Demonstration of Intel vPro technology with Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery
Posted by Justin Van Buren on Apr 11, 2008 12:40:19 PM
Nov 18, 2009 9:20 AM
Jay
says
in response to Tom:
Jay
says
in response to Tom:
It works by the server console sending a command to the vPro machine to mount an ISO as a virtual CDROM in the drive. The ISO is called Symantec Backup Exec System Restore Disk (SBESRD). It doesn't send the client an operating system installation. It's simply like putting the SBESR disk right in the drive.
Now to get the remote GUI:
SBESRD includes a thin copy of pcAnywhere server on it. It's buried in a menu option to enable it. The problem is that you can only click on this menu option if you are physically at the computer, because you haven't enabled any remote display softwre. The console sends a command to the SBESRD that enables this option. How it does this, I don't know. It's Windows PE, so you might have access to the registry or remote command execution with a tool like psExec. Maybe you can essentially administer the running SBESRD PE session as a normal Windows computer (of course with a 72 hour time limit).
How other system recovery software has been doing this for years:
Really, you can boot a client via PXE boot and get similar functionality. Linux installations using PXE for computers without CDROM drives are readily available. Symantec Ghost does this as well, I think.
But--the vPro IDE redirection does sound like a great feature to avoid some of the complexities of PXE.
Hello,
I worked for a UK College as an IT Technician for an industrial placement as part of my Bsc Degree in Computing & IT. I watched the above video and just found myself wondering about how Symantec BESR works. Does it send an .iso image snapshot of a clients operating system across its remote connection? If so would that include all of its data? Although I'm assuming that I am wrong as if this was the case then clients would have to frequently make iso snapshots of their OS to send to Symantec. Are there any additional technical documentation that might help me understand how this software works?