ENGL Articles:
The Magic of the ENGL Imaging ToolKit
By Donna Moyer

If you use ZENworks for imaging, you probably have a large inventory of images based on hardware platforms and applications that need to be deployed in various areas. You may be considering moving to a new Novell or GroupWise client, but the thought makes you groan since you would then have to update all your images. Perhaps you explored the idea of sysprepping your images, but the process turned you off as too long and involved.

Enter the ZENworks Imaging Toolkit from ENGL. This is an absolutely amazing product! The magic of the Toolkit allows you to:

• get to one hardware independent image
  
• deploy the correct drivers as add-on images
• deploy the Novell client and ZENworks agents as an add-on image so that they are easy to update when necessary
  
• name the workstation correctly
  
• join an Active Directory Domain
  
• deploy applicationscustomize the workstation during the build

When the process – which is straightforward, quick, and easy to understand – is complete, you have a new workstation ready for users to access!

How Does The ENGL Imaging Toolkit Work?

The Toolkit provides wizards that walk you through the process of creating a sysprepped installation source that is truly hardware independent. The Toolkit also provides an application to pull drivers sets from new workstations into a new add-on image. This application then creates the syntax for a lookup file used during the build process so that when the build occurs, information can be pulled from the BIOS and the correct drivers are deployed.

Practical Applications

Want to take workstation naming out of your tech’s hands? No problem. A customized imaging menu can be created so that techs can enter data by selecting items from drop downs to indicate identifiers such as building, room location, user, etc. If asset tags or serial numbers are part of your naming convention, this information can be pulled from the BIOS during the build.

Want to customize the build? Go for it! Applications can be delivered as traditional ZENworks application objects. If the applications are configured appropriately, the resulting profile settings can be copied to the default user at the end of the build so that all application settings are provided to all users created on the workstation.

Enjoy multicasting, but feel limited? Currently, you need all of the hardware platforms in the session to be the same in order to multicast. Not so with the ENGL Toolkit! You can set up multicast sessions with clients who are different, not only from the master, but from the rest of the clients.

I have been working with this product for over 6 months and can’t say enough good things about it! It is truly a necessary add-on to any ZENworks administrator’s toolkit.

© Copyright 2008, Uptime NetManagement, Inc.

Article Source: http://www.uptimenmi.com/

You have my permission to reprint and distribute this article as long as it is distributed in its entirety, including all links and copyright information. This article is not to be sold or included with anything that is sold.

About the Author:
Donna Moyer is Principal/Senior Network Consultant of Uptime NetManagement, Inc. (http://www.uptimenmi.com/). Uptime is a Novell Gold Solutions partner providing technology solutions, customized training, and consulting services. If you are interested in finding out exactly what Novell can do for your business, or are seeking to maximize the benefits from your current Novell systems, call us today at 610-621-1244!