Single sysprep.inf for multiple computer name 2

[fox88]

I have a 500 computers network to manage. All of them are Windows 2000 client in a domain. I will install them using RIS et Symantec Ghost. Once the image is dumped on every W2k machine they run sysprep and my problem start here: I can't find a way to use a single sysprep.inf file for multiple computer name. Each computer have a unique IP, MAC or BIOS GUID. So their most be a way the link the computer name with one of those three information. Please I need your help!!!

 

[Guest_imported]

The best you can do is leave the computer name blank in the sysprep.inf. When the mini-setup wizard runs after you boot up it will prompt you for a computer name. If you did everything else right, that will be the only prompt.

 

[RedTech]

Excuse me if I sound new to this (i am) but I did just go through this in class.

You can use udf files. You can have several computer names, and each computer name can specify a slighty different configuration.

Have you looked into this?

 

[jashby]

UDF files are ok, but what if you have 90,000 users.
We just use RIZ and get it to automatically generate the machine names.
I think the question should be why use ghost?

 

[Zelandakh]

For 500 users, RIS is your best option. Set the DHCP server as an authenticated server for RIS hosts and NetBoot the empty machines. Then process all MS packages using MSIs if you can get them going, otherwise load the RIS with a full config including apps.

 

[aerospike]

I agree, RIS will even let you set a computername naming scheme. RIS is very powerful once setup right.

 

[campyracr]

What about bandwidth? You can choke your network w/500 machines

 

[fox88]

The bandwith is good because we use VLAN to separate the network. So there's about 30-40 PC per VLAN.

 

[Guest_imported]

Back to original message - We use Ghost 7.5 Enterprise Ghost Server and we have created our images and that's how we deploy to our desktops (500 +). Don't expect to get this migration done quickly. We did no upgrades, took our time, and it took us over a year to do about 600 machines. We used combination of images pushed from our ghost server and images stored on CD's for our offsite areas.
I know Symantec recommends using Sysprep but we just simply use Ghost Walker to change the Sid. We also use DHCP.

 

[plf]

In sysprep.inf :

[UserData]
FullName="FullName"
OrgName="Oname"
computername=*

; the * after computername results in a random computername based on the orgname field (Oname3149361729)

 

[campyracr]

A year!!! That's insane. Who has that kind of time?
Try Altiris (

http://www.altiris.com)

the software. I did 200 machines (upgrade from w9x & NT) to w2k over night while I slept. I used PXE to create the jobs and assigned them by MAC. There is an internal utility to assign SIDs & machine names. There were 2 base images & 4 application packages (dependant upon department and PC/laptop) over 2 subnets. No VPNs. I could have done more, however one department was working late. Total job time was less than 3 hours.

 

[campyracr]

A year!!! That's insane. Who has that kind of time?
Try Altiris (

http://www.altiris.com)

the software. I did 200 machines (upgrade from w9x & NT) to w2k over night while I slept. I used PXE to create the jobs and assigned them by MAC. There is an internal utility to assign SIDs & machine names. There were 2 base images & 4 application packages (dependant upon department and PC/laptop) over 2 subnets. No VPNs. I could have done more, however one department was working late. Total job time was less than 3 hours.

 

[xpactest]

I agree that Altiris is the way to go. I manage a campus of 2000 systems. 650 are updated every 3 to 10 weeks. With Altiris I send a script to the computers and I get a confirmation from the server when it's completed. I even found a way to assign a unique computer name to each computer with sysprep and Altiris working together. Also if you have 64 VLANs like I do you can use wake on lan to wake up the systems if you have a server nic configured for each VLAN.