BITS – A New PC Imaging Model Tim Leamy – UC Davis Robert Smith – Stanford University Allan Chen – Stanford University

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference3 Outline Overview of imaging tools Common Obstacles UC Davis –Tackling the problem –Identifying a solution –Implementation Stanford –Modifications –Roadmap to deployment –Current Status Contact info Q&A

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference4 Imaging Tools Symantec Ghost Altiris Novell UIU/Sysprep PC-Rdist PC-Radmind Deep Freeze Active Directory –MSI packages

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference5 Various Obstacles Client-server connectivity/reliability Multicast vs. Unicast Dealing with the registry Knowing machines are up to date Machine downtime

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference6 UC Davis 30,000 students 17 computer rooms 10 separate networks

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference7 UC Davis Win 9X – used PC-Rdist Win XP – switched to Ghost –Attempted to use one Ghost console for labs on multiple subnets –Attempted to multicast across routers Encountered difficulties with Ghost tools working across different networks

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference8 UC Davis Eureka moment – Ghost uses “virtual partitions” – why not use real ones? Created two partitions on hard drive –FreeDOS partition 4GB initially with FreeDOS, Ghost, and image files –WinXP partition Rest of disk Used PC-Rdist to copy ghost image files to FreeDOS partition

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference9 UC Davis Worked ok –Very fast to ghost from one partition to the other –Simple – put new image on server and it was copied to all clients –Could manage images for all labs from my office –But …

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference10 UC Davis Problems –PC-Rdist took a while to copy down image files –Could make a PC unusable for 15 minutes in middle of day –Copying image to entire lab was very slow

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference11 UC Davis Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) –Used for Windows Automatic Updates Already Built into XP Robust –Uses “spare” bandwidth to download files in background No disruption to student use –Uses standard web protocols

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference12 UC Davis Switch to BITS –Moved images to web servers –Downloaded bitsadmin.exe –Created bits.pl script –Used cron for true automation

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference13 UC Davis Worked Great! –Images transferred in background –Very reliable – copy image up and all PCs restored the next morning –Fast – PC have only ~10 minutes downtime for imaging –Easy to manage images

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference14 Stanford 10,000 residents 2 large clusters 77 residential clusters Separate “administrative” and residential networks –Varying degrees of control –Varying state of upgrades, functionality, multicast, etc Symantec Ghost

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference15 Major Problem Symantec Ghost issues led to: –Unreliable deployment –Inconsistent state of images from location to location –Relied on local Resident Computer Consultants for imaging Did not always re-image when needed, but we still heard the complaints when things did not work –General embarrassment

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference16 Search for a Solution Other similar products (e.g. Altiris) –Cost –Not sure it would fix problem Develop our own –PC-Radmind Registry complexity February 2006 –Lots of research, but still at crossroads

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference17 BATCHe “Inspired” by SIGUCCS Bay Area regional interest group dealing with educational technology, support, etc Tim Leamy’s presentation on BITS –Ease of deployment –No “funny” protocols –We were sold

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference18 Modifications FreeDOS –Obtain IP through DHCP for initial rollout Bits.pl –Time when “restore” file is created Partition table –3 partitions instead of 2 That’s it!!

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference19 Roadmap to Deployment April/May – connectivity, speed, load testing on multiple networks May/June – initial implementation of modified bits.pl August – successful full build, married!! September – images deployed with FreeDOS, but without cron.tab October – full implementation in clusters

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference20 BITS Impressions Easy to setup –Current bits.pl is setup to work in any environment Easy to maintain –Simple web server is all that is needed Confidence that all computers will get current images –Once set up, has consistently worked

November, 2006SIGUCCS Fall Conference21 Contact Us UC Davis BITS Website – Tim Leamy Rob Smith Allan Chen