe I just don't understand the methods on, or haven't found a solution that meets my needs so far...
1) License keys - Many of our clients cannot do VLK, and so that leaves me with a handful of Windows XP Keys, Office 2007 Keys, etc for each client. Can volume imaging software somehow handle this type of licensing?
2) Licensing of the deployment software - All the software solutions I've found so far want to charge based on the client machines imaged. Is there any solution that allows me to pay for the image server license? I don't need the solution to be able to manage the desktops once deployed -- they won't even be connected to the same network afterwards.
Effectively, the process I'd love to see is - connect client machines to a private imaging network, perhaps use boot media if needed, have the server image them, come back 30 mins later and type in keys (or have the keys managed for me, i'd be ok with that), disconnect the computer, ship it off, and never see it again.
Any and all advice would be very welcome! Thanks in advance!
--Chris
I apologize if these questions seem basic, but I'm kinda new to the deployment game. I work at an IT company that configures desktop machines and sends them to the end user (different companies), and I've been asked to develop a solution for easy system deployment to about 8 machines at a time. I've got a couple questions that maybe I just don't understand the methods on, or haven't found a solution that meets my needs so far...
1) License keys - Many of our clients cannot do VLK, and so that leaves me with a handful of Windows XP Keys, Office 2007 Keys, etc for each client. Can volume imaging software somehow handle this type of licensing?
2) Licensing of the deployment software - All the software solutions I've found so far want to charge based on the client machines imaged. Is there any solution that allows me to pay for the image server license? I don't need the solution to be able to manage the desktops once deployed -- they won't even be connected to the same network afterwards.
Effectively, the process I'd love to see is - connect client machines to a private imaging network, perhaps use boot media if needed, have the server image them, come back 30 mins later and type in keys (or have the keys managed for me, i'd be ok with that), disconnect the computer, ship it off, and never see it again.
Any and all advice would be very welcome! Thanks in advance!
--Chris
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Posted by:
yarborg
16 years ago
Hey Chris,
For the deployment of software to systems and getting around the client licensing you can Install Solutions' Remote Software Installation Utility. It's my software so I may be a little biased here, but you just pay for the tool itself not for any client licenses. You can download a trial and test it out...actually the trial is limited to 10 machines at a time so I guess you could get away with using for free [;)]. But I'll let that be your call. The only drawback in your particular scenario is that it deploy's 1 piece of software at a time, not 4-5 different ones in a row. Also, the software will need to be packaged into a single file executable if it isn't already.
Check it out and see if it fits. May be of some help here. As for the licenses from larger deployment systems, you will probably be OK since it usually covers licenses that are being used not total ever used.
As for the imaging portion, I would try some kind of basic sysprep setup and ghost multicast to get it onto 8-10 systems at a time. I think sysprep can work off a text file with the information in it like Windows product key. All you would need to do is change the product key in the text file, then ghost it out to the other systems. You can find plenty of examples for this out there.
For the deployment of software to systems and getting around the client licensing you can Install Solutions' Remote Software Installation Utility. It's my software so I may be a little biased here, but you just pay for the tool itself not for any client licenses. You can download a trial and test it out...actually the trial is limited to 10 machines at a time so I guess you could get away with using for free [;)]. But I'll let that be your call. The only drawback in your particular scenario is that it deploy's 1 piece of software at a time, not 4-5 different ones in a row. Also, the software will need to be packaged into a single file executable if it isn't already.
Check it out and see if it fits. May be of some help here. As for the licenses from larger deployment systems, you will probably be OK since it usually covers licenses that are being used not total ever used.
As for the imaging portion, I would try some kind of basic sysprep setup and ghost multicast to get it onto 8-10 systems at a time. I think sysprep can work off a text file with the information in it like Windows product key. All you would need to do is change the product key in the text file, then ghost it out to the other systems. You can find plenty of examples for this out there.
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