Mass install software on a render farm

[jpjapers]

Hi,

 

Id like to get some control and automation on the render farm at work. Currently theres no deployment manager or anything like that on them so i have to manually install software on all of them which takes an age.

Can anyone recommend or ELI5 a method of deploying new software installs or updates to all of the machines?

 

Thanks

[Electronics Wizardy]

What os?

 

You can use group policy in windows or ansible in linux.

[jpjapers]

39 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What os?

 

You can use group policy in windows or ansible in linux.

Windows Server 2012. Could you point me to some info on group policy? Im not a network admin or anything ive sort of inhereited all of this haha

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, jpjapers said:

Windows Server 2012. Could you point me to some info on group policy? Im not a network admin or anything ive sort of inhereited all of this haha

Make a domain and put all the servers in the domain first

then follow this for installing software.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/816102/how-to-use-group-policy-to-remotely-install-software-in-windows-server

[unijab]

install and config one system.

sysprep and image it.

deploy image to all servers.

[SansVarnic]

-= Moved to Servers & NAS =-

[Salv8 (sam)]

if you really want to mass deploy this a deployment server is your best bet, not only can you deploy many at the same time, the image can be pre configured with the software, configuration and settings you need right out of the box allowing the machine to be used in the production environment faster

since you are using a windows domain using the windows deployment services role in windows server is your best option (a. it's officially supported and b. you can find quite a lot of help for it)

here is how to set it up:

https://thesolving.com/server-room/configuring-and-using-windows-deployment-services-wds/

and how to create a custom deployment image based in an existing installation (it's a complex but a nessery step for a pre configured image of windows)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/deploy-a-custom-image

(install the software, drivers and do what you need to do to prepare the machine for the master image before step 2.2, you don't need a network location, you can do it on a local machine, after step 5 import the .wim file in WDS and your image is ready for deployment)

quote me if i have missed anything (quite possible, nothing is ever perfect)

[jpjapers]

Thanks for that in depth response! If i hit any walls ill be sure to come back! Thanks again!