RIS has been updated and redesigned to become
Windows Deployment Services (WDS) in Windows Server 2008; it has a
number of changes relating to RIS features. This also applies to WDS
installed on Windows Server 2003. WDS enables deployments of operating
systems such as Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista in small
environments, to rollouts of up to hundreds of servers or
client-operating systems. WDS allows you to set up operating systems on
computers without physically being present at the computer with a DC or
DVD by creating operating system images from the server and storing
them on the server for later use, while deploying client or server
operating systems. WDS can use it to set up new computers by using a
network-based installation.
What Is WDS?
WDS consists of the following components:
Server components Pre-Boot Execution Environment (PXE) server and Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server
Client components Windows Pre-Installation Environment (Windows PE)
Management components Tools that can be used to manage the server, OS images, and client computer accounts
Table 1 shows the changes.
Table 1. Windows Deployment Modifications Made in WDS for Windows Server 2008
| Changes from RIS | Changes from WDS on Windows Server 2003 |
|---|
| Ability to deploy Windows Vista and Windows 2008. | Ability to create multicast transmissions of data and images. |
| Windows PE is the boot operating system. | Ability to transmit data and images using multicasting on a stand-alone server (when you install Transport Server). |
| Image-based installation using Windows image (.wim) files. | |
| Ability to create multicast transmissions of data and images. | Does not support RISETUP images or OSChooser screens. |
| Ability to transmit data and images using multicasting on a stand-alone server (when you install Transport Server). | Enhanced TFTP server.
Ability to network-boot x64-based computers with Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). |
| An extensible and higher-performing PXE server. | Metric reporting for installations. |
| A new boot menu format for selecting boot images. | |
| A new GUI that you can use to select and deploy images and to manage WDS servers and clients. | |
The following are the requirements for installing WDS:
AD DS (member server or DC)
DHCP (WDS works with PXE, which works with DHCP)
DNS.
NTFS volume (required for storing images)
Credentials (to install WDS, local administrator rights are needed)
Note
The
Deployment Server requires that AD DS, DHCP, and DNS are available on
your network. The Transport Server does not require any additional
roles or services. Both of these services require an NTFS partition for
the file store.
Before
you begin, you need to configure WDS by running either the Windows
Deployment Services Configuration Wizard or WDSUtil.exe. You will also
need to add at least one boot image and one install image to the image
store.
To
install Windows operating systems from a WDS server, either the client
computers must be PXE-enabled or you must use the Windows Server 2008
version of Windows PE.
Configuring WDS
Configuring
and installing WDS on Windows Server 2003 is an update available in the
Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) and in SP2 for Server 2003.
However, installing WDS on a Windows Server 2008 computer is much
easier because you can use the server manager to install the WDS Role.
Together with the requirements, WDS is an easy-to-install and
easy-to-use solution for deploying Vista and Server 2008 operating
systems.
1. | On the Add Server Roles Wizard page (Figure 1), click the Windows Deployment Services checkbox, and then click Next.
| 2. | If necessary, review the information on the Windows Deployment Services page (Figure 2), and then click Next.
| 3. | On the Select Role Services page (Figure 3), check the boxes required and then click Next.
| 4. | On the Confirm Installation Selections page (Figure 4), click Install.
| 5. | On the Welcome Page of the WDS installation page (Figure 5), click Next.
| 6. | On the System Volume Warning page (Figure 6), click Next.
| 7. | On the DHCP Option 60 page (Figure 7),
select whether you want to configure the server to not listen on port
67 and to configure DHCP option 60 to PXE client, and then click Next.
| 8. | On the PXE Server Initial Settings page (Figure 8), specify how you would like the WDS server to respond to client computers, and then click Finish.
| 9. | On the Configuration Complete page (Figure 9), choose whether you would like to add images to the WDS Server now and then click Finish.
|
|
Capturing WDS Images
WDS allows you to capture the following kinds of images using the Windows Image (.wim) format:
Boot Image
Windows PE 2.0 is the new boot image format and it presents you with a
boot menu that contains a list of images that users can install. The
standard boot images included with Vista and Server 2008 are located on
the installation media at \Sources\boot.wim.
Capture Image
This launches the WDS capture utility instead of Set-up. The reference
computer previously prepared with Sysprep boots into a capture image
and becomes the host from which an image is created, and then saves the
image as a .wim file.
Discover Image
This forces the client computer to start in WDS mode to discover the
WDS server. This is meant for computers that are not PXE-enabled.
Install Image
The standard install image included with Vista and Windows Server 2008
is located on the installation media at \Sources\install.wim.
The following prerequisites are required for creating images:
Sufficient disk space is needed when creating new images; also, images must be kept on an NTFS volume.
A writable CD or DVD drive with writable media is required for creating bootable media.
Local Administrator membership is required.
The
version of sysprep.exe that is running to prepare a client computer to
be captured must match the version of sysprep.exe located on that
operating system.
Windows IAK is needed to create bootable .ISO images.
You
can also associate an unattend file with an image. This means you will
be able to deploy images with WDS to client computers and have the
unattend.xml file answer all the questions needed by user input (such
as entering credentials, choosing an install image, and configuring the
disk), making the operating system rollout completely automatic. The
unattend file is stored on the WDS server in the \WDSClientUnattend
folder. This is called the WDS client unattend file.
A
second unattend file is called the Image unattend file. It is used to
automate the remaining phases of setup (e.g., offline servicing,
Sysprep specialize, and Mini-Setup).
In
addition to installing the Deployment Server you also have the choice
of installing the Transport Server. The Transport Server will be used
to enable multicast downloads of data. This is a subset of the
functionality of WDS. The Transport Server can be a stand-alone server
and does not need the AD DS, DHCP, or DNS server roles to function.
Creating
multicast transmissions of images allows you to deploy a large number
of client computers without putting a burden on the network. By
default, this feature is disabled. The following two options are
available for the multicast type:
Auto-Cast As two clients request the same image at different timed intervals they are both joined to the same transmission.
Scheduled-Cast Based on a schedule specified by date and or start time, the transmission will begin for a number of clients requesting images.
Deploying WDS Images
Working
as a network administrator and having to deal with adding multiple
computers to a network or constant reformatting is a familiar
occurrence. WDS is a great way to easily deploy images across a
network, and best of all, it is included with Windows Server 2008.
Follow these steps to use WDS to deploy images from Windows Server 2008:
1. | Click on Start | Administrative Tools | Windows Deployment Services.
|
2. | In the left pane of the Windows Deployment Services MMC snap-in, expand the server list.
|
3. | Click the server that you want to manage.
|
4. | Right-click the Install Images folder and select Add Install Image.
|
5. | Create a new image group and click Next.
|
6. | Browse to the install media of Vista or Server 2008; in the \source directory choose the install.wim file and click Next, as shown in Figure 10.
|
7. | Name the capture image, as shown in Figure 11, and click Next.
|
8. | Select a place to save the capture image and click Next. Once the boot and install images have been created, you can start deploying images to PXE-enabled clients. |
