WP Single Image for Dell Servers v2

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2006 Altiris, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Building a Single Image for

Dell PowerEdge Servers

using Altiris Deployment Solution

(2nd Edition)

Produced By

Altiris Technical Services

September 25, 2006

Author: Eric Szewczyk


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NoticeThe content in this document represents the current view of Altiris as of the date of publication. Because Altiris responds continually to changingmarket conditions, this document should not be interpreted as a commitment on the part of Altiris. Altiris cannot guarantee the accuracy of anyinformation presented after the date of publication.

Copyright 2006, Altiris, Inc. All rights reserved.

Altiris, Inc.

588 West 400 South

Lindon, UT 84042

Phone: (801) 226-8500

Fax: (801) 226-8506

BootWorks U.S. Patent No. 5,764,593.

RapiDeploy U.S. Patent No. 6,144,992.

Altiris, BootWorks, Inventory Solution, PC Transplant, RapiDeploy, and RapidInstall are registered trademarks of Altiris, Inc. in the United States.

Carbon Copy is a registered trademark licensed to Altiris, Inc. in the United States and a registered trademark of Altiris, Inc. in other countries.

Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or othercountries.

Other brands and names are the property of their respective owners.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. For the latest documentation, visit www.altiris.com.

Revision History (Sep. 25, 2006):

Updated the section, Introduction to introduce the benefits of using the Deployment Solution forDell Servers add-on product for comprehensive bare metal Dell Server deployments.

Added support for Dell PowerEdge 9th Generation Servers and updated the URL to the supportingfiles for this white paper (ONEDELLIMAGE.ZIP):

http://apl-ibase.altiris.com/resources/dell/single_image/onedellimage.zip

Added the section, Pros and Cons to Image vs. Scripted OS Deployments

Updated the section, Identify hardware inventory of target systems to recogonize the abilities ofAltiris Inventory Solution, Altiris Inventory Solution for Dell Servers (soon to be released), and Altiris

Deployment Solution. Updated the section, Gathering Dell Drivers for Inclusion in the Hardware Independent Image to

introduce more options for initially gathering the Dell Drivers for inclusion in the image. Alsoupdated the driver hierarchy views to reflect support for the Dell PowerEdge 9th Generation Servers
http://www.altiris.com/http://apl-ibase.altiris.com/resources/dell/single_image/onedellimage.ziphttp://apl-ibase.altiris.com/resources/dell/single_image/onedellimage.ziphttp://www.altiris.com/


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Added the section, Updating the Hardware Independent Image with Altiris ImageExplorer to betterdefine the concept of updating the image using this utility after the initial capture process to savetime and efforts.

Updated the Capturing the Hardware Independent Image section to update steps for use withAltiris Deployment Solution 6.5 and later.

Changed and updated the Deploying the Sysprep Image section to Deploying the Hardware

Independent Image and introduced more options for deploying the image independent of the AltirisDeployment Solution.

Changed and updated the section, Replacing Tokens in a SYSPREP.INF File to IntroducingDeployment Solution Tokens to better reflect this concept, expand the uses for tokenization otherthan just the SYSPREP.INF file, and provided step-by-step instructions for execution.

Changed the Real World Examples section to Installing Altiris Agents to better define theprocess of pre-installing agents in the image.

Updated the section, Dell PowerEdge Models Tested to reflect new models tested including 9 thGeneration PowerEdge Servers.

Updated the section, Resources for more information pertaining to considerations when building a

hardware independent image on Dell PowerEdge Servers.

Updated the section, Samples to reflect mass storage controller driver support in theSYSPREP.INF file for the Dell PowerEdge 9 th Generation Servers.

Updated the section, Glossary to add and update definitions for acronyms used throughout thispaper.


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Contents

Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................................................6

Common IT Obstacles................................................................................................................................................................6

Benefits of a Hardware Independent Image............................................................................................................................7

Pros and Cons to Image vs. Scripted OS Deployments........................................................................................................7

Setting Up Your Environment.....................................................................................................................................................8

Gathering Dell Drivers for Inclusion in the Hardware Independent Image ...................................................................12

Option 1 Obtain Drivers from Dells Support Website.......................................................................................................12Creating the Dell Driver Hierarchy ......................................................................................................................................13

Option 2 Gather Drivers Using the Driver Tool from the DSA CD..................................................................................14

Option 3 Gather Drivers Using Altiris Deployment Solution for Dell Servers................................................................17

Updating the Hardware Independent Image with Altiris ImageExplorer............................................................................20

Obtaining the ONEDELLIMAGE.ZIP Supporting File...........................................................................................................20

Introduction to Microsoft Sysprep ..........................................................................................................................................21

Using Sysprep as Documented...............................................................................................................................................22Considerations for Sysprep .................................................................................................................................................22

Creating the SYSPREP.INF File................................................................................................................................................25

Option 1: Creating the SYSPREP.INF Using the Sysprep Setup Manager......................................................................26

Option 2: Creating the SYSPREP.INF File from the Sample Provided.............................................................................38

Building the [SysprepMassStorage] Section of the SYSPREP.INF File ........................................................................38

Dissecting the OEMSETUP.INF File......................................................................................................................................39

Plugging Values into the [SysprepMassStorage]..................................................................................................................42

Installing Altiris Agents..............................................................................................................................................................42

Configuring the Reference Server ...........................................................................................................................................44

Troubleshooting Sysprep ..........................................................................................................................................................50

Capturing the Hardware Independent Image ........................................................................................................................50

Option 1 Capturing from the Deployment Solution Console............................................................................................51

Option 2 Capturing from the Deployment Solution eXpress Network Share..............................................................56

Deploying the Hardware Independent Image .......................................................................................................................64

Option 1 - Deploying the Image from the Deployment Solution Console..........................................................................64

Option 2 Deploying the Image Independent of Deployment Solution.............................................................................66

Introducing Deployment Solution Tokens..............................................................................................................................66


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Dell PowerEdge Models Tested ...............................................................................................................................................69

Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................................................70

Resources......................................................................................................................................................................................70

Samples..........................................................................................................................................................................................71

SYSPREP.INF (Windows Server 2003) .................................................................................................................................71

Tokenized SYSPREP.INF File.................................................................................................................................................76

Glossary .........................................................................................................................................................................................82


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IntroductionThis paper focuses on the creation of a hardware independent image for Dell PowerEdge Servers runningthe Windows Server 2003 operating system, but includes methodologies that can be applied to all versionsof Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 operating systems as well. Accompanying thiswhite paper is a ONEDELLIMAGE.ZIP file containing supporting files required to successfully build ahardware independent image for Dell PowerEdge Servers, including but not limited to: a checklist, theMicrosoft Sysprep utility, a sample SYSPREP.INF file, the Deployment Solution AClient (for scripting theinstall of the management agent), current Dell drivers (as of the updating of this white paper) includingsupport for Dells 9th generation servers, etc.

This paper provides step-by-step instructions, best practices, and considerations for building a hardwareindependent image from beginning to end for all currently shipping Dell PowerEdge servers and later. Thisimage can be used as part of a comprehensive build process in which Altiris management solutions canhelp provision a server from bare metal including, but not limited to: configuring the BIOS, DRAC, BMC,and RAID components, deploying a scripted or image based deployment of the operating system, remotelydeploying popular server applications such as OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA), SQL 2005,Oracle 10g, VMware ESX Server, etc., and patching the hardware using Dell Update Packages (DUP), allas part of the complete bare metal provisioning process. For more information, browse to the Dell Alliance

page of the Altiris website at www.altiris.com/dell and refer to the Deployment Solution for Dell Serversadd-on product.

Fortunately all 3rd generation and later Dell PowerEdge servers share a common Hardware AbstractionLayer (HAL) based on the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI). One of the benefits ofhaving a common HAL architecture is the fact that this eliminates the need to maintain multiple images perhardware model and helps significantly reduce the time required to deploy the Windows OS, service packs,security updates, hotfixes, software, etc. because all of this can be included in the base image if desired.Image based deployments are just one way to deploy an OS to a bare metal computer; scripted installs areanother way. There are pros and cons to performing image based vs. scripted OS deployments which willbe discussed as part of this paper. One deployment method may be more suitable than the other based onthe network environment, which is in turn dictated by complex IT policies, diverse network architectures,opinionated IT staff, etc. Whichever method you choose, Altiris can help with your IT needs.

