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WIM Storage: Freeing up space on your K2000 if you are using WIMs K2000 3.4

Are you using WIM's?   Here is a trick to save network bandwidth and K2000 diskspace.  Store the Wim's on Windows servers, Wim files are not restricted to K2000 file system.

I had the server crew create storage space on all the sites and I store my Wims at each site.  They created a share on the main storage server at each site named images$ and I have a K2000 domain user that has rights to these shares.  I created a subdirectory called imagestore in each share (required).

I used the KBE manipulator to create custom pxe boot environements that map the T: and W: drive to each of my storage spaces.  When I capture a sysprepped image I choose the proper boot to map the server I want it to go to. 

When staff deploys an image, they pxe boot to the K2000, the machine gets it deployment orders from the k2000 and starts.  I remap the W drive as my first preinstall task to the needed storage to access the WIM.

net use w: /delete

net use w: \\server\images$ Password /user:domain\user

(note: I do a /delete prior to mapping, stops failures from the drive letter is in use)

The deployment starts on the K2000 and then it switches over to the storage server to copy the wim portion then switches back to the K2000 for the remainder of it's mid level and post tasks.

All the workload of deploying the image files is placed on the storage servers instead of the K2000.  I have had 120 images deploying from a single K2000 this way and I am still able to capture an image even when they are deploying.

I have had to image over a T1 when the microwave link went down.  Still managed to use the K2000 to do full classrooms by putting the wim file on a local server.

The server crew can easily backup my wims to commvault also.


Comments

  • Thanks! Great post :D - muebel 12 years ago
  • Also I forgot a comment from Corey Serrins when I was workling with him was to use "echo off" before and "echo on" after. That would hide the user and password on he screen but still let you see the other Kace calls. - SMal.tmcc 12 years ago
  • Thanks for sharing!!

    You don't have to change the t: drive at all. Since you will always have the w: mapped in that kbe, all you have to do is change the apply_wim.vbs script.
    Download the vbscript, change all references in it from t:\imagestore to w:\imagestore, then save it and replace the one on the k2.


    Also, for those of you not sure what he means about the echo off, when adding a mapped drive with credentials, you don't want users to see it. So when creating the kbe, when it asks you to add custom DOS commands, use @echo off for the 1st command, then map your drive for the 2nd DOS coommand, and then @echo on for the last one.
    Corey
    Lead L3 Enterprise Solutions Engineer, K2000
    If my response was helpful, please rate it! - cserrins 12 years ago
  • Thanks for the feedback. I changed T: figuring if any kace updates replaced the vbs file it would never be a problem. - SMal.tmcc 12 years ago
  • All: I am trying this solution but seem to be running into a snag. I have created the preinstall task and the w: drive maps, but i get an error stating "missing ImageStore directory. No WIM images found." I have verified that the image is there, both on the server level and from the machine that I am trying to image. Any thoughts? - beernerd 11 years ago
    • if you are doing this with the KBE manipulator you should add these dos commands:
      echo off
      net use t: /delete
      net use t: \\server\share Password /user:UserWithRightsToShare
      net use w: \\server\share Password /user:UserWithRightsToShare
      echo on
      You can then check to see if the mappings are working by pxe booting and from the main menu choose recovery - command prompt. Enter "net use" to verify your mappings go to t or w and cd to imagestore and verify you can see the files.

      If this is a preboot task
      net use t: /delete
      net use w: /delete
      net use t: \\server\share Password /user:UserWithRightsToShare
      net use w: \\server\share Password /user:UserWithRightsToShare

      if you are still stuck post a question or email me I will help you to get setup to do this. I map to our main campus server in the KBE and if I need to reach one of the other storage servers at other sites I remap as a pre task. If you set up multiple areas, use a domain account to authenticate. - SMal.tmcc 11 years ago
  • SMal... I added the delete and readd t: and that got it.. thanks.. - beernerd 11 years ago
  • Did the 3.5 update break this? I cant seem to get it to work now. I has the drives mapped correctly but still copies the file to the K2 - npd117 11 years ago
  • It removed the button that the knit 3.4 installed. there are ways to get around it. - SMal.tmcc 11 years ago
  • http://kace.uservoice.com/forums/82717-k2000/suggestions/3038498-make-windows-share-imaging-hack-a-standard-feature

    http://www.itninja.com/blog/view/do-you-want-to-store-your-wim-s-externally-with-k2000-v3-5-like-we-did-with-3-4

    http://www.itninja.com/blog/view/create-dedicated-kbe-s-to-capture-wim-s-and-store-externally-for-k2000-version-3-5 - SMal.tmcc 11 years ago
  • Does this still work in 3.6? I would really like to try to get this working, but I'm very new to Kace and I'm constantly messing things up so I would like to try to make this go as smoothly as possible. - knuckle66 10 years ago
    • Yes it still works with 3.6 and it is much faster then multicasting. I have copied the capture_wim.hta to all my windows shares and created dedicated capture KBE's also. You also want to create a shell WIM capture to use to deploy the wim's stored externally to. I will create an updated blog for 3.6 - SMal.tmcc 10 years ago
  • I'm basically going to need step by step directions on how to set this up. I'm going to try and follow your directions up top, but I'm sure I'm going to have a ton of questions. - knuckle66 10 years ago
    • my email is under my profile - SMal.tmcc 10 years ago
  • OK so I'm going to try this tomorrow. From what I gather you need to enter in these commands

    echo off
    net use t: /delete
    net use w: /delete
    net use t: \\server\share Password /user:UserWithRightsToShare
    net use w: \\server\share Password /user:UserWithRightsToShare
    echo on

    Since I'm doing this do I have to edit apply_wim.vbs? If so where do I find the file I don't see it in my pre or post installation tasks.

    Thanks in advance - knuckle66 10 years ago
  • Ok so I couldn't wait to try this and it only copied the log file over to the file server, it did not copy the image. The image is sitting over in the \peinst\wim folder on my K2. What did I do wrong? - knuckle66 10 years ago
    • see http://www.itninja.com/blog/view/wim-storage-freeing-up-space-on-your-k2000-if-you-are-using-wims-k2000-version-3-6 - SMal.tmcc 10 years ago
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