One area large corporates typically excel is desktop and application deployment. One push of a button and a new machine is built, configured and loaded with the correct applications for a particular user. Companies spend thousands on having this capability to offset staff costs and spend many hours developing and tuning the different builds.
Many administrators in small businesses are envious of this capability and often resign themselves to hand-cranking every new machine. For low volumes building by hand is feasible, but as the volumes increase, the time taken in preparation becomes a major drain on resources.
Is there another way?
There are basically three options to avoid installing by hand:
* Imaging
* Microsoft Remote Installation Services (RIS)
* Automated installation (CD or server based)
Discounting the first two options was simple given that:
a) The mix of hardware and a constantly changing application environment makes the number and frequency of image updates would make administration onerous. Guaranteed to fall by the wayside fairly quickly.
b) Expertise in the inner workings of windows deployment using Microsoft's tools is required. As a longtime Solaris and Linux administrator, I had no relevant experience and no desire to learn the required tools.
Automated deployment tools
So that left the automated tools, the main contenders looked to be:
ANI (Automated Network Installation) is a server based automation tool for deploying the OS. It does not have any capability for application installation, so ruled itself out early on.
nLite is a CD based build and has been around for x years. It has many fans in the Windows world and building a CD was easy, although when the moment came, it didn't boot a new machine. Despite there being a good amount of community help available, the windows bias and need to master boot CDs with every change meant it did not seem a great fit for me.
It was while researching the problems I was having with nLite, I came across Unattended.
Unattended is a small open source project found on Sourceforge. It basically comprises of a Linux boot disk to mount a network share and a set of perl scripts that handle installing the OS, patches and applications. I especially like the fact that, being based on Linux, you can peer under the hood to see what is going on and easily add to the configuration. A clever feature is the ability to handle reboots and continue with the installation, by using autologin credentials and updating the registry. This makes for a truly hands-off experience.
Installation is trivial, once the correct DNS and Samba shares entries are in place. The installation instructions are well written and easy to follow, but assume you are proficient with configuring Samba and adding DNS entries. Pop a boot disk into you new machine and you will be installing Windows in no time. I only deploy XP so the tool is perfect for me - but note there is no support for Vista/Windows 7 currently.
Unattended is preconfigured to install a number of popular Microsoft and Open Source applications and amending the config scripts for new applications is trivial, with any problems normally being caused by incorrect switches on the installer.
I now have the ability to deploy an XP system, preconfigured with Service Pack 3, recommended patches and a suite of applications with minimal effort. How much effort?
1. Pop in boot CD
2. Enter the Windows serial number
3. Confirm you want to format the hard drive
4. Carry on with your day, in about an hour your system will be ready to go
Overall I have been really impressed with Unattended and hope it grows in strength. Adding new apps to a standard build is a breeze; testing is as simple as editing a.bat file and trying the install from a client. My next goal for the tool is to deploy applications to Windows 7 workstations and I will be keeping an eye on development for Windows Vista & 7.
About the Author:
Craig Harffey is Chief Technology Officer for The Myfreedom Group, an IT and data centre services company providing consultancy, relocations, recruitment and support services to medium and large organisations.
Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5095482