Common IT ObstaclesThe following are some common pain points experienced by Information Technology (IT) staff whendealing with the deployment and on-going management of computer systems:

Dedicated IT teams must build and maintain at a minimum one image per hardware vendor, hardwaremodel, and operating system when dealing with image based deployments.

Hours of effort required to provision hardware from bare metal, deploy operating systems, deploysoftware apps, patch the OS and hardware, etc.

Software version control maintenance is required to keep versions up to date loaded on static imagesas well as post production computers. This also includes service packs, security updates, and hotfixes

as well.

Inconsistencies with computer builds from various IT staff members (such as versions of driversinstalled, configuration methods, look and feel, etc.)

As you will see in the next section, maintaining and deploying a hardware independent image in theenvironment can help with most of the pain points listed here.
http://www.altiris.com/dellhttp://www.altiris.com/dell


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Benefits of a Hardware Independent ImageThe following are advantages when maintaining and deploying hardware independent images:

Use one image for ALL of your Dell PowerEdge servers.

Significantly reduce the time from hours to minutes when deploying operating systems from a baremetal state.

Hands free deployment In addition to deploying with the Altiris Deployment Solution, self extractingimages can also be created and deployed via a bootable CD/DVD, network share, thumbdrive, SAN,etc. Refer to the section, Deploying the Image Independent of Deployment Solution for moreinformation.

Current service packs, security updates, and hotfixes can be included in the image at the time ofcreation and then maintained automatically through the Altiris Patch Management Solution in a post-production environment.

Flexible software version control and licensing Rather than pre-install applications in a static imageand increase your image maintenance intervals, consider repackaging all of your applications withAltiris RapidInstall (included with Altiris Deployment Solution) or use a more robust solution such asWise Package Studio (acquired by Altiris). This will allow you to keep your hardware independent

image cleaner by not including applications that are subject to go out of date easily and allows you tokeep a tighter control over the software licenses (deploy when needed and keep track of thedeployment of apps). Now you can deploy to your targets via Altiris Deployment Solution or AltirisSoftware Delivery Solution and always install the latest and greatest applications through pushmethodologies while reducing the time spent on updating your images.

Efficiency The availability of a hardware independent image and automation reduces the need fordedicated IT staff to maintain multiple images per hardware model and in general deploy computers.

Consistency with builds All new or repurposed deployed computers will have the same driversinstalled, configurations, look and feel, etc. as the foundation to continue building from.

Pros and Cons to Image vs. Scripted OS DeploymentsPros

Image based OS Install Scripted OS Install

Minimal deployment times: Approx 6-8 mins for a 2GB image file in DOS

(16-bit) Approx 2-3 mins for a 2GB image file in

WinPE or Linux (32-bit)

Service packs and hotfixes can beslipstreamed during the install process toensure the latest and greatestMicrosoft updates are applied when

Windows is started for the first time,making it less susceptible to viruses andnetwork attacks

A single image can be created for all DellPowerEdge Servers eliminating the need tocreate and maintain separate images perOS/PowerEdge model

Drivers can be slipstreamed during theinstall process to ensure that your DellPowerEdge Servers are always running thelatest versions during theprovisioning process


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Consistency of the operating system build can beachieved by configuring the look and feel of thedesktop, policies enabled, software installed, etc.without requiring user intervention orsome sort of script to perform afterdeployment

Flexibility can be achieved by customizing theinstallation and configuration of Windows componentsduring the install

Images can be multicasted which help byreducing network bandwidth andbottleneck constraints based on broadcastmethods

Cons

Image based OS Install Scripted OS Install

The image file is static. Once the image hasbeen captured, the software and drivers contained inthe image become outdated over time and requireupdates. In most cases the master image has tobe deployed, updated, and then recapturedto be ready for mass distribution or managementagents can be loaded in the image and updates are

deployed post-OS through policy based distribution.

The operating system install can not bemulticasted and can take anywhere from 2-4 hoursdepending on the number and size of updates beingslipstreamed.

The process of maintaining the latestservice packs and hot fixes released from Microsoftand slipstreaming into the OS install can be atedious process. The alternative is toleverage a patch management solution such as AltirisPatch Management Solution for Windows and allow themanagement agent to identify vulnerabilities of the OSshortly after deployment and then push out the updatesas part of a policy based distribution.

There are some initial one time preparatorytasks that need to be completed on theDeployment Server before you can use the predefined

sample scripted OS jobs (i.e. copy media files anddrivers, edit the answer files, etc.)

Setting Up Your EnvironmentThe following are considerations when building hardware independent images:

Deploy an Altiris Deployment Solution

Having a Deployment Solution installed in your environment will allow you to easily capture and massdeploy your image once created. It will also serve as the environment to snap in products such as theDeployment Solution for Dell Servers add-on for bare metal provisioning your Dell Server hardware and

managing the systems post-OS such as deploying software, patching the OS and hardware, capturinglight inventory, etc. See the Deployment Solution Product Guide for installation instructions.

Identify Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) compatibilities

The HAL on the master computer must be compatible to the HAL on the destination computer. Forexample, an image captured from a system that is non-ACPI compliant and deployed to a system that


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is ACPI compliant will usually fail or get caught in a continuous boot cycle. Fortunately, most DellPowerEdge Servers (from the 3rd generation through current hardware) have the same HAL.

Identify a reference computer from which the image will be created

Select a standard PowerEdge Server model with a recommendation of non-superfluous hardware orconfigurations to be the reference computer from which the image will be created from. This wouldinclude using SCSI over RAID, no DRAC cards, other add-in cards, etc. If youre not using the Altiris

Deployment Solution for Dell Servers add-on to provision your hardware or using a PowerEdge modelnot supported by the Dell Tool Kit (DTK) and thereby not supported by the Dell add-on, you can initiallyprovision the hardware and deploy the OS using the Dell Server Assistant (DSA) CD. This CD isincluded in the box of every Dell server that leaves the manufacturing plant or it can be downloadedfrom http://support.dell.com.

Many hardware components are embedded on the motherboard and can either be disabled from thesystems BIOS or the case can be opened and the modules can be manually removed therebydisabling its functionality. Consult your hardware manual and warranty before attempting to do thisyourself. For example, a server with an embedded PERC controller can be disabled in the systemsBIOS which would then default to SCSI. This would then allow the image to be built from one SCSIdrive with a small OS partition, rather than three from a typical RAID 5 configuration. The object here isto reduce complexity when building the image in order to have a higher success rate when massdeploying the image to your target hardware.

As part of my research for this white paper I used a very simple PowerEdge 400SC Server as myreference computer to build the hardware independent image from. As many know, this is simply aglorified Dell workstation, so just about any type of Dell computer will work in this example.

Select the minimum available hard disk or partition from reference computer

A rule of thumb when creating hardware independent images is that the source hard drive or partition inwhich you created the image from can not be larger than the target hard drive. For example, dontcreate an image from an 80GB drive or partition and deploy to a 40GB drive. In this day and age withstandard hard drive sizes ranging anywhere from 60GB and up, its hard to find small hard drives thesedays.

In this case, simply create a small partition in which the image will be built from. I usually like to createabout a 6-8GB partition. This allows room to install the OS, copy the .\i386 directory from the Windowsmedia CD, install any service packs, hotfixes, security updates, etc. and have a little bit of room leftover if needed.

Select a target server to test the image

If possible, choose a different model of PowerEdge Server with different chipsets and hardware thanyour reference server to test the image on. This will be your true test and youll know right away ifyouve configured the image properly after deploying by copying the appropriate plug-and-play drivers,creating the SYSPREP.INF file properly, etc. If this is not possible, you can plug in all the hardwarecomponents and configurations you removed from the reference server to test with if needed. Yourresults may vary because even though the Sysprep utility is supposed to strip out the current hardware

devices installed on the reference computer, the drivers still linger in the system directories and couldbe re-installed when the system boots up again. Needless to say, this wont be a true test for your firstimage deployment.
http://support.dell.com/http://support.dell.com/


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Obtain the proper version of Microsoft Sysprep

Refer to the section, Where Can I Get Microsoft Sysprep? for more information. As a courtesy, thereis a URL later in this paper that directs you to a supporting file (onedellimage.zip) which includes a copyof the Sysprep utility valid for the Windows 2003 and Windows XP operating systems.

Use a volume license key

It is recommended to use volume license keys and media for the operating system in which the

hardware independent image will be built from. This will avoid Windows activation on the targetsystems.

