Automates OS Deployment

OS Image Deployment automation is necessary in the following scenarios:

• Provisioning desktops for new employees
• Redeploying the OS of corrupt PCs to save time on troubleshooting
• Organization Policy to re-deploy the OS periodically

Supported OS For Deployment

• Windows XP Professional SP2
• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
• Windows XP Professional
• Windows XP Home
• Windows Vista Ultimate (x86, x64)
• Windows Vista Business (x86, x64)
• Windows Vista Home Premium (x86, x64)
• Windows Vista Home Basic (x86, x64)
• Windows 2000 Professional SP4
• Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• Windows 2000 Server
• Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions
• Windows Storage Server 2003 R2
• Windows Small Business Server 2003
• Windows Small Business Server 2011
• Windows Server 2003 R2 (x86, x64)
• Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (x86, x64)
• Windows Server 2008 (x86, x64)
• Windows 2008 R2
• Windows 7
• Windows 8 (x86, x64)
• Windows 8 Pro (x86, x64)
• Windows 8 Enterprise (x86, x64)
• Windows 2012 (Foundation, Essential, Standard, and Datacenter)
• Windows NT/4.0 Server
• Windows 98/Me

OS Deployment Features

• Manual Deployment
• Event-Driven Deployment
• Scheduled Deployment
• Custom Deployment
• Standalone Deployment

Manual Deployment

Consider a scenario, where you have received a set of new hardware for which you do not know the MAC Addresses. You have to install OS in these computers. In such cases, you need to change the boot sequence in all the computers (manually) into ManageEngine environment using ManageEngine bootable media or ManageEngine PXE (Preboot eXecution Environment) Server and then deploy the image that has been created. The deployment configurations can be either set in the deployment templates or can be configured manually while deploying the image.

Event-Driven Deployment

Event-Driven Deployment is ideally suited in cases where you need to deploy OS to multiple systems simultaneously and yet control the bandwidth during deployment. Administrators can configure to start the deployment when the predefined computers are ready for deployment after which the OS image is multicast to all the target computers. Optionally, administrators can also set a time-out period after which the deployment will begin irrespective of whether the predefined number is reached or not.

Scheduled Deployment

Scheduled Deployment is ideal for situations where you need to deploy OS to multiple systems with known list of MAC Addresses. For example, if you have received a consignment of 100 new computers along with its MAC Addresses for which a nightly deployment is needed, you can schedule the deployment by specifying the list of MAC Addresses. OS Deployer will power on the computers using the Wake On LAN functionality and deploy the image at the scheduled time.

Custom Deployment

Custom Deployments are initiated by the users. The administrator creates a set of deployment templates that meet the organization’s needs and assigns to each template a name that can be easily understood by a user. The administrator creates bootable media or a PXE package containing the set of templates and switches on the custom deployment mode. Users that need to re-deploy their computers boot the computers from bootable media or PXE and select the template by name from the boot menu. The deployment starts immediately and proceeds independently on each computer.

Standalone Deployment

Standalone Deployment is a deployment on a computers that is not in the network or, in other words, that cannot be reached from the ManageEngine OS Deploy Server. Standalone deployment is performed locally using the bootable ManageEngine Standalone Utility.