Windows client management with the new Opsi 4.0.1

Added Value

Article from ADMIN 04/2011

By Ludger Schmitz

The Opsi tool lets administrators manage Windows clients from a Linux server. Version 4.0.1 added a number of new features.

When a version 4.0.1 appears after a 4.0 major release, you wouldn't expect anything special. But, this is not true of Opsi, an open source Windows client manager from uib GmbH in Mainz, Germany [1]. The improvements in Opsi 4.0 addressed environments with a large number of clients; the changes in version 4.0.1 relate to distributed environments.

Slow Line

The most important change is certainly the utility to integrate clients on slow lines. A typical Opsi client on the LAN contacts its Opsi server after booting to see if it has to install anything and, if so, it mounts a share with which it installs the software. The attempt to install something as banal as the Adobe Reader from an SMB share at the wrong end of a DSL line or, even worse, a UMTS connection, would lead to extremely long installation times and errors if the connection were interrupted. Apart from this, a traveling worker's laptop would be unable to reach its Opsi server for lack of a network connection. In other words, a totally different solution was needed.

Opsi uses local caching or installation files and configuration data. If an Opsi client on a WAN installs software, it first uses CIFS/HTTPS to load the required files and data onto its local disk. To avoid interrupting the user during work, this happens in the background with dynamic use of the available bandwidth. This means that the Opsi client will reduce its download speed if someone else is actively using the network interface.

If the connection is interrupted, the download continues at the next opportunity. This process continues until all the required files are available locally, then the user is informed of any imminent installation and prompted to reboot. The installation takes place in typical Opsi fashion before the log in; in this case, no network connection is required because all data is

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