Identify hardware inventory of target systems

To successfully build a hardware independent image, a little research is in order to properly identify thedifferent types of hardware models, devices, peripherals, etc. that exist in the environment. Forexample: PERC, SCSI, DRAC, Modems, Network Cards, Video Cards, etc. Using Altiris InventorySolution, Altiris Inventory Solution for Servers (soon to be released), Altiris Real-time System ManagerSolution, or even the Altiris Deployment Solution for Dell Servers add-on is a great way to identify thehardware that exists in your environment. For example, Deployment Solution can capture lightinventory through the Altiris AClient agent and report through the DS Console. The DeploymentSolution for Dell Servers add-on can also capture and output detailed hardware inventory to a text file

with the flexibility to run in a pre-OS environment without the need for an agent. The figure below showsa hardware inventory output from a PowerEdge 2950 Server.


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For more information on the products mentioned, refer to the following links:

http://www.altiris.com/Products/InventorySolution.aspx

http://www.altiris.com/Products/RTSM.aspx

http://www.altiris.com/Products/DellDeploymentSolution.aspx

With this information gathered, you are now able to download the appropriate vendor specific or thirdparty plug-and-play drivers required for each hardware device, chipset, etc. so that it may be properlyinstalled in the Windows Server operating system of choice. Even though most of these drivers may benative to the operating system itself, its best to download the hardware approved drivers from thespecific vendor which in this case is Dells support website at http://support.dell.com. Additional stepswill be provided in the next section of this document.

Identify legacy devices

Legacy devices are devices that do not support Plug and Play (PnP) and may require manualinstallation and configuration after a disk image is deployed. Identifying these devices beforehand will

save you future frustrations and possibly allow you to come up with some sort of automatedworkaround so manual intervention is not required. One very powerful feature of Altiris DeploymentSolution is the ability to deploy any type of script in a pre-OS or post-OS environment. If something canbe scripted to run unattended, chances are Altiris Deployment Solution can deploy it.

Properly build the SysprepMassStorage section of the Microsoft SYSPREP.INF file

One of the most critical and tedious part of this whole process is properly building the[SysprepMassStorage] section of the SYSPREP.INF file. This is where you identify items such as thePnP PCI Vendor IDs extracted from the vendor specific .INF files, the location of the drivers containedin the image, etc. so that they may be properly identified and installed when the computer goes throughthe post-deployment mini-setup process.

If not built correctly, you could experience several problems, including errors during the pre-deployment

Sysprep process and ultimately a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) if the OS cant properly identify andload the appropriate mass storage controller drivers. Refer to section, Building the[SysprepMassStorage] Section of the SYSPREP.INF File for step-by-step instructions for properlycreating this section of the .INF file. As a courtesy, the contents of the complete SYSPREP.INF(including the 9th generation Dell PowerEdge Server support) can be found later in the body of thisdocument as well as the actual file included in the onedellimage.zip containing the supporting files forthis white paper. This will help expedite the entire hardware independent image process from start tofinish if time is an issue or if youre not feeling very adventurous.
http://www.altiris.com/Products/InventorySolution.aspxhttp://www.altiris.com/Products/RTSM.aspxhttp://www.altiris.com/Products/DellDeploymentSolution.aspxhttp://support.dell.com/http://support.dell.com/http://www.altiris.com/Products/DellDeploymentSolution.aspxhttp://www.altiris.com/Products/RTSM.aspxhttp://www.altiris.com/Products/InventorySolution.aspx


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Creating the Dell Driver HierarchyWhen finished downloading the drivers, place them into a .\Dell folder in the root of the system drive of thebase OS used for the hardware independent image (i.e. C:\Dell). Extract the drivers into their respectivedirectories leaving only the self-extracting install files in the folders will not work, they must be extractedto reveal the raw drivers. The figure below shows an example of a suggested driver hierarchy included withthe supporting ONEDELLIMAGE.ZIP file which can be used for inclusion with the hardware independentimage if desired to save time.

Legend

Directory Description

audio Audio Drivers

cs Chipset Drivers

mgmt Management (DRAC)

n Network Card Drivers

non-raid Non-RAID Controller Drivers

storage RAID Storage Controller Drivers

9g 9th Generation Drivers

v Video Card Drivers


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Option 2 Gather Drivers Using the Driver Tool from the DSA CDOne of the new features of the DSA 5.1 CD (released 9/11/06) is a Make Driver Dir tool. This is acommand line interface (CLI) tool that will programmatically gather all the drivers from the DSA CD basedon PowerEdge model, OS, and device type while creating the respective directory structures. The tool willalso build out the OEMPnPDriversPath typically found in the Windows UNATTEND.TXT andSYSPREP.INF files so you can save time by copying and pasting. This path is required to search the

appropriate driver directories when installing the hardware components through Windows PnP detection. Ifthe path is not specified then the native Windows drivers will be used instead. Listed below are someexamples of how to use this tool. For a full list of all the command line options and the user syntax for thisdriver tool, refer to the README.TXT file found on the DSA CD located here:.\SERVER_ASSISTANT\DRIVER_TOOL

Example:

The following command will list all supported Dell servers, operating systems, and provide descriptions forall the driver build directories and output to a file called DRIVERS.TXT. This command can help youtranslate all the rXXXXXX driver directories to something meaningful if you want to gather the driversmanually:

make_driver_dir.exe -i d:\ -d c:\drv --info > c:\drivers.txt

The following is an excerpt from the generated DRIVERS.TXT file:

OS Descriptions:

suse10_64: "SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 x86_64"

suse9_64: "SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 x86_64 Service Pack 3"

rh30_64: "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (version 3) x86_64 Update 6"

rh30: "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (version 3) x86 Update 6"

w2003sbs: "Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Service Pack 1"

w2003_64: "Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition"

w2000: "Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 4"

w2003: "Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1"

rh40_64: "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (version 4) x86_64"rh40: "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (version 4) x86"

Platform support matrix:

pe6650: w2003 w2000 rh30 rh40

pe6850: w2003 w2003_64 w2000 rh30 rh40 rh40_64 suse9_64 suse10_64

pe1800: w2003 w2003sbs w2003_64 w2000 rh30 rh30_64 rh40 rh40_64

pe0850: w2003 w2003_64 w2000 rh30 rh40 rh40_64

pe4600: w2003 w2003sbs w2000 rh30 rh40

pe1900: w2003 w2003sbs w2003_64 w2000 rh30 rh40 rh40_64 suse9_64 suse10_64

pe2800: w2003 w2003sbs w2003_64 w2000 rh30 rh30_64 rh40 rh40_64

pe2650: w2003 w2000 rh30 rh40

pe1750: w2003 w2000 rh30 rh40

pe0750: w2003 w2000 rh30 rh40

pe2900: w2003 w2003sbs w2003_64 w2000 rh30 rh40 rh40_64 suse9_64 suse10_64

Drivers:

r123574 = sas_raid (SAS 5/iR Adapter)

r123575 = sas_non-raid (SAS 5/E Adapter)

r123581 = sas_raid (SAS 5/iR Adapter)


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r123582 = sas_non-raid (SAS 5/E Adapter)

r125801 = network (NetXtreme II Family of Adapters)

r125864 = network (NetXtreme Family of Adapters)

Example:The following command will extract drivers for one PowerEdge model and one OS. I used the PE1950 asan example. You could easily extract drivers for all PowerEdge models and OSs, but make sure you havethe room on your hard drive before doing so.

make_driver_dir.exe -i d:\ -d c:\drv -p pe1950 -o w2003 extract

The figure below shows the output from screen when executing the previous command:


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The figure below shows the output of the driver directory when executing the previous command:

The text below shows the output of PNPDRIVERPATH.TXT when executing the previous command:

oempnpdriverspath=drivers;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\chip_set;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\ide___eide;

c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\network;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\sas_non-

raid;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\sas_raid;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\scsi_non-

raid;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\video;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\chip_set\r122802;c:\drv\pe1950\w200

3\chip_set\r122802\sp;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\ide___eide\r99970;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\network\r120343;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\network\r125879;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\network\r126220;c:\d

rv\pe1950\w2003\network\r120343\ris_inf;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\sas_non-

raid\r122665;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\sas_raid\r120960;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\scsi_non-

raid\r117179;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\scsi_non-

raid\r99849;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\video\r122758;c:\drv\pe1950\w2003\video\r122758\b_2909

3

Once you have the drivers extracted, you could easily copy the drivers directory to the base OS for thehardware independent image and then copy the OEMPNPDRIVERSPATH to the SYSPREP.INF file.

