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Questions and answers
What is the new on Intel® PAT 4.0, and which motherboards are supported?
Intel PAT 4.0 is a totally new solution. It removes the BIOS dependency versus the previous versions. Theoretically it can support all the IA platforms, but only has the dependency on LAN Silicon. This new version inherits the old features from previous Intel PAT version, such as network deployment, hard disk protection, content management, asset management, etc. but bring a new valuable feature - Cross WAN management. For the Intel PAT4.0 certified motherboard information. Please refer to the list of Intel PAT certified motherboard.
How do I activate the Intel® PAT server?
After you have installed Intel PAT Server, you need to complete server activation process before using it. To complete Server Activation:
- Access Intel PAT Server Console.
- Click Activate Now button to, enter the License Key page.
- Read “License key Activation” section, prepare your Intel PAT Server key code, and access the Intel PAT Web site.
- Click the Registration hyperlink on the Web site home page, register your information, and then click Submit. Enter the correct key code and supported client numbers.Enter a valid email address. You will get email confirmation of the license key.
- In the Intel PAT License Key page, fill in the license key in License Key Activation column and click Activate button. Activation is complete, you will enter Intel PAT Server Console Client Management page. You can start to use Intel PAT.
Is Intel® PAT 4.0 compatible with its previous version?
No. Intel PAT 4.0 is a BIOS independent solution, which is totally different from previous version in terms of the software architecture. So, it is not compatible with the previous versions which are bundled with the motherboard. If you want to use the Intel PAT 4.0 products on the previous Intel PAT motherboards, you need to disable and uninstall the previous version on both server and client side, then you can implement Intel PAT 4.0.
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Can I do deploy image to the clients which have two NICs installed, but only the discrete NIC is used?
Yes. Intel® PAT 4.0 can support this usage model. It will detect the connection status of the NIC, then mount it. But please ensure that the discrete NIC (if you are using that one to deploy image) of all the clients are plugged in the same PCI/PCIE slot as the Golden Machine. Or you have to swap the discrete NIC to each slot and install the driver correspondingly on golden machine before you upload the image to the server.
Can I deploy image using Intel® PAT 4.0 under the circumstance when there is static ARP mapping on the switch or DHCP sever?
No. In your first time deployment, you need to enable the PXE on all the clients to download the Intel PAT pre-OS agent from Intel PAT server. PXE service needs to get the IP address from the DHCP server before downloading. So, if you have ARP static mapping in the network, it will cause the boot service failed.
I have successfully activated the License Key that is still valid. But after the Intel® PAT server hardware change, I was notified that my License Key was invalid. Why?
The License Key is generated based on the information of the server’s hardware, for example, the NIC. So please make sure that you do not replace the NIC, disable the additional NIC port, change the MAC address, or CPU. Otherwise, you have to re-activate your server by getting a new license key from Intel PAT activation Web site.
The Intel® PAT 4.0 client software cannot be installed successfully. Why?
Please check is there any hard disk protection application installed on your client machine, if yes, it may conflict with Intel PAT software client. In this case, it is recommended that you install Intel PAT client software first then disable the Intel PAT HD protection function. After that, you can install third-party hard disk protection software to avoid such compatibility issues.
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I have configured the DNS settings on my Golden Machine before image creation, but after I deployed image to the clients. Why there is no DNS setting found on the clients?
Please check the DNS settings on your Intel® PAT server. The mechanism of the DNS settings in Intel PAT is that after the Intel PAT client connected to the Intel PAT server, the client’s DNS will be re-configured according to the configuration of the server DNS information. If your Intel PAT server is connected to the network, please ensure you have set the correct DNS information.
During image or incremental package deployment, what kind of network issues should I pay attention?
During image or incremental package deployment, please pay attention to the following:
- All the network switches’ IGMP SNOOPING feature is enabled before the deployment task in order to support multi-cast deployment, at least you need to enable this feature on the main switch. This can help to mitigate the impact to the network during the deployment. You can consult the switch vendors’ service hotline for help to enable IGMP snooping.
- Ensure that the STORM CONTROL feature of all the network switches is disabled before Intel PAT deployment. The STORM CONTROL feature is enabled on some switches by default. Please check the manageable switches and disable this feature to make the multi-cast or broadcast deployment successful. After deployment finished, you can re-enable the STORM CONTROL feature to avoid the potential network storm issue.
