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Fastdeploy : What is it?
If you have ever worked in just about any sized IT/IS/MIS group or simply any technology-focused
company you have probably had to deal with setting up servers and workstations. There are dozens and perhaps
hundreds of different tools one could utilize to accomplish this task:
- Use the CD/DVD of the operating system and install manually.
- Create a baseline binary image of a system and replicate that image to other simliar or
identical machines using Ghost, DriveImage, Acronis, or Altiris.
- Create dozens of custom unattended installation scripts and use either CD, DVD, or PXE
network booting (a capability built into almost all modern x86 servers' network cards) to automate
the installation of the operating system and related software.
- Use RIS, sysprep, or SMS' OSD process (applies only to Microsoft operating systems).
Fastdeploy takes the strategy similar to number 3 but attempts to further automate or abstract scripted
deployment by acting as the intermediary or layer between a configuration interface (in Fastdeploy's case, a Web
interface) and the installation scripts. Using generic automated install scripts as templates and a modular, plug-in
type design for each operating system it supports the automation of, Fastdeploy greatly simplifies the install
automation process by giving power and flexibility back to the user who truly wants to automate their machine deployments.
FastDeploy : How does it work?
The requirements to operate a Fastdeploy automated installation server are:
- A reasonably fast server-type machine with a reasonable amount of storage. Because you must maintain
a mirror of each operating system's install files, you may need on the order of 300 gigs or more. If you
decide to deploy just a few operating systems that have lower disk space requirements, you could probably
get by with as little as 50-70 gigs.
- A web server that supports PHP4 or higher. PHP5 should work as well.
- MySQL v4 or higher.
- Several PHP PEAR libraries.
- A local TFTP server.
- A configurable DHCP server. ISC and Windows DHCP server will support the few network boot parameters
you need.
Once these pieces are installed (see here for a far more
exhaustive explation of how to get Fastdeploy installed and configured) you just go into the Web interface and begin entering the
information about each server you want to install automatically. At these screens you
will be prompted to enter a variety of server parameters and software you will want to have installed and configured automatically.
FastDeploy : What operating systems are supported?
As of the early beta release the following operating systems are available for automated installation:
- CentOS
- RedHat Enterprise
- Fedora Core
- Debian
- Ubuntu
- Windows
FastDeploy : How and why might I use Fastdeploy?
Most small startup technology companies and 1 person up to even 50 or more person IT groups often lack the time, expertise,
and budget to deploy a full server and workstation install automation solution. Many shops fall back on imaging solutions;
others may have the resources to deploy RIS or SMS, but most simply lack the time and money to deploy zero-/one-click automated
OS install solutions.
Fastdeploy fills this very large void that exists in the vast majority of small-to-medium sized businesses by mirroring
the skillset required to fully automate OS installs. All of the tools to automate installs are available "out of the box" and
ready to go from a small shop with 5 to 10 servers or to rapidly growing startups that may have 100s of servers to deploy in a
large data center buildout.
Fastdeploy is a commercially supported open source OS install automation solution
Serverminds, the sponsor of all development work for Fastdeploy, provides a full suite of implementation and support services
for Fastdeploy. This quite simply means we can handle all aspects of installing and configuring Fastdeploy for you, provide
complete support packages for the software, or simply consult on an as-needed basis.
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Products and services
Interested in learning more about using Fastdeploy in your IT infrastructure?
Contact us:
AIM/Yahoo IM: serverminds
MSN: sales@serverminds.com
Would you like to schedule an online demo of Fastdeploy?
Click here to use our email contact form and we'll schedule an appropriate time to do an online Web-based demo.
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