Note: There are limitations to how many characters you can have in the OEMPNPDRIVERSPATH field.Refer to the last bullet in the Considerations for Sysprep section for more information.


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Option 3 Gather Drivers Using Altiris Deployment Solution for Dell ServersOne of the new features of the Deployment Solution for Dell Servers 2.0 add-on is the ability toprogrammatically extract the drivers from the DSA CD to the Altiris Deployment Server for purposes ofscripting Windows Server installations. This functionality leverages the same toolset that is now publiclyavailable on Dells DSA CD mentioned above under Option 2. This option is similar to Option 2 above inregards to extracting drivers, with the difference that this option uses a GUI interface instead of a CLI. The

purpose of listing this as a viable option is that this interface will allow you to gather all drivers for yourPowerEdge Servers, store them in a common directory, and build out the OEMPNPDRIVERSPATH aswell. One difference from the option above is that instead of having a driver directory like the one shownabove, you will have a common directory will all the PnP drivers for the PE model and OS type you choosewithout having duplicate directories per PE model (i.e. .\pe1950\w2003\sas_non-raid,.\pe1950\w2003\sas_raid, etc.). Once the drivers are extracted, you can copy to your baseline OS for thehardware independent image and copy the OEMPNPDRIVERSPATH from the UNATTEND.TXT file andpaste into the SYSPREP.INF.

Follow the following steps to gather drivers using Altiris Deployment Solution for Dell Servers (the followingsteps assume the Deployment Solution for Dell Servers add-on has been installed. Refer to the productdocumentation for specific instructions pertaining to the installation and configuration of this product.)

1. From the Deployment Solution Console choose Tools > Dell Tools > Configuration Utility.

2. Click the OS Deployment tab as shown below.

3. Click the Add button.

4. Select the PowerEdge models applicable to your environment or select all if desired.

5. Select the OS in which you will be working with.


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6. Insert the DSA CD into the Altiris Server and click the Browse button to browse to the CDROMlocation. The screen below should look similar to yours.

7. Click the Add from DSA button.

8. Browse to the following directory C:\Program Files\Altiris\eXpress\Deployment Server\Dell\OSSupand choose the Windows OS type (W2K or W2K3). The Drv folder can then be copied to yourbaseline OS to be used as the plug-and-play drivers directory for inclusion in the hardwareindependent image. The figure below shows the output of the driver directories for ALL PowerEdgemodels supported by the DSA for the Windows 2003 operating system.


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9. If you browse to the root of the OS folder (i.e. C:\Program Files\Altiris\eXpress\DeploymentServer\Dell\OSSup\W2K3) you should have an UNATTEND.TXT file. Open the file and containedinside you should have the OEMPNPDRIVERSPATH populated with the same directories listedfrom step 8 as shown below.

You can now copy this path to the SYSPREP.INF file to the same respective field.

Note: If you use the same path shown above, make sure the drivers directory reflects the same path(i.e. C:\Drv\r57345;C:\Drv\r64211;C:\Drv\r70355). Its not necessary to specify the drive letter in the

path, the SystemRoot (i.e. C:\) is assumed.Note: There are limitations to how many characters you can have in the OEMPNPDRIVERSPATH field.Refer to the last bullet in the Considerations for Sysprep section for more information.


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Updating the Hardware Independent Image with Altiris ImageExplorerOnce the Dell hardware independent image has been created, sysprepped, and captured using AltirisDeployment Solution, its possible to use another Altiris utility called ImageExplorer to keep the image up todate or make changes to configuration files such as SYSPREP.INF, CMDLINES.TXT, ACLIENT.INP(AClient answer file), etc. ImageExplorer is an image editing utility included with Altiris Deployment Solutionwhich enables you to update the image without the need for deploying and recapturing. This would enable

you to add, replace, include, or exclude files and folders from an image, etc. This could be used to youradvantage for adding and/or updating Dell Drivers in the image as they become available. This isespecially handy for use with the hardware independent image because once the image has beenSysprepped and the computer boots, the image will need to be re-Sysprepped. This utility will save youconsiderable time and efforts. The figure below shows an example of this utility with the Dell hardwareindependent image opened.

Obtaining the ONEDELLIMAGE.ZIP Supporting FileAs a courtesy, a .zip file containing supporting files for this white paper has been provided for you. This .zip

file should contain everything you need to get started on building a hardware independent image including:a checklist, the Microsoft Sysprep utility, a sample SYSPREP.INF file, the Deployment Solution AClient (forscripting the install of the management agent), current Dell drivers (as of the updating of this white paper)including support for Dells 9th generation servers, etc.Using this zip file will save considerable time andhelp expedite your hardware independent image build process. The .zip file can be downloaded from here:http://ibase.altiris.com/resources/dell/single_image/onedellimage.zip
http://ibase.altiris.com/resources/dell/single_image/onedellimage.ziphttp://ibase.altiris.com/resources/dell/single_image/onedellimage.zip


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Introduction to Microsoft SysprepMicrosoft Sysprep is a setup utility that provides the following functionality:

1. Ensures the uniqueness of the Security Identifier (SID) for each deployed system. Without a uniqueSID, you may encounter network issues between deployed computers. The best analogy I can

describe for this type of scenario is a courier trying to deliver a package to a specific house address,but all the homes on the street have the same house number. How could a courier possibly deliverthe package in a situation like this?

2. Strips the hardware devices from the device manager in Windows before shutting the computerdown for the image capture. This is how the image becomes hardware independent.

3. Processes sections of the SYSPREP.INF before the computer shuts down. For example, if you havespecified various mass storage controllers in the SysprepMassStorage section of the SYSPREP.INFfile or configured the SYSPREP.INF file to build this section automatically, this is the information thatis processed during this time.

Note: There is a string of text you can place in the SYSPREP.INF file to have Sysprep build the[SysprepMassStorage] section for you automatically:

[Sysprep]

BuildMassStorageSection = Yes

This is not recommended for several reasons of which will be discussed in the Building the[SysprepMassStorage] Section of this paper.

4. Issues a default shut down command to Windows once Sysprep has successfully performed itsinitial tasks (this is optional for all Sysprep versions). Other options include rebooting and quitting theSysprep utility when complete. Its recommended to accept the default of shutting the computerdown so you know the process has completed and to avoid having the computer reboot intoWindows again. If the computer boots back into Windows without capturing the image first, youve

reverted back to where you started and the computer will have to be re-Sysprepped. There are alsolimitations to how many times you can Sysprep an image so before you Sysprep the image, itsrecommended to capture the image as-is for future editing.

Note: Sysprep 1.1 for Windows 2000 will shut down automatically after executing. A command linemust be invoked to Sysprep to not reboot after completing. Sysprep 2.0 for Windows Server 2003and Windows XP includes a GUI interface with the options to shut down, restart, or quit the Syspreputility after completing.

There are currently three versions of Sysprep available from Microsoft:

Version 1.0 included with the Windows 2000 Product CD. This version will not support otherMass Storage Devices.

Version 1.1 is the current version for use with the Windows 2000 operating system andsupports the changing of the Mass Storage Devices.

Version 2.0 is the current version for use with the Windows Server 2003 and Windows XPoperating systems. Sysprep 2.0 offers new options such as resetting the grace period foractivation. A copy of this Sysprep version is available in the ONEDELLIMAGE.ZIP file.


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Note: Microsoft provides valuable information for using Sysprep. One of the best resources is theMicrosoft Windows Corporate Deployment Tools Users Guide (DEPLOY.CHM) bundled with theSysprep utility contained in the DEPLOY.CAB file on the Windows media CD. Its recommended toconsult this documentation to learn more about Syspreps functionality and available options.

Using Sysprep as DocumentedThis section is intended to be informational as well as a prelude to some of the steps required to build ahardware independent image from the reference computer. Please take the time to read this section toprepare for the image build process.

A brief description to some of the files in which you will be using directly and indirectly:

Sysprep.exe A utility that prepares the Windows operating system for mass distribution.

SYSPREP.INF An answer file that is used to automate the mini-setup process of the deployed imagedcomputer.

Setupcl.exe A tool that regenerates new security identifiers (SID) for the computer. This tool cannot beinvoked directly and must reside in the same folder as Sysprep.exe. Both Sysprep.exe and Setupcl.exe are

required and are mutually dependent.Setupmgr.exe A GUI based utility to help build the foundation of the SYSPREP.INF file in which you canlater add or remove various sections to fully customize the image deployment experience.

