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Solve : Imaging Software?

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Hi All,
I know that this is really a long shot but I am looking for away to image a machine from another machine. I run a small network and I would like to have a way to image my workstations from a server and than keep the image on the server. If the machine went down I could roll out the image and get it going again ASAP.

Thanks!
Acronis SNAP Deploy is designed for this sort of thing, I believe.

Great tool.....just what I was looking for....

Now if it was free.....LOL

Thanks
Well, there's CloneZilla, which is free, or the rather more difficult partimage. If you are running Windows Server 2003 family OS you may be able to use Remote Installation Services (RIS) which is an optional component that is included. You can use RIS to create installation images of operating systems or of complete computer configurations, including desktop settings and applications. You can then make these installation images available to users at client computers. You can also specify which RIS server will provide installations to a given client computer, or you can ALLOW any RIS server to provide the installation.

When you use RIS, a CD-ROM is not required for installation of an operating system on a client computer. The client computers must support remote booting with the Pre-Boot eXecution Environment (PXE) ROM, or they must be started with a remote-startup floppy disk and contain a network adapter that is supported by that disk.

You can use RIS to create automated installation images of Windows Server 2003 family operating systems, Windows XP, and Windows 2000.
I don't believe CloneZilla will do network backups...unless they have changed since i last tested it...
The RIS suggestion is a good one...forgot it was included.
But i thought he was looking for creating an existing image...i could be wrong or mis-read.Quote from: patio on April 25, 2013, 10:24:57 AM

I don't believe CloneZilla will do network backups...unless they have changed since i last tested it...

How long ago did you test it? Current stable version is 2.1.1.7. This blog is dated August 19, 2010:

Using Clonezilla with FreeNAS or Network Share to Backup a Hard Disk

"Because it runs from a ‘live’ CD and will read most hard disk formats including NTFS, Clonezilla is OS agnostic. It can backup at partition level to another hard disk or to a USB hard disk, and as we shall see it can also back up to a network share, or ... a FreeNAS STORAGE server"

http://mylinuxramblings.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/using-clonezilla-with-freenas-or-network-share-to-backup-a-hard-disk/

Home page:

http://clonezilla.org/

Downloads:

http://clonezilla.org/downloads/stable/iso-zip-files.php



It would clone to a network drive...it wouldn't image a network drive...
That was about 4 or 5 months ago.In the first post, he says "I run a small network and I would like to have a way to image my workstations from a server", I don't think that is very easy to do (make the server create an image of a workstation) but it is possible to boot each workstation in Clonezilla live CD and make an image on a server, and later use the same CD to restore that image.


That would work...only problem would be keeping up with the changes on the workstations.

In a perfect world I would to have something go out to my workstations at night and get the lastest changes to add to a image or clone of the workstation. The goal isn't really to be able to store a master image but to backup the workstation so if it goes down or I need to roll it back a day or two I could do it.

I have about 25 MACHINES at this site. And am very lazy so if I could setup a backup of each of my workstations to a server share that would be great.

Thanks for all the ideas!
Quote from: Spoiler on April 25, 2013, 11:25:35 AM
In a perfect world I would to have something go out to my workstations at night and get the lastest changes

Don't the users shut down the workstations when they have finished work for the day?

There is a Linux solution called FOG which can run on a server and image and/or restore workstations on a network...

"FOG is a Linux-based, free and open source computer imaging solution for Windows XP, Vista and 7 that ties together a few open-source tools with a php-based web interface. FOG doesn't use any boot disks, or CDs; everything is done via TFTP and PXE."

http://www.fogproject.org/?q=node/1They leave the workstations up 24/7

I will take a look at that. Thanks!


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