Using Systems Management Server to Deploy Windows 2000
Using Systems Management Server to Deploy Windows 2000 |
|
Before you distribute the Windows 2000 packages, there are several tasks you must perform to ensure that your SMS hierarchy is ready to receive them.
Windows 2000 is a large operating system requiring considerable disk space. Not only are copies of Windows 2000 required for computers to be upgraded, but SMS also needs copies as it moves the package between servers. Therefore, you must review your site servers and distribution points to ensure that they have enough disk space. The easiest way to do this is to go to System Status in the SMS Administrator console, select Site Status, and then for each site, click Site System Status as shown in Figure 14.4. The results pane displays the distribution points and their free disk space.
Figure 14.4 Site Status with Distribution Points and Their Free Space
You might want to limit the number of Windows 2000 upgrades that you perform concurrently at each site. Upgrades can impose a heavy load on the local network and the distribution points. Before you upgrade, you need to experiment in a lab or run a pilot. When you test, use servers that are typical of your distribution points and a typical network. This will allow you to judge how many clients you can comfortably upgrade at one time.
If you find that your network is not a bottleneck for the upgrades but that your distribution points are, consider adding more distribution points at the site. For more information about how to add distribution points, see "Distributing Software" in the Systems Management Server Administrator's Guide.
Because the Windows 2000 package is quite large and you will use it extensively, make certain that you dedicate distribution points for this package. You can refer to these distribution points as a group. You can create a distribution point group for your Windows 2000 distribution points to reduce the number of administrative tasks.
You can create distribution point groups (and add or remove distribution points from the groups), when you are creating or adjusting distribution points. Then, during distribution, you can specify the distribution point groups at the same places that you specify distribution points.
If the Windows 2000 package is sent to any site that does not have adequate sender controls in place, it can overload the network link at a time when it interferes with other business functions. Therefore, check the sender controls to be sure they are properly set.
The SMS Administrator console includes SMS address definitions for each site. SMS addresses include the SMS site server name, security details for accessing that site, and network transport details (if required). The addresses also include a schedule to specify when high, medium, and low priority transfers can be executed, and how much of the network link can be used at any time of the day.
Systems Management Server 2.0 has a feature called fan-out distribution that allows child sites to distribute software to lower sites. This reduces the workload on the site that you use to initiate the software distribution because the software does not then have to be distributed from the initiating site to all sites. This also reduces the workload on the network link between the initiating site and the rest of the sites, which is often the most significant issue. When you are distributing to many sites, copying Windows 2000 over the network many times from any site can cause an unacceptably heavy load. Figure 14.5 illustrates the difference between software distribution with fan-out and without fan-out distribution.
Figure 14.5 Two Types of Software Distribution
Fan-out distribution occurs automatically if the initiating site does not have an SMS address for the destination site. Therefore, you must use the SMS Administrator console to review the SMS addresses and ensure that the only SMS server with an address to a site is its parent.
To ensure that your plan is complete, distribute the Windows 2000 package to a test site or a small number of sites before sending it to your entire organization. This will enable you to quickly correct problems and to minimize their impact.
The test site or sites should be as typical as possible, but at least one site should also represent a high-risk scenario. Examples of such a scenario include deploying with a site server or distribution points that have very little disk space to spare, or having a network link that is particularly slow or unreliable.
A best practice for this level of testing is to start with small sites that do not have complex requirements. An ideal test site has technical support specialists who are readily available and users who are sympathetic to your goals. At such sites, you can identify solutions for any problems that you might not have built into your contingency plans during deployment planning. As your confidence in your procedures increases, expand your testing to sites that are larger, more complex, or more difficult to support.
During the distribution phase, your Windows 2000 deployment needs to be transparent to your users because you have not yet run the upgrades on their computers. Caution is appropriate now but is more critical later in the deployment process.
For more information about the tasks presented in this section, see the Systems Management Server Administrator's Guide.