Deploy.chm The Microsoft Windows Corporate Deployment Tools Users Guide is a great start tolearning more about the functionality of Sysprep and how to effectively deploy systems.

Ref.chm The Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Reference contains all the options available whenbuilding the various sections of the SYSPREP.INF file.

Considerations for SysprepKeep these items in mind when installing and running Microsoft Sysprep:

A CMDLINES.TXT file can be used to run commands during the mini-setup portion of the Sysprepprocess. One example could be to kick off a scripted install of the Altiris Deployment Solution agent(ACLIENT.EXE) to manage the system from a post-OS environment. The main purpose is to include acommand line to clear the critical device database used by the [SysprepMassStorage] section in theSYSPREP.INF file. The critical device database is a registry listing of devices and services that muststart in order for Windows to boot successfully. An example of the CMDLINES.TXT file included withthe ONEDELLIMAGE.ZIP file has been provided below:

[Commands]

"c:\sysprep\sysprep -clean"

"c:\sysprep\aclient.exe c:\sysprep\aclient.inp -install -silent"

Note: Refer to the section, Installing Altiris Agents for more information regarding the various optionsfor supporting a remote install of the Altiris Deployment Solution Client (AClient) and how to configure.

Upon completion, the devices not physically present in the system are cleared out of the database andthe critical devices present are left intact. Depending on the situation, the PnP switch can also beadded to force a complete enumeration of all devices in the system. This will add approximately 5 to 10


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minutes to the duration of the mini-setup process. This switch is NOT required for PnP devices but isuseful when ISA or other non-PnP devices (that cannot be dynamically detected) exist on targetsystems. Use this switch only when you need to detect and install legacy devices. Do not use Sysprep-PnP on computers that only use PnP devices. Doing so will increase the time required for the first-runuser experience without providing any additional benefit.

It is advised, but not necessary to tokenize the SYSPREP.INF file with embedded AltirisDeployment Solution tokens to provide greater flexibility when mass deploying computers. Thereare about 45 different built-in Deployment Solution tokens ranging from %COMPNAME% (NetBIOSComputer Name) to %SERIALNUM% (Dell Service Tag) to %ASSETTAG% (Asset Tag), etc. Thisenables the SYSPREP.INF file to be unique in nature and act as a template by replacing tokenswith values from the Deployment Solution eXpress database. For example, instead of having thisline of text in the SYSPREP.INF, ComputerName=*, you could use this instead:ComputerName=%COMPNAME%. This would prevent the mini-setup from randomly creating aWindows hostname based on the registered user and organization name listed in the [UserData]section of the SYSPREP.INF file and inject the desired Windows hostname from the database. Youmay be wondering how this works when the computer is not currently managed by the DeploymentSolution. Another powerful feature of Deployment Solution is the ability to pre-provision computersin the Deployment Solution console before they ever connect to the network. When the computersare connected to the network and booted to PXE or a Deployment Solution automation disk orpartition, the Deployment Solution jobs queued up for that computer(s) are automatically deployedwithout requiring an Altiris administrator to launch the Deployment Solution Console. For moreinformation refer to the Introducing Deployment Solution Tokens section of this paper and alsorefer to the Deployment Solution Reference Guide.

Sysprep shouldautomatically delete the .\SYSPREP folder contained in the image after its beendeployed by removing all of its contents after the mini-setup process completes. This removes theSysprep utility and avoids the possibility of a production computer being re-Sysprepped. Sometimeswhen you initiate tasks from this folder such as scripting the Altiris management agent to install aspart of the mini-setup process, the deletion of the folder may not fully complete. There areworkarounds that can be accomplished such as executing the DOS utility, DELTREE as part of the[GuiRunOnce] section of the SYSPREP.INF file to ensure the deletion of this folder and its

contents. Its strongly advised to keep a copy of the Sysprep folder containing the originalSYSPREP.INF file somewhere on the network to save time with future image building efforts.

If you are not comfortable leaving the local admin password in clear text format in theSYSPREP.INF file, there are alternatives:

For example, its possible to encrypt the local administrator password in the SYSPREP.INF file andapply it during the mini-setup process. Make sure there is no password set for the localadministrator account in the image before using this approach. If not, you will receive an errormessage during the mini-setup process when it tries to apply the password. If you choose to not seta password, you will lose the AutoLogon functionality of Sysprep. If you must use the AutoLogonfeature and do not want to reveal the administrator password in any form, you can set the localadministrator password in the image and leave the password blank in the SYSPREP.INF file by

using the null value represented by an asterisk (*).By choosing this option, the AutoLogon feature will function properly and will allow you to set avalue for the AutoLogonCount in the SYSPREP.INF file. This may not be a preferred option if youare rapidly changing passwords in your environment. Altiris has a policy based solution forrandomly generating passwords for local accounts at user defined intervals once the computer hasbeen deployed and the Altiris agent has been loaded. Refer to the Altiris website for information onthe Altiris Local Security Solution by navigating to the following link:


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http://www.altiris.com/Products/LocalSecuritySolution.aspx. There are also numerous third partyutilities on the market (such as Hyena) that will allow you to change local admin passwords on thefly after the image has been deployed.

Leaving domain admin accounts and passwords in clear text format in the SYSPREP.INF file is amuch higher security risk. Unfortunately, there is no option to encrypt these credentials as part ofthe Sysprep Setup Manager process.

One option is to create a domain account that only has rights to add a computer to the domainwhen requiring computers to join the domain from Sysprep. That way, if the SYSPREP.INF file iscompromised, the only action a user will be able to do is to add a computer to the domain. Themajority of the computer domain additions can take place as a post configuration task throughDeployment Solution via the Deployment Agent (AClient). Be sure to add the domain admincredentials to the Domain Accounts tab of the Deployment Solution options to enable thisfunctionality. Refer to the Deployment Solution Reference Guide for more information.

To make the image hardware independent, you must have a [MassStorageSection] in theSYSPREP.INF file that can identify the diverse mass storage controllers that exist in theenvironment. Sysprep 1.1 and later can work in conjunction with the native operating systemstorage controller drivers listed in the INF directory of the Windows System root. These files includeMACHINE.INF, SCSI.INF, PNPSCSI.INF, and MSHDC.INF.

The contents of these files list everything that is natively supported by Windows with respect tomass storage controllers. If you are using Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP and the Sysprep2.0 utility, the [SysprepMassStorage] section of the SYSPREP.INF file can be populatedautomatically. When the SYSPREP.INF file is parsed, it will automatically add the list of massstorage controllers natively supported by Windows from the contents of the files listed above.

Note: Its strongly recommended to NOT allow Sysprep to automatically create the[SysprepMassStorage] section and to use vendor specific drivers. Its also normal for the Sysprepresealing process to vary drastically in time depending on the length of the mass storage section inthe SYSPREP.INF file. For example, if you populate the [SysprepMassStorage] section followingthe guidelines in this document and then reseal the computer, times can average anywhere from 1-3 minutes. If you allow Sysprep to automatically create the [SysprepMassStorage] section, times

can be in the upwards of 20 minutes. This is due in fact to the Sysprep process extracting the driverdetails from the .INF files mentioned earlier in this section.

Note:Its also important to note that the guidelines and driver support included in this document areintended for Dell servers configured with RAID, SCSI, and SAS controllers using SCSI hard drives.For example, if the target hardware includes any of the PowerEdge SC models utilizing IDEcontrollers and hard drives, the [SysprepMassStorage] section would need to be populated with thePnP PCI Vendor IDs for the respective IDE controllers or other types of controllers that may exist inthe system. This needs to be completed BEFORE running Sysprep and capturing the image.

