Auditing Existing Clients

Auditing Existing Clients

If you control your existing client computers using Systems Management Server or a similar management product, you can wipe these computers clean in preparation for a new RIS-based installation. However, before you do this, it is advisable to audit these client computers by:

Conducting an inventory.

Backing up all user data and settings.

Obtaining client UUIDs.

In this part of your planning process, use job aid "Planning for RIS Clients" (ACIRIS_01.doc) on the Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit companion CD (or see "Planning for RIS Clients" on the Web at https://www.microsoft.com/reskit) to indicate your decisions to conduct an inventory, backup user data, and obtain client computer UUIDs. You can also specify the domains or organizational units to audit and the personnel you want to assign to inventory and backup tasks.

Conducting an Inventory

You conduct an inventory to determine such things as the number of existing clients, the types of existing desktop configurations in your organization, hardware configurations, software and hardware compatibility, and existing applications. For more information about creating hardware and software inventories, see Planning for Deployment in Planning, Testing, and Piloting Deployment Projects of this kit.

Inventory-related factors that impact RIS installation planning

The following are some issues that can arise when conducting an inventory and how they can affect the RIS installation planning process. Your primary concern is how these issues affect the number of images you need to create.

The number of clients that have differing requirements can give you an indication of the number of RIS images you might need to create. Also, the 939r173j number of clients you have determines the tool you need to use for automating the installation process. If you have a large number of clients, RIS is a good choice for the task. If you have a small number of clients, you might be better off using the Winnt.exe or Winnt32.exe programs in unattended mode. For more information about unattended installations, see "Designing Unattended Installations" in this book.

The types of existing desktop configurations in your organization provide an indication of the number of different RIS images and answer files you might need to create. Alternatively, you can apply a standard desktop to all clients in your organization, which reduces the number of RIS images and answer files you need to maintain.

The types of existing client hardware configurations you have affects the tool you use to create installation images, the hardware device drivers you add to a distribution image, and how you configure answer files.

For example, if you want to use Riprep to create file-system-based images of an operating system, the master computer and all destination client computers must have identical HAL types.

Also, if you have hardware not supported by the Mini-Setup process, which occurs after image installation, this affects how you create RIS-based installations. For example, if you have a SCSI hard disk device that is not supported during the text mode phase of Mini-Setup, you need to add the driver files for the SCSI device - along with its Textsetup.oem file - to the distribution folder that you create using Risetup. You must also modify the [MassStorageDrivers] section of the RIS default answer file to add values for the appropriate driver entries.

For more information about Mini-Setup, see "Riprep Image Design Background" later in this chapter.

You need to ensure that your existing client computers meet the software and hardware requirements that support installation of the operating system images you plan to make available to them.

For information about hardware compatibility, see the Windows Catalog link on the Web Resources page at: https://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources

To verify software compatibility for your existing clients, you can use the Application Compatibility Toolkit, which contains documents and tools to help you diagnose and resolve application compatibility issues. For more information about verifying software and hardware compatibility, see "Designing Image-Based Installations with Sysprep" in this book.

The application configurations that exist on client computers indicate what you need to include in the Riprep images you create or what you need to provide on the distribution folder you create using Risetup.

Special hardware components

As part of planning your RIS-based installation, you must inventory special peripherals, hardware devices, and software configurations because these components can affect the number of images you need to create. A special component might be an existing hardware device that Mini-Setup (which follows image installation) does not support. If you do not take these components into account in the planning phase, the RIS-based installation that you implement might fail.

Some of the special hardware components you might need to add to your inventory include:

Mass storage controllers

Portable computer devices

Vendor-specific devices

Legacy devices

For more information about inventories for special hardware and software components, see "Designing Image-Based Installations with Sysprep" in this book.

Special software components

The installation requirements of some applications might cause you to alter the way you perform a RIS-based installation or they might call for you to create separate images. For example, some applications require that you install them after the RIS installation is complete, rather than installing and configuring them in a master installation (for a Riprep image). Also, you might be able to install some applications only on portable computers but not on desktops. In this situation, you probably need to create separate RIS images.

Some of the special software components you might need to inventory include:

These applications might include office productivity suites and anti-virus software. You typically install and configure core applications in your master installation, although you can add applications to a distribution share that you create with Risetup images. If you have any computers on which you do not want to install core applications or any computers that require special configuration settings for these applications, note these in your software inventory. You probably need to create separate images to accommodate these differences.

These applications might include accounting, database, or investment modeling programs. You need to identify the groups in your organization that require line-of-business applications because you might want to create separate RIS images for specific groups, especially if they require substantial configuration or take a long time to install.

