Deployment services are software-based solutions that are used to facilitate the installation and rollout of new applications or infrastructure. They may involve hardware or software procurement and configuration, tuning, staging, installation and testing of interoperability.
The benefits of app deployment include improved security, simplified management, and more insight into user behaviour. App deployment also simplifies complex tasks that take a lot of time and resources like software updates.
If your company needs to migrate existing servers or create new servers, HP offers a comprehensive range of deployment services that can aid in speeding the process. Our deployment services cover everything from device delivery and staging for hardware setup including data migration and installation.
Windows Deployment Service – Provides network-based, centralized deployment of operating system to bare metal computers. It is the successor of Remote Installation Services (RIS). WDS makes use of disk images to install virtually any operating system.
For instance, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 and later use the Windows Image Format (WIM) to create images for remote installation. A Windows image includes an environment that boots up the computer and permits the installation of the operating system. The pre-boot environment is customized and extended by the administrator in order to accomplish other tasks like installing additional drivers.
To use WDS the environment needs to be configured to allow local network or Internet access. Additionally, the environment must have a server that has the Windows Deployment Services server role installed. This includes a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server.
Microsoft offers a variety of tools that can be used with WDS to manage deployment servers, build, take, and apply images. These include imagex, dism, and wdsutil. These tools can be used on the same server as the WDS server or on separate servers. The imagex command-line tool can create a single WIM structure or a deduplication WIM. It can be run on a network share or mapped drive letter. The wdsutil tool can be used to manage WDS without graphic interface and to add the images that have been captured to the repository.
Virtual Machines are a type of computer that can be designed to function as client computers when creating and testing Windows deployment images. Virtual machines can affect the performance of the Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) download phase. This is particularly important in the event that the virtual machines aren’t able to handle a complete boot loader.
Multiple WDS Servers – These can be used to offer redundancy and fault tolerance. You can deploy a single WDS server to manage a lot of WIM images, or deploy multiple WDS servers in a network to increase availability and offer fault tolerance.
A Windows image is created using ImageX or a third-party tool. It is then distributed over the Internet to other WDS servers. The image can then be downloaded to the local server, remote server or a Hyper-V virtual machine.
Ron’s supervisor gives him the task of deploying the latest Windows 7 OS at the branches of the company’s fifty offices. He would like to do it remotely, so he doesn’t have to travel to branch locations. However, company policy states that only one DHCP is allowed on the corporate network, and that’s at the Tooth City Office.