The OEMPNPDRIVERSPATH field of the SYSPREP.INF file has a limitation with the amount ofcharacters that can be included depending on which OS you use. For example, Sysprep intended torun on Windows 2000 has a limitation of 2047 characters while Sysprep intended to run on

Windows XP and Windows 2003 has a limitation of 4096 characters. This is important tounderstand when building out your driver directories. There are workarounds to this limitationhowever. For example, it is possible to write the OEM PNP drivers path directly to the registry of thebase OS in the DEVICEPATH key found here: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion.This will allow you to enter up to 64KB of data to avoid this limitation. If you dont use thisworkaround then the OEMPNPDRIVERSPATH that you specify in the SYSPREP.INF file isautomatically entered in the DEVICEPATH registry. I always use the workaround by entering my
http://www.altiris.com/Products/LocalSecuritySolution.aspxhttp://www.altiris.com/Products/LocalSecuritySolution.aspx


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own drivers path to the registry to avoid any potential problems. For example:%SystemDrive%\Dell\audio;%SystemDrive%\Dell\cs\1;%SystemDrive%\Dell\cs\2;%System

Drive%\Dell\cs\3;%SystemDrive%\Dell\cs\4;%SystemDrive%\Dell\cs\5;%SystemDrive%\D

ell\cs\6;%SystemDrive%\Dell\cs\7;%SystemDrive%\Dell\cs\8;%SystemDrive%\Dell\m\bc

;%SystemDrive%\Dell\m\ch;%SystemDrive%\Dell\m\co;%SystemDrive%\Dell\m\cy;%System

Drive%\Dell\mgmt\;%SystemDrive%\Dell\n\bc\1;%SystemDrive%\Dell\n\bc\2;%SystemDri

ve%\Dell\n\intel\1;%SystemDrive%\Dell\n\intel\2;%SystemDrive%\Dell\non-

raid\bp\1;%SystemDrive%\Dell\non-raid\bp\2;%SystemDrive%\Dell\non-

raid\gem;%SystemDrive%\Dell\storage;%SystemDrive%\Dell\storage\9g\fiber;%SystemDrive%\Dell\storage\9g\perc5;%SystemDrive%\Dell\storage\9g\sas-

nonraid;%SystemDrive%\Dell\storage\9g\scsi-

nonraid;\%SystemDrive%\Dell\v\ati;%SystemDrive%\Dell\v\int;%SystemDrive%\Dell\v\

rn5;%SystemDrive%\Dell\v\vol;%SystemDrive%\Dell\misc;%SystemRoot%\inf

Leaving the default %SystemRoot%\inf at the end of the devicepath will allow Windows to usenative drivers if the setup process cant find a vendor supplied driver in the specified path. You maychoose to leave this in or remove it. If you gather and build out the drivers directories properly forthe hardware components in your environment, you shouldnt have any native drivers installed.

Creating the SYSPREP.INF FileThe Sysprep utility is located in the .\Support\Tools\Deploy.cab file on the Windows 2000, Windows XP,and Windows Server 2003 media CDs. Verify that you are using the correct version for the operatingsystem in which the base image will be created from.

Extract the contents of the DEPLOY.CAB file into the C:\Sysprep folder. When finished, the Sysprepfolder will be transferred to the base OS in which the hardware independent image will be created in thesteps to follow.

The following steps are intended as prerequisites before preparing the base OS of the reference computerand can be completed on any system. Two options will be listed in creating the SYSPREP.INF file. Option1 will demonstrate how to create from the Sysprep Setup Manager (SETUPMGR.EXE). Option 2 willdemonstrate how to create manually by using the SYSPREP.INF from the Samples section of thisdocument. It is recommended to combine both options when initially creating the SYSPREP.INF file. Thiswill allow you to create the foundation, and then add the other various sections as needed.


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Option 1: Creating the SYSPREP.INF Using the Sysprep Setup Manager1. Launch the Setupmgr.exe file from the C:\Sysprep folder. Click Next when prompted.

2. Select Create New and click Next.


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3. Select Sysprep setup. Click Next.

4. Select the version of the operating system. Click Next.


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5. Select Yes, fully automate the installation. Click Next.

6. Type the name of the User and Organization. This information is not relevant to the image buildingprocess and can be easily replaced through the use of Deployment Solution System Tokens. ClickNext.

Note: The information provided here is used by the Sysprep mini-setup process to randomlygenerate a computer name if Deployment Solution tokens are not used.


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7. Accept the default of this screen. Click Next.

8. Select your time zone. Click Next.


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9. Enter the volume or retail product key. (If you dont know the product key or have unidentifiedvolume media, steps will be provided later in this document to extract the key from the Dell ServerAssistant install process.) Just enter Xs for now. This can be manually changed later.

10. Select the appropriate licensing mode based on your licensing agreement. Click Next.


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11. Select Automatically generate computer name. This will place an asterisk (*) in theCOMPUTERNAME field of the SYSPREP.INF file which tells Sysprep to randomly generate aNetBIOS computer name based on the Organization name, also specified in the SYSPREP.INF file.There are alternatives for configuring a computers NetBIOS name (as well as other configurations)through the use of Altiris Deployment Solution. This includes the use of system tokens or throughAClients post configuration process. These alternatives will be discussed later in this document.Click Next.


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12.

the SYSPREP.INF file or include it in the SYSPREP.INF file and choose to encrypt it.Click Next.

Enter a password for the local administrator, or leave it blank. There is no wrong or right way incompleting this step. You can either set the local administrator password in the image and leave thisfield blank in

13. Accept the default Typical settings. Click Next.


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14. Accept the default WORKGROUP. Click Next.

15. Enter the area code. Select Next.


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16. Accept the default. Click Next.

17. Accept the default. Click Next.


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18. Enter any printers to be installed after a user logs on for the first time. Click Next.

19. d commands toen roughout this paper):

exe /s c:\dell\script\srcpath.reg"

0. Click Next.

Enter any commands to run after a user logs on for the first time. Some suggesteter are as follows (these commands will be discussed th

"c:\windows\system32\deltree /Y c:\sysprep"

"regedit.

2


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21. In the open field, type c:\sysprep\sysprep clean and click Add followed by clicking Next. Ifyou choose to install the Deployment Solution AClient as part of the mini-setup process, add thefollowing command: c:\sysprep\aclient.exe c:\sysprep\aclient.inp -install -silent.

Note: If you choose to add this command, make sure you have the ACLIENT.EXE andACLIENT.INP files located in the .\Sysprep folder of the base OS before sysprepping the computer.These files can be found in the root of the eXpress share of the Deployment Server and are also

included in the ONEDELLIMAGE.ZIP file. Refer to the Deployment Solution Reference Guide forproperly configuring the ACLIENT.INP answer file and scripting AClient.

22. Enter an optional identification string to identify the image after installation. Click Finish.


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23. Accept the default Save location. Click OK.

24. Click Cancel to finish.

25. Save the Sysprep folder and SYSPREP.INF file you just created. It will be transferred to the baseOS of the reference computer in later steps.


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Option 2: Creating the SYSPREP.INF File from the Sample Provided1. Extract the contents of the DEPLOY.CAB file located in the .\Support folder of the Windows Media CD

to the C:\Sysprep folder of the base OS of the reference computer.

2. Inside the Sysprep folder create an i386 folder. Inside of this folder create another folder named$oem$ as shown below.

3. Create a file named cmdlines.txt in the $oem$ folder.

This file should contain the following text:

[Commands]

C:\Sysprep\Sysprep clean

c:\sysprep\aclient.exe c:\sysprep\aclient.inp install silent(Optional)

4. Create a file called SYSPREP.INF. Copy and paste the contents of the SYSPREP.INF file from theSamples section of this document and paste into the SYSPREP.INF file. (This file will have to beedited based on information pertaining to your environment.)

Building the [SysprepMassStorage] Section of the SYSPREP.INF FileOnce you have created the .\Sysprep folder and SYSPREP.INF file from the, Creating the SYSPREP.INFFile section, you may proceed to build the [SysprepMassStorage] section of the SYSPREP.INF file.

This section defines the mass storage controllers and paths of its drivers contained in the hardwareindependent image for all of the storage controller hardware in the environment in which the image will beapplied. All other PnP devices such as network cards, video cards, etc. will be picked up automatically aslong as the PnP drivers and paths are properly defined.

This section is the most exacting process with editing the SYSPREP.INF file and also the most importantcontributor to a successful hardware independent image. This is the section where you enter the PnP PCIVendor IDs, paths to the drivers (INF files), disk directories, device descriptions, and source disk names. Ifthis information is not entered correctly, you will generate a Sysprep error message preventing you fromcontinuing on with the sysprepping of the image. Refer to the section, Troubleshooting Sysprep for moreinformation.

Note: While the majority of PowerEdge drivers are native to the Windows Server 2003 operating system, it

is strongly recommended that you use the vendor provided drivers from the Dell Support website.With the newer versions of Sysprep, it is possible to automatically populate the entries in this sectionautomatically. The entries are populated from the PnP hardware IDs specified from the MACHINE.INF,SCSI.INF, PNPSCSI.INF, and MSHDC.INF files located in the .\INF directory of the Windows folder. If youopen these files you will see a list of IDE and SCSI devices that are natively supported by the WindowsServer OS. This also applies to the NT based Windows OSs for clients as well.


