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The Dice Project


Installing a Managed Desktop Project Machine

Written by Tim Colles and John Berry

Modified by Paul Smith 20/07/2010

A. BEFORE INSTALLATION

  1. Before you can do an MDP installation you will need to have
  2. Obtain the MAC of each machine to be installed. On new HP machines you can find this in the BIOS settings under System Information. For other models the easiest way is to connect the machine to ethernet and boot from network, or boot from a DICE install CD - it will tell you the MAC when it first makes DHCP requests. Alternatively, if there is a version of Windows pre-installed you can choose the Run option from the Start menu and enter cmd to run a command console and at the command console prompt enter the command ipconfig /all which will return the network details including the MAC.
  3. Make a DNS entry for each machine to be installed. Machines should be put on a suitable managed wire at the site where they are being installed.
  4. If you have access to the EdLAN Database then register the machine through that using these instructions.
  5. Make an LCFG entry for each machine to be installed. Here is what it should look like (substituting HOSTNAME and setting the machine model and mac address appropriately): 
    /* HOSTNAME */

#include <dice/os/managed-desktop.h>
#include <lcfg/hw/dell_optiplex_755.h>

dhclient.mac                00:0D:56:F8:BC:C5
dhclient.cluster            dhcp/all
dhclient.hostname           HOSTNAME.inf.ed.ac.uk

/* End of file */
  6. Use inventory commands to link serial number to hostname. Unlike DICE machines this does not happen automatically when connected to network. 
    invedit --serial H22HW3J --name revolution
  7. This step is only necessary for Appleton Tower wire M machines. In a checked out version of the LCFG headers Subversion repository edit lcfg/live/include/live/ipfilter.h and at the end of this file add the hostname of each machine to be installed to the list of hostnames in the notOffSiteTrusted resource and then commit the changes. If you don't make this change the firewalls will block all the traffic.
  8. Check with the user that there is nothing on the local drive of the machine which they need to keep. If there is then copy it onto their network drive. Carefully check their browser profile has not been accidentally stored on the local drive (this might include copies of mail).

B. INSTALLATION

  1. Boot from the PIE CD. On the Dell machines you will probably have to press F12 at the BIOS startup to get the boot menu. HPs will boot automatically from CD, so remember to remove this from the BIOS boot options after the machine has been installed.
  2. PIE will now start. Hit Return when the boot: prompt appears.
  3. The machine should then pick up network details via DHCP. If it does not (and prompts for manual configuration) then something is wrong. To start off with check that the DHCP server has updated properly with the information for the machine. Do not attempt to proceed by entering network details manually as you will hit problems later on if DHCP configuration is not working.
  4. Installation proceeds and you will get some progress messages and then the full screen Pre-Installation Environment Main Menu.
  5. From the Pre-Installation Environment Main Menu choose option (1) - Image build XP for service.
  6. Now you should get the XP Image Build Methods menu.
  7. From the XP Image Build Methods menu choose option (2) - Image build XP from network.
  8. Installation proceeds and you will get some progress messages. If this is an initial installation you will then get a warning message about repartitioning/formatting the disk, the default is No, select Yes and then hit Return to allow this to go ahead. You will then get a partition layout message and after partitioning and formatting the disk the installation will continue automatically.
  9. If the machine has been registered in the EdLAN database it will establish its name automatically, otherwise you will now be prompted to supply a workstation name. If you are hit Return and on the next dialog enter the NetBIOS hostname without the domain (ie. no .inf.ed.ac.uk). Hit Return again to continue. The NetBIOS hostname is the local hostname with inf- pre-pended.
  10. If the machine has been registered in the EdLAN database it will establish its OU automatically, otherwise you will now be prompted to supply a workstation OU. If you are hit Return and on the next dialog hit Return again to accept the default OU (which is dc=ed,dc=ac,dc=uk).
  11. Installation proceeds and you will get a progress bar message indicating the transfer of the winxp-pro image from the CD onto the disk. Then you will get messages about stretching the filesystem. After this there will be multiple messages about downloading drivers. These will be followed by messages about recreating DLL cache and creating Cmdlines.txt.
  12. Now you will be prompted to remove the PIE CD. Do so and hit Return and the machine will reboot.
  13. From the EUCS/PIE boot menu select the first option (WindowsXP) which is also the default.
  14. WindowsXP will boot. You will get a basic Windows XP Setup splash screen and there will be intermittent disk activity for a while. Then Windows XP proper will start. You will get a message about installing network components.
  15. Now you will get a dialog titled Workgroup or computer domain menu. There may be a considerable delay and then the installation should continue automatically. If it does not and you get an error message and are prompted to enter information or to proceed manually then you may have got the NetBIOS hostname wrong or the machine may have been incorrectly registered or not in the ipfilter.h file. You will need to fix the problem and start the installation again.
  16. Installation proceeds with a message about performing final tasks and the machine should reboot.
  17. You will get messages about the disk drive being checked and the drive being converted to NTFS (this may involve another automatic restart). After converting the filesystem the machine will reboot again. Allow it to reboot back into WindowsXP.
  18. Before completing the WindowsXP startup you should get multiple messages about managed software being installed. If you don't and it goes straight to the Ctrl-Alt-Del prompt instead then wait for the disk activity to stop (a few minutes) and restart the machine. Next time around at this same point you should then see the messages about managed software being installed. Wait for the managed software to be installed, this will be about ten minutes or so. The machine will then reboot again. Allow it to reboot back into WindowsXP.
  19. Now you should get a normal Ctrl+Alt+Del WindowsXP prompt. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del and you should then be able to login with your Active Directory account. Check that your network home directory is available under My Documents (this will only be automatically mounted correctly if your Active Directory account password is the same as your DICE account password, see D-1 if not). Do a cursory check that all the managed software has been installed (eg. Office, Adobe and Exceed are there) - if not logout and reboot again and probably more software will be installed. Repeat until it looks okay. The MDP installation stage is now complete. Logout.

