SSTK (v2.7 and later) provides an imaging installation feature, which allows you to capture the image of an installed system then deploy it to similar systems.
A disk image is a file containing the complete contents and structure of a hard drive, including all partitions information and data. This file can be used to restore the structure and contents of the imaged hard drive.
The main advantage of using a disk image to install a new system is to quickly replicate the system set up (OS installation and supplemental software), which is typically quite time consuming. This SSTK imaging method is superior to a scripted installation when the target systems are very similar to one another: similar hardware devices, similar operating system and supplemental software, and similar system configuration.
This image feature allows you to capture the image of an installed system, and then deploy (replicate) it to similar systems.
The SSTK main menu provides capture and deploy (or replicate) facilities to assist you in managing your systems:
Capturing Images |
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To capture one image, use the following steps:
Ensure that the source computer is booted and running SSTK.
Edit the sstk.conf file on the repository, and then change the value of IMAGE_FILE variable to the name you want created as a result of this capture operation.
The default value for IMAGE_FILE is linux.img.
Select [2] capture (capture Linux image).
Select the disk to be imaged.
The capture/imaging process begins and the captured image file is stored in data_files/image directory upon completion.
You can create any number of image files by repeating these steps, as long as you modify the IMAGE_FILE variable in sstk.conf to a different image file name before each operation. All files created are stored on the repository.
Image Format and Compatibility:
Basically, the images are composed of the contents of the partitions being zipped, and then joined together. This means that SSTK must be able to recognize the partition file systems to be able to copy it. The supported file systems are: ext2, ext3, fat16, fat32, linux-swap, and reiserfs. Any system that has any partition formatted with an unsupported file system cannot be imaged.
Original HDD size X Cloned HDD size:
The cloned HDD must be larger or equal to the original HDD to allow the deployment process. If this is not the case, SSTK displays a warning, and then exits.
Deploying Images |
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To deploy one image, use the following steps:
Ensure that the source computer is booted and running SSTK.
Edit the sstk.conf file on the repository, and then change the value of IMAGE_FILE variable to the name of the disk image you want to deploy; this disk image file name must already exist on repository.
Select [3] deploy (deploy Linux image).
Select the disk to be imaged.
The deploy process begins and uses the disk image file you defined in the sstk.conf file in Step 2.
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