14 DAY TRIAL // Customers running System Center Configuration Manager 2007 on top of hardware infrastructures from specific original equipment manufacturers will be able to leverage the results of Microsoft's efforts to integrate OEM deployment customizations into the product. In this regard, Jeff Wettlaufer, Sr. Technical Product Manager, System Center, pointed out that there were solutions available for download from Dell, HP, IBM, and SUN. With the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 OEM Deployment Packs the Redmond company is essentially making it easy for customers to adapt their deployments to hardware from top server manufacturers.
One example is the Dell Deployment Pack (DDP). The graphical user interface (GUI)-based tool has been designed to hook into System Center Configuration Manager 2007 console. “It eliminates the need for command-line tools and scripts normally used in the Dell OpenMange Deployment Toolkit (DTK) software. To configure and deploy your Dell systems, you need to select configuration options and commands on the GUI using drop-down lists and check boxes. These selections make your system deployment an easy, automated task,” Wettlaufer stated.
Customers relying on servers from HP can download the Deployment Pack for HP tucked into the HP Insight Control suite for System Center. The company promises that the solution will streamline the building of ProLiant server infrastructures in the context of System Center ecosystems. “Insight Control for System Center uses an integrated installer to deploy and configure the ICE-SC components with Microsoft System Center software quickly and accurately. Each wizard based installer allows you to predefine installation and configuration preferences, and then install each component in a single integrated process with minimal intervention,” Wettlaufer explained.
Looking for a solution to help simplify the deployment of RAID configurations and operating system images onto IBM servers? Well, as long as System Center Configuration Manager 2007 site server is also part of the equation, you can grab the IBM Deployment Pack for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 version 1.0. In addition, Wettlaufer noted that “the Sun Deployment Pack 1.0 for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 provides a solution for quickly and easily authoring Sun hardware-specific task sequences for operating system deployment using Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007. This pack seamlessly integrates a custom task sequence action into SCCM, which enables you to easily configure your Sun x64 server hardware as part of an overall operating system deployment.”