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Accelerated Windows 7 Deployments with 1EAuthors: Jim Bezdan, Duane Gardner, Rob Haines, Su Kent, Pete Murray,

Paul Thomsen and Richard Threlkeld

Windows 7

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Table of contentsThe Business Problem ................................................................................ 4

• OvercomingthechallengesofWindows7Migration ...................................................................................4

OptimizingWindows7Migrations ............................................................. 5

• Applicationrationalization ............................................................................................................................ 5

• Preparation–wheredowestandwithourcurrentclientbase?..................................................................5

• Contentdistribution–dowehavetheinfrastructuretosupportanOSupgrade? ......................................5

• InitiatingaWin7migration–whatisthebestapproachtoschedulingandinitiating aWin7migrationatanofficeortoadepartment? ....................................................................................6

• HowdowedeployourstandardWindows7imagetonewsystems? ..........................................................6

• Howareadditionalone-offsoftwareinstallationshandledafterasystemismigratedtoWindows7? .......6

ApplicationRationalization ......................................................................... 7

ApplicationMapping .................................................................................. 8

• ApplicationMapping–1EStyle .................................................................................................................... 9

• ApplicationMappingBasedonUsage ..........................................................................................................9

Preparation:WakeUpandClientHealth .................................................. 10

ContentDistribution ................................................................................. 11

• Peer Backup Assistant (controlled by NMDS infrastructure) ......................................................................11

• PXEEverywhere .......................................................................................................................................... 11

Initiatingthemigrations ........................................................................... 12

• ApplicationReinstallation .......................................................................................................................... 12

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UserStateMigration(UserPersonalityMigration) ............................................ 13

• Intermediate data storage ......................................................................................................................... 13

• Hard-linkdatastore ................................................................................................................................... 13

• ConfigMgrStateMigrationPoint(SMP) .....................................................................................................13

• Network Share ............................................................................................................................................ 14

• UserStateMigration .................................................................................................................................. 14

Howcan1Ehelp? ..................................................................................... 15

• Project Approach ........................................................................................................................................ 15

• TechnicalSolution ....................................................................................................................................... 16

• ApplicationRationalization ......................................................................................................................... 16

• ApplicationRemediation ............................................................................................................................ 16

• ImageEngineeringandAutomation ...........................................................................................................16

• Infrastructure Design and Deployment ......................................................................................................16

• PersonalityMigration .................................................................................................................................. 17

• Hardware Provisioning ................................................................................................................................ 17

• End-UserTraining ........................................................................................................................................ 17

Summary .................................................................................................. 17

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The Business ProblemThereisnolongera“onesolutionfitsall”approachforOperatingSystems (OS) deployments as the provision of OS and the delivery of businessapplicationsneedstobescalableandefficientaswellasadaptto the changing ways in which people work. Today, large companies havetooperateacrossacomplexinfrastructurethatcoversmultiplelocationsandworkenvironmentstodeliveranITPlatformthatservesdifferinguserneedsandrequirements.

ITcontentiscontinuallygrowinglargerinsize.SystemsManagementcontentincludesuserapplications,serverapplications,systemandsoftwareupdatesaswellasOScontent;allofwhichareincreasinglybecoming larger. Typical OS content includes core images, boot images, driverpackagesandsoftwarepackages.

To illustrate the nature of the problem, a base Windows XP image is around800MBinsizeafterperformingasystemcaptureandincludingonlytheservicepack.Comparatively,abaseWindows7Enterprisex64image including only the service pack is around 2.6 GB in size.

Furthermore, it isn’t just about moving large volumes of data. Network link speeds (WAN and LAN) are growing at a much slower rate than content, which means it takes longer to deploy content in the enterprise.Additionallyyoucan’tjustpushdatadownthenetworkasfastaspossibleasyouwouldriskcongestingthenetwork.

Mostbusinessapplicationsareinconstantuseandthereforerequireefficientnetworkusageanddatatransfer,sotheseareprioritizedoverIT content. The network needs to adjust according to business needs, butconverselytherearealsomanycriticalITprojectsthatenabletheorganizationtofunctionandmoveforward.Thechallengeishowtoprioritizethese.

An OS deployment is a high priority IT project. However, the process canbecostlyandtime-consumingfromanapplicationcompatibilityperspectivewhentryingtotransfercontenttoremotelocations,and

whenautomatingthemigrationprocess.YoudonotwanttohavetoshuffleuserdataacrossthenetworkduringthemigrationprocessordealwithnetworkconfigurationandtrafficwhenmakingPrebooteXecutionEnvironment(PXE)requestsforbaremetalsystembuilds.

The1EapproachistoextendandenhanceMicrosoftSystemCenterConfigurationManager(ConfigMgr)andatthesametimereduceandsimplifyitsinfrastructureandoperationalcosts.Thisapproachpaysinstantdividends,inreducingthetimeandbusinessdisruptioncreatedbyamassOSmigrationproject,andalsoinbuildinganoptimizedon-goingsystemsmanagementplatformtoservethebusinessITneedsintothe future.