- Before the deployment, please check all the LED status of all the devices that connected to the network (10 Mbps, 100Mbps or 1Gbps), including the PC, servers, routers, etc. Please make sure that they are all connected with the same speed, otherwise, those low speed device will certainly have negative impact on the deployment speed and stability. In this case, please disconnect them from the network.
- If IP address, MAC address, and the Port number are statically mapped for each client on the switch, please disable that mapping feature before deployment.
I have set the client boot sequence as boot from NIC. My client can boot normally from PXE, but the client still cannot download the Intel® PAT Pre-OS Agent from the Intel® PAT server. Why?
In this case, please make sure that the setting on DHCP server is correct, such as TFTP Server, IP/FILE Name. If you fail again, please try to update the NIC boot ROM.
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I have already accepted the client as golden machine. Why does the image creation from this golden machine always fail?
On the Intel® PAT server, only when the Golden Machine status changed from “New Client” to “Ready”, you can create the image. Please ensure that you have executed the “Boot to OS” command from Intel PAT Server console for the Golden Machine and its status is ready.
During image creation, Intel® PAT server may crash and image creation may fail. Why?
Please ensure that the partition’s file system format is NTFS on which you store your Golden Machine’s image. If the file system format is FAT or FAT32, it will possibly result in a server crash during the image creation and which could because the image size is too large that FAT or FAT32 file system format cannot support.
How do I create the incremental package when a reboot is required during the installation of new software?
Follow these steps:
- First, from the server side, execute the operation of incremental package creation, and uncheck the option “immediately reboot the golden machine” follow the wizard.
- Install games or applications on the Golden Machine, and then reboot the Golden Machine if required during software installation.
- After reboot, the Golden Machine will automatically enter the Intel® PAT client Agent and finish the incremental package creation.
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Why does the client suddenly reboot when the message is prompted that the hard disk space’s is not enough?
The hard disk protection function requires some hard disk space to store the protected data. If there is no sufficient space left, the hard disk protection will reboot the client for self-protection purpose. To solve such problems, sufficient space needs to be reserved by users. Normally 5% of the disk size needs to be reserved in the protected area.
When creating incremental package from the golden machine, why does the wizard indicate that there is no hard disk or partition on golden machine?
This is because the hard disk protection of the Golden Machine was disabled. To enable the hard disk protection on the Golden Machine will solve this problem.
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| The incremental deployment depends on the hard disk protection. If this problem happens, the incremental package will not be deployed to the clients where the previous golden image was deployed | |
Why will other clients sometimes experience low speed Internet access during Intel® PAT image or incremental package deployment for batch clients?
If your switch does not support IGMP snooping or IGMP Snooping has not been enabled, then all the clients on that network will receive the packets during the image deployment, no matter the client is the targeted machine or not. This will exactly have impact the performance of those clients. In this case, we suggest you to enable the IGMP snooping on all the switches or isolate the network before your deployment.
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My PC’s NIC cannot support the PXE. What can I do?
Scenario 1: If Windows OS is installed on your client, the Intel® PAT Agent should be started up by running its installation program. The detailed step is:
- Copy the file of the Intel PAT Agent (Location: the Intel PAT-install package \ Setup \ Agent\ IntelPreOSAgent.exe) to the local hard disk.
- Execute the command in the appropriate directory of the Windows’ command console: IntelPreOSAgent.exe –install, the Intel PAT Agent will be saved in the current folder of the hard disk.
- Reboot the client, when the message “Press F4 to enter into Intel PAT agent” pops up, press F4, now you can execute the normal operation of Intel PAT such as deployment.
- After the deployment, if there is no Intel PAT client software installed on your client, it is recommended that you run the command IntelPreOSAgent.exe-Uninstall in the appropriate directory, to delete the Agent files which have saved in local.
Scenario 2: If there is no Windows Systems installed on your client, we will provide a supplementary USB tool to enable the Intel PAT Agent. For details, please refer to Intel PAT technical forum, or you can contact IPAT support for more help.
I pressed F4 when the screen shows “Press F4 to enter the Intel® PAT Agent” during the boot of my client. Why is there no response?
This is because the USB keyboard did not respond in the current boot state, please check the settings in the related BIOS options, and make sure that the USB keyboard is enabled and can be loaded normally during the computer boot.
Where can I get more information and assistance about Intel® PAT?
The following provides a list of resources for more Intel PAT information:
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This applies to:
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