14 DAY TRIAL // There's more to deploying the Windows operating system than what meets the eye. Sure enough, a single installation of Windows is bound to be an as streamlined as possible process, but in scenarios involving multiple copies of the platform, users will hit some speed bumps, no doubt about it. Microsoft has a few resources in place designed to tackle just such cases and, until now, they were all offered via the Windows Server System Reference Architecture. The next step on the evolution of the Windows Server System Reference Architecture is the Windows Deployment Services Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide. The Redmond company has just made available the Infrastructure Planning and Design as an open beta available for download thought Connect. (Download here)
"Windows Deployment Services is intended for deployment specialists who are responsible for the deployment of Microsoft Windows operating systems in an organization. The task of deploying client computer and server images in a company has remained a complex process with few tools available to help reduce this burden. Some of the challenges when managing system images include accommodating multiple versions of the same image as well as updating images with the latest security updates", revealed Nick MacKechnie, Senior Technical Account Manager at Microsoft, New Zealand.
The guides, delivered as a Beta Release for Windows Deployment Services, aim to bring additional clarity, as well as to simplify the design process associated with Microsoft infrastructure technologies. In this context, MacKechnie underlined the fact that specific infrastructure technologies and scenarios were addressed in the series. In the end, the documentation that ships by default with Microsoft's software products still provides the basis of the deployment, but the guides will complement that information by focusing on the options in place for infrastructure design.
"Windows Deployment Services enables organizations to respond to the challenge of managing images by implementing single-instance storage and compression. The purpose of this guide is to present the infrastructure planning process for Windows Deployment Services by providing a clear and concise workflow of the decisions and tasks required to plan for each method. This guide, when used in conjunction with product documentation, enables companies to confidently plan the Windows Deployment Services infrastructure", MacKechnie added.