C. AFTER INSTALLATION

  1. Logon as yourself. All CSOs are Administrators.
  2. Switch off "Offline Files"
  3. Kaspersky is now installed by default. It does require a reboot to be fully installed and it does require a bit of tweeking.
  4. Make sure that eFinancials is working. Sometimes it works by installing the plugin, sometimes it need the GPO.
  5. Configure network printers that would be suitable to make available based on where the machine will eventually be physically located: Each printer can be setup using the same procedure above.
  6. Log off.
  7. Restart the machine and enter the BIOS. Set a BIOS password and configure the boot sequence so that the machine will only boot from the hard disk.
  8. Time to move it onto the users desk - you need a spare port on the appropriate wire. Final setup must be done with the user present.

D. AFTER INSTALLATION WITH END-USER PRESENT

If the user has already been setup to use an MDP machine then they will have a roaming profile but you may need to set up Thunderbird and Nvu.
If this is a new user for MDP then follow all the steps below.

  1. After pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del to get the login screen choose the Options menu and then select ED from the Log on to options. Login as the user, using their official UUN and password. The users original AD password is retrievable from IDMS. If they have changed their password then get them to enter it themselves. This must be the same as their DICE password. If it isn't then use Ctrl-Alt-Del so that the user can reset their Windows/AD password.
  2. Check that the users network home directory is available under My Documents. If it is not or you are prompted for a username and password then the users SMB password needs to be reset to be the same as their DICE and AD passwords. To do this use the SSH client (from the Start menu, choose All Programs, SSH Secure Shell then Secure Shell Client) and connect to admin.smb.inf.ed.ac.uk (use the Quick Connect button and enter the hostname and username and you will be prompted for the password, click No on the remember keys dialog). Run the command smbpasswd USERNAME as root and get the user to enter the same password as they used for the Windows login (ie. their DICE account). If this is a completely new user then you will need to run the command smbpasswd -a USERNAME instead.
  3. Map any additional shares required (such as common administration areas). Right click on My Computer (from the Start menu) and select the Map Network Drive option. Choose the drive for the share and as the Folder enter the share path (\\admin.smb.inf.ed.ac.uk\SHARENAME). Make sure the Reconnect at logon toggle is enabled and click on the Finish button. This same procedure can also be followed at any other time as the user to add new shares.
  4. Set the users default printer. From the Start menu choose the Printers and Faxes option. Right click on the icon of the printer the users wants as their default and from the menu select Set as Default Printer. Close the window.
  5. Configure access for the School Database. This step is only necessary if the user the machine is for actually uses the database. This procedure can however be followed at any time as the user to setup access. First configure Exceed to start automatically when the user logs in and then create a startup icon for the database:
    1. Configure Exceed to start automatically when the user logs in:
      1. From the Start menu choose My Computer and then double click on Local Disk, Documents and Settings, the users USERNAME entry, Start Menu, Programs, Startup.
      2. Next open another directory window. From the Start menu choose My Computer and then double click on Local Disk then Program Files and then click on Show the contents of this folder if program files are not already listed. Now double click on Hummingbird, Connectivity, 10.00 and Exceed.
      3. Right click on the exceed program icon, drag it to the window opened previously, release the mouse button and select Create Shortcuts Here from the menu.
      4. Close both windows.
    2. Create a database startup icon on the desktop:
      1. From the Start menu choose My Computer and then double click on Local Disk then Program Files. Click on Show the contents of this folder if program files are not already listed. Then double click on SSH Communications Security and SSH Secure Shell.
      2. Right click on the ssh2 program icon, select Send to -> Desktop (create shortcut).
      3. Close the directory window.
      4. Right click on the desktop icon just created and select Properties.
      5. In the Target field append to the end of the line (after the double quote with a space) dblogin.inf.ed.ac.uk tecdat. You might use itodb instead of tecdat if the user is in the ITO.
      6. Next click on the Change Icon button, click the OK button to pass the warning message, and select a suitable icon, the one 11 across and 3 down for example (a computer monitor on top of a folder). Click on the icon and then click on the OK button.
      7. Now click on the General tab and replace Shortcut to ssh2 with School Database (or ITO Database).
      8. Click on the OK button to finish.
    3. Check it works by first starting Exceed (from the Start menu click on All Programs, Hummingbird Connectivity 10, Exceed then Exceed). Then double click on the startup icon. This should bring up a terminal window which will pause for a while and then prompt for the users DICE password. Get the user to enter their password. The database interface should then be started automatically. Note that the user must first click on the database login window box to enter their database password otherwise the password will appear in the terminal window by default.
    You can also create a startup icon for a Unix command shell in exactly the same way but by missing out the tecdat or itodb command in the Target and also perhaps using a different host from dblogin.
    Some users may also need an icon for genrep. This set up in the same way but the target machine is infdb.

Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey

Thunderbird
Create a shortcut icon on the desktop.

Start Thunderbird. The default mail account is Staffmail, logging in with the EASE password. If the user has not already registered, they can do so here EASE Registration using their default Windows password (Open Access Labs)

To install a Mail Account:-

All staff are now using Staffmail. This comes by default with Thunderbird but some of the settings are fixed and irritate users. It is better to delete the account which comes by default and set up a new one.

SeaMonkey
As NVu fails to work correctly on some pages, now that we are authenticating with Cosign, SeaMonkey is the alternative, and is set up in an identical manner to Nvu. We were unable to get SeaMonkey set up as a GPO, therefore it requires manual install.

Other Software.

Any other software should be added using the GPO mechanism.

Logoff and get the user to login themselves again and check it all works.


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