Deploying workstations - best practices?

I've been researching on the subject of workstation deployment for a while, and found a ton of info and dozens different methods and tools, but no "best practice" method that doesn't lack at least one feature that i consider required for the solution to be perfect.

I'm currently interested in windows workstation deployment, but if the tools can be extended to Linux, then it's an added value.

I want the deployment tools I use to be able to do the following:

• hardware independent - I want my image or installation to have a minimum of hardware and driver dependency, so that i can use a single image/package for all workstations
• easily updatable - I want to be able to update my image as easily as possible without redeploying/rebuilding/reimaging all configurations
• PXE bootable deployment - I want the tools to be bootable off the network so that I don't need a boot cd/DOK.
• scriptable for minimum human input - Ideally, the tool should run automatically after being booted and perform a "default" deployment (including partitioning) unless prompted otherwise. i.e - take a pc, hook it up, power on, PXE boot and forget about it until the OS is deployed.

I found no single product or environment that does all this. Closest i came to is the windows deployment services/WIM image format.

I also checked out numerous imaging and deployment tools including clonezilla, ghost, g4u, wpkg and others, but most of them lack the hardware Independence and updatability features.

We currently have a Symantec Ghost server setup that does imaging over the network, but I'm not satisfied with it as it has all the drawbacks i listed above.

Do you have suggestions how to optimize the process of workstation deployment? How do you deploy them in your organization?

Thanks!

Vadim.

Solution 1:

IMO, the best way to go is unattended installation. Here's a link to a guide for Windows XP. An unattended install requires some care and feeding, but it makes it easy to provide driver support for just about anything... we've been using this method from 2004 to 2009 and went from > 100 traditional Ghost images to a single image.

Our current approach is using SCCM to deploy a WIM image with task sequences to lay down whatever other software that is required. I really like this approach, as we now have the ability to reimage PCs over the network that are completely up to date. (ie. Patches just get rolled in at install)

Solution 2:

I suggest the Dell KACE system we use it here at the Hospital and it makes deployments a snap. You use a sysprep file in conjunction and voila, instant desktop - boots from network, etc. Creating an image is just as easy.