Looking for Beta Testers for an automated operating system deployment service

I am working on offering an automated operating system installation service called FastDeploy. It uses conventional PXE and TFTP services as well as standard scripting systems like Kickstart and preseeding to deploy CentOS, Fedora Core, Debian, and Ubuntu. You can either boot off of CD or use a PXE stack from your network card or the PXE stack on the CD. PXE requires a locally configurable DHCP server.

FastDeploy works over the Internet so clearly it will not work as fast as a local PXE/DHCP server on a 100/1000Mbps pipe. I have about 10Mbps of connectivity so set your expectations accordingly. FastDeploy is geared to users who do not want to go to the trouble of setting up a local automated OS install environment.

To try it out, please signup here:

https://secure.serverminds.com/order/create_account.php

Please note: You do not need to pay for the service! I am just using a cart system to create accounts inside the FastDeploy service and will eventually use it to charge. All you have to do is create an account.

Once you've created an account, login here:
https://secure.serverminds.com/support/cp_index.php

I'd recommend you download the Serverminds LiveCD here to "test the waters" and try out an automated install of a generic server configuration:

http://secure.serverminds.com/support/serverminds.iso

Please reference the FastDeploy user guide here before asking questions (warning: PDF):

http://secure.serverminds.com/support/ug.pdf

To get the full "experience," I'd recommend using the Web interface to do a basic setup of the server parameters, then boot off PXE once you have a configured DHCP server. If you're unfamilar with how to setup DHCP to support PXE booting, I will help you with that (the User Guide also covers DHCP server setup for Windows server and ISC DHCP).

Please Note: THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT! FastDeploy WIPES YOUR HARD DRIVE! I have not written any partitioning intelligence into the scripts yet. It just wipes your hard drive, period. DO NOT use this service on any machine where you have valueable data. You've been warned!

I fully expect that this will be buggy and many users will have failures with the automated scripts. I also expect many users will find it too slow, needs to support BSD and Windows, etc. That's why this is a beta test.

When/if you do have problems, do not hesitate to email me at support@serverminds.com or IM at AIM: smindssupport or MSN: support@serverminds.com. Please send your suggestions to support@serverminds.com as it's harder to track that in IM.