em l02 best practces for implementing deployment solution

EM L02 Best Practces for Implementing Deployment Solution Hands-On Lab

Description This hands-on lab demonstrates the steps necessary to configure and use the latest version of Deployment Solution. You will start from a default install of Deployment Solution, configure the main components of the product, and then use it to migrate a system to Windows 7. Known issues and best practices will be discussed along the way to help you avoid potential issues.

This lab was originally designed to be a 2 hour session. Due to the amount of time it takes to complete all of the exercises, it is unlikely we will proceed further than step 9 during this session. Rather than create a separate document, we will leave this guide intact for you to finish at a later date.

At the end of this lab, you should be able to

Work with the Symantec Boot Services (PXE)

Add drivers to the DeployAnywhere database

Create a Preboot Configuration (Automation Environment)

Create PC Transplant templates

Import existing images into the product

Capture images

Migrate a machine to Windows 7

Creation imaging tasks for image deployment, and OS migrations

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Notes A brief presentation will introduce this lab session and discuss key concepts.

The lab will be directed and provide you with step-by-step walkthroughs of key features.

Feel free to follow the lab using the instructions on the following pages. You can optionally perform this lab at your own pace.

Be sure to ask your instructor any questions you may have.

Thank you for coming to our lab session.

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Lab Exercise 1 – Symantec Boot Services

Three of the four SBS services were intentionally set to Manual Startup during the installation of Deployment Solution to avoid conflicts with other PXE services in your environment. The services should be changed to Automatic and started once you have verified that no conflicts exist within your environment.

1. From the NS71 machine, open “Services” using the Taskbar shortcut.

2. Change the Startup type of each of the “_Symantec_netBoot_” services to Automatic and then start them.

After starting the services, it may take a couple of minutes before they will be active and ready for use. To verify if the services are ready, open the following path and watch for three files to appear: C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Agents\Deployment\Task Handler\SBS\SBSStore

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Lab Exercise 2 – Configure DHCP Options

DHCP must be configured in order for the Symantec PXE Services to manage boot clients. In addition to the exersice below make sure your DHCP Scope options accurately reflect the DNS and Gateway services in your environment. Misconfigured DNS is a common problem in PXE troubleshooting.

1. On the NS71 virtual machine open DHCP from the Start menu (Or using the taskbar shortcut)

2. Right click on the DHCP node and choose Add Server

3. Type “DC” for the server name

4. Expand and select DHCP > DC.Symplified.Org > IPv4 > Server Options

5. Right-click on Server Options and select Configure Options

6. Locate “Option 003” (Router) and check the box

7. In the “IP Address” field type: 192.168.128.2

8. Locate “Option 006” (DNS Server) and check the box

9. In the “IP Address” field type: 192.168.128.130

10. Locate “Option 046” (WINS/NBT Node Type) and check the box

11. Change the Byte option to “0x8”

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12. Click OK.

13. Close the DHCP Management Console. Note: If the DHCP Server Role is installed on the same server as DS 7.5, DS will automatically add option 060 as soon as the PXE services are started for the first time. Since DHCP is not on the DS Server in this lab, option 60 will not be there.

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Lab Exercise 3 – Adding Preboot Drivers

Prior to creating an automation environment, additional drivers should be added to the Preboot driver database as needed. In this lab, we need to add drivers for VMware.

1. From the NS71 machine, open the Symantec Management Console and click Settings > Deployment > Driver Management.

2. Click on the Preboot tab.

3. Click Add. Note: If you see a warning about the digital signature we use, check the box to “Always trust content from this publisher” and then click Run.

Add drivers by doing the following:

4. Click the folder icon to the right of Location and browse into: C:\Lab Resources\Deployment Solution\VMware Drivers\LSI_Driver\. Note: You won’t see anything inside the folder, but the root will be selected. Note: You may see a brief message that says “Loading…”

5. Press OK

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6. Click Open.

7. Back at the Driver Database Management window, click on the Preboot tab.

8. Click Add

9. Click the folder icon to the right of Location and browse into: C:\Lab Resources\Deployment Solution\VMware Drivers\VMSCSI_Driver\.

Note: You won’t see anything inside the folder, but the root will be selected..

Note: You may see a brief message that says “Loading…”

10. Press OK

11. Click Open

12. Back at the Driver Database Management window, close the driver window.

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Lab Exercise 4 – Creating Preboot Configurations

Deployment Solution ships with two preboot configurations: LinInstall and PEInstall. These are the Automation Folders used if you enable the Deployment Automation Folder install policies. They are not used when PXE booting, however, and do not include any changes you may have made using bootwiz.exe (such as adding drivers).

