Chapter 25 - Managing Software

Chapter 25

Among the tedious tasks an administrator faces is the management of software on client systems. Users don't have necessary software. Client systems need to be upgraded. Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP clients must be deployed. All these tasks require a great investment of time, particularly if you must physically go to each client system and perform each installation.

Although solutions to this problem have existed for some time, most notably in the form of the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS), Windows 2000 made a great leap forward in software deployment by integrating software management and deployment capabilities into the operating system. With Windows 2000 Server, administrators can deploy applications and operating systems automatically to the users and computers that need them.

This ability can be combined with other so-called IntelliMirror technologies such as User Data Management, User Settings Management, and Remote Installation Services to allow the transparent deployment of systems that are ready to use, complete with Windows and the users' data and settings (data and settings are stored in profiles, which are discussed in the Maintaining User Profiles section of Chapter 9).

This chapter covers Software Installation and Maintenance, deploying Windows service packs as well as setting up and using Remote Installation Services in detail. This chapter also briefly covers using legacy applications that don't seem to work in Windows 2000.

Because both Software Installation and Maintenance and Remote Installation Services are based on Group Policy and use the Group Policy snap-in extensively, you should have a good understanding of Group Policy before using these tools. Chapter 9 provides an introduction to Group Policy.