You need to identify any applications that depend on Active Directory. You cannot include these types of applications in a RIS image because you can only install and configure them after installation of a RIS image is complete.

These applications might include the diagnostic tools of a computer manufacturer or a suite of hardware-specific utilities for a portable computer that allow you to configure power options and other features. You might need to install these utilities and tools after installation of a RIS image is complete. You might also want to create a separate RIS image for the computers that require these utilities and tools.

Identify all service packs, hotfixes, and patches that are installed in your organization. Be sure you record the revision number and the revision date of the service pack, hotfix, or patch in your inventory.

Migrating User State

You will need to create a user state migration plan if any of your destination computers contain any of the following items that you want to restore after installation is complete:

User data that you want to be available to the end user. User data includes such things as documents, e-mail messages, spreadsheets, and databases.

User settings such as desktop settings, shortcuts, and Microsoft  Internet Explorer Favorites.

Application settings such as application-specific keyboard shortcuts, spell-checking options, and default file locations.

At a minimum, your user state migration plan must do the following:

Identify the data you want to migrate, including user data, user settings, and application settings.

Determine where to store the data while you perform the image-based installation.

Create a schedule for migrating data on each of your destination computers.

Describe how to collect and restore the data.

Microsoft provides two tools for migrating user data and settings. Each tool is designed for different types of users and environments.

Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. Designed for home users and small office users. The wizard is also useful in a corporate network environment for employees who get a new computer and need to migrate their own files and settings without the support of an IT department or Help desk.

User State Migration Tool. Designed for IT administrators who perform large deployments of Windows XP Professional in a corporate environment, the User State Migration Tool provides the same functionality as the wizard, but on a large scale targeted at migrating multiple users. The User State Migration Tool gives administrators command-line precision for customizing specific settings, such as unique modifications to the registry. The User State Migration Tool is located in the \valueadd\msft\usmt\ folder on the Windows Server 2003 CD.

For more information about migrating user data and settings, see "Migrating User State" in this book. Also see the articles "User State Migration in Windows XP," "Step-by-Step Guide to Migrating Files and Settings," "Deploying Windows XP Part I: Planning," and "Deploying Windows XP Part II: Implementing." To find these articles, see the Microsoft TechNet link on the Web Resources page https://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources.

Obtaining Client Computer UUIDs

During the auditing process, you can also obtain the UUIDs for your existing client computers. You need the IDs for existing clients that you are planning to prestage in Active Directory to enhance the security of RIS installations. For more information about obtaining UUIDs for prestaging your client computers, see "Evaluating the RIS Client Prestaging Process" later in this section.

Some of your clients, such as those which are not PXE-enabled, might not provide a UUID. For these clients, you need to use the RIS boot floppy disk. After using the RIS boot floppy disk to initiate startup on these clients, Remote Installation automatically generates UUIDs and computer accounts for these clients based on the MAC address of the network adapter.

Evaluating the Creation of UUIDs for Non PXE-Enabled Clients

When a PXE-enabled client prestaged in Active Directory connects to a RIS server, the UUID of the client computer is passed to the RIS server. The UUID is a unique 32 character hexadecimal or 16-byte number, which is stored with the computer account object that you create in Active Directory. To generate a UUID for these computers, the Remote Installation Services uses the media access control (MAC) address of the network adapter, which is 12 characters long, and prepends 20 zeroes to create a unique 32 character hexadecimal or 16-byte number. After this occurs, Remote Installation creates a new computer account object in Active Directory and associates this unique 32-bit number with the account. Because the MAC address of a network adapter is unique on the network, so is the 32 character hexadecimal or 16-byte identifying number and the computer account as well.

If you want to enhance security for non PXE-enabled clients, you can prestage computer accounts in Active Directory for these clients using a prestaging script. The prestaging script uses UUIDs generated by a BIOS information script, which retrieves UUIDs from PXE-enabled client computers, suggests possible UUIDS for non PXE-enabled client computers, and stores this information in an Excel spreadsheet. This script creates UUIDs by using a process similar to the Remote Installation method To find these scripts, see the Remote Installation Scripts link on the Web Resources page https://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources. For more information about obtaining UUIDs and prestaging computer accounts, see "Evaluating the RIS Client Prestaging Process" later in this chapter.

For this part of your planning process, use job aid "Planning for RIS Clients" (ACIRIS_01.doc) on the Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit companion CD (or see "Planning for RIS Clients" on the Web at https://www.microsoft.com/reskit) to indicate whether you intend to allow Remote Installation to suggest possible UUIDs and computer accounts or if you want to create UUIDs for non PXE-enabled clients by using the BIOS information script.