When planning how the information technology
department will manage desktops and servers for a particular
organization, many different support scenarios should be considered.
Deploying operating systems is only one of the many tasks that fall
under the managing desktops and servers umbrella. Additional tasks
include deploying and updating software to existing systems, generating
reports that detail the status of the overall computer and network
infrastructure, supporting end users, and managing backup and recovery
processes.
Operating System Deployment to Bare-Metal Systems
When choosing to deploy an
operating system to a bare-metal system, all you need is the operating
system media, the correct product key, and the supporting driver disks
for your hardware. This is the traditional way to deploy a system—in
today’s computer and network infrastructure, many workstations come with
operating systems preinstalled and servers usually contain
vendor-specific installation disks that not only deploy the operating
system, but also install vendor-specific drivers, services, and
applications specific to the particular server hardware. Deploying
operating systems to bare-metal systems, or systems with no existing
operating system, is still a common scenario when organizations want to
ensure that a very clean, unmodified operating system is deployed
without any unnecessary applications or services. Also, this method
might be required to meet specific security requirements or to be able
to easily leverage WDS to quickly roll out new servers and desktops.
Managing Updates and Applications
Up until a few years ago,
deploying security and application updates to Microsoft Windows
workstation and server operating systems was very challenging. Any
attempt to centralize the management and deployment of these updates
required third-party suites or custom development and scripts. This
challenge did not apply only to systems already deployed on the network,
but it also applied to systems recently deployed from a WDS server.
Now
many organizations utilize domain group policies to configure the
Windows Update settings on the organization’s servers and desktops to
ensure that all systems adhere to a policy that automatically keeps the
systems updated and secure. The Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server
Updates Services role can be used in conjunction with the Windows
Updates settings in domain policies to allow an organization to
centrally manage and report on which updates will be deployed and which
client and server systems are in and out of security update compliance.
Regarding WDS images, if any custom images will need to be deployed to
systems, they must be updated and recaptured to ensure that the WDS
images maintain a high level of security whenever they are deployed.
Supporting End Users and Remote Administration
Supporting
end users and performing administration of the computer and network
infrastructure from remote workstations is a necessity for most
organizations. Each organization should determine what the particular
end-user support requirements will be and how support will be provided.
If remote support of end users is the preferred approach, the
organization needs to decide on whether Microsoft-specific tools will be
used or if third-party products will be necessary to meet the support
requirements. Also, the organization needs to determine how or if remote
administration of the computer and network infrastructure will be
supported.
