Symantec Ghost Corporate Ed. 7.5; The Indispensable Enterprise Utility
Written: Mar 07 '04 (Updated Mar 08 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Fast image reliable image creation.
Cons: None come to mind.
The Bottom Line: An indispensable tool for the creating computer images, and backing up vital data.
|
|
|
| vemartin's Full Review: Symantec Norton Ghost Corporate Edition 7.5 (Media... |
The scenario:
Build and image a new Microsoft Windows XP Professional desktop platform which can take up to two days to build from scratch and then image a couple of hundred like desktop platforms with the image, saving time and man-hours.
Background:
I provide server and desktop support for a government agency with some 100 Windows 2000 Server platforms and some 200 Windows 2000 Professional desktop computers. The decision was made late last year to refresh the desktop computers with brand new Compaq/HP computers with Windows 2000 Professionalinstalled. The new computers come equipped with 80GB hard drives, of which some 4.5GB is taken up by the Operating System (OS) and application software. The task fell to me to make the refresh as smooth as possible. As in the past I relied on Symantec Ghost, this time Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition, to image the desktop and then install the new computers.
The solution:
Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition which should not be confused with Symantec Ghost 2002/2003, which is meant for individual usage, is a feature rich multi-functional disk/partition imaging utility. While the software package can be downloaded directly from Symantec’s web site, or purchased through third party vendors like Software Spectrum, CDW, or Etronics.com; the Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition is not available via retail outlets (as far as I know).
Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition is really Ghost 2002 with a lot more bells and whistles thrown into the mix. Below is a comparison of the two packages:
Symantec Ghost 2002/2003 Retail Version:
• Linux EXT2 file system support.
• Windows® 2000 and Windows Millennium Edition compatibility.
• Direct imaging to many popular CDR/RW drives lets you take advantage of the latest removable media technology.
• Files can now be added to previously created images.
• Fast PC-to-PC cloning using high-speed parallel, USB, or home network IP connections provides versatile direct connectivity
• Support for Microsoft® PC file systems (including FAT 16, FAT 32, and NTFS) lets you clone both older and newer systems.
• Multiple cloning methods allow you to choose the best approach for each situation.
• Partition cloning enables you to clone individual partitions.
• Automatic sizing of destination partitions streamlines the cloning process.
• Creates bootable diskettes that can include drivers for network cards, writeable CD drives, and USB ports.
• G Disk provides command-line partitioning with more functionality than FDISK.
Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition:
• All of the above plus…
• Ghost AutoInstall for advanced Application Imaging and Delta Management
• Secure PKI Client/Server Architecture within the Ghost Console
• Ghost Console File Transfer and Command Execution for the delivery of files to target PCs.
• GhostCast Server which allows the for storage and retrieval of images from a remote location(s).
• Ghost Boot Wizard for the easy creation of Ghost Boot Disks that can be configured to boot from the network, CD-ROM, as well as other Boot Packages.
• Task Scheduler to enable the Ghost Console to schedule routine tasks.
• Live Update—Symantec’s award winning method to update PCs.
• Wake on LAN Support provides additional remote capabilities.
• CDR/W Support enables Ghost to write directly to CDs from the DOS Client.
• Support for Microsoft’s SysPrep utility, used to reset the Security Identifier (SID), needed to image new computers.
• Symantec proprietary Ghost Walker (system preparation utility) program.
• Integrated support for 3Com’s DynamicAccess Boot Services.
• Integrated support for Remote Installation Services from Microsoft.
I installed Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition on a dedicated server with 160GB of hard drive space. The install was simple and straight forward; the entire installation process took less than five minutes to accomplish. It must be noted that for our storage purposes 160 gigabyte of HHD was enough, since each image is approximately 2.5GB in size compressed, but your needs will vary.
After installation, you’ll need to register the product by generating a Ghost registration ID, which is then emailed to Symantec. They in turn send you a confirmation code via email which is plugged into the Ghost console. Note: the program will work for 30 days without a confirmation code.
How does it Work
Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition works by taking a snapshot of a computers hard drive or partition and creating an image file that can be stored locally (if the computer has a second hard drive), on another computer across a Local Area Network (LAN), or via a peer-to-peer network; i.e. serial or parallel port, or burned to compact disc. If a disk image is taken, all partitions on that disk will be copied to the file. And, if a partition image is copied, only the information in that partition is saved to the image file. The image files can be compressed (recommended), but compression will lengthen the time needed to copy, or dump, an image file from a hard drive or partition. In my experience it takes an average of 30-45 minutes to dump a 2.5GB image from a desktop to a file(s) on the server, depending on other network traffic.
Note: Ghost can split an image file into segments (also known as spans) that are limited to a user-specified size; i.e. using the following command line option after the Ghost command in the autoexec.bat file: –split=500. The default (and maximum) file size is 2.0GB, but I usually specify 550MB per segment to make the spanned file easier to burn to CD.
It must be noted that on the client side, Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition still only works in MS-DOS, or IBM-DOS. Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition does provides wizards that will allow you make boots diskettes to run Ghost peer-to-peer direct connect (between two PC’s), or over the network via TCPIP.
By far the most useful tool in the Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition package is GhostCast Server which allows for multiple image loads via the Multi-cast feature. With Multicast, several desktop computers can connect to the image server at once via the network and either dump their images to the server, or have stored images dumped to their hard drives.
Another useful utility is Ghost Console, wherein software distribution can be accomplished across the network to several platforms at once. The Ghost Console is the heart of the program where the majority of tasks associated with Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition are carried out. But I must admit, I spend very little time there, preferring instead to use Ghost just for image creation. I generally use Windows 2000 Active Directory for software distribution.
Conclusions:
Does Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition solve my problems? You bet! With Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition I am now able to capture an image from a fully loaded desktop computer and store it on my dedicated Ghost server. When the need arises, I can attach to the server via a Ghost boot diskette, and built a desktop computer from scratch in less than 50 minutes! Anyone who has used Ghost in the past knows what a time saver this program is. It is the indispensable enterprise utility.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
vemartin
|
 - Top 50 |
|
Member: Vincent
Location: Aurora, IL
Reviews written: 1325
Trusted by: 541 members
About Me:
...A Great Empire cannot be Conquered from Without until it first Destroys itself From Within...
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.