1. Understanding Lite-Touch Deployment Requirements
The
majority of the LTI deployment process occurs in a lab environment. It is not until
you are ready to actually deploy Windows 7 onto your target workstations that the
production network is involved. The first step in the LTI deployment process is to
assemble the components you need to create your lab environment.
1.1. Having a Plan
Careful
planning is an essential part of any deployment project, and you should have a
complete plan in hand before you begin any of the LTI implementation steps
discussed in this lesson.
For example, you should at this point have already decided how many workstation
configurations you intend to deploy and how many target computers are to receive
each one. You should have a timetable prepared that specifies how long you have to
create and test your image files before you must deploy them to the target
workstations. You should be conscious of where the target computers will be during
the deployment and how the deployment process might affect the production network.
These and dozens of other issues must be considered, discussed, and documented
before the actual deployment process even begins.
1.2. Gathering Your Hardware
The central hardware component of an LTI deployment project is the build
computer, which is where you install Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 and
Windows 7 Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK). The build computer can be a
Windows server or workstation; its requirements depend on how you have designed
your deployment lab.
1.2.1. Locating the Deployment Share
As part of the LTI deployment process, you must create a deployment share,
which is where you will store the installation and image files your other
computers will need during the deployment process. If you use the build
computer to host the deployment share, you must equip it with an appropriate
amount of storage and be conscious of the fact that your target computers will
eventually be downloading image files that are several gigabytes in size from
this computer. You should also consider whether you will be using Windows
Deployment Services (WDS) as part of your deployment strategy because WDS is
supplied as a role in the Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2
operating systems.
At minimum, the build computer can be a basic workstation running Windows 7
(or Windows Vista), which uses an existing server to host the deployment share
and WDS. The workstation therefore would need only the resources required to
run the MDT 2010 and Windows 7 AIK tools. If you want to create a build
computer that handles all aspects of the deployment, a server would be
preferable and might in fact be essential if you plan to deploy many target
computers simultaneously or use WDS.
1.2.2. Allocating Storage Space
Wherever you choose to host the
deployment share, you must be conscious of the amount of storage space the
deployment process requires. The deployment share first must have sufficient
space to hold all of the components needed to install the reference computers.
This includes the operating system distribution files, as well as operating
system language packs, device drivers, and applications. In addition, the share
needs sufficient space to hold the images you capture of the reference
computers. Keep in mind that every operating system version, edition, and
processor type requires a separate set of distribution files and a separate
image.
Note:
STORING USER STATE DATA
Another storage factor to consider is whether you want to perform
deployments using the Replace Computer or Refresh Computer scenario, both of
which include task sequence commands that save the user state data from the
existing Windows workstations to an alternative location. If you use the
computer hosting the deployment share for this purpose, you must plan for
that additional storage space as well.
1.2.3. Selecting Reference Computers
The other hardware component of your LTI deployment lab is one or more
reference computers, which you will use to capture images of your workstation
configurations. This component is flexible also. If you are planning to deploy
target computers with different hardware configurations, and particularly
computers with devices requiring different drivers, your lab should have at
least one reference computer for each configuration.
If your workstation configurations differ only in their software, such as
different combinations of applications, the number of reference computers you
need is based more on the time and personnel available for the deployment
project. You could have just one reference computer in the lab and use it to
install and capture each workstation configuration sequentially. Alternatively,
you could equip the lab with a separate reference computer for each workstation
configuration and have technicians install and capture them all
simultaneously.
For deployment projects with a definitive endpoint, the reference computers
can be workstations that you eventually deploy on the production network as
target computers. Some projects are ongoing, however, in which case it might be
preferable to have lab systems permanently allocated as reference
computers.
1.3. Gathering Your Software
For the build computer itself, you must download MDT 2010 from the Microsoft
Web site, along with Windows 7 AIK, which MDT requires to function. To populate
the deployment share, you need the distribution files for all of the Windows 7
editions and processor platforms you plan to install, as well as the device
drivers, language packs, and installation packages you plan to deploy with the
operating system.
1.4. Building the Lab
All of the phases of the deployment project
until the actual target computer deployment can take place in a laboratory
environment that is completely separate from the production network. The primary
function of the lab is to create the image files that you eventually deploy to
your target computers. Although you can use the same build computer to deploy the
reference computers and later deploy your captured images to the target computers,
this does not have to be so. You can create multiple build computers, with one on
the isolated lab network and another on the production network, or you can create
multiple deployment shares on a single build computer, with different servers
hosting them.
If you decide to create an isolated lab, remember that it must have the same
infrastructure services as your production network, including an Active Directory
Domain Services (AD DS) domain controller, a Domain Name System (DNS) server, and
a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server.
2. Building Reference Computers
In the LTI deployment documentation, the process of building reference computers
and capturing images of them is automated using a task sequence. However, it is not essential that you proceed in this manner.
The sole reason for building reference computers is to capture the images that you
eventually deploy to your target computers. As long as you successfully create
baseline installations on the reference computers that are suitable for image
capture, how you perform those installations is irrelevant. Therefore, if you prefer
to install and configure the reference computers manually, which might be preferable
in a deployment project with a relatively small number of workstation configurations,
you can do so.
