Microsoft Deployment Toolkit - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (formerly Business Desktop Deployment) is a piece of server software that permits network deployment of Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

. It can currently distribute Windows XP

Windows XP

Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...

, Windows Vista

Windows Vista

Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...

, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003

Windows Server 2003

Windows Server 2003 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft, introduced on 24 April 2003. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005...

, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009 and launched on October 22, 2009. According to the Windows Server Team blog, the retail availability was September 14, 2009. It is built on Windows NT 6.1, the same core...

. Hardware drivers

Device driver

In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device....

, Windows updates, and software

Computer software

Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....

can be included with the installation.

Overview

All the software intended for installation (operating system, drivers, updates, and applications) are added to the pool of available software. This software is packaged into deployment packages - the operating system and drivers to be included with this package are selected, and the administrator password, owner information, and product key are specified. Clients use a custom Windows PE image, generated by Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, to boot to the network, where they can install the assembled deployment packages over the network from the MDT server. This Windows PE disk image can be burned to and booted from a CD, or booted with Windows Deployment Services

Windows Deployment Services

Windows Deployment Services is a technology from Microsoft for network-based installation of Windows operating systems. It is the successor to Remote Installation Services...

. When selecting the package to deploy, software that has been included in the pool may also be selected for installation.

Ways of Using Microsoft Deployment

Lite Touch:

Deployment without management infrastructure.
Process initiated by the administrator (manually).
Uses network shares, Windows Deployment Services, CD/DVD, or USB.
Refresh, upgrade, replace or new computer.

Zero Touch:

Uses System Center Configuration Manager 2007 OS deployment features.
Scheduled via ConfigMgr and completely automated.
Centrally monitored with System Center Operations Manager 2007 Management Pack.
Refresh, replace, or new computer.

External links

Microsoft deployment resources

Zero touch deployment resources

http://www.swimage.com

Other deployment resources

http://deployment.xtremeconsulting.com

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Overview

Ways of Using Microsoft Deployment

See Also

External links