Boot Image - Goals

Goals

By keeping the boot image entirely separate and disposable, and mandating boot image control, organizations seek to keep their total cost of operations (including its total cost of ownership component) low. Often such organizations look at uptime as a service.

One goal of boot image control is to minimize the number of boot images used by an organization to reduce support costs. It includes at least:

• Specifying the machine hardware to minimize unneeded machine diversity and minimize the resultant number of boot images.
• Upgrading new machine specifications at low additional cost ensures that they will remain useful long past their normal life. Extending the life of desktop machines will reduce the incursion of off-spec machines later in the life-cycle, improving standardization, reducing support costs, minimizing e-waste.
• Organizing the network so that boot images can be efficiently supported, independent of data. Data must not be dependent on boot devices. Use networks to store data on secure servers.
• Hardware acceptance testing on each new machine confirms that it is fit for use in a standardized boot image environment.
• Boot image installation to ensure that only supportable standardized boot images are used.
• Troubleshooting and help desk functions employ standardized tests to identify the source of problems: boot, software, or hardware.
• Desktop system recovery tools and procedures for failed desktop units. These would use backup copies of a boot image created with utilities such as Norton Ghost. In a large organization with many compatible machines, rapid recovery by replacing with a backup boot image may only take a few minutes, with considerable cost savings.
• Data backup and recovery procedures ensure data is stored in the right place so that it can be recovered promptly in crisis situations.
• Installing services for the disabled with a single boot image in a manner that is ubiquitous and cost effective, meeting the needs of all staff regardless of disability, with available technology services.
• Telework and secure off-site system access procedures.
• Facilitating worker transfer by changing boots or authorizations instead of moving machines.
• Using thin clients for off-spec machines to eliminate the need for special boot images.

Many organizations use thin clients for applications which require high security, involve unreliable users or repurpose older machines for continued use.

A cascading strategy involves re-imaging older, off-spec machines to thin client boot images so that they may continue in use for some less demanding or more access-controlled applications.