Deployment Solution

Starting to get a grip of DS 7.1 and have a question about creating at Bare metal job.I read somewhere that you couldn't have software delivery jobs inside a Bare metal job because the software delivery plugin is not in the WINPE enviroment, therefore it will not start. So the question is how would I get software to automaticly run after the image is deployed from the Bare metal job?

IMy situation is that  I want to deploy a laptop. My bare metal job formats and partitions the disks and then ghost starts to lay down my sysprepped image and then reboots to production. I then want it to continue to install some software like fingerprint and mobile broadband driver as applications. Right now I don't have a solution for this, please help.

Hi,

I would also be interested in a solution to this issue.

I've raised this within the Hampton Beta program (for 7.1 SP1), but no feedback on how to tackle this yet.

Kind Regards,
Ian./

That is, they're modifying the license check - I think.  Sorry.  I can't be definitive, because until it hits a beta or something, there's too much chance of it falling through due to other priorities.

In the mean time, there are a couple of things you can do.  1) create two jobs, and assign one of them later.  2) Use something non-Symantec.  i.e. Login scripts, run key, stuff like that.  Some have become VERY creative in a script to even inject things right into the image while still in automation.

I actually "hope" for a change in MR3, but don't hold your breath.  If it comes, we'll all cheer.  If not...  ah well.

All I ever hear about DS 7.1 is "it's coming"
Is it that hard to do a complete automated bare metal deployment? I'm going to roll out 200 new laptops, do I have manually assign jobs to those 200 computers ? WHY aren't there any detailed guides or best practice on how to do a complete deployment bare metal or refresh with this DS 7.1. I think it's so damn frustrating to find help or documentation.. 

Ian, I have to say, well said!  I couldn't have put this any better even if I tried!

Understood.  That thread has the most responses of anything out here, so you're not alone.

Here's how I got round this:

Make your Deployment job a Server Job not a client Job.

After the reboot to production task, insert a Send Basic Inventory task.

The newly imaged machine (which, of course, has the full agent and software deployment agent in it) then sends a basic inventory which tells the NS that it is capable of software installations, so then your software delivery tasks will proceed.

This won't work with a Client job, as NS will assess the whole job, find software delivery tasks and reject it, but a server job assesses each task in turn before pushing it to the client.

To improve performance (as server jobs pause up to 5 mins between tasks), bundle your job in to 2 Client jobs:

Server Job

ClientJob1:

Deploy Image

Reboot

Send Inventory

Client Job 2:

Deploy software

Thank you for describing that.  I'll verify this and post that work-around.  Unfortunately, I've been soooooo busy on some of the bugs in the product I've not had a chance to test this.

Thanks!!  I'll post an update here as soon as I know as well.  :D

that will make this work with any task.  I'm looking into if we can make this public now or not.  I know it's working at one customer's location, but not sure if I can redistribute.  I'll keep you posted.

One way to do this is to do a file copy, ok copy folders, while in automation, tweak the OS registry that on first boot "Run once" it will install the software that u need.

Nelo

Seems a little conveluted..... my method is much easier!!

Harkenator can you just answear a few questions regarding your tip above.

* Are you deploying Windows 7  or Windows XP using the above example?

* After the reboot to production step the system goes through setup and installs drivers and so on which takes about 5-6 min. By the time the machine is at the login screen the next task is just going to stand and not run. Does the Send basic inventory step in your example fix this? I was told to make a script to run on the task server to just sleep 5 min instead.. but that doesn't work either?

* I have around 15 tasks in my deploy task (copy langpacks, drivers etc). Should I still try the example you have above despite that server jobs takes 5 min to just start 1 task?

/A

Some people build in a delay task just to buy time that runs server-side for a different issue that I'm guessing would provide you the delay you're looking for.

That 5 min delay is only bad BTW when you're watching it.  If you're doing a batch of systems, it's hardly noticeable.  I've done mass deployments, and 5 minutes is nothing compared to the guy that comes 45 min late with their laptop...

Also, remember that the Server "job" is only launching 2 tasks here.  The tasks themselves are launched by client "jobs" within the server job, so my guess is you wont be feeling too many delays.  Obviously I don't have your jobs and tasks, but this looks pretty solid.  Wish I'd heard about it before so I could give y'all some numbers...

The server job is only doing to tasks.

As long as you group your tasks in to 2 client jobs there will be no delays, except for between the two jobs:

Server Job

Client Job 1 (gets sent as a whole task to the client)

Deploy Image

Reboot

Send Inventory

Back to the server job where, yes, we do pause for 5 mins until.....

