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1 2 Previous Next 21 Replies Last post: Jul 21, 2006 10:52 PM by williambishop  

Windows network admin appliance? posted: Mar 25, 2006 1:10 AM

Click to view williambishop's profile Master 1,162 posts since
Mar 9, 2006
Since all of the components I've accumulated are now a single monolithic linux server, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in it.

This is what it does:

I build a gold image in vmware server, of XP sp2. I sysprep it with my custom inf files(you'd need to get a drivers folder, as it's a gig by itself). I resize the partition to the lowest value I can. I use G4U to upload it to the vsftp component of my server. I use MIDS(a frontend for G4U) to download the image to the end stations.

WPKG is used to manage hosts, upgrading software, patches, etc.

A web server(pmwiki on apache) hosts packages that I built with one of the free packaging installations. It also is the front end where I can simply put in a password, then click the package I want to install. It also holds registry files, package clusters, etc. Adding new links is easy using pmwiki, where I can edit it from anywhere, even sitting at a end station repairing a pc. Additionally, pmwiki hosts the updates page, where techs are informed of changes, scheduling, call lists, etc.

I use it to maintain a VERY fast build cycle, wherein I can test a build, update it and have it sitting on a server for deployment in a matter of hours. It then is deployed in a matter of minutes(MIDS is the best thing ever! It's so good I named the system MIDS in honor). I can keep the stations upgraded, patched and tweaked using WPKG(windows packager). It is a beginning to end management system, and all of it is opensourced.

used:
G4U,mids,wpkg,fedora core,vsftpd,samba,apache, pmwiki

It's really a conglomeration of a lot of other folks hard work, with a little tweaking on my part.

It is very fast, very flexible, and has cut floor time from days to minutes. I can have a fully built image, including all applications off the server and onto the floor in under 5 minutes, join the domain and ready to work on.

Included in a temp folder would be iso's for g4u,mids,etc. plus documentation on the process.

Anyone think this might make a decent appliance? It's probably large, but it could be pared down. I didn't see where there would be a minimum...but I sure wish this had existed when I started trying to figure out how to do all these things.

Re: Windows network admin appliance?

1. Mar 25, 2006 8:21 AM in response to: williambishop
Click to view tysonkey's profile Hot Shot 212 posts since
Jan 30, 2006
Does it include Windows inside the distributed image?

Re: Windows network admin appliance?

3. Mar 26, 2006 3:51 AM in response to: williambishop
Click to view tysonkey's profile Hot Shot 212 posts since
Jan 30, 2006
Great, idea.

Re: Windows network admin appliance?

5. Apr 3, 2006 11:26 AM in response to: williambishop
Click to view samwyse's profile Novice 37 posts since
Mar 28, 2006
Okay, a couple questions, as we're working on this
now.

We have the choice of FC4 or FC5...which should we go
with? Should we leave a gui so that it's easier to
manage?


I'd go with whatever you're using now that works. The whole point of an appliance is that it's a blackbox whose internal workings are irrelevant.

One other question, we are kind of doing this in our
own time, but donating it where we work as
techs...are we still eligible? I mean, we built it a
way of saving ourselves time, but it was never a
project given to us, we just kind of did it.

Having gone through something similar at a previous job (wrote a PalmOS application), I'd say that it depends on the company's business. If they produce and sell software similar to your appliance, they might not want you to release it; otherwise they'd probably be glad to sell you the rights to the package for a dollar. Since everything is built using FOSS, you should be able to convince them to let you release everything to Sourceforge or some other public forum; once they agree to that then getting permission to enter it in a competition shouldn't be too hard.

If, OTOH, the package is something that your employer could use to maintain a significant advantage over their competitors, then they are much less likely to let you release it. In that case, you could try to get a bonus or some other financial recognition from them for your hard work. I wouldn't recommend submission under an assumed name, since that could land you in legal hot water if it were ever discovered.

Re: Windows network admin appliance?

8. Jun 6, 2006 6:26 AM in response to: williambishop
Click to view samwyse's profile Novice 37 posts since
Mar 28, 2006
Any possibility of posting the image(s) somewhere? I'm a consultant and I see lots of small businesses that could use something like this.

Re: Windows network admin appliance?

10. Jun 25, 2006 7:16 AM in response to: williambishop
Click to view limester's profile Lurker 2 posts since
Jun 25, 2006
This looks nice, would like to test it out in my own lab. Any chance of getting this on a torrent?

Cheers!

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