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Although automatically building the [SysprepMassStorage] section from the native Windows drivers mayseem like the easiest and more logical approach, it is strongly recommended that you build this sectionfrom scratch for these reasons:

Sysprep will only include the devices and drivers that are native to the Windows operating system

The vendor specific drivers required to truly make the hardware independent image based on thevarious supported hardware in your environment will not be included in the image.

By generating the [SysprepMassStorage] section automatically, you add a considerable amount of timeto the prepping and deployment processes for the overall user experience.

By tailoring the [SysprepMassStorage] section for the mass storage controllers in your environment, youcreate a much cleaner SYSPREP.INF file. You will also save time during the prepping and deploymentprocesses for the overall user experience.

By downloading current and up to date vendor specific hardware drivers, you know they have beentested specifically for the hardware model and OS in which the image will be applied rather than usingcanned native Windows drivers.

The building of this mass storage controller section is crucial because these drivers are the first to beinstalled during the mini-setup Sysprep process. If the entries are not correct or the wrong driver isspecified, you will end up with a blue screen of death once the system tries to boot to Windows. Also thesemass storage drivers are typically packaged in a format to be installed from floppy disks during the scriptedWindows install process.

If you are familiar with the process of installing an NT based system from scratch, you will know that youare prompted to press F6 during setup to install specific mass storage controller drivers before theWindows setup process can recognize the computers hard drives in which the OS will be installed to. Inbuilding this [SysprepMassStorage] section properly, you are tricking the Windows setup process intothinking the storage controller drivers are being installed from the floppy disks when in actuality they arebeing installed from within the hardware independent image itself.

Dissecting the OEMSETUP.INF FileIf you open one of the Dell driver directories for a mass storage controller, you will find an OEMSETUP.INFfile. This is the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) setup file. This file defines the PnP Device IDs ofthe storage controllers, source disk names, etc. This section will illustrate how to manually build an entry inthe [SysprepMassStorage] section of the SYSPREP.INF file for a PERC 4/SC storage controller.

The steps identified below are universal for building all entries of this section and apply to all types ofcontrollers whether they are SCSI, SAS, IDE, etc. The following listing is an excerpt from theOEMSETUP.INF file of the MegaRAID family of RAID Controllers in which the PERC 4/SC controller islisted. Note the color coded sequential steps in the next section and scroll to the end of this listing for stepby step descriptions and instructions:

; -- This file contains descriptions of the MegaRAID family

; of RAID Controllers

;

; Copyright 2001, LSI Logic Corp.,

[version]

Signature="$Windows NT$"

Class=SCSIAdapter


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ClassGUID={4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Provider=%Dell%

CatalogFile=mraid35x.cat

DriverVer=12/11/2003,6.41.2.32

[DestinationDirs]

DefaultDestDir = 12 ; DIRID_DRIVERS

[Manufacturer]%Dell%=Dell

[Dell]

;PERC 4/DC (Dell 518)

%Dell518.DeviceDesc% = mraid35x_Inst, PCI\VEN_1000&DEV_1960&SUBSYS_05181028

;PERC 4/SC (Dell 520)1


;PERC 4/Di 013B%DellROM.DeviceDesc% = mraid35x_Inst, PCI\VEN_1028&DEV_000F&SUBSYS_013B1028

2a

;PERC 4/Di 014A

%DellROM.DeviceDesc% = mraid35x_Inst, PCI\VEN_1028&DEV_000F&SUBSYS_014A1028

;PERC 4/Di 014C

%DellROM.DeviceDesc% = mraid35x_Inst, PCI\VEN_1028&DEV_000F&SUBSYS_014C1028

;PERC 4/Di 014D

%DellROM.DeviceDesc% = mraid35x_Inst, PCI\VEN_1028&DEV_000F&SUBSYS_014D1028

;PERC 4e/Si

%Dell16C.DeviceDesc% = mraid35x_Inst, PCI\VEN_1028&DEV_0013&SUBSYS_016C1028

[SourceDisksNames]

1 = %SOURCE_DISK%,\mraid35x.sys,,

[SourceDisksFiles]

mraid35x.SYS = 1,,11136,,,,,,3

[Strings]

;---------------------Dell-----------------------------

Dell="Dell"

Dell467.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 2/DC RAID Controller"

Dell.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 2/SC RAID Controller"Dell471.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 3/QC RAID Controller"

Dell493.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 3/DC & PERC 3/DCL RAID Controller"

Dell511.DeviceDesc = "Dell CERC ATA 100/4ch RAID Controller"

Dell475.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 3/SC RAID Controller"

DellROM.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 4/Di RAID On Motherboard Driver"

Dell518.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 4/DC RAID Controller"

Dell520.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 4/SC RAID Controller"2b


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Dell16C.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 4e/Si RAID Controller"

Dell16DE.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 4e/Di RAID Controller"

Dell002.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 4e/DC RAID Controller"

Dell001.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 4e/SC RAID Controller"

DriverMfgr = "LSI Logic Corporation"

DriverVersionID = "6.41.2.32"DriverOEM ="Dell"

DriverFamily ="Storage"

DriverProduct ="PERC 4/SC; 4/DC; 4/Di; 2/SC; 2/DC; 3/SC; 3/DC; 3/QC; CERC

ATA100/4ch - Device Drivers"

DriverDescription ="PERC Controller Support"

DriverOEMVersion ="A01"

BaseDriverFileName ="mraid35x.SYS"

BaseDriverFileVersion="6.41.2.32"

SOURCE_DISK ="Dell PERC RAID Driver"

Service = "mraid35x"

ClassGUID = "{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

;*******************************************;Handy macro substitutions (non-localizable)

SPSVCINST_ASSOCSERVICE = 0x00000002

SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER = 1

SERVICE_BOOT_START = 0

SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL = 1

REG_EXPAND_SZ = 0x00020000

REG_DWORD = 0x00010001

1. Identify the controller(s) that are common to your environment. In this example, Ill use the PERC4/SC controller. This is how the line appears in the example above:

;PERC 4/SC (Dell 520)


2. Identify the device description of the controller as it appears in the OEMSETUP.INF file.

a. First, identify the device description header. This can be found from the controller line asindicated by item 2a above. This is how the line appears in the example above:

%Dell520.DeviceDesc%

b. Identify the device description of the controller from the respective location of the INF file. This ishow the line appears in the example above:

Dell520.DeviceDesc = "Dell PERC 4/SC RAID Controller"

3. Identify the disk tag. This is how the lines appear in the example above:

[SourceDisksNames]

1 = %SOURCE_DISK%,\mraid35x.sys,,


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Plugging Values into the [SysprepMassStorage]Once you have identified the sections of the OEMSETUP.INF file for the specified controller, you can nowplug them into the [SysprepMassStorage] section. Each section of this entry is broken out in the followingsection to put this all in perspective. The entry below illustrates the final product for the PERC 4/SCcontroller:

[SyprepMassStorage]

;PERC 4/SC (DELL)

PCI\VEN_1000&DEV_1960&SUBSYS_05201028="%systemdrive%\dell\storage\oemsetup.inf","\","D

ELL PERC 4/SC RAID Controller","SOURCE_DISK"

;PERC 4/SC (DELL) This is simply a remark and is used for identification purposes only.Anything that follows a semi-colon in the SYSPREP.INF file is assumed a remark and is not functional.

PCI\VEN_1000&DEV_1960&SUBSYS_05201028= This is the PnP PCI Vendor ID forthe PERC 4/SC controller pulled from Step 1 above.

"%systemdrive%\dell\storage\oemsetup.inf" This is the path to the .infdriver file that contains the PnP PCI Vendor ID of the controller to be installed from Step 1 above. This pathis straight from the Dell drivers hierarchy as mentioned earlier in this paper.

"\" This is the path of the disk directory from the virtual floppy disk that contains thestorage controller driver. Since weve identified the path on the line above, we can simply put a backslashfor this section indicating the drivers are in the root of the C:\Dell\Storage directory in this example.

"Dell PERC 4/SC RAID Controller" This is the device description usedduring the traditional Windows setup process when identified on the setup screen prompting the user toconfirm the driver that is about to be loaded. This is pulled from Step 2b above.

