Multicasting 101 (Work In Progress)
Posted by Adam on April 13, 2008
Multicasting is the process of taking a build image or configured machine and broadcasting it simultaneously to multiple computers across a network. This is great for anyone who needs to build many computers at once, rather than restoring an image on one computer at a time. The only caveat is the machines need to be the same make and model. You don’t want to broadcast a build image for an R60 to a T23. The results will be gross, like bacon and jelly sandwich.
As noted, there are two primary ways to multicast: Machine Multicast, or Image Multicast. Both will give you the same result, but the Machine Multicast will require you having a “Sandbox Machine”, one that has been benched with the sole purpose of being the data source.
If you use the Image Multicast method, all your machines can be built at once. I recently built (12) Lenovo R61’s. I had to dedicate one for building the image. Once it was built, I saved the image, and rotated two at a time, until all 12 were built using the Image Multicast method. This tutorial is heavily based on my Creating a “Build Image” project, so if you haven’t had the chance to read, now would be a great time. I’ll wait here….
