When a client recently asked for help in reducing the amount of time the IT staff was spending installing systems and applications, coming up with a solution didn't take much effort. Remote Installation Services (RIS) and Group Policy were just the ticket. With a little effort up front, this combination can save you a lot of administrative overhead you would otherwise incur installing Windows and applications. Perhaps more important, automated OS and application deployment can pull your fat out of the fire when the CEO's hard disk crashes.
Applications: One Part of the Puzzle
Deploying new systems, either when a new employee comes on board or when you upgrade existing users, can consume a lot of time that you could otherwise spend on more crucial tasks. Anything you can do to automate the process will make your life a lot easier.
Setting up a new system typically requires installing a client OS, installing applications, and configuring items such as shared documents or templates. A handful of OS installation methods exist, including RIS, which comes with Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Server. RIS is relatively complex when you take into account service packs, slipstream installations, and image duplication, so I won't cover that part of the puzzle here. (For more information about using RIS, see "Remotely Deploy Windows 2000," May 2000, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 8433.) Instead, I focus on the second and third phases of system setup: installing applications and setting up a user's documents and working environment. However, you should consider all three phases as essential to a comprehensive approach. Here's why.
If you take a manual approach to system setup, you'll likely spend in the neighborhood of 2 hours per system installing the OS. Incorporating a slipstream installation of all service packs and patches or starting with an OEM-installed OS can cut that time in half. If all your workstations have the same hardware, you could use disk-imaging software to install the OS. (See "Automated Deployment Services," page 43, for information about Microsoft's disk-imaging solution.) Whatever your approach, you're to spend at least some time just getting the OS ready.
When the OS is installed, your next step is to install whatever applications your users will need. The time you spend on this task can vary considerably depending on the number of applications. After the applications are installed, you face the prospect of updating them when application vendors release bug fixes and enhancements.
Automating this entire process not only gives the IT staff time for other tasks but also gives you greater control over which applications a given user will receive. The key to managing applications automatically is Group Policy, which gives you two ways to deploy applications.
Publish or Assign Applications
Through Group Policy, you can either publish or assign applications. When you publish an application, it appears in the Control Panel Add or Remove Programs applet so that users can choose whether to install the application. You should publish applications that you want made available to users but that aren't required.
When you publish an application, you can specify a category for it (I explain how to set up categories a little later). Any categories you specify also appear in the Add or Remove Programs applet, as Figure 1 shows, and serve to organize the applications into logical groups. For example, you might place Microsoft Office, Office Visio, and other Office-related applications in an Office group; Autodesk's AutoCAD and other graphics-related applications in a CAD/Engineering/Graphics group; and so on. Categorizing applications can help users find the applications they want to install.
Assigned applications work differently from published applications. When you assign an application, it shows up in the user's Start menu as if it's already installed. Then, when the user starts the application for the first time, Setup performs a just-in-time (JIT) installation of the application from the network installation share, just as it does when you install an application locally and choose the Install On First Use option. Windows 2003 adds the capability to automatically install assigned applications when the user logs on for the first time, eliminating the need for user-initiated installation. You should assign, rather than publish, applications that users must have.
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