Deployment Tools and Methods

There are a number of methods for deploying Windows Server 2003 (and hence IIS 6) on your network. Some of these methods are simple (insert the product CD and reboot), while others are complex (using Microsoft Systems Management Server [SMS], for example). Some methods require manual intervention (such as installation from a network distribution point), while others are automated (such as disk imaging with Sysprep.exe and Sysprep.inf). To help you wade through the various concepts and terminologies involved, this section will first survey the various deployment tools you can use and then examine each deployment method in various degrees of detail. One could easily write a whole book on deploying Windows Server 2003, so what you will find here is an abbreviated tour.

Deployment Tools

I’ll begin the tour with a brief overview of the tools and terminology associated with various manual and automated deployment methods outlined later in this chapter. If you’re in a hurry, you can skip this section for now and refer back to it when reading the later sections “Manual Deployment Methods” and “Automated Deployment Methods.”

Product CD

Besides using your Windows Server 2003 product CD for installing or upgrading systems, you should also keep this CD nearby in case you have problems booting your system. If key operating system files or the Registry becomes corrupt or bad drivers are loaded when new devices are installed, you may not be able to boot your system. In such a situation, you can boot your system directly from the product CD and use either the Recovery Console or Automated System Recovery to repair the problem. For information on how to troubleshoot startup problems using these and other tools, see the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit from Microsoft.

Cmdlines.txt

This file can be used to customize deployments using disk imaging, an automated deployment process described later in this chapter in the section “Automated Deployment Methods.” When the Mini-Setup portion of the imaging process finishes, any commands in the Cmdlines.txt file are executed asynchronously prior to final system restart. To use Cmdlines.txt, you must specify it in the [Unattended] section of the Sysprep.inf file, and you must supply the Cmdlines.txt file for the target system either on a floppy disk or by copying it to the system’s hard disk.

Distribution Point

Copying the contents of the product CD (or the contents of the I386 folder on the CD) to a shared folder on a network file server creates a distribution point to which machines to be upgraded or installed can connect and run Setup (or Winnt or Winnt32). This is discussed further in the section “Network Install”; see also the upcoming section “Setupmgr.exe.”

Setup.exe

This file, located in the root directory of your product CD, is used to start the upgrade process for upgrading Windows NT 4 Server or Windows 2000 Server to Windows Server 2003. To run this program, you must be a member of the Administrators local group on your machine (or Domain Admins in a domain-based environment). After logging on to the local machine as Administrator, there are two ways you can manually start the upgrade process using Setup.exe:

• Insert the product CD into the system’s CD-ROM drive. Autorun (if enabled) will launce Setup.exe automatically.

• Insert the product CD into a shared CD-ROM drive on a network file server (or copy the entire CD to a network share), connect to the network share by mapping a drive or entering the UNC path in the Run box, and double-click Setup.exe to start the upgrade.

When upgrading from Windows 2000, an alternative method of starting Setup.exe on a machine is to log on with your ordinary user account (not your Administrator account) and use the Runas command to start Setup.exe using your Administrator credentials. To do this, hold down the SHIFT key, right-click the Setup.exe file in Windows Explorer, and select Run As from the context menu. Enter the account, password, and domain of the credentials you want to use to run the program, and click OK. You can also use the runas command from the command line to run a program with alternate credentials; type runas /? at the command prompt for more info.

Note 

Setup.exe is used only for performing upgrades—to do a clean install, use either Winnt.exe or Winnt32.exe.

Setupmgr.exe

This tool, called Setup Manager, is included in the Deploy.cab file in the \Support\Tools folder on your product CD, and can be used to

• Create answer files on automated, unattended installations.

• Create a distribution point for network installs.

