User's Manual

Choosing a Microsoft
®
Windows
®
PE-Based Deployment Method 19
Choosing a Microsoft
®
Windows
®
PE-Based
Deployment Method
A well-thought-out deployment plan is critical to the success of your deployment effort and includes
the following considerations:
• Assessing your existing IT environment
• Selecting an operating system
• Selecting the optimum Dell™ OpenManage™ systems management software configuration for
your system
• Choosing a deployment method
The Deployment Toolkit (DTK) is designed to be flexible enough to fit into almost any deployment
plan. For the purposes of this document, however, the focus is on two specific deployment methods:
CD-based deployment (local) and network-based deployment (remote).
Choosing a Deployment Method for Windows PE
The DTK components can be used in many different ways to assist IT staff in deploying
Dell systems in large numbers. Because all the tools and scripts are task oriented, many of them can
be used separately to perform a specific task on many systems or collectively to perform many tasks
on many systems at once.
The configuration complexity and pros and cons of each deployment method are provided in
Table 2-1. After you have decided which deployment method best fits your needs, you are ready to
begin preparing for the deployment.
CD-Based Local Deployment
The general CD-based deployment process includes:
• Creating a bootable Windows PE CD
• Integrating latest drivers to recognize Dell-specific components
• Integrating DTK and its components (tools and scripts)
• Integrating operating system installation files for deployment
This deployment method is easy to assemble, but is the least flexible. Any change to the system
configuration, for example, requires the creation of a new bootable CD. This method does not
provide a writable media, making it necessary to use predefined and tested configuration files.