7 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2012.
1 Introducing Acronis Snap Deploy 4
1.1 Overview
1.1.1 What is Acronis Snap Deploy 4
Acronis Snap Deploy 4 is a flexible, efficient software solution for deployment of a fully configured
operating system (with or without application software and any other data) to multiple machines.
Because the product uses disk imaging technology, it is ideal for rapid bare-metal installations and
flexible centralized provisioning.
1.1.2 Who needs Acronis Snap Deploy 4
Acronis Snap Deploy 4 is primarily designed to be used by:
Small and medium-size businesses:
IT service providers
Hardware retailers
IT departments of larger corporations
Schools and universities
R&D and software testing labs
The enterprise features of Acronis Snap Deploy 4 (scheduled deployment, support for Preinstallation
Environment, command-line interface, and scripting, to name a few) can help automate the tasks of
the IT department in large enterprise environments.
1.1.3 Acronis Snap Deploy 4 infrastructure
Components of the Acronis infrastructure are installed on Windows machines. Managing the Acronis
infrastructure is performed by using Acronis Snap Deploy 4 Management Console.
A reference image, called the master image, can be taken in Windows, in the Acronis environment,
or in Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) that contains components of Acronis Snap
Deploy 4.
Deployment is performed in the Acronis environment or in WinPE that contains components of
Acronis Snap Deploy 4. In either environment, Acronis Snap Deploy 4 provides the graphical user
interface (GUI). In addition, command-line mode and scripting are supported in WinPE.
A dedicated bootable utility enables fully-functional deployment with GUI on a stand-alone machine
(a machine that is isolated from the network or is included in a network without Acronis Snap Deploy
4 infrastructure).
1.2 What you can do with Acronis Snap Deploy 4
This section describes typical usage scenarios for Acronis Snap Deploy 4.