Setup Manager can be used to create answer files for several kinds of automated installations:

• Unattend.txt file for normal unattended installs

• Sysprep.inf for unattended installs using Sysprep and third-party disk imaging tools

• RIStndrd.sif for unattended installs using Remote Installation Services (RIS)

Changes in this new version of Setup Manager include encrypting administrator passwords for greater security; an improved interface; and eliminating context-sensitive Help, which is replaced with an improved .chm help file. For full instructions on how to use this tool, see the Microsoft Windows Corporate Deployment Tools User’s Guide in the Deploy.chm file in the \Support\Tools folder on your product CD.

Sysprep.exe

The Microsoft Windows System Preparation tool (Sysprep) is used to prepare a system for duplication by disk imaging, an automated deployment process described later in this chapter. Sysprep is run on a master installation to ensure that each duplicated copy of the master’s disk image is unique when distributed to target systems. Sysprep also ensures that the target systems start in a special setup mode called Mini-Setup when they are first booted after being imaged. Mini-Setup performs hardware detection and regenerates security identifiers (SIDs) to ensure the installed system is unique on the network. You can also automate the way Mini-Setup runs by customizing an .inf file called Sysprep.inf, described in the next section.

Sysprep can be run either as a GUI tool or from the command line. You can find Sysprep on your product CD or download the latest version from Microsoft’s website.

Sysprep.inf

This text file is an answer file that can be used to automate how Mini-Setup runs when deploying systems using disk imaging, an automated deployment process described later in the section “Automated Deployment Methods.” Sysprep.inf can be configured to respond to the prompts for user information during Mini-Setup, run scripts or commands when Mini-Setup is complete, and perform other tasks related to automating deployment by disk imaging.

Unattend.txt

This is an answer file used to automatically answer the prompts generated during normal Setup. By using Winnt.exe (or Winnt32.exe) with the appropriate switch and specifying the answer file, you can fully automate a normal Windows Server 2003 clean installation. For more information, see the section “Unattended Install” later in this chapter.

WinPE

This tool, Windows Preinstallation Environment, is specifically intended for use by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to enable them to preinstall Windows Server 2003 on new computers for customers. WinPE is essentially a bootable OS that provides you with limited functionality for performing certain preinstallation tasks (on legacy Windows NT systems, OEMs used to use MS-DOS for this same purpose). If you are an OEM, you can obtain the WinPE for Corporations toolkit from Microsoft. Some enterprise customers may also qualify for obtaining and using this kit, so contact Microsoft if you’re interested.

Winnt.exe

This file is in the I386 folder on the product CD and can be used to perform a clean install of Windows Server 2003 on 16-bit MS-DOS and Windows 3.x systems. To perform a clean install on 32-bit Windows platforms, use Winnt32.exe instead, which is discussed next. As shown in Table 3-1, Winnt.exe has a number of command-line switches that can be used to automate installations and perform other tasks.

Table 3-1: Optional Switches for Winnt.exe

Switch	Description
/s[:sourcepath]	Source location of installation files, must be a full path of form x:[path] or \\server\share[path]
/t[:tempdrive]	Tells Setup to put temporary files on specified drive and to install Windows on that drive
/u[:answer file]	Does an unattended installation using an answer file (requires /s)
/udf:id [,UDF_file]	Specifies an identifier (id) that Setup uses to specify a Uniqueness Database File (UDF) that modifies the answer file (see /u)
/r[:folder]	Specifies an optional folder to be installed (folder remains after Setup finishes)
/rx[:folder]	Specifies an optional folder to be copied (folder is deleted after Setup finishes)
/e	Specifies a command to be executed at the end of GUI-mode Setup
/a	Enables accessibility options

Tip 

For more information on any of these switches, insert the product CD, switch to the I386 folder on it, and type winnt /? to see a Help listing.

Winnt32.exe

This file is in the I386 folder on the product CD and can be used to perform a clean install of Windows Server 2003 on 32-bit Windows platforms including Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT (requires Service Pack 5 or later), Windows 2000, and Windows XP. You can also use Winnt32.exe to upgrade from the Standard Edition of Windows Server 2003 to Enterprise Edition. To perform a clean install on 16-bit MS-DOS or Windows 3.x, use Winnt.exe instead, which is discussed in the preceding section. As shown in Table 3-2, Winnt32.exe has a number of command-line switches that can be used to automate installations and perform other tasks.

