Using Systems Management Server to Deploy Windows 2000

Microsoft® Systems Management Server (SMS) provides a variety of tools to help you deploy Microsoft® Windows 2000 Server or Microsoft® Windows 2000 Professional in an enterprise environment. Project leaders and analysts, Windows 2000 technical analysts, and SMS administrators involved in this process should become familiar with the recommended configurations and procedures described in this chapter. Although these recommendations also work for smaller organizations, the focus is on organizations with at least 2,500 personal computers.

You do not need to be familiar with Systems Management Server version 2.0 to understand the information in this chapter. However, you need someone with SMS expertise to perform your Windows 2000 deployment. It is presumed that your SMS infrastructure is in place or that you will put an SMS infrastructure in place prior to deploying Windows 2000. Important differences between SMS 2.0 and Systems Management Server version 1.2 are also presented in this chapter.

In This Chapter

Using Systems Management Server to Distribute Software

Packaging Windows 2000 for Systems Management Server

Distributing the Windows 2000 Packages

Advertising the Windows 2000 Packages

Using Systems Management Server to Ease Domain Consolidation and Migration

Examining Differences Between Systems Management Server 1.2 and Systems Management Server 2.0

Planning Task List for Using Systems Management Server to Deploy Windows 2000

Chapter Goals

This chapter will help you develop the following planning documents:

Windows 2000 Software Distribution Plan
Windows 2000 SMS Package Definitions

Related Information in the Resource Kit

For more information about automating the Windows 2000 upgrades, see "Automating Server Installation and Upgrade" and "Automating Client Installation and Upgrade" in this book.
For more information about automating domain consolidation and migration, see "Determining Domain Migration Strategies" in this book.