Single Image Deployment

[fluidville]

First off was wandering if there was anything in the way of documentation when it comes to single image for HP servers.

My concerns are as follows, I have quite a large range of HP models ranging from ML370 G3,G4,G5 to ML570 G3,G4 DL585 G2 , DL385 G2 and so on.

I would ideally like to have a single image for per OS and Sp for all models, is this feasible. as models differ in Raid controllers - 5x,6x, P400 etc, I am assuming there are going to be HAL compatibility issues. does the PSP Installation process with in RDP 3.9 alleviate these concerns.

If not, would the following principle work, sysprep images deployed followed by model and OS specific drivers being FIRM.exe in before the reboot.

Just really trying to get to the grips of all of this before I go ahead and Upgrade to RDP 3.9.

Last question, I see 3.9 does not support win 2000 could I use the scripts I have in 3.8 used for 2000 deployment and transpose them to 3.9, making sure all relevant files and directories exist.

Many thanks for your time

[Kase]

1. I don't know of any HP documentation that addresses this specific question. This is more of an OS-specific question rather than a sever-specific question. MS does have documentation reqarding this question for the set of MS deployment technlogies: WAIK, ASD, etc. This is a fairly broad and deep topic for a limited space.

2. A single image per OS and SP is, in the given scenario, probably not feasible. Using scripted OS installs will ensure broader compatibility for the given range of target server models and OS configurations. These can be made very generic and then further customized for specific scenarios. This trade-off is build time. Our current scripted install jobs run about 65 minutes on a dedicated GB network. Our imaged install jobs take about half that time.
3. See 2.
4. I couldn't find any info on 3.9, but I would guess that, yes, you could work around 2000-compatibility as described.

[fluidville]

G,


Many thanks for your response, it seems that there may be a few angles of attack on this, I have ended up taking a hybrid solution using our own scripts tied in with the HP supplied ones.

I now have 1 build job , that at the point of image deployment it calls a batch file which has been generated and populated with information from a profile (.xls), and is specific to each and every machine with in the profile. At this point the correct syspreped image is installed with the correct drivers being firmed in, it reboots back into winpe, loads the HP PSP and altiris client as per generic HP scripts.

the various controllers do present a single image issue, so far I have found that 5x and 6x work together. The new generation of server using P400 P600 have a different set of HAL files requiring another version of image. hence model specific images to an extent.


I know I mentioned 3.8 - 3.9, I was ment to say 3.7 - 3.8, got confused between altiris versioning and HP versioning


Cheers

Rob