To create a Preboot Configuration (Automation Environment):

1. From the NS71 machine, open the console and click Settings > Deployment > Create Preboot Configurations.

2. Click Add.

3. Name the configuration WinPE, choose x64 Architecture (make sure to uncheck x86) and select PXE as the preboot environments to build, and then click OK.

4. Click Save changes.

5. Right-click on the Symantec Management Agent icon in the taskbar and select Symantec Management Agent Settings.

6. Click Update to force the agent to get the policy telling it to build the Preboot Configuration. Both the Requested and Changed timestamps should update with the current time.

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Note: That this step is for convenience only. The agent would have received the policy the next time it checked in according to its regular schedule.

7. The Automation Environment is now being built on the server. You can verify this by opening Task Manager and looking for BootWiz.exe.

Note:You will need to wait for bootwiz.exe to finish processing the image environment before continuing on.

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8. When BootWiz.exe is finished running, return to the Preboot Configurations page, click the Status field, and verify that the automation environment is listed.

9. Close the Preboot Configurations window.

10. Click Update from the Agent Settings window to let the Notification Server know that the preboot configuration is finished building.

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Lab Exercise 5 – Sysprep Configuration

Microsoft operating systems created after Windows XP/2003 include Sysprep files. If you plan to image Windows XP/2003 machines, you must first upload the necessary files.

1. From the NS71 machine, open the console and click Settings > Deployment > Sysprep Imaging Configuration.

2. Click Upload in the x86 Deploy.cab section of the window.

3. Browse to C:\Lab Resources\Deployment Solution\Sysprep Files\32-bit, select DEPLOY.CAB, and then click Open. Note: This step has already been completed. You may re-upload the files without any problems.

4. Click Upload in the x64 Deploy.cab section of the window.

5. Browse to C:\Lab Resources\Deployment Solution\Sysprep Files\64-bit, select DEPLOY.CAB, and then click Open. Note: This step has already been completed. You may re-upload the files without any problems.

6. When the files are finished uploading, close the window.

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Lab Exercise 6 – Adding OS License Keys

1. From the NS71 machine, open the console and click Settings > Deployment > OS Licenses.

2. Click Add.

3. Select “Windows 7 Professional Service Pack 1 (x64)” as the Operating System. Note: This is a “default” key that Microsoft provides for unattended installations. Note: There is a text file “Windows 7 Demo License Key.txt” on the desktop. Feel free to cut and paste.

4. Enter “HYF8J-CVRMY-CM74G-RPHKF-PW487” as the Product Key.

5. Click OK.

6. Close the window. Note: In a production environment this step would need to be completed for each key/OS combination you will be using.

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Lab Exercise 7 – Creating the Personality Template

In this exercise, we will build a PC Transplant template that will be used to migrate a user’s wallpaper, computer name, desktop icons, Internet favorites, music, documents, and pictures.

1. From the NS71 machine, browse to and execute the following application: \\NS71\Deployment\Task Handler\PCT\TEMPLATE.EXE Note: There is a shortcut on the desktop for the Deployment Share Note: You may be prompted to update the PCT product – Choose “Don’t remind me again”

2. Click Next.

3. Leave the default options selected and click Next.

4. Leave all fields blank and click Next.

5. Click the Desktop tab, click Clear All, scroll down and select “Wallpaper”.

6. Click the Network tab, click Clear All, and select “Computer name”.

7. Click Next.

8. Click the Folders tab and select “Desktop”, “Favorites”, “Music”, “My Documents”, and “Pictures”.

9. Click Next.



12. Save the file as \\NS71\NSCap\bin\Win32\X86\Deployment\PCT\EN\Migration

13. Click OK and click Finish

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Exercise 8 – Creating a Basic Copy/Execute Task

Jobs and tasks are used to perform remote functions on managed systems. A task is a single function that might include capturing a system personality, copying a file, restoring an image, rebooting a system, etc. A job is a collection of tasks created to perform an overall job, and might include migrating a system to Windows 7, configuring a system to corporate standards, etc.

In this exercise we will create a task that copies an .msi to a managed system, and then executes the appropriate installation command-line.

1. Switch to the NS71 virtual machine.

2. Launch the Symantec Management Console by double-clicking the “Symantec Management Console 7.1” shortcut located on the desktop. The Symantec Management Console loads.

3. Click Manage-> Jobs and Tasks.

The Jobs / Tasks interface is displayed.

4. Right-click the Samples folder, located in the right-hand pane, and select New->Folder from the resulting menu. The folder dialog is displayed.

5. Type Deployment Solution in the name field, and click OK. The folder dialog is closed, and the new folder is displayed.

