Testing After Deployment

Your lab can prove valuable long after you deploy Windows 2000 if you use it as part of your change management process. The importance of testing changes to your computing environment — whether you are adding new network infrastructure components, installing new servers, changing vendors for client computers, changing configurations, or implementing service packs and patches — cannot be overemphasized.

Having a lab available — even a well-designed and well-equipped one — is not enough. To maximize the effectiveness of the lab, define how you will use it to implement changes in the production environment. Remember to periodically evaluate your lab components to determine the effects of accumulated changes. For example, a computer that has had many changes applied to it might not behave in the same way as a computer that has been newly installed with the same configuration.

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