Examining Desktop Deployment Options

When it comes to deploying workstations in a Microsoft Windows networking environment, several options are available. You could load operating systems by starting with boot disks or by starting the installation from across the network using a command-line network client such as MS Client. Some options were adopted by large hardware distributors, but these options were too complicated and required many hours of testing; therefore, they were never adopted by small and medium-sized organizations that did not see the value in complicated installations. Windows 2000 and Windows XP continue to follow Microsoft's record of providing several desktop deployment methods.

Manual Installation

Installing Windows XP or Windows 2000 manually is always an option and probably the most frequently used method of installing the operating system. Many administrators and organizations consider imaging undependable or questionable. As a matter of fact, in previous versions of Windows operating systems, if a machine was installed using imaging software, it was always questionable and sometimes blamed for system corruption. One of the advantages of manual installation is that you always start with the clean base operating system to build upon.

To install Windows XP manually, insert the Windows XP bootable media and start the workstation. You might need to enter a key to boot from the CD, but after that the installation will start. The step-by-step installation instructions on the root drive of the Windows XP CD are clear and easy to follow.

Unattended Installations

A more automated method of installation is the unattended installation. This type of installation is possible because the installation questions are answered automatically using information stored in a setup or answer file.

An advantage of this approach is that the entire installation can be scripted and loaded on a CD. When you boot from this CD, the operating system installation commences. When applications are assigned using Group Policy, the workstation could be up and running automatically within a short time frame. The time to complete the unattended installation is close to the time required for a manual installation, but user error can be reduced and the installation does not need to be watched to keep the installation moving. The only user intervention necessary is starting the system from the bootable CD.

You can customize an unattended installation to support several types of installations and hardware configurations by specifying information in the installation configuration files.

Desktop Imaging

Desktop images are copies of the running workstation in its current state. Only a few software vendors have developed software that has been used successfully to deploy Windows workstations using stored images.

Remote Installation Services

Remote Installation Services (RIS) on Windows Server 2003 can be used to create and deploy Windows 2000 and Windows XP desktop images. Also, starting with Windows Server 2003, server-based images can be created and deployed using RIS. Remote Installation Services takes advantage of a few system preparation tools to enable you to automate and standardize desktop installations across the enterprise. RIS does have some client-side requirements and limitations, but even a basic installation with one image could greatly simplify desktop deployment.

Third-Party Imaging Software

Some of the advantages of using third-party imaging software are that you can compress data and create bootable images that can be split across multiple CDs. Also, the more advanced versions provide one-to-one (Unicast) and many-to-one (Multicast) modes.

Multicast Imaging Software

Multicast technology provides the ability to send compressed and sometimes encrypted data to several clients using only a single stream of information. The technology itself is optimized and requires less network bandwidth than if the same number of clients were accessing the data stream individually. Multicast server and workstation imaging software allows administrators to take advantage of this technology to deploy images to a handful or hundreds of workstations on the local network or across the entire enterprise. The only catch is that each of the multicast clients must remain idle until all the clients have attached and are ready to receive the image. After all the clients are connected, the image can be pushed down on all the workstations simultaneously.