Chapter 1. imageultra builder capabilities, Understanding images, Chapter – Lenovo ThinkPad R400 User Manual

Page 15: Imageultra, Builder, Capabilities, Understanding, Images

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Chapter

1.

ImageUltra

Builder

capabilities

The

ImageUltra

Builder

program

provides

new

methods

of

creating,

deploying,

and

installing

custom

images.

This

chapter

provides

information

to

help

you

understand

the

concept

of

building

images

and

the

various

types

of

images

that

the

ImageUltra

Builder

program

supports.

Understanding

images

An

image

consists

of

several

components:

an

operating

system,

applications,

device

drivers,

and

other

related

files

needed

to

successfully

run

a

computer.

In

most

cases,

information

technology

(IT)

departments

within

corporations

or

system

integrators

create

images

on

source

computers,

extract

the

images

and

store

them

in

a

central

location.

Then,

they

deploy

the

images

to

multiple

computers

either

across

a

network

or

from

a

set

of

image

CDs.

This

enables

an

IT

department

to

develop

standardized

images

and

control

the

versions

of

software

and

device

drivers

used

throughout

the

company.

Developing

and

deploying

images

in

this

way

ensures

that

every

computer

within

a

company

maintains

a

high

level

of

image

consistency.

However,

because

images

created

by

this

method

are

hardware

dependent,

a

significant

amount

of

time

is

spent

creating,

testing,

and

transferring

images

from

multiple

source

(donor)

computers

to

accommodate

various

hardware

configurations

and

variations

of

supported

software.

In

many

cases,

in

order

to

accommodate

specific

software

requirements,

a

base

image

is

deployed

and

specific

application

programs

are

added

manually

on

a

system-by-system

basis

after

the

image

has

been

installed.

As

a

result,

IT

departments

often

have

multiple

images

to

manage.

Whenever

a

change

is

required

to

accommodate

new

hardware,

an

operating-system

update,

a

device-driver

update,

an

additional

language,

or

a

new

or

changed

application

program,

many

images

must

be

rebuilt.

The

major

challenges

most

IT

departments

face

are

as

follows:

v

Reducing

the

amount

of

time

spent

creating

and

testing

images.

v

Finding

a

way

to

build

and

deploy

images

that

provides

increased

flexibility

to

meet

specific

software

requirements

that

might

vary

from

department

to

department.

v

Finding

a

way

to

build

and

deploy

images

across

a

wider

range

of

hardware.

v

Reducing

or

minimizing

the

total

number

of

images

that

have

to

be

maintained.

The

purpose

of

the

ImageUltra

Builder

program

is

to

provide

IT

departments

with

the

tools

needed

to

develop,

deploy,

install,

and

maintain

a

variety

of

images

efficiently.

Through

new

tools

and

techniques,

the

ImageUltra

Builder

program

enables

you

to

break

down

images

into

reusable

subcomponents

(called

modules)

and

use

maps

to

construct

Smart

Images

that

can

be

deployed

across

a

broad

range

of

hardware

platforms.

©

Copyright

Lenovo

2007,

2009

1

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