Installing Windows Server 2003 with Group Policy and Systems Management Server

As a final note, you can use Group Policy to upgrade Windows Server 2003 in the existing Active Directory or Systems Management Server (SMS) infrastructure. You can perform complete operating system upgrades or just install service packs.

You can also use SMS to inventory and confirm system compatibility before you upgrade and then to confirm that the upgrade to Windows Server 2003 was successful.

The combination of Group Policy and SMS can use a central installation point to perform upgrades on similar or dissimilar hardware. It can be used for the prestaging of servers as well, and is easy to reconfigure if your needs change.