Defining Client Administration and Configuration Standards

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Defining Hardware Standards

The applications that your users need to perform their jobs determine your company's hardware requirements. However, planning hardware budgets generally involves longer lead times than planning for software upgrades. Therefore, plan carefully and allow enough time to provide your users with the computer hardware they need when they need it.

The following are some of the questions you might ask regarding your organization's clients:

For each class of users in your organization, define a standard type of computer that can meet current and anticipated processing needs for two years at a minimum. In addition, try to reduce the number of different hardware configurations that you support to improve your ability to support users and also reduce client support costs.

For more information about upgrade and clean installation options, see "Automating Client Installation and Upgrade" and "Using Systems Management Server to Deploy Windows 2000" in this book. For more information about Remote OS Installation and offline folders, see "Applying Change and Configuration Management" in this book.

Because few organizations can afford to purchase the most recent, powerful, and versatile computers for all employees, the sample guidelines in Table 23.2 illustrate how you can match your computing hardware to the needs of your user groups.

Table 23.2 Sample Computer Allocation Strategy

If the Computer: Assign it to: Also Consider:
Does not meet minimum hardware requirements for Windows 2000 Task-based users Using Terminal Services with this hardware
Meets minimum hardware requirements for Windows 2000 Basic users (including Roaming and Task-based users) Providing basic users with permanent network connections
Exceeds minimum hardware requirements for Windows 2000 Advanced users (including Knowledge and Mobile workers)  

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