6. Right-click the newly created Deployment Solution folder and select New-> Task. The Create New Task dialog is displayed.

7. Review the various tasks that are available for use as a single task, or as part of a larger job. Note: These tasks represent a full installation of ITMS, and not all tasks are available if only Deployment Solution is installed.

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8. Select the Deployment and Migration—>Copy File task. The task details are displayed in the right-hand pane.

9. Type Install 7-Zip in the task name field.

10. Verify that the Copy file radio button is selected.

11. Very that “Access from UNC location” is selected as the file source.

12. Type “\\ns71\SoftwareResources\7-zip\InstallFiles\7z920.msi” in the Location field.

13. For the username enter: Symplified\Administrator

14. For the password enter: symc4now!

15. Type C:\Temp\7Zip in the Destination field.

16. Type C:\Temp\7Zip\7z920.msi /qn in the Command Line field.

17. For the username enter: Symplified\Adminstrator

18. For the password enter: symc4now!

19. Click OK. The task is saved, and is made available for assignment.

20. In the Task Status pane, click Quick Run. The Quick Run Now dialog is displayed.

21. Type Win7 in the available field, and select the following resulting system:

22. Click Run. The Quick Run Now dialog is closed, the task is scheduled and displayed within the Task Status pane.

23. Switch to the Win7 virtual machine.

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24. Click Start—>All Programs, and verify that 7-Zip is now installed. Note: A client job could have been created to add additional tasks (along with this task) to perform additional functionality, such as deleting the delivered file following a successful installation.

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Lab Exercise 9 – Creating the Image Capture/Deploy Jobs

Create the Image Capture Job

1. From the NS71 machine, open the console and click Manage > Jobs and Tasks.

2. Right-click on “Jobs and Tasks” and select New > Folder.

3. Name the folder “Vision 2012” then click OK.

4. Right-click on “Vision 2012” folder and select New > Folder.

5. Name the folder Capture then click OK.

6. Create another folder under “Vision 2012” named Deploy using the steps above.

7. Right-click on the “Capture” folder and select New > Client Job.

8. Name the job Create Master Image.

9. In the middle pane, click New > Task.

10. Select Prepare for Image capture from the list of tasks.

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11. Choose “Windows 7 ProfessionalService Pack 1 (x64)” as the OS type

12. For the Product Key, choose: “HYF8J-CVRMY-CM74G-RPHKF-PW487”

12. Since the lab machines are joined to a domain, and Sysprep removes machines from a domain, we need to specify credentials so that the machine will rejoin the domain after capture is complete. Enter the following Credentials: User name: Symplified\Administrator Password: symc4now! Confirm Password: symc4now!

13. In the “Reboot to” section, choose PXE – WinPE - x64 Note: This is the automation environment that was created in the previous step.

14. Click OK.

15. Click New > Task.

16. Select Create Image from the list of tasks.

17. Type Win7Pro_x64 as the Image name.

18. Click OK.


20. Select Reboot To from the list of tasks.

21. Rename the task “Reboot To Production”.

22. Select “Production” as the boot environment.

23. Click OK.

24. Click Save changes. The job should now look like this:

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Create the Deploy Image Job

1. Right-click on the “Deploy” folder and select New > Client Job.

2. Name the job Migrate System to Windows 7.

3. In the middle pane, click New > Task.

4. Select Capture Personality from the list of tasks.

5. In the right-hand pane, click Browse, open the EN folder, select Migration.pbt, and then click Open.

6. Click OK.



9. Rename the task Reboot to Automation.

10. Select the PXE Radio button and choose “WinPE” from the dropdown list

Verify that “x64” is listed

11. Click OK.


13. Select Deploy Image from the list of tasks.

14. Select Win7Pro_x64 as the Image name.

15. Select “HYF8J-CVRMY-CM74G-RPHKF-PW487” as the Product key.

16. Uncheck the box under DeployAnywhere.

17. Enter the following Credentials: User name: Symplified\Administrator Password: symc4now! Confirm Password: symc4now!

18. Click OK. Note: If an error appears saying “Data not loaded,” click OK. The error is a bug. The task was successfully created and added.



21. Rename the task Reboot To Production.

22. Select “Production” as the boot environment.

23. Click OK.

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25. Select Update Client Configuration from the list of tasks.

26. Click OK.


28. Select Distribute Personality from the list of tasks.

29. Select “%COMPNAME%” for the Personality name.

30. Click OK.

31. Click Save changes. The job should now look like this:

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Exercise 10: Performing an OS Migration

Altiris Client Management Suite 7 introduces an integration of Notification Server and Deployment Solution functionality. From the Symantec Management Platform, you can backup and restore disk images, migrate user personality settings, set domain, naming and network values for managed client computers, and deploy client computers using various imaging engines, including Symantec Ghost and Altiris RapiDeploy.