Table 3-2: Optional Switches for Winnt32.exe

Switch	Description
/checkupgradeonly	Does not perform an install, but simply checks your computer for upgrade compatibility with Windows Server 2003 (same as inserting product CD and selecting Check System Compatibility).
/cmd:command	Tells Setup to execute the specified command before final phase of Setup.
/cmdcons	Installs the Recovery Console as a startup option (this option can only be used after normal Setup is complete).
/copydir:i386\folder_name	Creates the specified subfolder within the folder in which the operating system files are installed.
/copysource:folder_name	Creates an additional temporary subfolder within the folder in which the operating system files are installed.
/debug[level]:[filename]	Creates a debug log at the specified level.
/dudisable	Disables Dynamic Update from running during Setup.
/duprepare:pathname	Prepares an installation share to use with Dynamic Update files you downloaded from Windows Update.
/dushare:pathname	Specifies the share on which you previously downloaded Dynamic Update files and on which you previously ran /duprepare:pathname.
/emsport:{com1|com2|usebiossettings|off}	Enables/disables Emergency Management Services (EMS) during Setup and after the operating system has been installed.
/emsbaudrate:baudrate	Specifies baud rate for EMS when used with /emsport:com1 or /emsport:com2.
/m:folder_name	Tells Setup to copy replacement files from an alternate location.
/makelocalsource	Tells Setup to copy all installation source files to your local hard disk.
/noreboot	Tells Setup to not restart computer after file copy phase of Setup is finished.
/s:sourcepath	Specifies source location of installation files (to simultaneously copy files from multiple servers, use the /s:sourcepath option up to eight times).
/syspart:drive_letter	Lets you copy Setup startup files to a hard disk, mark the disk as active, and then install the disk into another computer; when you start that computer, it automatically begins the next phase of Setup (must also use /tempdrive).
/tempdrive:drive_letter	Tells Setup to put temporary files on specified partition.
/udf:id [,UDB_file]	Specifies an identifier (id) used by Setup to specify which Uniqueness Database (UDB) file modifies the answer file.
/unattend	Upgrades Windows NT 4 Server (with Service Pack 5 or later) or Windows 2000 Server in unattended Setup mode.
/unattend[num]:[answer_file]	Does a clean installation in unattended Setup mode using the specified answerfile.

Tip 

Some of these switches are not available when running Winnt32.exe on 64-bit Itanium systems. For more info on any of these switches, insert the product CD, switch to the I386 folder on it, and type winnt32 /? to see a Help listing.

Manual Deployment Methods

Installing Windows Server manually is generally suitable for only small deployments of a dozen or so servers. This is mainly due to the length of time involved in performing each installation or upgrade. The manual deployment process is often referred to as interactive setup because it requires an administrator or operator to be present at the machine during the installation to interact with the various prompts generated by the setup program. There are four different ways to install or upgrade to Windows Server 2003 manually:

• Accessing your Windows Server 2003 CD from your existing OS

• Booting directly from your Windows Server 2003 CD

• Performing a network install from a shared distribution point containing the Windows Server 2003 source files

• Using a custom bootable CD you’ve created using WinPE

Let’s examine each of these methods separately for installations and upgrades of x86-based systems (see your system manufacturer’s documentation for installing or upgrading Itanium systems).

Upgrade Using Product CD

To upgrade using the product CD, insert the CD and follow the prompts. Of course, you must make sure your current OS supports upgrading to Windows Server 2003— see the section “Upgrade Paths” later in this chapter for more info.

Install Using Product CD

To do a clean install directly from the product CD on a system having no OS, simply configure your BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM drive, insert the CD, and follow the prompts. If your system has an existing OS, or if your BIOS doesn’t support booting from CD-ROM, you have several options to choose from:

• If your system is running MS-DOS, first make sure you are using SMARTDrive to enable disk caching. Then insert the CD, type d: to switch to the CD-ROM drive, type cd i386 to change to the I386 folder, and type winnt to run Winnt.exe and start the install.