Overcoming the challenges of Windows 7 MigrationThebiggestsingleconcernraisedduringanyOSmigrationprojectistheelapsedtimeittakesandtheassociatedimpactandcosttothebusiness.The1Esolutionsuitehashelpedsomeofourlargestcustomersachievephenomenaldeploymentstatistics,forexample,inearly2012,alargetelecommunicationsproviderwasableto:

• Migrate roughtly 80,000 systems in four months

• 30,459 of those systems were in one month

• This was an average of 1,000 to 1,500 systems per day

Ourapproachistoprovide100%automationon90%oftheestatewhichissignificantlymorepowerfulthan90%automationonanentireestate (see illustration below). This is because the 90% success would alwaysinvolve100%desksidevisitsandothermitigation,whichiswheretimeandcostcreepsintotheproject.100%automationmeansadesk-sidevisitisnotrequiredinthemajorityofcasesandmanymoremachinescanbemigratedatthesametime.

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The1Esolutionsuiteuniquelyhastheabilitytoachievethissortofrapid,highly-optimizedmigrationbecauseofthefollowingmainfeatures:

• Flexibility and agility: to cope with the increasingly complex and diverse infrastructure scenarios, such as smaller satellite and serverlessofficelocationsaswellasmaintainingsystemsafterhours.

• Speed: the deployment toolset needs the ability to deliver extremely largeamountsofcontentanddata,withoutdisruptiontobusinessapplications.ThisispracticallyimpossiblewithoutthereverseQoStechnology built into Nomad.

• End-user empowerment: Shopping allows end users to drive and controltheirownmigrationatatimeanddayoftheirchoosing.

ThisminimizesthedisruptiontotheworkingdayandremovestheadministrativeoverheadfromtheITteam.

• CostOptimization:acceleratingthedeploymenttimelinereducesimpactandthereforetheinherentdisruptionandcosttothebusiness. A streamlined infrastructure and fully automated deployment technology and process reduces direct IT costs and softwarewaste.ThisiswhereAppClarity’sinstantvisibilityintosoftwareusagecanbringimmediatevalue.

• Riskmitigation:theextendedtimeandmanualeffortinvolvedinanOSMigrationinevitablyintroducemoreriskandpotentialpain.Theprocessandtoolsetneededtobeabletomitigatethese.Thisis where a feature such as Peer Backup in Nomad 2012 reduces the elapseddeploymenttimeandincreasesthesecurityofusers’data.

OptimizingWindows7MigrationsGiven its sheer scale and complexity, a Windows 7 deployment can be oneofthemostpainful,costlyandtime-intensiveITprojectstoday.There is an undeniable impact on the network and striking the right balancebetweenasuccessfulandfastmigrationandnotdisruptingtheflowofbusinessdatayetensuringthattherightsoftwareapplicationsareinstalledarekeyconsiderationsITdepartmentshavetotakewhenembarking on such a project.

Combiningdifferent1Esolutions–AppClarity,WakeUp,NomadandShopping–providesorganizationswithatoolsetthatwilloptimizeWindows7deploymentsinthemostcost-effectivewayandensurethereisnodisruptiontothebusiness.BelowwelookatatypicalOSdeployment process and the issues you need to consider at each stage.

ApplicationrationalizationManyorganizationsstrugglewiththequestionofwhichapplicationstoinclude on the base system they are deploying. Do we deploy what was therebefore?Ifso,doweupgradetothelatestversionandhowdowemapeachoftheoldversionstothenew?

Shouldwedeployeverylineofbusinessapplicationadepartmenttypicallyuses,butdowehavethelicensestocoverallofthem?Ifnot,howdowedeterminewhoisactuallyusingwhichapplicationsowedon’thavetopurchaseadditionallicenses?

Eachofthesequestionscanrequireextensiveresearchandgatheringofdatasoanaccurateassessmentcanbemade.Theamountoftimetogather and analyze this data can be extensive.

Manyorganizationsarefacedwithhavingtospendfarmorethanwhatwasoriginallyplannedonadditionalsoftwarelicensestoavoidtherisk

oflostuserproductivityorlicenseviolationsbecausetheydonothaveaneffectivewayofdeterminingwhatsoftwaretheyneedtodeploytoeach system.

Preparation–wheredowestandwithourcurrentclientbase?Manyorganizationshaveinplacedesktopmanagementsystems,butdoweknowifthosesystemsarereportingaccurately?Areweactuallyseeingalloftheworkstationsinourinventory?Howdoweknowifaworkstationisn’treportingproperly?AreallofmysystemscapableofsupportingWindows7?

Nothavingaccurateinformationaboutyourenvironmentcouldmeanthat a number of systems are being overlooked or having problems acceptingtheupgrade.Thiscouldleadtoaworkstationnotbeingupgraded with the others in a department on schedule. As a result of evenjustafewsystemsbeingoverlooked,adepartmentorofficecouldexperiencealossinproductivityuntilthesituationisrectified.

