Features

The Pivcon Management Platform is designed to be an extensible provisioning and desktop management platform.  It has extensive capabilities as a platform for deploying solutions built from other open source and commercial offerings.  Please review the features below to get a general feel of the turnkey features. 

Key Features:

  • Fast, powerful, scalable PC provisioning system.
  • Native VHD Boot Support for Windows 7 Enterprise/Ultimate, Windows 8 Professional and Windows 8.1 Professional! Deploy your images as Virtual Hard Disks (VHD) and boot them natively for full hardware performance and compatibility.
  • Automatic end-user snapshots are used on each image boot to allow you to quickly throw away changes made by students and revert back to your stable image.
  • Supports multiple simultaneous images.  No need to overwrite your production image when testing a new image.  Make sure the new image works and your users are happy before you delete the old image.  Two or more images on the same computer makes this a breeze.
  • PivotalPeering peer-to-peer distribution makes image deployment lightning fast and trouble-free, without the headaches that come with multicast.
  • VDI benefits without the infrastructure requirements.
  • Extensive remote node management and monitoring.
  • Versatile custom scripting and image patching capabilities.
  • VM Boot Support for Linux and other non-windows operating systems.  Deploy Windows and Linux side-by-side.

Detailed Feature List:

Deployment Roles

  • Electronic Computer Classrooms
  • Smart Classrooms w/ Smart Boards and Significant External USB/AUdio/Visual Hardware
  • Electronic Computer Learning Centers
  • Computer Labs and Science/Technology Labs with Computers
  • Web Browsing Stations (often requires no image)
  • Thin Client Workstation (RDP) via RDesktop or VMWare View Open Client
  • Thin Client Workstation (PCoIP) via VMWare View Client (Planned)
  • Campus Kiosks (often requires no image)
  • Digital Signage Networks (often requires no image)
  • Faculty/Staff/Administrator Offices w/ Virtual Disk User Profiles

Supervisor

  • Boot from Removable Media (CD/DVD/Thumb drive)
  • Boot from Network
  • Automatic Hard Drive Install
  • Installs on Long Term Support Build of Ubuntu
  • Centralized Supervisor Upgrades (utilizing peer-to-peer distribution)
  • Supervisor Works Disconnected from the Network
  • Self-healing Using Copy-on-Write Partition (high consistency)
  • Super-fast Installation on Bare Metal Computers with Empty Hard Drives (less than 2 minutes)
  • Supports 64 Bit Kernel (supports 32 and 64 bit client operating system deployments)
  • Very Small Installation Size (< 800 MB)

Status

  • Hardware Inventory Collection and Reporting
  • Remote Image Deployment Status Web Reporting
  • Local Image Deployment and Provisioning Status on Screen
  • Local CPU, Disk, Network Utilization on Screen
  • Advanced Graphical User Interface Based Status and Reporting
  • Textual Log Files with Detailed Information about Configuration and Provisioning

Configuration and Management

  • Assign Multiple Simultaneous Images (either Native VHD or Virtual Machines, in any mix) to a Single Computer
  • Hierarchal Configuration Schema Allowing Inheritance of Settings from Parents
  • Bulk Reassignment of Nodes from One Configuration to Another
  • Automated Quick Registration (allow junior and part time staff to quickly register computers)
  • Can be Pre-loaded by Computer Vendors Before Shipping in Less than 2 Minutes
  • Node Sub-group Membership, with Ability to Assign Configuration and Actions to a Sub-group
  • Purpose Built Secure Desktop Focused on Launching Images
  • Password Controlled Images and Applications
  • Web Based Graphical User Interface: Image Management on Primary Seeder
  • Web Based Graphical User Interface: System Configuration
  • Network Based Command Sender and Listener (can target any level of hierarchy or specific nodes)
  • Debugging/Test Modes that Allow Support Professionals to See More Verbose Messaging

Distribution

  • Peer-to-Peer Distribution (fast, minimal server requirements)
  • Unicast Distribution (simple, more significant server requirements)
  • Designate Clients as Dedicated Peer-to-Peer Seeders per Image
  • Peer-to-Peer Clients can Start Downloading Image before Image is Completely Uploaded to Server

Virtual Disk Support

Shared by Windows Native VHD Boot and Virtual Machine Boot

  • Uncompressed Image Distribution
  • Optional Compressed Image Distribution (approx 2:1 compression)
  • Automated Sysprep Provisioning
  • Automated Post-provisioning Patching
  • Differencing Disk Used Before Provisioning to Keep Master Image Stable
  • Differencing Disk Used Before End-user Boot (resets state for each boot)
  • Offline File System Patching (NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, FAT)
  • Offline Windows Registry Changes
  • Reprovision Without Re-downloading

 

For Images Booted in Native VHD Boot Mode Only

  • Microsoft Windows 7/8/8.1 Native VHD Boot Support
  • Automatic Boot Loader/BCD Configuration
  • Support for Nested VHD Differencing Disks
  • Automatically Hide NTFS Partition Holding VHDs From Windows
  • Separate Native NTFS Pagefile Partition

 

For Images Booted in Virtual Machine Mode Only

  • Background Provisioning (e.g. Windows sysprep)
  • Background Peer-to-Peer Transfers
  • Boot Multiple VM's Simultaneously
  • Continued Seeding of All Images After Booting Virtual Machines
  • USB Pass-Through
  • Full screen VM or Windowed VM

Hypervisor Integration

  • Integrates with Oracle VirtualBox
  • Supports VHD and VDI Virtual Disks

 

Feature Sheet

Download:
Feature Sheet