Client Job 2 (gets sent as a whole task to the client)

Deploy Software

End of Job

The advantage of this approach also is you can do clever things like sending an email when it has completed (ie, email to the service desk - please call the user to discuss any non-standard requirements etc)

The job does take an extra 5-10 minutes to complete, but this is negligible, and we are not talking 5 minutes between each individual task - just between the to client jobs.

On your other points:

• Not tried Windoze XP through this method yet, but it should work just the same.
• Don't know about the task standing and not running.... Maybe I have a newer version of the Symantec Management Agent? But then again, I customized my sysprep XML/INI files to make Windows auto login a few times to allow the build to complete some of the software that installations that require a user logged in to complete. I'd just check on the properties of all your jobs and tasks aren't set to run whether or not a user is logged in and it should work fine.

I thank you all for your contributions.  I will be trying to collect all of this into some KB's and some of our "best practices" as well.  Even once we get around the license issue (which we are working on), this testing and stuff you've done will be very useful to others!

Thanks for the explanation Harkenator. If I have multiple client jobs within the first client job, will they also take up to 5 min for each of them to processs? Or is is just the 2 client jobs within the server job that will take 5 min each? Sorry if I explain badly, hope you understand my question.

Thomas, I have tried the dummy task script task (vbscript that runs on task server that sleeps for 5 min) after the reboot to production task but it still does'nt pick up the next task.
I have tried leaving it for 1 hour to see if it picks up the next task but nothing happens. The funny thing is that this deploy task works with a virtual machine but not with a laptop which is what I'm trying to deploy to.... any suggestions?

So within the client tasks, you'll see I think a 30 second delay.  Server-side jobs though built in a 5 min delay by default.  That's why you only see it between the two client jobs, not between the client "tasks".

Not sure on the 'wait' task.  I'm guessing the bogus task isn't finishing, OR that the now supposedly checked-in client is struggling to communicate with the task server, or something like that.

Sounds like you've not got the correct drivers for the laptop in the DeployAnywhere database.

Something I've fallen for a couple of times is that if the laptop has WiFi, DA will detect it as a NIC, and will look for a driver for it. As no-one would bother doing a deployment over wireless, DS doesn't have wireless drivers built in, so can't find one.

As a result it gives up completely - doesn't even do the drivers it can resolve - and returns an error.

When the laptop reboots, having no drivers within the OS, the agent cannot receive any jobs/tasks (Altiris doesn't support osmosis yet........)

I've also noticed that whilst most laptops completely hide the Wireless NIC whilst it is turned off, newer HPs seem to show them to the OS - so while older laptops are fine to be just have the wireless turned off by the normal switch, newer HPs need it turned off in the BIOS (or the Wireless NIC drivers added to the DA DriversDB, but I'd try disabling it first as test).

I'd check in the NS console at the Deploy Image task and make sure it says "succeeded", if DA did fail then it would have returned an error code.

It might also help to know that the DA log at   \\AltirisServer\Deployment\Task Handler\ghost\ghDplyAw32.txt  will show the exact Hardware ID that caused it to fail, so a bit of googling later and you'll be sorted.

As Thomas Baird says, the delay is ONLY in the server jobs - so Client Jobs within your Client jobs would be fine.

Harkenator, I'm not using the Deployanywhere option, I have a script that runs DISM to inject drivers so that they are installed on the reboot so it's not a driver problem I Think, because all drivers are installed. I can manually log on to the client and then If I assign new tasks to the computer it will receive and run them... So I don't know where and why this problem occurs. Don't even know where to start troubleshooting this error..
I have checked so that no tasks are set to run while logged in to. As I said before the strange thing is that the deploy task runs on a virtual machine just fine and completes all steps, but when run on a physical machine it just doesn't move to the next task while in the loginscreen. 

Thomas, I understand that it is just between the two client jobs in Harkenators example, my question is if i have several client jobs within the clients jobs, let me just write an example:

Server Job

Client Job 1
Client job - Deploy image 
Partition
Deploy Image
Client job  - Scripts
Run scripts
Reboot to production
Pause 5 min
Send Inventory

Client Job 2 
Client job - Copy Langfiles
Copy Langfiles
Script Set Regional settings 
Client job - Install Laptop Software
Deploy Laptop Software

End of Job

In this Example would it take 5 min each time for a client job to start or is it just 5 min between Client job 1 and Client job 2 ? I'm sorry if I sound stupid

to my knowledge, the pause would just be between client jobs 1+2, and possibly between the end of Client Job 2 and the official End of the Server Job (ie when the Symantec Management Platform shows a green tick to say it's finished.

Regards

Harkernator

I THINK the delay only shows up in Server jobs, so it shouldn't show up in client jobs or even sub-jobs, but I've not tested that level of looping, so I honestly don't know.

Sorry.

Do we know if this has been sorted in MR3?

What we are doing today is still valid for MR3.  The software licensing issue did not make the MR3 cut.