Introduction
Zini (Zero Interaction Network Installer) provides a fully automated and unattended system to deploy Windows 2000/XP/2003 and applications to computers throughout a network without requiring you to visit each computer.
All relevant information needed for Windows setup like disk partition layout, organisation, user and computer name, network settings and applications are stored in a MySQL database. Settings can be defined by site, group, user or computer and can be entered or modified using the Zini web administration interface.
All files needed by the clients (like Windows setup files and application packages) are stored on a FTP server. The Zini scripts that handle requests from clients are stored on a web server. Because of this design Zini is very flexible and scalable. Additionally the required servers are available for many platforms.
Once you are finished setting up Zini and defining your site specific data you will be able to boot any PC directly from network or CD-ROM, submit an install job and wait an hour or two to have a completely installed windows workstation.
Features
- Automated install of operating system, hotfixes and applications
- Support for booting clients from CD-ROM and network
- True unattended installation, not disk imaging
- Required servers for many platforms available
- Full documentation and source code
- Completely free
Requirements
Your network environment must meet the following requirements:
- DHCP server
- DNS server
- Web server
- FTP server
- SQL server
License
Zini is free software and is released under the GPL.
