Acronis® Snap Deploy® for PCs Management Console

Acronis^® Snap Deploy^® 3 for PCs Management Console is the primary administrative tool for Acronis OS Deploy Server, Acronis PXE Server and remote computers. It also allows you to create and check master images on remote PCs — packages of the fully configured operation systems with application software.

Installing Acronis® Snap Deploy® for PCs Management Agent

Acronis^® Snap Deploy^® 3 for PCs Management Agent installed on a remote computer allows you to get an access to it through the network from the Acronis^® Snap Deploy^® 3 for PCs Management Console for master image creation, managing files and executing applications.

Creating master image

Before deployment you have to prepare the master computer, operating system and software, which will be used for master image creation.

Creating bootable media

Using the Acronis^® Snap Deploy^® 3 for PCs Management Console, you can install Acronis software deployment tools (Acronis Snap Deploy Agent and Acronis Master Image Creator) directly to removable media for remote computers bootup.

• Removable media with Acronis^® Snap Deploy^® 3 for PCs Agent boots up target computers for deployment preparation.
• Removable media with Acronis Master Image Creator boots up the master computer and enables you to create image archives from it.

Acronis PXE Server

The Acronis PXE Server is used for computers bootup with Acronis products (Acronis^® Snap Deploy^® 3 for PCs Agent and Acronis Master Image Creator) through the corporate network. So with this deployment tool you do not have to create bootable media. All you have to do is to upload Acronis products to the PXE server and boot target computers from PXE.

Bare-metal target machine bootup

Acronis^® Snap Deploy^® 3 for PCs provides two ways of multi hardware deployment from one image to bootup computers and bare-metal systems: using the Acronis PXE Server or bootable media:

• Boot up the master computer with Acronis Master Image Creator to create one master image
• Boot up target computers (even bare-metal ones) with Acronis Snap Deploy Agent and prepare them for multi hardware deployment

Managing deployment

With Acronis^® Snap Deploy^® 3 for PCs Management Console, you can remotely manage deployment of master image on target computers. During the deployment process you can:

• select target computers
• create a new deployment template or use the existing one
• choose the master image for deployment
• create user accounts for target computers
• create computer names for target PCs
• set up TCP/IP network configuration
• set up DNS server configuration
• change security identifiers (SIDs) on target computers
• transfer files to all target computers after deployment
• launch applications to all target computers after deployment

Templates

Template includes all saved stages of the deployment process (a master image to create, user accounts, network settings, etc.). Once you have created a template, you can use it in the future for rapid deployment. With Acronis Snap Deploy Management Console you can manage deployment templates (create and save new templates, edit or delete existing ones) without launching the deployment process. All deployment templates you have created are stored on the Acronis OS Deploy Server, so you have to establish connection with OS Deploy Server to manage them.

Remote file management

Management Console of Acronis deployment software allows you to manage files and folders on a remote computer. You can create and edit text files (for example batch files or scripts), copy files/folders to the clipboard, paste them, or rename and delete files/folders.

Executing applications on a remote computer

You can execute service applications (for example, configuration software, management scripts, etc.) on a remote computer by creating scheduled tasks. The scheduled task contains the application to execute and periodicity of the execution.