IT Training

Newsletters

Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment

Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment

by Saskia Schott
Principal Instructor for SQLSoft+
MOF, MSF, MCSA, MCSE, MCDBA, MCT

Over the last few years, as Microsoft has assisted its partners and customers with upgrading their desktops to Windows XP and Office 2003, they have come to recognize that the deployment process can be a very complicated one. They have also recognized that while Microsoft has offered free tools to make that process easier, no guidance or tools were available for the process itself, and that people and process guidance were needed in many situations. To meet that need, Microsoft has begun documenting best practices for deployment and is sharing that guidance—packaged with scripts, templates and examples—as a Solution Accelerator.

So, a Solution Accelerator is the process guidance about an aspect of the IT environment. In this case, it is about the process of deploying desktops and applications. The term deploying desktops means deploying a completely documented configuration of the latest Windows operating system and Office suite along with any required core applications as a discrete distributable unit. The problem with making the process easier is that it isn't about using imaging software to deploy desktops. The problems with deployment come mostly during the planning phases.

The issues that need to be dealt with have to do with how many user computers are still running older applications, and which applications? How many users have Access 97 databases? When were they last used? How big are they? Are there Access 2000 databases? What are the conversion issues? Are there other machines—perhaps Windows 9x machines—that have been left running because the application was written for Windows 9x and "It won't run on XP"? How many of those applications are there? Once these issues have been identified, what can be done about them? And, having solved those, what configuration do you plan to deploy?

One of the opportunities that a new deployment provides is that the organization can decide on one, or a few, standard configurations running a specific, selected list of applications. The opportunity allows the IT department and Help Desk to create an environment where management and support is limited to a specific portfolio of applications, running on a limited number, possibly even only one desktop configuration. This makes it easier to deploy patches and to provide quick, efficient and effective desktop support. Less time would have to be spent before deployment designing and testing different configurations, and less time would be spent during the support process because the user's desktop environment would have fewer variables. When a call comes to the Help Desk, it saves time if it is already known that everyone is running XP with Service Pack 2, plus the approved patches, and Office 2003 in a specific configuration.

The Solution Accelerator documents, therefore, have a lot of guidance about the process, and specifically about the early parts of the process. Two levels of guidance exist: Enterprise guidance, (called the Enterprise edition) for organizations of 250-500 or more desktops, where Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) is used to manage the environment, and mid-market guidance, (called the Standard edition) for organizations with 25-250 desktops where SMS is not being used. The guidance for both is quite similar, but the specifics for the Enterprise solution accelerator include configuration information for the use of SMS and the SMS Operating System Deployment (OSD) Feature Pack, as well as use of Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM).

The Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) Solution Accelerator is available as an .msi file. When run, it installs the basic folder directory structure that is referred to in the guiding documents, including a folder called Documentation. The documentation folder contains white papers explaining the process and how the tools should be used during that process, focusing on various aspects of the deployment process such as Computer Imaging, Core Applications, Supplemental Applications and User State Migration. Also included in the documentation are sample deliverables from a business case to a communications plan, a test plan, etc.

The BDD standard process assumes that an organization will use third-party imaging software to deploy the desktop image, either with Office 2003 alone, or with Office 2003 and other applications. The challenge was to make the process as easy as possible, requiring little or no visits by IT staff to the desktop location. This challenge was met by creating an application called the BDD Explorer. It is a Hyper Text Application that is used in both the Enterprise and the Standard Edition of BDD.

The Computer Imaging System configuration tool (config.hta) utilizes Windows PE to create two ISO images that are each saved to a CD. (An ISO image [as prescribed by ISO standard ISO 9660] is a file that represents a one-to-one copy of a specific computer file system, most widely used for the compact disc medium [i.e., an entire CD or DVD-ROM.]) The first is used during the build of the original desktop image, and the other ISO image is used during the actual deployment process. The CD has Windows PE plus the appropriate scripts that automate the install of XP with SP2 image, install of Office configured as the plans specified, plus the install of any additional applications. But, what is Windows PE and why should you use it?

Windows PE is a slimmed down version of the Windows OS, without the GUI and without the help files, so it ends up being about 180 MB and can fit easily on a CD. Windows PE is the 32-bit replacement for the old DOS boot floppies. Many machines are now being built without floppy drives, so an alternate method of booting has to be used. Windows PE is a mini-XP operating system, which is a benefit available to Microsoft customers with Enterprise and Select agreements, and with Software Assurance. If you have questions about Windows PE licensing, you can e-mail licwinpe@microsoft.com.

You might say that creating and deploying images is the least of your problems. Your biggest headaches are the old Access databases that you don't even know you have. And you also have some older applications that won't install on Windows XP. Or your problem may be the migration of the old user profiles from the existing desktops to the newly deployed XP desktop. Tools exist that can help you past these roadblocks as well.

For the Access database issues, Microsoft has the Access Conversion Toolkit. This tool does not convert older databases, but it does identify databases, both active and inactive, the Access version they were created by, their size, the database owner, and the machine they currently exist on. This tool has a scanning component and a Web style reporting component. You can focus your scanning and having scanned you can filter your reports. For more information, visit: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011401661033.aspx

For the application compatibility issues, Microsoft has made available as a free download the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT), both versions 3 and version 4. This Toolkit has three separate applications.

• The Application Compatibility Administrator has just recently been revised to version 4. This tool allows you to create a package of fixes that you can install with your application so that the application will run on Windows XP. The fixes are part of the Windows operating system, so the package is a small file associated with the files required to run your application; it just points to the fixes that are needed. The Application Compatibility Administrator application allows you to test run your application as you pick the fixes you want applied. To make it easier, Microsoft has pre-grouped fixes into modes such as the Windows 95 mode, the Windows 98 mode and on up to the Windows XP Service Pack 1 mode.
• An Application Compatibility Analyzer also exists, which allows you to inventory applications and the computers using those applications.
• The third component in Version 3 is the Application Verifier, which is a developer's tool that aids in testing of applications during development to detect security vulnerabilities, registry usage, and incorrect or inappropriate calls. This tool is not part of ACT version 4, as it will become part of the developer tools through Visual Studio.

For migrating user desktop preferences, you can use the User State Migration Tool (USMT) version 2.6. The tool consists of two command line executables: loadstate and scanstate. User state can be migrated from Windows 9x, ME, NT4, 2000 and XP and can be migrated to either Windows 2000 or Windows XP. USMT 2.6 now allows you to perform multi-user migration for machines that are used by multiple users; administrative rights are required to run the tool. Additional enhancements in USMT v2.6 are:

• The logging feature, which allows an administrator to periodically examine the progress of the execution.
• The estimate mode, which allows you to script the migration and estimate the size of the data to be migrated.
• A compress switch, which allows the administrator to compress the data during migration and when stored.

For each of these tools, more detailed guidance exists in the process documentation, as well as online tutorials, Web casts, and the book, the Desktop Deployment Resource Kit. These are available from the Microsoft Desktop Deployment Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/desktopdeployment/default.mspx.

SQLSoft+ is a training center partner that is presenting the classes for Business Desktop Deployment. There are two-day classes for BDD Enterprise and BDD Standard, which include labs, and there is the Senior Manager Briefing, which is a one day class with lecture and demonstrations. You can sign up for a class at: http://www2.microsofttraining.com/content/productoverview.asp?CcpSubsiteID=6&vdid=14&ProductID=2070 or call your SQLSoft+ Sales Representative at 425 688-8977 or toll free at 1 800 775-9905.