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Using PC-Rdist* at Wellesley and Amherst Colleges

Windows 98 Susan Hafer Richman Project Manager Information Services Wellesley College. Windows 2000 Nicholas Dahlman Microcomputer Specialist Desktop Computing Services Amherst College. Using PC-Rdist* at Wellesley and Amherst Colleges.

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Using PC-Rdist* at Wellesley and Amherst Colleges

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  1. Windows 98 Susan Hafer Richman Project Manager Information Services Wellesley College Windows 2000 Nicholas Dahlman Microcomputer Specialist Desktop Computing Services Amherst College Using PC-Rdist* at Wellesley and Amherst Colleges *PC Remote Distribute software by Pyzzo Software (www.pyzzo.com)

  2. PC-Rdist at Wellesley College Where we were, where we are, where we’re going

  3. Some history… • 1985: MicroLab with IBM PCs and AT&T 6300s (no hard drives), room locked if no student consultant on duty • Mid-90s: more labs, some open 24 hours, filled with Gateway2000 PCs; problem PCs stayed down for a long time…. • 1997: Ghost images on CD used as needed to refresh public PC hard drives • 1998: began using ImageCast and PC-Rdist • 1999: upgraded PC-Rdist to version 2

  4. Our Network Environment • Class B network – flat? • NT domain using TCP/IP • Typically using GUEST account in Windows – will soon have domain accounts for all • Public computers are Macs (refreshed with Assimilator) and Windows 98SE Gateway2000 PCs (refreshed with PC-Rdist) • PC-Rdist running from Windows 2000 Server

  5. What’s in our tool box? • PC-Rdist: incremental refreshing over the network • ImageCast: blast the hard drive with image on CDs • Visual DialogScript: old version of a Windows scripting language

  6. PC-Rdist in a nutshell • Master images for lab computers are on a server on the campus network • Run PC-Rdist, which figures out what files and registry items are different from what the server says should be on the computer • Delete and add items, then restart the computer – takes less than 5 minutes • Can run at startup, as part of log in/out scripts, or use outside scheduler

  7. PC-Rdist setup: our old way • Built a base “lab” image with OS and all standard software, using ImageCast; made lab IC image on CD for worst case • Built alternate images as layers on top of “lab” for specialized hardware and software, using PC-Rdist • Some locations our students manually refreshed, others used VirusScan 4.0.3 Scheduler

  8. What we did this summer* • Base image: only Windows and IE, one for each hardware platform • Separate images for each program and for scanners, printers for each lab • Windows Scheduled Tasks for some labs, set to run between midnight and 7am • Visual DialogScript *based on information from Steve Tapp from Kent State at SIGUCCS 2000

  9. What we have now • PC-Rdist 2.0.5 and ImageCast 4.5.1 • 231 PCs in the database (80 in labs, 42 in dorms, 97 in classrooms, 12 in libraries), all running Windows 98 SE • 1 person doing most of the tweaking on the server • Student consultants follow up automated refreshes or do manual refreshes

  10. AutoRefreshing: Our planning • Create list for each weekday – keep refreshes 10-15 minutes apart • From this list, create Windows Scheduled Task files for each computer’s image • Do only a few PCs in each lab each night

  11. AutoRefreshing: Prep work • Windows Scheduled Tasks runs script • Script displays Notepad 10-minute warning • Prep: checks for \\tricky2k\auto\local.bat and copies to c:\windows • Deletes RunServices key • Creates RunOnce key for local.bat <name> • Reboots

  12. AutoRefreshing: Finishing up • Runs c:\windows\local.bat • Sets name of sender for later e-mail • Looks for \\tricky2k\x1\pcrdist.exe. No = creates c:\noserver.txt and exits. Yes = runs PCRDist • PCRDist runs, and sends e-mail to conference

  13. Follow-up Procedures • PC-Rdist automatically e-mails conference • 8:30 M-F Students check PCs scheduled for refresh in the wee hours • Weekly manual update of spreadsheet to check for delinquent PCs • Occasionally need to do manual refresh

  14. What’s coming…. • Windows 2000…?

  15. PC-Rdist and Windows 2000: A Case Study Maintaining and Improving Computers at Amherst College Nicholas Dahlman, Microcomputer Specialist http://www.amherst.edu/~nadahlman/pc-rdist

  16. The Situation – March 2001 • 57 PCs in 3 labs running Windows 95 • Base image applied with Ghost via network • PC-Rdist 1.52 stored locally on hard drive • On first reboot, PC-Rdist names computer & readies for network • Computers manually remade every morning by student workers from Mac server (!)

  17. Our Network Environment – Summer 2001 • Newly subnetted network • Mixed-mode NT domain using TCP/IP; personal secure network storage & login scripts • Public computers are Macs (refreshed with RevRdist) and Windows 2000 Dell PCs (refreshed with PC-Rdist) • PC-Rdist running from Windows 2000 Server

  18. Summer 2001 To-Do List • Layering • One base image on different hardware • Different labs get different software • Better User Experience • New, clean desktop for every user • Ability to install own software • Tie in with network resources • Easy-to-keep • Manual or automated maintenance • Ability to remake, check on computers remotely

  19. Ghost 7 and Sysprep • Upgrade to Symantec Ghost 7 • Compatible with NTFS, Windows 2000 (mostly) • Can create, retrieve images over network • Cannot create new W2k SIDs • Microsoft Sysprep 1.1 (free) • Allows you to duplicate a hard drive after configuring Windows & installing apps • Runs “Mini-setup” (for differing hardware) • Plain-text “Answer File” allows you to specify answers to Setup questions • Bear to set up; very easy when set up properly

  20. PC-Rdist 2 demo • PC-Rdist server structure • The GUI • Setting files to ignore, delete, etc. • Creating an application layer

  21. PC-Rdist and Windows 2000: The Permissions Problem • Levels of permissions: Guest, User, Power User, Administrator, SYSTEM • Administrators can’t access all files and entire registry – only SYSTEM can. • PC-Rdist runs with permissions of user who started it. • Therefore, just running PC-Rdist yourself won’t work!

  22. PC-Rdist and Windows 2000: The AT Solution • AT: command-line Scheduled Tasks • Administrator-scheduled AT tasks run with SYSTEM permissions • AT can schedule computers remotely! • Batch files add versatility & ease

  23. Command-line scheduling demo • What the AT command looks like • Looking at scheduled tasks • Clearing schedule • Scheduling a remake • Scheduling a lab

  24. Windows 2000 Interface • Users log onto domain (as themselves or guest), get Default User profile, Power User permissions • My Documents linked to secure network storage • Screen saver automatically logs users off after specified time* • Batch scheduling command reschedules itself if user is logged on** * Logoff screen saver from Windows 2000 Resource Kit ** “UserOn” batch command courtesy JSI Inc.’s Tip #1752

  25. Results • Very few crashes • Labs with very different settings, apps • Increased use of network resources; fewer floppy disks! • Bored student lab supervisors • Expanded to library, departmental labs, classrooms (8 labs, 110 computers so far)

  26. PC-RdistQ&A http://www.amherst.edu/~nadahlman/pc-rdist www.pyzzo.com Susan Hafer Richman Wellesley College srichman@wellesley.edu Nicholas Dahlman Amherst College nadahlman@amherst.edu

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