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KACE Systems Deployment Appliance 9.1 Common Documents - Administrator Guide

About the KACE Systems Deployment Appliance Getting started Using the Dashboard Configuring the appliance Setting up user accounts and user authentication Configuring security settings Preparing for deployment Managing device inventory Using labels Creating a Windows or Linux Boot Environment Managing drivers Capturing images Capturing user states Creating scripted installations Creating a task sequence Automating deployments Performing manual deployments Managing custom deployments Managing offline deployments About the Remote Site Appliance Importing and exporting appliance components Managing disk space Troubleshooting appliance issues Updating appliance software Glossary About us Legal notices

Managing custom deployments

Create or modify a custom deployment

You can use custom Windows deployments to capture and run a collection of specific tasks that you want to apply to a user's system, instead of deploying a brand-new image to the system which requires deleting the contents of the target device.

For example, you can use a custom deployment template to bring in a user's system just to capture their profile using USMT (User State Migration Tool), and to migrate it to another system, before shutting down the original system. Another example for using custom deployments is to simply upgrade a system's OS, without applying a new image.

Create or modify a custom deployment

Create or modify a custom deployment

You can create or modify a custom Windows deployment to carry out one or more specific tasks on the target device.

1.
On the left navigation pane, click Deployments, then click Custom Deployments to display the Custom Deployments page.
2.
Complete one of the following steps:
◦
On the Custom Deployments page, click a custom deployment name to display the Custom Deployment Detail page for the selected item.
◦
On the Custom Deployments page, click Choose Action > New to create a new custom deployment.
3.
On the Custom Deployment Detail page, in the Custom Deployment Name field, type the name that you want to assign to this custom deployment.
4.
Click Architecture and select the target system architecture, as required.
5.
Optional. In the Notes field, type some additional information about this custom deployment.
6.
Optional: Configuration files only.
a.
Next to Config XML, click Show, and review the file contents that appear. The contents of the file are read only.
b.
To download the file, under the file contents, click Download XML File.
7.
Optional: Task files only.
* 
NOTE: Read-only users do not have access to this field.
a.
Next to Task XML, click Show, and review the file contents that appear. The contents of the file are read only.
b.
To download the file, under the file contents, click Download XML File.
8.
Click Task Error Handling and indicate how you want to handle errors that are encountered during task execution. You can either Continue on Errors or Prompt on errors, as required. For more information, see Set task error handling option.
9.
Under Deploy Options, select any of following options, as required:
◦
Force continue on errors: Select this option if you want to continue the capture and the upload process even if warnings and fatal errors occur.
◦
Shutdown target device after last task: Select if you want to turn off the target device when the image is installed.
◦
Hide Deployment from KBE: Select this option if you want to hide the custom deployment from the KACE Boot Environment (KBE).
* 
NOTE: Custom deployments marked as hidden from KBE do not appear in the Deployment drop-down list on the Automated Deployment Detail page when creating a boot action.
10.
Assign tasks to the custom deployment, as required. For more information, see Assign tasks to custom deployment.
11.
When you finish your edits, click Cancel to roll back the changes, or Save to apply the changes to the image.

Managing offline deployments

Create an offline deployment

KACE Systems Deployment Appliance allows you to create an offline deployment downloadable as an ISO that can be installed directly to a USB drive. WIM files are split into 3.5 Gb file so that they can be placed on a FAT32 system for UEFI deployments.

The Offline Deployments list page shows all offline deployments that exist on the appliance. From here, you can create a new offline deployment.

Create an offline deployment

Create an offline deployment

You can create an ISO file for an offline Windows deployment and add desired elements, such as a specific system image, boot environment, system drivers, user states, and license seats.

1.
On the left navigation pane, click Deployments, then click Offline Deployments to display the Offline Deployments list page.
2.
On the Offline Deployments list page, click Choose Action > New to create a new offline deployment.
3.
In the Create an Offline Deployment wizard that appears, on the Select System Image page, complete the following steps:
a.
Provide the following information:

Option

Description

Name

The name of the offline deployment. This is also the name of the downloadable ISO file that becomes available for download when you finish creating this offline deployment.

License Seats

The number of managed devices assigned to this deployment. Your KACE Systems Deployment Appliance license defines the number of seats that you can manage. Any seats you assign to this deployment affect the remaining number of devices. You can review the License Usage/Capacity in the About Appliance dialog box. To access it, open the About tab on the Need Help panel. For more information about this panel, see Access product documentation.

System Image

The system image associated with this deployment. You can use any system image available on the appliance. For more information about capturing system images, see Capturing images.

b.
Click Next.
4.
On the Select Boot Environment page, complete the following steps:
a.
Select the boot environment that you want this deployment to use. The items that appear available for selection are based on the previously selected system image.
If the Deploy User State post-installation task is assigned to the selected image, the Select User States step in the wizard is displayed, allowing you to include one or more of the previously captured user states in the offline deployment.
b.
Click Next.
5.
Select User States step only. Specify one or more user states that you want to include in this deployment.
a.
Click User states scanned with to filter captured user states by version.
b.
In the Available User States section, click the plus icon on the left of each user state that you want to add to the deployment.
Similarly, to remove a user from the deployment, in the Selected User States section, click the minus icon on the left of each user state that you want to remove.
c.
Click Next.
6.
Optional. On the Select Drivers (Optional) page that appears, specify one or more user drivers that you want to include in this deployment.
a.
By default, this page lists all drivers downloaded from the driver feed. If you want to display only the drivers associated with a specific OS version, click Operating System, then select the OS version, and click Apply Filters.
b.
In the Available Drivers, click the plus icon on the left of each driver that you want to add to the deployment.
Similarly, to remove a driver from the deployment, in the Selected Drivers section, click the minus icon on the left of each user state that you want to remove.
c.
Click Next.
7.
On the Offline Deployment Overview page, review the elements included in the offline deployment. If you want to make any modifications, use the Previous button to return to the desired step in the wizard.
8.
Click Create ISO.
The Create an Offline Deployment wizard closes, and the Offline Deployment list page refreshes, showing information about a newly created ISO file.

When you finish creating an ISO image for this offline deployment, the appliance updates the device inventory with the devices to which this offline deployment is applied. You can review them on the Device Inventory page. Each of these devices uses KACE Offline Node as the device model. For more information about the device inventory, see Managing device inventory.

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