"SOURCE_DISK" This is the disk tag of the floppy disk provided by the vendor. This can be afile or descriptive name which allows the traditional Windows setup process to recognize the disk has beeninserted and allows the setup process to continue on. Since were tricking the Sysprep mini-setup process

into thinking it already has the disk inserted containing the drivers, were never prompted during theSysprep process. This is pulled from Step 3 above.

This entire section would be duplicated for every mass storage controller supported in the environment.

Installing Altiris AgentsThere are several installation options available when installing the Altiris agents. 1) They can be installedand registered in the base image 2) Pre-installed in the base image to be installed via command line afterthe base image has been laid down 3) Pushed through the Remote Agent Installer included withDeployment Solution and 4) Pulled from the root of the Deployment Solutions eXpress share. This sectionwill discuss the pre-installed option by installing via command line after the base image has been deployedas this is the most commonly used method when mass deploying the OS via an image based deployment.

Note: Extra steps must be taken to avoid duplicate GUIDs when installing the Notification Server Client inthe base image. See the Altiris Knowledgebase article# 19323 titled How to prepare a workstation forimaging that includes the NS Agent for more information by clicking here:

http://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=19323&p=3
http://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=19323&p=3http://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=19323&p=3


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Pre-installing AClient in the Hardware Independent Image

This option is best used if youre in a diverse environment where multiple Deployment Servers may beused to manage the environment. AClient can be pre-installed in the base image and automaticallyinstalled via command line after the base image has been laid down. The basic steps involve bundling theACLIENT.EXE (install file) and ACLIENT.INP (answer file) in the hardware independent image. The files

can be placed in the .\SYSPREP directory so that when AClient is properly installed, the .\SYSPREPdirectory will be automatically deleted once the Sysprep mini-setup process completes, leaving no trace ofthe source install files.

The actual command to kick off the AClient scripted install can either be placed in the CMDLINES.TXT filelocated in the .\SYSPREP\I386\$OEM$ directory and installed during the Sysprep mini-setup process orinstalled once Windows logs in for the first time. This is accomplished by providing the command line in the[GuiRunOnce] section of the SYSPREP.INF file. Either way will work.

The benefit of scripting AClient to install as part of the image process is that you can easily open the AltirisImageExplorer utility and edit the ACLIENT.INP file if desired to change the Deployment Server IP addressconfigure it to use multicasting to automatically register itself with the first Deployment Server the agentfinds, etc. Refer to the section, Updating the Hardware Independent Image with Altiris ImageExplorer

previously in this paper for more information. In addition, you can also use Deployment Solution tokens toreplace values contained in the ACLIENT.INP file if desired. For example, the ACLIENT.INP file can beconfigured to always include the IP address of the actual Deployment Server that is deploying thehardware independent image rather than allowing multicasting to find and register with the first DeploymentServer it finds. Refer to the section, Introducing Deployment Solution Tokens later in this paper for moreinformation.

Note:Corporate IT policies may prevent multicasting in your environment and prevent the AClient fromever connecting to a Deployment Server.

Note: This option is the most widely used and yields the greatest results. By pre-installing AClient in thebase image and deploying via Deployment Solution, youre always able to pre-provision the computer inthe Deployment Solution Console and automatically configure the desired settings (NetBIOS name, IP

address, etc) as part of a post-OS task.

Follow these steps to pre-install AClient in the base image:

1. Copy the ACLIENT.EXE and ACLIENT.INP files from the root of the eXpress share to the.\SYSPREP staging folder or directly to the reference computer.

2. Modify the ACLIENT.INP file with Notepad.

3. Set the desired options for AClient to be installed.

4. Modify the CMDLINES.TXT file located in the .\SYSPREP\I386\$OEM$ folder to reflect what isshown below. If this folder or the CMDLINES.TXT file does not exist, create it now.

[Commands]

"c:\sysprep\sysprep -clean"

"c:\sysprep\aclient.exe c:\sysprep\aclient.inp -install -silent"


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5. Locate a copy of DELTREE.EXE from MS-DOS and copy to the Windows System32 directory (i.e..\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32) A copy of this file has been included in the ONEDELLIMAGE.ZIP file.

Note: This utility will force the .\SYSPREP directory to be deleted once Windows logs in for the firsttime. It is possible for the .\SYSPREP folder to linger around after the Sysprep mini-setup processcompletes due to the AClient being scripted to run from this directory. The AClient install files could beplaced elsewhere in the base image, but by including them in the .\SYSPREP folder, the source installfiles are guaranteed to be deleted after theyve been used.

6. Add the following section to your SYSPREP.INF file. This section can be placed anywhere in theSYSPREP.INF file in-between the major header sections.

[GuiRunOnce]

Command0="c:\windows\system32\deltree /Y c:\sysprep"

Note: Make sure you reflect the actual Windows directory installed on the reference computer with theWindows directory specified in the [GuiRunOnce] section. For example, if Windows 2003 was installedto the .\WINDOWS directory, make sure the Command0 line reflects this same directory as well.

7. Make sure the following line is included in the [Unattended] section of the SYSPREP.INF file. If itsnot, the command lines located in the CMDLINES.TXT file will never be executed.

[Unattended]

InstallFilesPath="C:\Sysprep\i386"

Note:Now when the reference computer is Sysprepped and mass deployed, AClient will automaticallyinstall.

Configuring the Reference ServerAs mentioned previously, choose a standard PowerEdge server model with no unique or customconfigurations to be the source for the base image. For example, my reference computer was aPowerEdge 400SC Server with an IDE drive configured with the bare essentials. Once the hardware hasbeen identified and configured, the following steps have been provided as a guideline (your steps mayvary):

1. Boot the server with the Dell Server Assistant (DSA) CD. DSA is a Linux based GUI utility to assistin the unattended OS install. DSA by default will create a 32MB utility partition on the PowerEdgeServer which can be used for hardware diagnostics. DSA is simple to use and easy to follow withstep by step prompts. Its recommended to use the latest version of the DSA CD when creating thebase image. Listed below are some of the highlights during the DSA process and suggestions onhow to configure the options:

a. Its recommended to set a partition size anywhere from 6GB to 8GB in size (6 GB should beideal depending on what will be included in the base image). The idea is to keep your baseimage bare and to deploy your software remotely using a management solution such as AltirisDeployment Solution. Also, a rule of thumb when imaging its recommended to go from asmaller to larger partition, but not recommended to go larger to smaller.

b. Enter the registered users full name and organization. This is the same information that wasasked earlier during the building of the SYSPREP.INF file. The user data you enter here is not


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relevant to the hardware independent creation process. The data specified here canbeoverridden with the data you specify in the [UserData] section of the SYSPREP.INF file andapplied during the Sysprep mini-setup process. By specifying this data in the SYSPREP.INF fileyou can offer flexibility for what user data gets replicated to all deployed Windows instances.

By default the registered name and company are considered static fields, meaning this data doesnot typically change once configured. When using Altiris Deployment Solution, its possible todynamically customize this information per target system through the use of system tokens. Forexample, rather than entering OEM User for the registered name, you can personalize this byautomatically replacing the static data with the actual users or departments full name perdeployed system.

Customizing the users full name is helpful when installing and registering software. For instance,MS Word has the ability to report which user has a document open and locked on the network.The registered name for the software is usually pulled straight from the Windows OS registeredname. This may not be relevant to a server image, but is definitely possible and easy toimplement. Refer to the section, Introducing Deployment Solution Tokens for more information.

c. Enter the product key. If using volume licensing, DSA will not require the product key to beentered during the installation process and most Admins may not even know their volume licenseproduct key. If you dont know the product key of your volume media, DSA can identify this foryou automatically. Refer to section 1.f for more information. If you know the media does notrequire a key, you can leave this field blank when using the DSA process. If you know the mediarequires a product key or is not volume media, enter it at this time. This is the same key askedearlier during the building of the SYSPREP.INF file using the Sysprep Setup Manager. Be sureto enter the same product key used for DSA in the ProductKey= field of the SYSPREP.INF filelocated under the [UserData] section. Without it, or if entered incorrectly, you will be prompted forthe product key on every single image deployment you make and the deployment process willnot be completely unattended.

d. Enter the computer name and specify a workgroup. The computer name is not relevant to thehardware independent creation process. The computer name can be anything as long as it doesnot conflict with another system on the network. Also, do not add the base image to the domain

as this can cause problems with the Sysprep process. Its better to mass deploy the image andthen add the computer to

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