SystemForge is provided as a combination of services and software. For more details on the cost of SystemForge please contact sales@1e.com, who will be glad to provide an estimate based on your requirements.

No. SystemForge is a completely stand-alone offering.

SystemForge reduces test harness build times and provides consistency and reliability to project test cycles. As a rough estimate based on typical project timescales you can expect to save around 2 to 3 months in testing cycle time and effort over a twelve month development project.

OS requirements
SystemForge should install and be configurable on any server running the following Microsoft server operating systems:

•	Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later
•	Windows Server 2003 R2
•	Windows Server 2008

Software requirements
SystemForge requires that the following software is installed on the server:

•	.NET 2.0 Framework
•	MMC 3.0
•	Public and Private Key Certificate (if using certificate based security)
•	Access to a SQL Server Database (if using version control)
•	An SSH client (if using Linux support)

Linux requirements
If using SystemForge to build Linux machines it is necessary to install an SSH client.

No. SystemForge has the capability to build Red Hat Linux servers. Future versions may support additional OS. Please contact sales@1e.com for more details.

SystemForge is aimed at simplifying the complex task of building many different servers simultaneously, where the servers are dependent upon each others configuration.

A single SystemForge server data store has been tested with up to 310,000 objects – in real terms this could be 50,000 servers with a small number of configuration parameters per server, or 1500 servers each with massively complex configurations.

Each SystemForge sever can build up to 200 servers concurrently. You can have as many SystemForge servers on your network as you need, allowing the solution to scale to enterprise level.

SystemForge does not do anything to install an Operating System. It requires that the target machine has an installation of Windows (see supported above) with functional networking, .NET Framework 2.0 and must be running the SystemForge Agent. It is possible for these to be pre-installed in an OS image, or they can be automatically installed after OS deployment. We suggest using SMS/System Center Configuration Manager 2007 OSD to perform these duties.

Yes. SystemForge is a powerful tool dealing with executing code on remote machines, as a result it supports the following security specific features:

•	SystemForge communicates over a single port, which is configurable
•	The SystemForge console is locked down to specific user accounts
•	No Domain Administrator type access is required
•	Certificates can be used to encrypt communication between SystemForge Server and Client

Yes. SystemForge is a powerful product capable of automating complex server rig builds with interdependencies between tasks. 1E have decades of experience in building complex server environments. Leveraging 1E Services skill set and using the scripts provided by 1E Services enables the rapid tailoring of SystemForge to suit your particular environment. As a result SystemForge is not available for download directly.

Yes. The SystemForge Management Pack has been written for use with Operations Manager 2007.

SystemForge is not just for creating new server builds, it can also be used as a handy maintenance tool for re-configuring existing servers – especially where interdependencies exist.

There are two main components in SystemForge:

•	The SystemForge Server handles all the definition of the environments, machines, tasks, dependencies and parameters. It also handles the centralized control of the building of machines using the tasks.
•	The SystemForge Agent runs on the target machines and handles the running of tasks that build the machine and the status communications with the SystemForge server.

The SystemForge Server can control the build of multiple machines with cross dependencies and reliably know the progress of each individual build via the SystemForge Agent.

SystemForge greatly enhances the automation of defining machine builds by handling unknown machines. The SystemForge Agent will send information to SystemForge about the machine it is running on: such as the machine name and IP address. It may be the case that the SystemForge Agent is running on a machine previously unknown to the SystemForge Server.

The SystemForge Server interface lets you pick up these unassigned machines and drop them onto placeholders in a build environment, enabling you to quickly fill out the environment with machines that are actually running on the network.

This reduces one step in the build process, sidestepping the need to pre-define every machine's IP address and name into the build environment. You can simply add the SystemForge Agent to the machine and let it provide its own details. Then, when it appears in the SystemForge Server console, drag and drop it onto its place in the build.

The SystemForge Server console provides a complete monitoring environment that lets you view the progress and status of each build. From here you can also control the overall deployment electing to pause, continue or cancel current deployments.

If any errors occur during the running of the machine build tasks, SystemForge will automatically pause the build, giving you the option of attempting to fix the task error before continuing. To help investigate problems SystemForge lets you view the task with all the parameters set so you can see exactly what is being run on the target machine. It also provides access to any detailed error information provided by the running task. These quickly let you get to the root of the problem, once it is fixed you then resume the build from where it was paused.