Client Management Suite

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  • 1.  Altiris Agent 7.x on Image

    Posted Sep 07, 2010 03:27 PM
    Does anyone have the information on how to place the Altiris Agent on an image for 7.x?  There are a couple KB articles that define what registry keys and files to delete so that a new GUID is automatically generated but I am unable to find the equivalent information for 7.  Am I just missing it or is the process different for 7?

    thanks,


  • 2.  RE: Altiris Agent 7.x on Image

    Posted Sep 07, 2010 04:06 PM
    You would probably be better off installing it post-imaging than pre.
    That way you won't have to worry about the GUID issue, and you'll always be deploying your most current agent to newly imaged machines.


  • 3.  RE: Altiris Agent 7.x on Image

    Posted Sep 07, 2010 04:54 PM

    I have to agree with Mr. Swenson.

    There's the theoretical effectiveness of including the agent on your image and then cleaning it up properly (99.8% effective), and then there's the actual effectiveness of including the agent on your image and cleaning it up properly (40% effective).  Don't play with fire.



  • 4.  RE: Altiris Agent 7.x on Image
    Best Answer

    Posted Sep 08, 2010 12:22 PM
    You can avoid the duplicate GUID issue by following these steps:

    Note: These steps work for NS 6 or NS 7

  • Stop the Altiris Agent service and the client transport service. They need to still be set to autostart.
  • Open the Altiris Agent computer’s Registry Editor.
  • Delete the data located at the following three locations:
         ...HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Machineguid
         ...HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\eXpress\MachineGuid
         ...HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\eXpress\NS Client\MachineGuid
         ...HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Client Service\LastUpdateComputerInfo (Note: This will exist when the AClient is installed.)
  • In the file system under install path\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Client Policies, delete the .XML file (there should only be one).
  • In the file system under install path\Altiris\Altiris Agent\\Software Delivery, delete all GUID folder files in this directory and the AeXSWDPolicy.xml file.
  • Shut down the computer and image it. Create the image before the Altiris Agent posts any event to the Notification Server. When the Altiris Agent requests a client config policy, a new unique Altiris Agent GUID will be created by the Notification Server and sent to the Altiris Agent. A new policy config XML will be sent to the client. The same Altiris Agent GUID is placed in three locations for backward compatibility reasons. 

    The above information was taken from KB 16846 (https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=16846&p=1)

    You can find similar information in KB 193232 (https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=19323&p=1)

    Please let me know if you have any questions



  • 5.  RE: Altiris Agent 7.x on Image

    Posted Sep 09, 2010 03:14 AM
    I include the agent on images because, hopefully, it ensures the system will become managed immediately and it doesn’t rely on staff pushing the agent to the PC subsequently or figuring on some mechanism to automatically install the agent post image. 
     
    I install the agent at the end of the image creation just prior to sysprep, unplugging the network cable first, so the agent can’t contact the NS server at all, assigning a GUID etc, I don’t know if that is the best way to do this but it seems to work ok.


  • 6.  RE: Altiris Agent 7.x on Image

    Posted Sep 09, 2010 05:26 AM
    We use a script after the modify configuration task on DS 6.9 with the agent install file injected into the image to kick off the agent installation.

    msiexec /i c:\source\AeXNSCInstSvc.msi NS="NS-ServerName" /qn

    Works well - hope this helps.


  • 7.  RE: Altiris Agent 7.x on Image

    Posted Sep 09, 2010 08:31 AM
    I was under the impression that the prepare computer for sysprep task takes care of this automatically.
    (NS 7.x user here).






  • 8.  RE: Altiris Agent 7.x on Image

    Posted Sep 09, 2010 09:24 AM
    I too use a firstlogoncommands script to install the agent post imaging.  I had many problems when including the Agent in our Windows 7 image.  To be fair, I was using the "AeXAgentUtil.exe /resetguid" command to prepare it, so that may have been the issue.

    I also script the install of the Software Management Solution Plug-in make the machines able to get pushed software immediately.