In this exercise, we will use the Deployment Solution functionality to perform an OS Migration. Note: To save time, a corporate image has already been created within the demonstration environment. The following steps will explain how this image was created, and show where it exists within the Notification Server.





4. Within the Jobs and Tasks pane, Navigate to and select Jobs and Tasks-> Vision 2012-> Capture.

The jobs and tasks within the Capture folder are displayed to the right.

5. Select the “Create Master Image” job.

The job details are displayed in the right-hand pane.

Note: A Client Job is a combination of tasks that perform a single function. A job, for example, could restore an image of a system, and then immediately deploy a piece of software using the Quick Delivery task, and then immediately perform an inventory of the system. The ability to combine individual tasks into a single job enables an administrator to create, deploy, and manage powerful solutions within a managed environment.

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Note: This job prepares the system for imaging using Sysprep, reboots the system to the automation environment, uses Ghost to create a master image file, and reboots the system to production.

The image created using this job is stored in the database as a package resource. The follow steps will show the location within the Console where the image can be displayed.

6. Click Manage-> All Resources.

The Resources interface is displayed.

7. Navigate to and select Organizational Views-> Default-> All Resources-> Software Component-> Image Resource.

Note: The image resources are displayed in the right-hand pane, and include an image resource named Win7Pro_x64.gho which was created earlier.

8. Click Manage->Jobs and Tasks.


9. Within the Jobs and Tasks pane, Navigate to and select Jobs and Tasks-> Vision 2012-> Deploy.

The jobs and tasks within the Deploy folder are displayed to the right.

10. Select the Migrate System to Windows 7 job.

The job details are displayed in the right-hand pane.

Note: A Client Job is a combination of tasks that perform a single function. A job, for example, could restore an image of a system, and then immediately deploy a piece of software using the Quick Delivery task, and then immediately perform an inventory of the system. The ability to combine individual tasks into a single job enables an administrator to create, deploy, and manage powerful solutions within a managed environment.

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11. Verify that the current job includes the following tasks:

Capture Personality

Reboot to Automation

Deploy Image

Reboot to Production

Update Client Configuration

Distribute Personality

Note: Additional tasks may exist, but only the above tasks are required.

Note: This task will capture the Desktop, Network, and Application personality settings (DNA) and then reboot the system to an automation environment (WinPE). Once in the Automation Environment, Symantec Ghost will be used to deploy the hardware independent MasterWin7 image to the local system. Once the restoration of the image is complete, the system will be rebooted to production (and Sysprep will re-configure the system according the stored inventory information). Once the system is reconfigured, the Altiris agent will reinitialize and the previously captured personality will be restored to the system.

12. In the Task Status pane, click Quick Run and type WinXP in the available field. Note: Make sure to select the WinXP machine from the resulting dropdown list

13. Click Run.

14. The job is scheduled, and the task process is displayed in the Task Status section.

15. Switch to the Windows XP Professional (WinXP) virtual machine.

16. Monitor the progress of the OS Migration.

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Optional Exercises

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Optional Lab Exercise 1 – Importing Existing Images

Deployment Solution utilizes Symantec Ghost as the primary imaging engine. As such, any images previously created with Ghost may be imported directly into Deployment Solution for immediate use.

1. From the NS71 machine, browse to \\NS71\Deployment\Task Handler\Tools and execute ResourceImportTool.exe.

2. Click Browse, navigate to C:\Lab Resources\Deployment Solution\WinXP Image, select XP_Backup.gho, and then click Open.

Note: that you can select multiple files at a time in this window using the CTRL and Shift keys (i.e. – the image you are importing is split into multiple files).

3. Select “Windows XP Professional” as the OS.

4. Click Import.

5. When the image is finished uploading, a message will appear indicating the import was successful. Acknowledge the message and then close the Import Tool.

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Optional Lab Exercise 2 – Capturing an Image

Before you begin deploying images in your environment you will first need to capture one. Image files are stored in the file system on the Management Server and are listed as Software Resources inside the SMP.





4. Within the Jobs and Tasks pane, Navigate to and select Jobs and Tasks-> Vision 2012-> Capture.

The jobs and tasks within the Capture folder are displayed

5. Select the job labeled “Create Master Image” that was created previously.

6. On the right side of the screen press the “Quick Run” button and type “Win7” for the machine name. Note: Make sure you select “Win7” from the resulting drop down menu.

7. Press “Run”

8. Switch to the “Win7” virtual machine to monitor the image capture progress