• If your system is running Windows 3.x, again make sure that you are using SMARTDrive, and then open File Manager and navigate to the I386 folder on your CD-ROM drive. Double-click Winnt.exe to start the install.

• If your system is running Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT (requires Service Pack 5 or later), Windows 2000, or Windows XP, just insert the CD and follow the prompts.

Even if you have an existing OS on your system, if your BIOS supports booting from CD-ROM, you can simply insert the product CD and restart the computer to start the install. This is the easiest way of doing a clean install, and it requires only configuring the BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM before trying the C: drive.

Network Install

To perform an upgrade over the network, copy the contents of the product CD to a shared folder on a network file server. Then go to the system you want to upgrade, connect to the shared folder (called a distribution point because it distributes the product installation files to network clients that need them), and run Setup.exe (in the root directory of the product CD). Instead of copying the contents of the product CD to the file server, you can simply insert the CD into the file server’s CD-ROM and share the CD-ROM drive. This alternate method will work fine if you are upgrading a single server; but if you are going to upgrade two or more servers at the same time, the method will suffer because of CD-ROM drive thrashing. For multiple simultaneous network installs, use a shared folder instead—or better yet, several distribution points on different file servers.

To perform a clean install over the network, follow the approach just described but run Winnt.exe or Winnt32.exe instead of Setup.exe. If the computer you are doing the install on is running MS-DOS or Windows 3.x, run Winnt.exe; if it’s running Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT (with Service Pack 5 or later), Windows 2000, or Windows XP, run Winnt32.exe. See Tables 3-1 and 3-2 earlier in this chapter for a description of the optional switches you can use when running Winnt.exe and Winnt32.exe.

Custom Bootable CD

Using the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) tools available to OEMs and some enterprise volume licensing customers, you can create a bootable ISO image that contains the Windows Server 2003 installation files plus additional device drivers, scripts, and commands to run using Cmdlines.txt, and an unattend.txt file you specify. You can then burn this image onto a CD and use it to perform a custom manual installation of Windows Server 2003. For more information on how to use WinPE see the Microsoft Windows Corporate Deployment Tools User’s Guide in the Deploy.chm file in the \Support\Tools folder on your product CD.

Automated Deployment Methods

Automated deployment of Windows Server 2003 is generally used only when there are large numbers of servers to be deployed, or when preconfigured servers need to be deployed in remote locations where IT staff lack the skills and training to handle other kinds of installation. This section looks briefly at some of the options for automated deployment. Full details on some of these methods are in the Microsoft Windows Corporate Users Deployment Tools Guide (in the Deploy.cab file in the \Support\Tools folder on the product CD) and in the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit, available from Microsoft.

Unattended Install

Normal (manual) installation requires the user to answer various prompts during Setup, including accepting the EULA, specifying Regional Settings, and so on. You can automate this process by performing an unattended install of Windows Server 2003, an option available for clean installs only, not upgrades. To perform an unattended installation, you first create an answer file, a text file usually named unattend.txt that contains answers to Setup prompts and other information. You can create an unattend.txt file two ways:

• Using Setup Manager (Setupmgr.exe), a tool included in the Deploy.cab file in the \Support\Tools folder on your product CD.

• By copying the sample unattend.txt file from the \I386 folder on your product CD and modifying it as needed.

Once you’ve created your unattend.txt file, you can start an unattended installation by typing winnt32.exe /unattend:unattend.txt at the command line, assuming you’ve either inserted the product CD and changed to the I386 directory or you’ve connected to the I386 folder on your network distribution point. For more information about how to create and use answer files, see the documentation on Setup Manager in the Microsoft Windows Corporate Deployment Tools User’s Guide in the Deploy.chm file in the \Support\Tools folder on your product CD.

