I. New
Name
The name of the Image
Type
There are two types of Images, Block and File. This specifies if the image is captured at the block or file level. Block is the most tested and I would recommend sticking with that unless you run into issues. This cannot be changed after the image is created.
Description (Optional)
A description of the image for your own use.
Protected
A protected image cannot be deleted or uploaded.
Visible On Demand
Specifies if you want the image to be usable in On Demand mode
II. Import
Import allows you to import a CSV list of images. To see the template select Admin -> Export -> CSV Export
III. Search
The search screen is the default view when you select Images. It displays all of the images that have been added to the database. The search bar implies a wildcard before and after the string you enter. Leave it blank for all images. You can also use this view to delete multiple images as well as view additional options for an individual image.
IV. View
The view screen presents an additional set of options for the image you selected.
General
Allows you to modify the fields that were set when you added the image. There is one additional option, Enabled, images that are not enabled cannot be deployed. This is useful if you want to easily prevent anyone from using the image, but are not yet ready to delete it.
Schema
Displays the Schema for the image. When deploying an image, all of the partitioning decisions are based off the information found in this file. This view is only for informational purposed, nothing can be changed here. The physical file is located in the root of the image folder and should never be changed.
Profiles
Image profiles are probably the most important piece of CloneDeploy for you to learn, get ready this is a long one. They let you define how an image is captured or deployed.
Profiles -> Search
The image profile search page is the default view when selecting profiles. This will list all of the available profiles for the currently selected image. When an image is created a default profile is generated with the most common options. You can do whatever you want with the default profile, change it, delete it, clone it. There just needs to be a least one profile for an image to function. Each profile also shows the smallest size hard drive required to deploy the image to. This number is dynamic and will changed based on what was observed during the upload, file or block based image, and options that you set in the profile itself.
Profiles -> New
When creating a new profile you are only given two fields, Name and Description. The rest of the options are available after the profile is created and they are coming up next.
The following options are available when you select view on an image profile
General
Allows you to update the name and description of the profile.
PXE Boot Options
This is where you set the Kernel, Boot Image, and any extra Arguments you want to pass in during the pxe boot process. If different computers require different kernels to work, you would clone the profile, change the kernel, and assign the correct profile to the computer. The settings have no effect when using the Client ISO.
Task Options -> Don’t Download Core Scripts
The client imaging scripts are downloaded from the server each time an imaging process is started. This makes it very easy for you to customize the process and provide updates. You can disable this option if you would like. The corresponding imaging scripts are already included in the boot image and will be used in place of the scripts from the server.
Task Options -> Don’t Set Hardware Clock
The hardware clock of each client is synchronized to that of the CloneDeploy server during an image upload or deploy. You can disable that here.
Task Options -> Web Cancellable
If a web task is cancelled from the web interface, the task will disappear, but will continue to run on the client itself. Checking this box will stop the task on the client and perform the task completed action. This would mainly be used for debugging. Sometimes an image process will appear to have frozen. If Web Cancellable is enabled it should stop the client and upload any part of the log it currently has. This must be enabled before a task is started to work.
Task Options -> Task Completed Action
Specifies what should happen when a client task finishes or errors out.
Upload Options -> Remove GPT Structures
A hard drive can actually have an mbr and a gpt partition table. Hard drives that have both will not function with CloneDeploy. If you are certain that you are using mbr, this will clear out the gpt part of the table before the upload.
Upload Options -> Don’t Shrink Volumes
By default, when a Block image is uploaded, all ntfs or extfs filesystems that are larger than 5GB are shrunk to the smallest volume size possible to allow restoring to hard drives that are smaller than the current one being captured. If this is causing problems you can disable that here.
Upload Options -> Don’t Shrink LVM Volumes
Same as above but specifically for LVM. Don’t Shrink Volumes will supersede this setting, but not vice versa.
Upload Options -> Compression Algorithm
A few different ways to compress or not compress your image
Upload Options -> Compression Level
Higher is greater compression
Upload Options -> Upload Schema Only
If you want to control what hard drives or partitions to upload, this is the first step. Turn this setting On and start an upload task. Instead of uploading an entire image, it will only upload the schema.
Upload Options -> Use Custom Upload Schema
If you want to control what hard drives or partitions to upload, this is the second step. Check this box and a new table will be available to visually pick your partitions but only after you have uploaded the schema. The table will list each hard drive and partition that was found, simply check or uncheck the one’s you want. There is also an option for each partition called fixed. If this box is checked the filesystem for that partition will not be shrunk. This is a more flexible option than setting the Don’t shrink volumes setting which applies to all partitions. The Upload schema only box must be unchecked when use custom upload schema is checked. This does not modify the schema that was uploaded, it generates a new one that is stored in the database, the original is never modified.
Deploy Options -> Change Computer Name
When this option is checked the computer’s name will be updated match what you have stored in CloneDeploy either by modifying the sysprep file or the registry during the imaging process. This is currently only implemented for Windows.
Deploy Options -> Don’t Expand Volumes
During the deployment process ntfs and extfs filesystems are expanded to fill the full partition. Setting this option will disable that. I honestly can’t think of reason to do this, but it may be helpful for debugging.
