Introduction
An automated server deployment service can reduce the time required for installing and configuring servers and enhance the overall quality of each deployment. Automated deployment ultimately leads to a reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) through reduced deployment and operational support costs. This blueprint focuses on designing a solution for automating the software installation and configuration of servers in an organization's data center. As the design process is explained in this blueprint, a number of design options will be discussed along with their advantages and disadvantages. Specific implementation details of how the Windows Server System Reference Architecture (WSSRA) product team used this guidance to build a test instance are provided in the Deployment Services Planning Guide and the Deployment Services Build Guide. On This Page
Who Should Read This BlueprintThis blueprint is written for information technology (IT) professionals who are responsible for designing and implementing a server deployment service in enterprise environments. The reader of this blueprint is expected to have an understanding of its technical details; however, service-level expertise is not needed to follow the enterprise-level discussions and understand the decisions that are made. Knowledge PrerequisitesThis blueprint assumes a knowledge level equivalent to an IT professional with at least two years of experience as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). Readers who do not meet this prerequisite may also benefit from this guidance, although additional reading might be required to ensure that the relevant terms and processes are understood. The reader should also have a good working knowledge of the Windows operating system installation process, the target server hardware, and networking. The “References” section at the end of this blueprint provides addresses of Web sites that provide further information on deployment technologies. Business NeedThe reliable deployment of software onto servers is a requirement for hosting enterprise services. Organizations face many issues when deploying software, including:
Organizations also strive to keep the costs of operating a data center as low as possible. While deploying a server only makes up a fraction of the cost of running a service (Gartner: Information Technology (IT) Asset Management: The ‘E’ of Life-Cycle Management, 20th April 2001), a consistently well-deployed operating system can reduce the time spent on troubleshooting. Installing the operating system and associated layered products in a progressive manner can rapidly become complex as the number of items to configure goes up. Such items include different computer models, operating system components, network settings, layered products and associated configuration settings, patches, and security settings. Managing thousands of configuration parameters for a build can be a daunting task. ReferencesFurther information about Windows Server 2003 and deployment services may be found at the following URLs:
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