Introduction:

As the lead network administrator at a local college, supporting several student computer facilities, I needed to find a solution for the easy deployment of cloned images. By cloning or imaging I am referring to copying the entire contents of one hard drive on to other hard drives, thus creating a room full of uniform computer systems. This is important in an academic institution because we want to ensure that every student has the same software available and working properly no matter where in the room he/she sits. Previously, I have used cloning software that allowed one to image one computer at a time. IC3 allows one to broadcast the copy of a computer hard drive to many machine simultaneously. Not only does one save time by cloning ten or twenty machines at once, but this broadcast or what is referred to as a push doesn’t ideally take up additional bandwidth than the single computer cloning.

The installation is simple and clear. The network administrator must designate one computer, either a server or workstation, as the “control center.” This is the place in IC3 from which all of the administration is done. The “client” computers will be recognized by the control center through their IP addresses. The client machines are started from boot disks created at the control center.


Program Interface and Operation:

The interface is clean and simple. There are four windows that encompass the control center. The first window is where all of the tasks are kept. There are two task types available in IC3: gather and distribute. The gather task copies the image from the computer that is designated a perfect machine. What is meant by perfect is a computer that has all necessary software, printing setup, desktop…etc. The final product of this process is the creation of an image file (of *.IMC format), which is a single file that encompasses every facet of the perfect hard drive. Distribute is the task that broadcasts this file to all of the client workstations, so that uniformity can be achieved. During the execution of either of these tasks, the task icon may be clicked on to display the operation progress (includes percentage of task completed and the average transfer rate of the image file [MB/Min]).

The second window, reading from top left to top right, is the client window. Here, each client connecting to the control center is represented by an icon. If a connection is lost or is still resident from a previous task, the icon appears gray in color. When the client first connects to the control center the icon is blue. During the running of a task, a green circle with an “R”, appears over each of the blue icons. This indicates that each of these workstations is undergoing the active process. Client disks are created here from a menu drop down. The disks are formatted with a proprietary form of DOS, called DR DOS written by Caldera. The client and configuration files are put on the bootable disk. The end user must provide a valid IP address and the DOS driver for the network card of the client. These drivers are available at the websites of the network card manufacturers. The client license for IC3 is bound to the application using the menu in the client window.

The third window, lower left part of screen, is the post configuration window. I don’t often use this function because it requires that you use a boot disk that is unique to the particular machine that you are cloning. Post configuration allows one to change the host name and IP address of a machine dynamically. Otherwise, the network administrator has to complete these functions manually, which really doesn’t require much time or effort.

The final window, in the lower right part of the screen, is the image window. This is where one may choose images previously created or save new image files so that they may be chose in a given task. The window merely serves to provide a shortcut to these files, which quickens the process of setting up tasks.

Once a client disk is created and the control center is running, the workstation is restarted with the boot disk. Once the control center recognizes the workstation a task may be performed. Different levels of compression are available, to aid in reducing the storage space necessary for these image files. After a system is imaged, there is a minimum amount of post configuration necessary. On Windows NT systems the SID is automatically changed during the multicast.


IC3 Tips:

* Cloning not only can occur over a network, but also across a USB cable or from a CD image.

* It is preferable to have an image file for each model of computer you have. This is because the different hardware in each model makes post configuration much more difficult.

* Even though there is no limit to the number of workstations that may be simultaneously cloned, I have found that 10-15 computers at a time is a reasonable maximum to set. This is due to the transfer rate is equivalent to the connection speed of the slowest workstation link. The chance of a slow connection becomes more likely as greater numbers of workstations attempt to connect to a control center.


Cost:

The cost of this product is quite reasonable for what it does. The educational pricing is contingent on the number of full time equivalent (FTE) students enrolled at the school. At the institution at which I work, we purchased a
12,000 FTE license for just under $2500. Along with the licensing comes a year of free product upgrades. After the year expires, one may purchase an additional year of upgrades for $.06 per FTE. I found the sales representative to be flexible with the pricing. I negotiated a much better deal than that which was first offered.


Conclusion:

IC3 Enterprise is an excellent image deployment solution for large institutions who want to keep consistently functioning computer workstations with less troubleshooting. It is a powerful and reliable tool that is competitively priced and easy to use.


Recommended: Yes