Deploy Options -> Update BCD
If your computer does not boot after deployment, try turning this on. If during the deployment process your Windows partition starting sector changes from the original image, this will update the BCD to the correct location. This only applies to mbr partition tables. GPT partitions are handled in a different way where this should never be needed.
Deploy Options -> Fix Bootloader
This fixes the partition that is set to active / boot in cases where the NTFS geometry is incorrect. This should almost be left checked. Only applies to mbr partition tables.
Deploy Options -> Create Partition Method
This option selects how the partition tables will be setup on the client machine before the imaging is done. The default option is Dynamic and should work for most situations. This means that CloneDeploy will generate the appropriate sized partitions based on many different factors. It could possibly shrink or grow a partition to make them fit the new hard drive. There is one exception to this, if a hard drive you are deploying to exactly matches the size the image was created from, the partition method will automatically change to Original MBR / GPT. In this case CloneDeploy does not need to perform any calculations, it simply restores the original mbr / gpt.
The Use Original MBR / GPT option will restore the same partition table that was used on the original image. This option should only be used if you are having problems with the dynamic option. You can also only use this if the new hard drive is the same size or larger than the original. If you create an image from 80GB hard drive and you deploy to a 120GB hard drive, the 120GB hard drive will effectively become an 80GB hard drive. You would manually need to resize the partitions.
Finally the Custom Script option allows you to make your own partitions via a shell script. You can use the partitioning tools available in the client boot image. These include fdisk, gdisk, and parted.
Deploy Options -> Force Dynamic Partitions For Exact Hdd Match
In the previous topic I mentioned how the Original MBR /GPT is always used if a hard drive size is an exact match to the original image. This option will disable that and force the Dynamic partition option to be used, for cases where the mbr / gpt does not restore properly.
Deploy Options -> Modify The Image Schema
Checking this box gives you control over what hard drives and partitions will be deployed, where they will restore to and give you custom sizing options. A new table will be displayed with these options. Any hard drive or partition that is checked will be deployed. Hard drives are always deployed in the order they are listed in, in this table. You can modify this by setting a value in the Destination box. For example, if the first hard drive listed in the table was originally /dev/sda it will be restored to the first hard drive that is found during the imaging process, it may also be /dev/sda or may not be. If you wanted to send this hard drive to the second hard drive in the system, you would set the Destination to /dev/sdb or whatever the matching hard drive name may be. Next, each partition can be set with a Custom Size. Enter a size you want the partition to be and select a unit for the size. Current options are MB, GB, and %. If you are using a percentage they do not need to add up to 100. Whatever percentage is remaining will automatically be spread across the remaining partitions. The same is true when using MB or GB. Finally each partition has check box called Fixed. When this box is checked the partition will not be adjusted to fit the new hard drive size. It will remain the exact same as the original partition that you uploaded. Partitions smaller than 5GB use this logic automatically. When you change the deploy schema the original schema is never modified, a new copy is created and stored in the database so don’t worry about messing anything up. There is also an option to export the schema you have defined, I may ask for this for debugging info if you are having problems. One final note, if you set a custom size to use a percentage, the minimum client size that is displayed in the profile list will show N/A. This is because a minimum size cannot be known without knowing the size of the hard you are deploying to.
Deploy Options -> Multicast Options
Allows you to set custom arguments on the server and client to control multicast behavior. More information is available under the Multicast Arguments documentation.
Scripts
This view allows you to set any custom scripts you want to run during the imaging process. They are only applied to deploy or multicast tasks. Any script that has a check in either the Pre or Post box will run. Pre scripts will run before the image is applied and post scripts will run after the image has applied. You can also assign a priority to run the scripts in a specific order. Lower numbers execute first. Scripts are added to CloneDeploy in the Global Properties -> Scripts view. Additional info can be found in the Global Properties documentation.
Sysprep
This view allows you to set any sysprep file modifications. They are only applied to deploy or multicast tasks. You can also assign a priority to run the sysprep modifications in a specific order. Lower numbers execute first. Sysprep modifications are added to CloneDeploy in the Global Properties -> Sysprep view. Additional info can be found in the Global Properties documentation.
File Copy
Allows you to copy additional files or folders to a specific partition after the image is applied. They are only applied to deploy or multicast tasks. Like scripts and sysprep they can be assigned a priority to run. Lower numbers run first. The Destination Partition is just the number of the partition you want to send to. You can find the correct number by viewing the image schema. If you are copying to an LVM partition you would use volumegroupname-logicalvolumename for the destination. The Destination Path is the folder on that partition you want to send the files to. The path is relative to the root of the partition. For example if wanted to push files to c:\myfiles\folder1 you would enter myfiles/folder1 or myfiles\folder1 in the destination path, slashes will be automatically corrected. If you wanted to save files directly to c: you would just enter / or \. Be careful folder names are case sensitive. Finally if you are copying a folder, you can select the Folder Copy Mode. Selecting Folder will place that folder and all of it’s contents in the destination path. Selecting Folder Contents will just copy the contents of that folder with creating the directory itself. Files / Folders are added to CloneDeploy in Global Properties -> Files / Folders. More information can be found in the Global Properties documentation.