Symantec Ghost Solution Suite

Symantec Ghost Solution Suite 2.5 is the industry standard for imaging, migration of users and software, secure hardware retirement and deployment that enables administrators and network managers to rapidly migrate their systems.

Hardware-independent migration and deployment

Ghost Solution Suite allows hardware-independent imaging and deployment whilst loading missing new hardware drivers on-the-fly. Corporations using Ghost Solution Suite can see significant reduction of migration cost, shorter migration times, increased data security and lower TCO thorough the lifecycle of a PC.

Customers who choose Ghost, have seen a 100% return on investment during their first migration session and over 90% reduction of overall cost and time devoted to system management.

Windows and Linux compatibility

Symantec Ghost Solution Suite 2.5 is fully compatible with Microsoft Windows Vista supporting multicasting deployment and imaging, administration of mixed Linux and Windows (Windows 2000, 98, XP and Vista) networks, recognition of Windows Vista Ready machines, secure migration thanks to pre-migration scans that detect mishaps and gaps, safe hardware retirement, automation of routine tasks, and low utilization of system resources.

Symantec Ghost Solution Suite includes a single centralized management console that can be used for remote imaging and deployment of thousands of desktops. Unlike the Microsoft's Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007 toolset that uses multiple consoles and command line tools, Symantec Ghost Solution Suite integrates all features in a single console for all management and migration assignments. This makes GSS more intuitive, easy to use and saves administrators time while planning and executing migration projects.

Rapid and robust imaging

Symantec Ghost Solution Suite is the tool that delivers fast and reliable imaging capabilities for demanding IT managers. GSS 2.5 lets you save up to 90 per cent time and money you would normally devote to your migration project using other software or tools. When compared to Vista's included migration tools, Ghost proves to be over two times faster on the same configuration.

Multicasting vs. Unicasting

Most migration tools, including those delivered with Microsoft Vista, use the unicasting approach which works on a one-to-one basis. This means all deployment tasks are being executed from one machine to just one another machine at a given time. If you've got dozens, hundreds or even thousands machines in your network, this way of doing things may seem daunting to you.

And deploying to multiple desktops at the same time is exactly where Symantec Ghost Solution Suite can show its strengths. GSS uses the multicasting approach that can vastly accelerate your migration and deployment by executing tasks on virtually thousands of machines at the same time. Ghost works on a one-to-many basis allowing you to deploy images to multiple desktops simultaneously. This way of doing things can save you bandwidth too.

Hardware and Software Inventory Filters

Ghost Solution Suite includes the hardware and software inventory filters database that has been designed according to the Windows Vista Premium Ready and Windows Vista Capable and specifications. These inventory filters allow Ghost to accurately and rapidly identify migration configurations which contributes to increased safety and speed of deployments.

Image management made simple

Managing numerous images in a network can be a daunting task. When a hardware configuration changes or new drivers are or updates are introduced, efficiently managing images is barely possible. Images become stale and are no longer manageable.

However, there's a solution to remedy this: Symantec Ghost Solution Suite introduced the DeployAnywhere technology that applies new drivers required in the imaging process. Doing so, you can decrease the number of images you create to cover a large number of desktops and different hardware configuration sets. Ghost also includes the hot-imaging technology that is continuously taking images of a PC without the need of rebooting.

On top of that, Ghost Solution Suite supports browsing, editing and deleting files within images on a variety of partition formats including FAT, NTFS and Linux EXT2 and EXT3.

Seamless user migration

Ghost Solution Suite simplifies the user migration process by automating migration of profiles, settings, files and other user-related data.

User migration capability is included in the central management console allowing administrators to execute comprehensive user migration. Deployment, user profile migration, post-clone configuration and other tasks can be performed right from the console with just a few mouse clicks.

Ghost comes with the peer-to-peer migration wizard that enables administrators to migrate systems that are not network-connected.

There is also an option for individual users to launch their own independent migration process via a Web interface.

Enhanced support for RAID and Logical Volumes

Ghost Solution Suite 2.5 now supports RAID arrays under Windows PE (Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment). Images can be also created from network-connected Logical Drives functioning under Windows and Linux. This allows administrators to work with images spanned across multiple physical drives, RAID arrays and logical volumes.

Ghost now works with non-Ghost images

Symantec Ghost Solution Suite is compatible with third-party image files including VMware VMDK, PowerQuest PQI, and Symantec Backup Exec™ System Recovery V2i image files. This allows administrators to work across many platforms, including physical and virtual environments.

Symantec Ghost Solution Suite 2.5 comes with the built-in support for 64-bit operating systems and has support for Vista migration.

Ghost Solution Suite free trial is available for download from Symantec online store.