Automating Client Installation and Upgrade

Resolving Critical Planning Issues

If you plan to install Windows 2000 Professional on computers that have no pre-Windows 2000 operating systems installed, a clean installation is the obvious choice. If the computers are currently running Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT Workstation 3.51, or Windows NT Workstation 4.0, you need to determine whether it is more cost-effective to upgrade the existing operating system or perform a clean installation.

Typical planning issues are summarized in Table 25.1

Table 25.1 Planning Issues to Be Resolved Before Upgrade or Installation

Issue	Task
Organizational goals	Define your company's primary goals.
Regional needs	Identify specific regional needs, and determine whether business is going to include international branches or companies.
User groups	Analyze user groups, including specific job categories and needs; computer knowledge and experience of users; security requirements; and locations of users and their network connectivity issues, including link speed.
Application needs	Determine which products are going to be preinstalled on all computers, which products are going to be advertised only to specific users, and which products are going to be distributed to specific categories of users.
Computer/user strategies	Evaluate current data storage and user settings; identify migration requirements for user settings; and evaluate mandatory, roaming, and local profiles.
Hardware	Inventory existing hardware, and determine expectations for new hardware. Set minimum hardware requirements before upgrade or installation. Plan for future computer needs. Determine how computers are cycled through the organization. Determine whether all computers have bootable CD-ROMs.
Risks and problem areas	Identify potential risks, including application incompatibility with Windows 2000, timeline issues, multiple sites, noncentralized budget, and the impact of possible upcoming mergers.
Growth expectations	Identify growth expectations over the course of the project at 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years. Planned mergers, new sites, countries, and so on, must be accounted for when they become known.
Network concerns	Determine whether remote sites have application deployment servers. Identify how servers outside the central site are upgraded.
Software management	Determine whether a software management system, such as Microsoft® Systems Management Server (SMS), is in place so that deployments can be scheduled.
Connectivity	Determine whether the servers and the connections between them are set up to distribute large packages to everyone in the company.