Disk Imaging

This method of automated installation is sometimes called cloning and involves preconfiguring a system with Windows Server 2003 (and possibly other applications) installed on it, and then copying a bit-by-bit image of the installed system to other systems. The result is a series of identical installed systems that can quickly be deployed on the network. Disk imaging is supported by all editions of Windows Server 2003 and by Windows XP Professional. You can use this deployment method if you have a large number of similar systems (similar hardware and software) you want to quickly deploy. Note also that the imaging process is somewhat customizable—that is, the cloned systems don’t always need to have exactly the same hardware.

To deploy Windows Server 2003 using disk imaging, you need two things:

• The Microsoft Windows System Preparation tool (Sysprep.exe), which was described earlier in the “Deployment Tools” section.

• A third-party disk imaging program like Norton Ghost from Symantec

The four-step process for deployment by disk imaging is as follows:

1. Install a master system that has the exact OS and application configuration you want to clone.

2. Run Sysprep on the master system to prepare its disk for being imaged.

3. Use a third-party disk imaging tool to create an image of the prepared system’s disk.

4. Use the disk-imaging tool to copy the image to your target machines, either by burning the image on a CD or by storing it on a network distribution point and copying it across the network (requires a network boot disk for the target machine).

Some things to remember when considering disk imaging as a deployment method:

• Disk imaging takes a lot of planning, so make sure you have enough installs to do to make it worth the effort.

• The disk imaging process can be automated by using an answer file called Sysprep.inf, which was described in the “Deployment Tools” section earlier in this chapter.

• You can only use this deployment approach when doing clean installs, not upgrades.

• The master and target systems must have identical hardware abstraction layers (HALs).

• Systems with plug-and-play (PnP) devices usually image well. Problems arise more often from legacy devices and mass storage controllers, and when imaging portable devices like CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives. Imaging may also fail if the drive on the target machine has insufficient space for the image and for running the Mini-Setup process.

• Domain controllers can’t be deployed by this method. You must deploy them as stand-alone servers instead and then run Dcpromo.exe to make them domain controllers (or have Sysprep.inf run a script to do this when Mini-Setup finishes).

• Systems where user-level permissions have been preconfigured can’t be deployed by this method. You must deploy them first and then configure permissions afterward (or have Sysprep.inf run a script to do this when Mini-Setup finishes).

• Your imaged system can be customized by running commands contained within the Cmdlines.txt file, provided you specify this in Sysprep.inf and supply a copy of Cmdlines.txt to the target machine (usually on a floppy). Commands in the Cmdlines.txt file are executed at the end of Mini-Setup just before final system reboot.

• Certain components of Windows Server 2003 have to be configured after installation and therefore can’t be deployed by imaging. Examples include Certificate Services, Cluster Service, files encrypted using the Encrypted File System (EFS), and applications that depend for their operation on Active Directory.

• Third-party disk imaging tools have their own licensing requirements that must be adhered to, in addition to licensing requirements for Windows Server 2003 itself.

For more information on planning deployment by disk imaging, see the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Deployment Guide from Microsoft and consult the documentation that accompanies your third-party disk imaging software.

Note 

Sysprep has been improved in this version of Windows and can now successfully image servers running Windows Server 2003 that have IIS installed and configured on them.

RIS

Remote Installation Services (RIS) was first introduced in Windows 2000 Server as a tool for performing mass deployments of Windows 2000 Professional client machines. In Windows Server 2003, RIS now supports deployments of both server and client machines, so you can use RIS to deploy IIS 6 web servers if you have the time to learn how to use it and hardware that supports it (target machines must support remote booting using PXE ROMs or be started using special startup floppy disks). For more information on how to use RIS, see the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Deployment Guide from Microsoft or consult Microsoft’s website.

SMS

Finally, good old Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) can be used for upgrading Windows NT or Windows 2000 servers on your network to Windows Server 2003, as well as for distributing software updates and patches across your enterprise. SMS needs a whole book by itself to learn how to use it, so I won’t go any further into it here. A good source for SMS information is http://www.myITforum.com, a popular site run by SMS guru Rod Trent.