Windows 2000 Administration in a Nutshell

Name

install

Synopsis

Planning for deployment of Windows 2000 Server.

Description

There are a number of issues you need to consider as you prepare to deploy Windows 2000 Server in your enterprise. This section deals with these preparatory issues; for detailed information on different installation methods and the procedures involved, see install.

Installation Methods

The method you use to install Windows 2000 Server will depend upon several factors:

Scope of deployment

It’s one thing to upgrade two or three servers from Windows NT to Windows 2000 in a small company; it’s another thing entirely when you have to upgrade thousands of servers across multiple locations in a large enterprise. In the first scenario you would probably run Setup directly from the compact disc, but when then number of servers exceeds about a dozen, then network installations performed from distribution servers become a more practical solution.

Hardware homogeneity

Having large numbers of servers with identical hardware configurations makes disk imaging a simple and efficient way of installing or upgrading them. If servers are from a multitude of different vendors and have customized hardware configurations, disk imaging is probably not recommended.

Staff availability

If only a few staff will be performing the deployment, you need to consider some form of automated installation either using answer files and UDFs or using disk imaging. If the servers to staff ratio is small, however, it may not be cost-effective to spend ...