Product Reviews
One-Image Network
Universal Imaging Utility's single master image can streamline your imaging process.
The concept of computer imaging is a godsend for anyone who's endured the Setup program for Windows more than 20 times in their lives. You can create a single system image and send it out across your network to keep all your workstations uniform and up-to-date -- at least in theory.
There are two principal concerns when dealing with imaging software. First, you have to consider the number of images you're going to actively maintain. The more different platforms you support, the more image files you'll need to manage.
Second, you'll have to consider the frequency of your updates. If you're religious about maintaining current, up-to-the-minute images, you'll be setting yourself and your staff up for a lot of recurring work.
Imagine One Image
Binary Research's Universal Image Utility (UIU) addresses the first issue, which
then also directly affects the second. UIU reduces the number of images you have
to actively maintain.
UIU creates a single “master image” you can apply to all the different platforms
and configurations that you have throughout your network. Patching and prepping
a single image is much more palatable.
The power of UIU comes from the manner in which it incorporates a comprehensive
driver library -- which incidentally consumes about 300MB of disk space -- into
the master image. Once UIU adds the driver library to the template machine,
it kicks off Sysprep and prepares the image for duplication. From there, you
can use whichever cloning and deployment utility (such as Ghost, DeployCenter
or Altiris) you choose to roll out your images to the target machines.
With so many drivers available from the UIU driver library, Plug and Play's
chances of auto-detecting your hardware are greatly improved. If you're worried
about how current those drivers may be, UIU lets you download the latest driver
database to use in your master image.
| REDMOND
RATING |
Documentation
20% |
8 |
Installation
20% |
9 |
Feature Set
20% |
8 |
Performance
20% |
8 |
Management
20% |
8 |
Overall
Rating: |
8.2 |
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Key:
1: Virtually inoperable or nonexistent
5: Average, performs adequately
10: Exceptional
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Because UIU strips the image to its bare bones, you could potentially take
an image built on an IDE-based machine and port it directly to a SCSI or SATA
platform. It also incorporates other Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) configurations
into the base image and resets the original HAL, so you don't even have to confine
your image to similarly configured machines (the HAL acts as the interface between
hardware and software). During the UIU master image installation process, you
can specify these as additional options. You can also use your own .INF file.
Almost as important as the software itself, when you license UIU, you get the
driver database, which Binary Research updates on a regular basis. These regular
updates are most helpful if you frequently refresh your images. If you have
a great diversity of workstations, desktops and laptops on your network, UIU
can save you tons of time in terms of keeping your images up-to-date. It's definitely
worth a look.
About the Author
Rick A. Butler, MCSE+I, is the Director of Information Services for the United States Hang Gliding Association.