Acronis Snap Deploy is a system imaging and deployment application managed from Windows. It copies a prepared operating system, applications, files and settings to Windows or Linux workstations and servers. Administrators can distribute one configuration across a group of machines while assigning settings that belong to each individual computer.
Master images
The starting point is a master machine configured with the software and settings that the other computers should receive. Acronis Snap Deploy captures its disk or a selected volume as an image, which can be stored in a network folder or on removable storage. Deploying that image reproduces the prepared system on the destination disk and replaces some or all of its existing data.
For a Windows master machine, the Management Agent can create the image while Windows is running. Offline capture instead uses the Master Image Creator from Acronis or Windows PE bootable media.
Acronis Snap Deploy also accepts VHD and VHDX virtual disk files and backups from supported Acronis products as master images. When a supported backup archive contains a chain of backups, deployment uses its latest backup state.
Multicast deployment
OS Deploy Server distributes an image to target machines under the control of a central management console. Multicast sends the image data to a group of recipients simultaneously; unicast sends a separate copy to each recipient. Multicast requires network equipment that supports IGMP and is configured for it. Unicast provides an alternative when that multicast arrangement is unavailable.
Network controls include a permitted bandwidth limit and a multicast packet lifetime setting. The bandwidth limit caps deployment traffic, while the packet lifetime controls how far multicast packets can travel through gateways.
Deployment templates
A deployment template holds the image location, transfer mode, disk space handling and settings to apply to the resulting systems. It can also specify files to transfer, applications to run and whether machines should restart or shut down afterward. Templates remain on OS Deploy Server for reuse, so another deployment task can select an existing configuration and define when it starts.
Ways to start a deployment
Acronis Snap Deploy supports manual, automatic and scheduled deployment. In user-initiated deployment, the administrator prepares one or more templates that users can launch for their own machines. Standalone deployment is also available, while bare-metal computers can enter the deployment environment through bootable media or the Acronis PXE Server.
Deployment can be started remotely on a running Windows computer with the Management Agent. The target then restarts into an Acronis or Windows PE environment to receive the image. This removes the need to boot each target manually, but the deployment still interrupts its running operating system.
Individual machine settings
Individual settings let computers share a master image without sharing every identity setting. Administrators can identify new machines by MAC address, assign their configurations in advance and monitor their status in the console. Individual machine settings can override the deployment template.
For supported operating systems, deployment settings cover machine names, network membership, TCP/IP properties and user accounts. Acronis Snap Deploy also offers an option to preserve a Windows machine’s existing name and allows a Windows license key in its machine settings.
Universal Deploy
Acronis Universal Deploy adapts an image to a destination with a different processor, motherboard or storage controller. It installs the system drivers needed to make the deployed Windows or Linux clone bootable on that hardware, allowing the same master image to serve different computer models.
For Windows, driver selection can draw from the image’s existing driver store and a repository on network folders or removable media. An administrator can explicitly supply a mass-storage controller driver, which takes priority over automatic selection. For Linux, Universal Deploy looks for the required modules in the image’s module directory.
Acronis Snap Deploy license types
Acronis Snap Deploy offers per-deployment licensing for a single successful deployment to a machine, per-machine licensing for repeated deployments to a particular computer, and site licensing for larger installations. Universal Deploy is included in the licenses.
