Departmental boot image
Encyclopedia
A departmental boot image is a boot image
for any computer that has been enhanced by adding some applications and passwords specific to a task or group or department in an organization. This has many of the advantages of a thin client
strategy, but can be done on any operating system
base as long as the boot device is large enough to accommodate the boot and applications together.
A typical departmental Windows XP boot image is usually so large that it requires a DVD
to store, and may be too large for network booting. Accordingly it is usually installed on a fixed or removable hard drive kept inside the machine, rather than installed over a network or from a ROM.
There are some boot image control
complexity and total cost of operations advantages to using a departmental boot image instead of a common boot image for the entire organization, or a thin client:
Disadvantages include the complexity of creating and managing several large boot images, and determining when a department needs to upgrade its applications. If each user is allowed to do this on their own, then, the discipline soon degrades and the shop will be no easier to manage than one that consists of one-off computers with their own quirks, frequently requiring re-imaging and whose issues are not really diagnosable nor comparable to each other. Some experts believe that any departmental boot image regime degrades rather quickly to this state without extraordinary discipline and controls, and advocate thin client
s to ensure such control.
It is however increasingly possible to restrict users from installing "their own" applications on a standard boot image, and to automatically re-install when a variant boot image is detected. While this would be draconian in a large organization with one boot image it is often quite acceptable when the boot image is maintained at a departmental level and users can request that it be upgraded with a minimum of bureaucracy and waiting.
Boot image
A boot image is a type of disk image . When it is transferred onto a boot device it allows the associated hardware to boot....
for any computer that has been enhanced by adding some applications and passwords specific to a task or group or department in an organization. This has many of the advantages of a thin client
Thin client
A thin client is a computer or a computer program which depends heavily on some other computer to fulfill its traditional computational roles. This stands in contrast to the traditional fat client, a computer designed to take on these roles by itself...
strategy, but can be done on any operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
base as long as the boot device is large enough to accommodate the boot and applications together.
A typical departmental Windows XP boot image is usually so large that it requires a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
to store, and may be too large for network booting. Accordingly it is usually installed on a fixed or removable hard drive kept inside the machine, rather than installed over a network or from a ROM.
There are some boot image control
Boot image control
A boot image control strategy is a common way to reduce total cost of ownership in organizations with large numbers of similar computers being used by users with common needs, e.g. a large corporation or government agency...
complexity and total cost of operations advantages to using a departmental boot image instead of a common boot image for the entire organization, or a thin client:
- all the capabilities of a full operating systemOperating systemAn operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
are available, not just those of a thin clientThin clientA thin client is a computer or a computer program which depends heavily on some other computer to fulfill its traditional computational roles. This stands in contrast to the traditional fat client, a computer designed to take on these roles by itself... - applications with inflexible software licenses need not be paid for the entire organization, but can be paid only for the departments that actually use them and have them installed on their machines
- applications that interact badly can be segmented so that an accounting program and an engineering program do not "clobber each other's libraries" or otherwise interfere as they would if both sets of applications were installed in one boot imageBoot imageA boot image is a type of disk image . When it is transferred onto a boot device it allows the associated hardware to boot....
- overall size of each boot image can be controlled to fit within network or removable disk limits
Disadvantages include the complexity of creating and managing several large boot images, and determining when a department needs to upgrade its applications. If each user is allowed to do this on their own, then, the discipline soon degrades and the shop will be no easier to manage than one that consists of one-off computers with their own quirks, frequently requiring re-imaging and whose issues are not really diagnosable nor comparable to each other. Some experts believe that any departmental boot image regime degrades rather quickly to this state without extraordinary discipline and controls, and advocate thin client
Thin client
A thin client is a computer or a computer program which depends heavily on some other computer to fulfill its traditional computational roles. This stands in contrast to the traditional fat client, a computer designed to take on these roles by itself...
s to ensure such control.
It is however increasingly possible to restrict users from installing "their own" applications on a standard boot image, and to automatically re-install when a variant boot image is detected. While this would be draconian in a large organization with one boot image it is often quite acceptable when the boot image is maintained at a departmental level and users can request that it be upgraded with a minimum of bureaucracy and waiting.