To determine the configurations in which to deploy operating systems to your RIS clients, you need to determine what operating system image configurations you need in your organization. To do this, you need to assess user needs for the following:
Operating systems
Desktop configurations
Drivers and applications
Computer workstation types, such as desktop or portable computer
User requirements
Server components
Completing this evaluation also helps you define the type of installations you require, such as:
Single-image or multiple-image
Risetup and Riprep images
Interactive or fully automated modes
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 define your operating system configurations and installation types.
The primary decision you need to make is how many different client operating system installation choices you need to provide to your RIS clients. RIS can support installations of Windows XP Professional, the Windows Server 2003 Family, Windows 2000 Professional, and Windows 2000 Server. For each operating system you provide, you need to generate a separate image. This can be a file-system-based image generated from your master computer with Riprep, or a CD-based image that you create in a distribution share on the RIS server using Risetup. In both cases, you might also want to create different versions of each image to include certain applications, tools, and drivers for specific RIS clients, or special desktops in the case of Riprep images. The methods for creating custom images are different for Riprep.exe and Risetup.exe. Also keep in mind that each different operating system configuration you choose is another image you must create and maintain.
For information about Riprep and creating master computer
installations see "Design a
Riprep-Based Installation" later in this chapter. For information about Risetup
and creating
a CD-based image for a distribution share, see "Design a Risetup-Based
Installation" later in
this chapter.
The number of desktop configurations you need depends on the desktop configurations you require for new client computers and the types of existing client desktops you already have (see "Auditing Existing Clients" earlier in this chapter). You can apply a new standard desktop configuration or an existing desktop configuration type to client computers throughout your organization. However, the number of different desktops you plan on making available to RIS clients, along with other components, dictates the number of different operating system images you need to generate and maintain. To make a particular desktop configuration available to RIS clients, you must install an operating system on the master computer, configure the desktop as you want it, and run Riprep.exe on the master computer to create the image and store it on the RIS server. The image on the server then contains the desktop configuration that you configured on the master computer.
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Note You cannot customize desktops using Risetup images. |
If you need to provide custom drivers, applications, or support files to your RIS clients, you can use Riprep.exe to generate a file-system-based image from a master computer that you configure with the drivers, applications, and Help or support files you need. The most efficient way to provide specific application configurations to users is to prestage a large number of applications on the master computer and create different answer files for each application configuration. For more information about creating your master computer configuration, see "Configuring a Master Installation" later in this chapter.
You can also provide custom drivers and applications to your clients with CD-based images you create using Risetup.exe. After creating the Risetup image on the RIS server, you can do this by:
Populating the distribution share with the specific drivers and applications your users need - this can include hardware device drivers, such as drivers for storage and Plug and Play devices.
Modifying the answer file that the installation uses.
The types of computers you want to receive RIS-based operating system installations, such as desktops or portables, can impact the operating system configurations you provide. You might want to provide different applications, drivers, and desktop configurations to each of these clients. For example, you might need to provide remote access and a unique suite of applications for your portable computer configurations. You might also need to provide display resolution settings for portable computers.
You need to identify the requirements of your users so you can define the types of users you have. Obtaining this information is important because it helps you decide how to customize your RIS-based installation design. For example, if a particular group of users needs a specific application, you must add it to the distribution share on your RIS server or configure it on the master computer from which you create a Riprep image.
You can classify user types based on criteria such as the following:
Computer knowledge - such as beginner, intermediate, or advanced.
Location - such as on-site, roaming, or remote.
Job function - such as marketing, research, or customer service.
Job category - such as manager, project lead, or individual contributor.
As an example, suppose that you classify certain users into types according to computer knowledge. This has an impact on what operating system installation choices you make available to these users. You want to allow less knowledgeable, task-oriented users to make few or no installation choices, while more advanced users might have several installation options from which to choose. To accommodate these differences, you control the configuration of the CIW using Group Policy settings to allow or disallow specific operating system installation options.
User requirements can also include such things as local account passwords, language needs, regional considerations, desktop configurations, and applications such as line-of-business, spreadsheets, and word processing. You can customize user parameters and application configurations in the manner described in "Evaluating Operating System Configurations" earlier in this chapter.
The components you need to provide with a Windows Server 2003 installation can vary, depending on the member server roles you need to provide. If you have several member server component configurations, you can associate multiple answer files with a single CD-based image of Windows Server 2003. For each CD-based image that you create using Risetup.exe, RIS creates a default answer file called Ristndrd.sif. By providing a modified version of this answer file to represent each member server configuration, you can offer a variety of unattended Windows Server 2003 installation configurations from the same source image on the RIS server. This way, you do not have to create additional images to provide different member server component configurations.
You can provide the server components by adding them to the distribution share you create after running Risetup.exe. You can add applications such as IIS, Telnet Services, or Exchange. You then need to configure various parameters for the operating system and server components using the unattended answer file associated with the Risetup image on the distribution share.
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