Chapter 27 Managing Thin Clients - Symantec ALTIRIS DEPLOYMENT SOLUTION 6.9 SP4 - V1.0 Manual

Chapter 27
Managing Thin Clients
Deployment Solution
Thin clients are a low cost, low maintenance solution for organizations that want to
perform tasks or access programs such as: Web browsing, Java-based applications and
terminal emulation, or line of business (LOB) applications. Example: users can range
from receptionists and data entry workers to users accessing systems from kiosk
locations commonly found in call centers or health care environments. Thin clients
provide users a reliable server-based environment without the complexity or
maintenance of a PC.
Thin clients connect to any current or legacy network and can be managed from a
centralized location. Thin clients do not contain any moving parts and data is stored in
RAM, which increases their manageability, security, and reliability.
Thin client operating systems
The Deployment Agent is the Production Agent and can be installed to thin clients
running Windows XP Embedded from the Deployment Console. However, if you have
thin clients running either CE. NET, or the proprietary version of Linux from HP or
Neoware, you cannot remote install ("push") the Deployment Agent from the
Deployment Console. Rather, you must install the Deployment Agent on the thin clients
("pull") directly. See Thin Client Operating Systems
Production versus Automation Agent
Deployment Solution requires that a Production Agent be installed to each thin client you
want to manage from the Deployment Console. Thin client computers come pre-installed
with the Deployment Agent so when they are added to a Deployment Server system,
communications between the server and client are established right away. The client
computer's MAC and IP addresses are added to the Deployment database, which lets
you begin managing the device. See
Deployment agents (page 109).
The Automation Agent boots thin clients to automation mode so they can run
deployment jobs, such as run script, create and distribute disk images, and more. Altiris
recommends using a PXE Server to boot thin clients to automation, instead of installing
an embedded automation partition. See
Supported Deployment Solution Functionality
Deployment Solution supports full functionality for thin client running XPe and Linux.
However the there is limited functionality for thin clients running CE .NET. The following
is a list of the supported functions for thin clients running CE .NET.
Modify Computer Configuration (the computer name and TCP/IP Setting only)
Distribute software (".CAB" and ".EXE" files)
Execute and run scripts (DOS and WIN batch files) *no VBS support
Copy files and directories
Create disk images
(page 257).
Installing Deployment Solution agents
Automation Agent Settings
(page 350),
(page 379).
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