Multicast Procedure

There are a couple of ways to conduct a multicast session. You can:

• Define an automatic session and the participating computers in ConsoleOne
• Physically visit each computer yourself and start the multicast sessions one at a time

Defining an Automatic Session

1. (Optional) Install the ZfD imaging agent on each of the participating computers.

   See Why Use Multicast? for the reasons and for further instructions.

2. In ConsoleOne, right-click the Server object > click Properties > the ZENworks Imaging tab.

3. Click Add > type a name for the multicast session > click OK.

4. On the Multicast Session Settings page, specify the Master Image Source.

   You can specify an image file or a master workstation.

   A workstation cannot be the master if it is being used as a master in another multicast session or if it explicitly participates in any other session.

5. Decide how many participating workstations you want to have booted up before the multicast session begins. Specify this number in the Clients Have Joined text box.

   The default if you do not specify a number is 5 workstations.

6. If not enough workstations have booted up to fulfill the Clients Have Joined requirement, the multicast session will begin if a participating workstation boots up and certain amount of time passes without another participating workstation booting up. Specify this amount of time in the Minutes Have Elapsed Since a New Client Has Joined text box.

   The default if you do not specify a time is 15 minutes.

7. To delete the session after it has finished, select the last check box.

8. On the Multicast Session Participation page, click Add under Include the Following Workstations to explicitly add the workstation objects that you want to include in this multicast session.

   or

   To create rules to select the workstations you want to participate in this multicast session, click Add under Include Machines Which Meet Any of These Criteria.

   Click Help on the Participation page for more information.

9. Click OK to return to the ZENworks Imaging Multicast Sessions page.

10. The check box next to the multicast session name is automatically selected, showing that the session is enabled. If you want to disable a multicast session, deselect the check box next to the session name.

11. If multiple multicast sessions are defined that use rules to select participating workstations, it is possible that a workstation could qualify to participate in more than one session. If this occurs, the first enabled session in this list for which the workstation qualifies takes precedence over the other enabled sessions. If you want to change the position of a session in the list, select the multicast session name > click Move Up or Move Down.

12. Click OK.

Physically Visiting Each Computer

1. (Optional) Install the ZfD imaging agent on each of the participating computers.

   See Why Use Multicast? for the reasons and for further instructions.

2. Create a set of ZfD imaging boot diskettes or an imaging boot CD for each person who will assist with the multicast session, or enable PXE on the participating computers.

   If you don't know how to do this, see Creating Imaging Boot Diskettes in Preparing for Basic Imaging Operations in Workstation Imaging in ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 Getting Started Guide, or Preparing an Imaging Boot Device or Method in ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 Deployment Guide.

3. At each computer, including the master computer, access a Linux prompt by using the imaging boot diskettes, imaging boot CD, or if it is PXE-enabled, boot it up.

4. Depending on the method you used in Step 3, enter manual at the boot prompt or select to start in Maintenance Mode from the PXE menu.

5. To start the multicast session, you have two choices:

   • You can enter the following command at the bash prompt of every computer:

     img session name

     where name is any string that uniquely identifies this multicast session from other multicast sessions that might be in progress on the network. Use the same session name on each of the participating computers in this multicast session. You can specify any multicast session, including one that originates from the proxy server (as long as you specify the session name used by the proxy server).

     Example: img session doug

     The img session command can take other parameters that allow you to designate the master computer and the imaging start time beforehand. See Imaging Engine (img: Command Line and Menu) for details.

   • You can type img at the bash prompt to display a menu > select Multicast Session > select Client if this is a participating computer or Master if this is the session master. Fill in the Session Name, Number of Clients (applies only to session master), and Timeout (applies only to session master) fields. See Imaging Engine (img: Command Line and Menu) for details.

6. At the master computer, type m > press Enter.

7. At the master computer, after all the other computers have registered as participants, type g > press Enter.

   The imaging engine begins creating the image of the master computer and the image is sent to and laid down on each participating computer. Any problems are reported back and displayed on the master computer.

8. At each participating computer, when the imaging is done, do the following to boot the computer with the new operating system:

   1. At the Linux prompt, type lilo.s > press Enter.

   2. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

      HINT:  If the computer doesn't boot to the new operating system (that is, if the Linux prompt reappears), enter the lilo.s command again and reboot the computer a second time.