Edwin, Roger is right. ADS is "officially" only for Server 2003. We were close to getting it to work with XP Pro, but it was really just a game since RIS works well for XP.
As for the basics, see Minasi et al. "Mastering Windows Server 2003" www.minasi.com. You could probably do everything you are looking to do with RIS just using the step-by-step in his book. If you want more to read (can't sleep, eh?), I have several lengthy PDFs on the technical aspects of RIS (just what does that packet-level conversation look like when you boot a client to RIS?). Email me off-line, I'll forward them to you. Finally, Symantec AntiVirus Corp Edition 9.0 explicitly supports GPO deployment. nme -----Original Message----- From: Roger Seielstad [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 8:48 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] GPO's, RIS and Software Deployment On Wed, Aug 18, 2004 at 05:22:51PM -0400, Edwin wrote: > Can anyone provide me with good documentation on RIS and software deployment > through GPO? > > > > We currently use MS ADS and I don't like it and I believe it to be the cause > of problems. Aside from that, I think that I can benefit more from RIS if > my plan goes through well. I am not interested in using RipRep since it act > similar to MS ADS and documentation of the product is similar in its > requirements to successfully use. I'm assuming you're talking about Automated Deployment Services here and not Active Directory. ADS is only designed for pushing server (Specifically Windows 2003 Server) images to systems. For that, it works amazingly well, IF and only if you get the image right, and the correct drivers onboard first. In fact, in the next 2-3 weeks, I expect to build 220 boxes using it, and I doubt there will be any issues related to ADS. However - judging by the list of software below, I highly doubt you're pushing server images - I'm guessing you're trying to do workstations. That's not what ADS is for, which might explain some of the issues - although in theory there's no reason you couldn't use it for that purpose. > The main pieces of software that I would like to push out would be MSSQL > 2000 (client tools only), MS Office 2000, Symantec AV Corporate Edition. MSSQL tools should be doable, although you're probably going to have to roll your own installer for that. even if all it does is call the setup (which I think is a batch file, actually) with the appropriate options. The Office 2000 Resource Kit has reference materials available online to do GPO deployments of Office. The biggest hangup is that when installed from a network, EVERY change or patch made to Office on a client machine will go looking for that original installation point. Office 2003 is much better at that, since it includes an option to keep the requisite files locally as well. Symantec, as I understand it, has never committed to a GPO deployable client installation. Unfortunately, most vendors haven't. However, that information is also at least 6 months old, so there's a good possibility that its no longer accurate. > I have read some documentation on this but would like to know if any of you > have other good known sources. My information comes from a book and the > help files that are found within the DEPLOY.CAB file in the /support/tools/ > folder of the Win2K3 CD. There's a good series of books with Mark Minasi's name all over them that cover quite a lot of RIS and IntelliMirror technologies. Although I have the 2000 versions here, I believe there are some 2003 editions floating around there. http://www.wiredeuclid.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=books&file=index&req= view_subcat&sid=7&min=12&orderby=titleA&show=12 Roger List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/ List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/
