Preparing the deployment infrastructure
Setting up the deployment infrastructure for your production
environment involves making certain decisions:
Figure 1
shows the general setup for a deployment infrastructure in a
production environment. For the LTI approach, all components except
System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) are generally required. For
the ZTI approach, all the components shown should usually be
used.
LTI is a high-volume deployment strategy for small to midsized
organizations that combines the use of MDT with Windows Deployment
Services, a server role of Windows Server 2008 and later that allows
new computers to be deployed through network-based installation. By
including Windows Deployment Services in the deployment infrastructure
of your production environment, target systems such as bare-metal
servers can PXE-boot using the LiteTouchPE_x64.wim boot image created
when you update the deployment share in the MDT Deployment
Workbench.
In a deployment infrastructure based on MDT and Windows
Deployment Services, the deployment process works like this:
-
In your build lab, begin by creating a Windows Server 2012
reference image of Windows Server 2012 together with any
applications, drivers, software updates, or packages needed for
servers in your production environment.
-
The next step depends on whether or not your build lab is
isolated from your production environment:
-
If your build lab is isolated from your production
environment, copy the deployment share folder from the MDT
technician computer in your build lab to removable media. Then
paste the deployment share folder into the file system of the
technician computer in your production environment, share the
folder, open it in the Deployment Workbench, and update the
network path references in the Bootstrap.ini file as
needed.
-
If your build lab shares network connectivity with your
production environment, you can alternatively use the Linked
Deployment Shares feature to replicate the deployment share in
your build lab to the technician computer in your production
environment. This has the advantage that when you make changes
to your build lab, the changes are reflected in your
production environment. The disadvantage, however, is that you
might have task sequences or other customizations in your
production environment that should be used only for your build
lab.
-
Next, use the Deployment Workbench in your production
environment to create a Standard Client task sequence for
deploying your reference image to target systems. Modify the
settings in the CustomSettings.ini file to automate the steps of
the deployment process. Then update the deployment share to
regenerate the boot images in the \Boot folder of your deployment
share folder.
-
Import the LiteTouchPE_x64.wim boot image from your
deployment share into the Boot Images folder of the Windows
Deployment Services server in your production environment.
-
Turn on each target system in your production environment,
press F12, and select the option to PXE-boot the system.
-
The target systems will then download the LTI boot image
from the Windows Deployment Services server, connect to the
deployment share, and install the reference image.
ZTI is a high-volume deployment strategy for midsize to large
organizations that combines the use of MDT with System Center
Configuration Manager (SCCM), which is part of the System Center
family of products from Microsoft. SCCM provides a complete systems
management platform that organizations can use to do the
following:
-
Deploy operating systems, applications, and software
updates
-
Monitor and remediate computers for compliance
purposes
-
Monitor hardware, and perform software inventorying
-
Remotely administer computers
Compared to the LTI approach that uses MDT with Windows
Deployment Services, the ZTI approach to deployment using SCCM
provides the following additional benefits:
-
Support for replication. (MDT requires using Distributed
File System Replication.)
-
Support for performing multicast deployment. (MDT requires
using Windows Deployment Services.)
-
Support for the bandwidth management of image
transfers.
-
Support for reporting on driver availability for devices
across your organization.
-
Support for complex repartitioning schemes and the
formatting of disks. (This can also be done using MDT, but it
requires custom scripting using Diskpart.)
-
Tolerance of poor or intermittent network
connectivity.
-
Support for client operating system–initiated
deployment.
-
Support for fully unattended deployment.
-
Support for offline deployment from media and CD/DVD
spanning.
-
Support for encryption and password protection.
Although SCCM can be used by itself for deploying Windows to
target systems, integrating MDT with SCCM provides certain additional
advantages, such as task-sequence templates for different types of
deployment scenarios, wizards to create packages and task sequences
from MDT templates, wizards to create new boot images, and
more.
To deploy Windows Server 2012 using the ZTI approach, you should
use the following:
