In this article:
This article explores the PE Agent UI, and what the various options in the PE Agent can be used for.
One of the biggest changes, introduced by Macrium SiteDeploy®, is the PE Agent. The PE Agent is a component that runs in the deployment media and enables communication between the deployment environment and the SiteDeploy® server.
Once the deployment media has been booted, the PE Agent will be displayed:
Once the deployment media has booted, the message 'Startup complete. It is now safe to remove the boot media.' will be displayed. This indicates that the deployment media has booted successfully and the storage device that contains the deployment media can be removed and used to boot another computer if necessary.
At the top of the deployment media, information about the connection to SiteDeploy® is displayed:
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Connection | This shows the connection status of the PE Agent to SiteDeploy®. If the connection status is shown as 'Connected' then the PE Agent is communicating with SiteDeploy®. If the connection status is shown as 'Disconnected' the 'Connect' button on the right of the PE Agent can be used to connect to the SiteDeploy® Server. |
| Login | In order to access golden image stores for golden image creation and endpoint-initiated golden image deployment, the user accessing the PE Agent must authenticate against the SiteDeploy® server. You can read more about user management in this article. If the current user has not authenticated, this will show 'Unauthenticated', and options in the PE Agent, that require authentication, will be disabled. |
| Server | This shows the SiteDeploy® server that the PE Agent is connected to. |
| Agent | This shows 'Recovery:X', with the X being an incrementing number for each computer that is booted using the deployment media. This recovery number will also be shown in the SiteDeploy® central management console and can be used to help identify endpoints. |
On the right of the PE Agent, there are several buttons that can be clicked:
| Button | Description |
|---|---|
| Disconnect/Connect | If the PE Agent is connected to the Site Manager server, this button will show 'Disconnect' and can be used to disconnect from the Site Manager server. If the PE Agent is not connected to a Site Manager server, this button will show 'Connect'. Selecting this button will present a connection window, where a Site Manager server's connection details can be specified. |
| Log In | This button can be used to authenticate against the Site Manager server. The authentication details will be the same username and password that are used to access the Site Manager central management console. |
| Computer Details | This button will open additional information about the computer where the PE Agent is running. This includes information about the computer's hardware and Site Manager Agent information if the computer is also being managed for backups by Macrium Site Manager. |
| Reboot | This will reboot the computer. |
At the bottom of the PE Agent are buttons that can be clicked to perform operations, and a brief description of what the button does:
Restore Agent
This button will initiate a guided restore of the computer if it is also being managed by Site Manager for backups:
Launch Reflect
This button will launch the rescue media version of Macrium Reflect. If the user that has authenticated in the PE Agent has the relevant permissions, a repository can be mapped in Macrium Reflect to make manual image restores easier.
The repository can be selected from the listing of existing Site Manager repositories and then mapped to a drive a letter:
The mapped repository share is then accessible in the explorer:
This article contains more information about restoring an image using the rescue media version of Macrium Reflect.
Deploy
Selecting 'Deploy' will start an endpoint-initiated deployment. The window that opens displays a list of available golden images.
Once an image has been selected, the deployment wizard will open.
This article contains more information about performing an endpoint-initiated deployment.
Take Golden Image
Selecting this option will open the 'Take Golden Image wizard'.
This article contains more information about creating a golden image.