Chapter 24 -- Managing Software

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Chapter 24

Among an administrator's most tedious tasks is the management of software on client systems. Users don't have certain necessary software. Client systems need to be upgraded. Microsoft Windows 2000 clients must be deployed. All of this requires a great deal of time if you must physically go to each client system and perform each installation and configuration.

Windows 2000 addresses this problem by giving administrators the ability to deploy applications and operating systems automatically to users and computers that need them. This ability can be combined with other IntelliMirror technologies such as User Data Management and User Settings Management to allow the transparent deployment of systems that are ready to use, complete with Windows 2000 and the users' system settings and data.

Although this chapter discusses User Data Management and User Settings Management only briefly, it covers Software Installation and Maintenance as well as Remote Installation Services in detail, so read on. (A more thorough discussion of folder redirection is available in Chapter 9.)

TIP

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