Dell | Altiris

Dell Client Manager, Part 5: BIOS Settings Policy

trb48 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:17:18 -0500

We are on the final lap. We have made a lot of progress over the past articles. Here is what we have talked about:

• Part 1: Installing the Dell Client Manager into Notification Server

• Part 2: Dell Monitoring Policy (the health check)

• Part 3: Dell BIOS Upgrade

• Part 4: Dell BIOS Profile

Dell | Altiris

Dell Client Manager, Part 4: Dell BIOS Profile

trb48 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:10:22 -0500

Updating the BIOS is great, but it is something that doesn't have to be done (unless it is a security update). Being able to actually control the settings in the BIOS is where the rubber meets the road. Using the Dell Client Manager you can control every little setting in your computer's BIOS. You can configure your laptop, your desktop, and even your server. It is a great tool.

Dell | Altiris

Dell Client Manager

trb48 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:26:53 -0500

One of the most annoying things a system admin has to manage is the physical computer itself. Anytime a BIOS setting needs to be tweaked or a new version comes out you have to either ignore it or go to each machine. Not any more. Dell and Altiris have created a tool to make managing the BIOS a breeze.

The Dell Client Manager lets you update your BIOS, create BIOS profiles, monitor your computer's health, and inventory your BIOS settings and hardware. This series will help you get started with this time saving tool.

Dell | Altiris

Dell Client Manager, Part 2: Dell Monitoring Policy

trb48 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:15:28 -0500

Last December I decided that it was high time to update the BIOS on our Dell computers. I taught my employees all the steps that they needed to take update each computer's BIOS. It took a lot of time, and it was pretty mindless work. When everything was said and don't most of the computers were updated. In the end, a lot of time and money was wasted on the project. There has to be a better way, right?

Dell | Altiris

Dell Client Manager, Part 1: Installing the Dell Client Manager into Notification Server

trb48 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:48:14 -0500

One day I got a call from a frantic teacher. They told me that they were in front of a class and needed to get on the Internet to show their class something. The Internet was not working. They told me that their entire class revolved around getting access to the Internet. I decided that I needed to drop what I was doing and make my way to that teacher's classroom. Once I arrived I could see that the computer was having problems. I checked everything that I could think of to try and get the network working again. Finally I decided to check the devices on the computer. There was no network card listed. I decided that I needed to check the BIOS settings. I rebooted the computer, went into the BIOS, and started to check things out. Very quickly I found that someone had disabled the network card. I was pleased that was the problem, it is easy to fix. When I went to re-enable the network card the BIOS informed me that I needed the BIOS administrators password before I could do anything. I had never set a password. I then had to very quickly figure out how to set the password so I could help the teacher.

Dell | Altiris

WinPE 2.1 Bootable DVD with Rdeploy

Nelo — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:56:17 -0500

Create a bootable WinPE 2.1 DVD with a self-contained restoration image. This was addressed for Linux in a precious Juice Article. I have asked permission from the creator of that article and I modified it for WinPE 2.1

Altiris® Deployment Solution™ software provides a number of tools to remotely image computers. On occasion, you might encounter situations where you need to image a computer without network connectivity or you want the image and tools available locally.

Dell | Altiris

How to Connect to and Image an iSCSI Device from the Dell Linux Preboot

eorme — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:50:47 -0500

If you want to consolidate your storage into centralized arrays but don't want to spend all your budget on an expensive SAN system, iSCSI is the answer. iSCSI brings SAN functionality to Ethernet allowing you to simplify your data storage needs. Use this article to discover how to use the Linux preboot environment to deploy images to your iSCSI targets and configure your NIC firmware to boot iSCSI allowing your servers to run completely disk-less.

Dell | Altiris

Pause Batch Script for a Number of Seconds

CondorMan — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:17:24 -0500

There are a few ways to have a batch script wait for a number of seconds. The simplest and most widely available without any additional programs is to use the ping command.

Dell | Altiris

Deployment Server 6.9 All Hotfixes Installer (6.9.177)

CondorMan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:16:56 -0500

Hotfixes to AClient, AXengine, CE 6.0 Agent, DAgent, and Console on Deployment Server 6.9 are available. However, there is no installer, only instructions to manually apply the Hotfixes. While the manual instructions are straight-forward, it can be time-consuming if you have multiple Deployment Servers to apply them to.

Dell | Altiris

Deployment Server 6.9 Console 6.9.177 Hotfix Installer

CondorMan — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:51:10 -0500

A Hotfix to Console on Deployment Server 6.9 is available. However, there is no installer, only instructions to manually apply the Hotfix. While the manual instructions are straight-forward, it can be time-consuming if you have multiple Deployment Servers to apply it to.

Dell | Altiris