A.D.S

[powdaman]

Has anyone had any fun with A.D.S at all? I am looking for some assistance as I am in the process of writing an SOP and some lab testing to get A.D.S working within our organisation and would like to know if someone out their has already got some experiences they would like to share??

(A.D.S = Automated Deployment Services)

[cluberti]

Well, you should know first that it only supports installation of Windows Server operating systems, 2000 and 2003. Second, you will not be able to run it on a server that already has RIS installed (and, to be honest, you'll have a hard time running it on any network subnet that is already configured for RIS).

Other than the WMI interface, I don't find ADS to be a must-have, when RIS can do the same job (albeit with more manual configuration). Since RIS also supports client OSes, it makes more sense if you plan on using this to do more than server deployment. If you're only doing server deployment, ADS should be fine.

[powdaman]

I have used RIS in the past and to tell you the truth, once configured (and it can be a b***h to configure sometimes) its ace... I know the fundamentals of ADS to but just havent used it in practise... anyone out there with hands on experience??

[cluberti]

Certainly. Again, only use ADS if you don't need the other functionality of RIS (like client deployments). If you are ONLY doing Windows Server deployments, you may want to go with ADS - with the caveat that it still has a relatively steep learning curve to get everything working the way you would like. If you already know RIS, you may be wiser sticking with what you know.

Edited December 6, 2005 by cluberti