Hi there

Apologies in advance if this question seems doesn't seem clear.

Our scenario is that we will be deploying Windows 7 to our domain this summer, via SCCM 2012 SP1.

One of the services we would like to improve post-deployment is rebuilding machines in our remote offices, of which we have many, all with very slow WAN links.

Currently, for either a client machine software issue which cannot be fixed remotely, or a hardware failure, one of our guys has to visit a remote office and swap out the problem pc. Of course, this will continue for hardware problems. However we want to put in place a process for rebuilding machines in remote offices with software problems without having to visit the office.

Now, we will be deploying 1E Nomad 2012 in our environmnent, which will allow a client machine to PXE boot off a peer client machine which has the necessary OSD files cached. That is one of the benefits of 1E Nomad 2012, effectively turning a peer client machine into a remote distribution point. This is proven technology (according to the vendor at least).

The challenge for us is the terribly slow WAN links, some as slow as <1Mb.

(This is not, let me stress, a question about 1E Nomad 2012.)

Because these WAN links are so slow, what we want to do is prestage the SCCM client cache of newly built machines with the necessary OSD files to allow another client machine to rebuild from it via Nomad 2012 at any point in the future.

My question therefore is: how do I action that prestaging requirement in a SCCM 2012/MDT 2012 Windows 7 task sequence?

I know we can use the Run Command task and copy a SCCM package to a folder on a machine as part of the build (we do this already with apps in our Windows XP build).

I don't see a great problem in doing the same and this time copying the files to the SCCM cache (%windir%\ccmcache).

However, that would be a simple manual file copy, and not an actual SCCM action, if you understand my meaning. I could copy the boot image and Windows 7 gold image, in the .wim format, to %windir%\ccmcache - but would these be in the correct SCCM cache format? With the correct naming, prmissions, etc? I doubt that.

How then do I correctly prestage the SCCM client cache with the OSD files as part of the task sequence?

If we can achieve this, we can then - via Nomad 2012 - PXE boot a failed machine and rebuild from another client machine (with the Nomad agent) in the same subnet (which had as part of the build its SCCM client cache prestaged with the boot image and Win7 image).

This means we're not pulling a 7Gb image over a slow WAN link, which allows to us rebuild quickly (Nomad can do this, we want to prestage though).

Apologies if that is not clear, but if anyone else has achieved this I'd love to hear about it. (And yes, the original build is going to much bigger since the OSD .wim files will be locally cached, but the pay-off will be worth it when rebuilding in remote offices.)

Best regards

JHH

There is no (supported) way to prestage the ConfigMgr client cache.

However, Nomad uses its own client side cache that (to my knowledge) they can prestage content to. It's from this cache, the clients, using the alternate content provider mechanism, pull content from a peer. Thus, using the Nomad prestaging capability, you're effectively prestaging content for availability to the ConfigMgr cache.

Thanks for replying, Jason.

Yes, I knew Nomad has its own client-side caching, and that it is possible to prestage this during the SCCM/MDT task sequence build process: that's what I really want to do.

However...getting Nomad in-depth technical information online is not easy (lots and lots of marketing stuff available though).

There is little readily available about such things as prestaging the Nomad client cache during task sequence build. By posting that question, I was hoping someone with extensive SCCM/Nomad experience would point me in the right direction (by right direction, I mean comprehensive documentation which I have thus far been unable to find).

I thank you again for replying.

JHH

Ultimately, that's a 1E support issue that you should direct to them. In general, most third-parties do not publish their documentation online or make deep technical documentation available freely (I won't go into why, just that that is the way it is).

Have you purchased Nomad already?

Just for completeness, you should compare it against their competitors product: Adaptiva OneSite. No recommendations here, just giving you a possible alternative that you could consider. I know for a fact that OneSite will pre-stage content quite easily. I'm also 90+% sure that Nomad will also; but that is really a question for them.

Aye, we have 1E products in our environment, including Nomad.

I have been advised Nomad client cache prestaging can be perfomed - by a 1E sales gentleman no less - and I have no reason whatsover to doubt his word.

I was though hoping to encourage someone who has performed such a feat to respond to this post.

I do however sincerely thank you again for taking time out of your Saturday to reply to my posts - thanks dude.

JHH

Hi John,

I can just second Jason's reply. Go ask 1E. Without knowing them, I believe I can say that they are the ones who can help you.

1E, just like Adaptiva OneSite, are able to prestage stuff on Clients via their own mechanisms, not neccessarily through a Task Sequence.

So if you've bought 1E already you should be in possession of a documentation which should tell you how to do it or ask for consulting by them.

Good luck!

David

To me the slow WAN link is an obstacle for distributing big content to a remote office. I'm not familiar with 1E Nomad 2012 but its use might depend on the slow WAN link as well.

How often is a Task Sequence subject to change?

If it rarely changes or not at all, then you might consider creating Task Sequence media and create stand-alone media so you don't depend on the slow WAN link at all. The media have to be transferred to the remote office. It's not the best solution but it eliminates the dependency of the WAN link.

Hi,

We have just implemented PxeLite and Nomad Branch with a 1E consultant. Im still testing it.

We have similar bandwidth issues as yourself with some lines less than 1mb and use Nomad to prestage pc's using a task sequence and prestage collection. Nomad Branch uses an algorithm that manages bandwidth and never causes bottle necking on the line or within the branch. Our task sequence is 9.5gb.

Their customer support is very good and you should contact them to help you out or use the customer support portal. They are usually very quick to get back to you.

All of 1E Nomad's documentation is available online at http://help.1e.com/