Abstract: Symantec http://www.symantec.com/ghost The Library Systems Department at Oklahoma State University has been using Ghost software for somewhat more than a year. We started with version 3.x and have upgraded to 5.x. We first used Ghost to clone DOS/Windows 3.x computers, followed closely by Windows 95 computers. The idea of cloning computers was not new to the library, but the earlier concept used an automated copy method, which worked acceptably, albeit slowly, with DOS and Windows 3.x. We knew that this method would not work with Windows 95 and started to search for a replacement. We discovered that Ghost v3.x was licensed on campus and decided to give it a whirl. To our satisfaction, it worked well, even with the extra burden of access protection software (Fortres 101) that we were not sure would survive cloning. In addition, we learned that if the original installation was planned correctly, the clone could be made to adapt, using Windows 95 plug-and-play capabilities, to differences in network, sound, and video cards. Even having to correct for these changes (updates), the cloning process was less than one-tenth the time of installing from scratch, and probably closer to one-hundredth. With this success, we leaned toward continuing with Ghost to clone the upcoming staff computer upgrades. This was going to be more difficult, since we were looking to put Windows NT on the staff machines, and at the time of initial planning, November and December 1997, most of the duplication applications were not capable of more than cloning the files. The first of the SID (security identifier) changers were just appearing, and the literature was not very enthusiastic about entrusting NT duplication to them. This was particularly troublesome because Microsoft then (and still!) will not support systems that have been duplicated in this manner. Our first discarded idea was, of course, building the system fresh on each computer. The process was far too slow with Windows 95, and it would take us months to get everyone upgraded to NT. We thought about using server-based installs, but this would also take a great amount of time, and everyone I talked to complained of the difficulty in setting up the software to accomplish this. By this time, version 5.0 of Ghost had been introduced with its SID changer, GhostWalker. We decided to experiment and see if a completely configured computer (including NTFS, networking, sound, Novell Client32, and application software) could be duplicated. Not only did it work--quite well--we also learned that NT will install generic video drivers for certain cards that will work across variations, allowing a little more freedom in the hardware setup. For the last six months the systems department has routinely used Ghost to duplicate Windows NT installations for staff workstations on five to eight different hardware platforms, Windows 95 for staff on two to three hardware platforms, and Windows 95 for public workstations on five to ten different hardware platforms. …
Publication Year: 1999
Publication Date: 1999-03-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 1
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