Manu replied, "We've rewritten our remote deployment architecture. RIS [ Microsoft Remote Installation Services] is not the easiest tool to work with, so we've revamped it. Also, we had like three or four PXE [Preboot Execution Environment] providers—Windows Server had one, RIS had one, and I think SMS [Microsoft Systems Management Server]also had one. If you put all these PXE providers on the network, they clash with one another. So we've consolidated into one PXE provider: Windows Deployment Services. WDS replaces RIS. All the other technologies, such as SMS, will work on top of WDS. Also, WDS is available as a download, which you can install on Windows Server 2003, not just Longhorn Server."
Spreading the WinPE Word
Another reader requested the "ability to insert drivers into a Sysprep image during a minisetup, not just when the image is created."
If you're not a Microsoft Software Assurance (SA) customer, you might not know about Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE). Although WinPE's availability was previously limited, Manu said that "WinPE for Vista is available to everyone. When you run WinPE, you can dynamically inject drivers into a running WinPE image. Currently you have WinPE on a DVD that you put into your drive. If you want to insert a driver, you have to eject your DVD, which loses WinPE. The new version of WinPE loads into RAM as a RAM disk; it kind of formats your RAM as a disk and runs there. So even if you take out your DVD and put in another CD-ROM with the drivers, WinPE is still running in memory. It's pretty cool."
To readers who requested "a compatibility-tool to check a desktop before Vista installation," Manu responded, "That's what WinPE is. It has diagnostic capabilities, backup capabilities, and all that stuff. WinPE is built with the same WIM technology and the same component technology as Vista, so you can do the same things with WinPE that you can do on Vista. You can write your own applications to do diagnostics because it supports FTP, HTTP, and IPsec."
Manu continued, "Because WinPE has been restricted, people don't know a lot about it. Once they know about it, it will be a big deal. TechEd will have a lot of WinPE sessions and hands-on labs."
A One-Stop Deployment Resource
Finding deployment tools for Windows XP on Microsoft's various Web sites was notoriously difficult. For Vista, Microsoft's Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) is the designated collection point for "end-to-end guidance for efficient planning, building, testing, and deploying." BDD is a great idea, but I pointed out to Manu that only 8 percent of survey respondents have used BDD. He admitted, "That's true, and we want to change that. We provided a few deployment tools for XP, but our approach was haphazard. For example, some people know about the Windows Application Compatibility toolkit, but they don't know about USMT [User State Migration Tool] because we haven't marketed [those tools] with a single deployment story. That's what we want to do with BDD." Instead of sending customers to different sites for different tools, Microsoft is making BDD the one-stop Vista deployment resource.
In response to readers who want "comprehensive reporting of preparation issues and failures linked to online analysis and resolution," Manu replied, "BDD focuses on planning and designing. We'll provide a lot of deployment reporting through BDD tools. BDD is the glue that ties all these things together and makes sure they work well together in a workflow environment. BDD will have monitoring, so you'll know how deployments are proceeding. It will have a lot more capability in terms of light-touch and zero-touch installation. And BDD will be a free download that will package all these tools together."
Keep It Simple
The largest percentage of survey respondents report having from 5 to 9 images, and the next-largest percentage has from 10 to 19. More than half of respondents rate supporting multiple hardware platforms as the biggest obstacle to reducing the number of images, with software distribution coming in second.
Manu's advice: "Look at our app compat and migration tools. Spend a lot of time planning. Inventory your applications now. Figure out your organization structure and the applications you want, and design the right number of images.
"What did Einstein say? 'Make it as simple as you can, but no simpler.' We think we can reduce the number of images by 50 percent in an average organization, but you have to determine what's best for you. You can make the base image large and put everything in it. Having one image might work for some organizations; other people might have a skinny base image and add the rest of the stuff dynamically. That might increase the time to install, but provides more flexibility. If you plan and design better, deployments will go a lot smoother than before."
If you're testing Vista, email me about your experience. Will Vista be easier to deploy than XP?
End of Article
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