Contentdistribution–dowehavetheinfrastructuretosupportanOSupgrade?Withtheincreaseindataconnectivityoptions,manyorganizationshaveoptednottoplaceserversinremoteofficessinceuserscanaccessresourcesinthedatacenterwithlittletonolatencyordelay.WhenitcomestoupgradingtheOSandapplicationsonmultipleremotePCs,the volume of data that needs to be transferred could easily saturate an otherwiserobustWANlinkfordays.Theresultislimitedconnectivitytothedatacenterwhichcouldimpactproductivityattheremoteoffice.

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InitiatingaWindows7migration–whatisthe best approach to scheduling and initiatingaWindows7migrationatanofficeortoadepartment?AnOSdeploymentcantakesometimetocomplete.Tryingtoscheduleadeploymenttoadepartmentorofficewhileminimizingtheimpacttoenduserproductivitycanbeachallenge.

Desktopsystemsaretypicallymigratedafterhours,butthiscanpresentanother challenge. How can we ensure that end users leave the workstationsonsowedon’tmissanyone?Howdowehandlelaptopsthatmaynotbeintheofficeovernight?Canwegiveourusersmorecontrolsotheycaninitiatetheupgradewhenitfitstheirschedule?

How do we deploy our standard Windows7imagetonewsystems?Manyorganizationswillhavenewsystemsshippedtoadepotlocation,unpack them, apply the new OS image, then repackage and ship them outtoaremoteoffice.Thisrequiresadditionaltime,resourcesandshippingexpense.TheabilitytoshipsystemsdirectlytoremoteofficesanddeploythemwithminimalITstaffandskillsetsonsitecouldprovidesignificantsavings.

However,theinfrastructuretosupportbooting“baremetal”out-of-the-

boxsystemsisnotnormallyavailableinremoteofficesandrequiresaPXEserverinfrastructuretobeinplaceonsite.

Othermethodsincludeshippingstand-alonebootablemediaouttoremoteserverlessoffices,butthiscanquicklyturnintoamanagementheadache–trackingandkeepingthemediauptodate.

Howareadditionalone-offsoftwareinstallationshandledafterasystemismigratedtoWindows7?Oftenthereareseveralsoftwarepackagesthatendusersusedaytodaythatarenotbusinesscriticalbutimproveproductivity.ManytimestheseproductswereinstalledoverthecourseoftimethroughindividualservicedeskrequestsandarenottypicallyincludedinaWindows7migration.

However,theydoplayaroleinend-userproductivity.Howdoweallowuserstorequesttheseone-offsoftwarepackageswithoutoverwhelmingtheservicedeskafteradepartmentorofficeismigratedtoWindows7?

We take each of the above steps in the process and lookatthemingreaterdetailinthesectionsbelow.

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ApplicationRationalizationNomatterhowyouplantodeployyournewOS,likemostorganizations,youwillfindthatoneofthemostcostlyelementsoftheprojectisensuringthattheapplicationsyourusersrequirearecompatiblewithyourOS.Thisinvolvesidentifyingtheapplications,testingtheapplicationsandtheirdeploymentpackagesforcompatibility,resolvingcompatibilityissues,deployingthepackages,andtrainingtheend-usersonrelevantdifferences.

1Ehasfoundthatalmostalllargeorganizationshaveapproximately1,000truedistinctapplicationsinstalledontheirusers’computers,severalhundredofwhicharepurchasedfromthird-partyvendors.However,alargefractionofthoseapplicationsareinstalledonaverysmall number of computers, and many are no longer used.

OneofthemosteffectivemeanstoexpediteyourOSdeploymentprojectistoreliablyidentify(rationalize)whichapplicationsareactuallyusedbyasignificantfractionofyourendusersandfocusyourapplicationcompatibilityanddeploymenteffortsonthoseapplications.Themostobscureapplicationsthatsomeusersmayrequirecanjustasefficientlybemanagedasone-offrequestsbyyourhelpdeskanddesktop support technicians.

Tohelpyourationalizewhichapplicationsaremostcommonlyused,1EprovidesAppClarity.ConfigMgrhasveryrichdatacollectioninrelationtosoftware,includingsoftwareinventory(files),Add/RemovePrograms,assetintelligence,softwaremetering,andsimilardata.However,youhave probably already found that this data is very inconsistent and voluminous.Manuallytryingtoreconcileittoactionableinformationforevenasmallsubsetofsoftwareisverylaborintensive.

That’swhere1E’sAppClaritycomesin–ithasautomaticalgorithmsandanextensivemanuallyproducedandmaintainedsoftwarecatalogtonormalizeConfigMgr’sdataintoactionableinformationforallyoursoftware.WithAppClarityyoucannotonlyeasilyseespecificallywhatsoftwareisinstalled,butasitisalsoappropriatelycategorized,youcansee how much it is used.

BecauseAppClarityusesConfigMgrdata,thesetupanduseofAppClarityisveryfast.TheAppClarityworkloadinitselfisrelativelylightandsoitcanoftenbeinstalledonyourConfigMgrsiteserveritself.AppClarityisthenconfiguredtosynchronizewithConfigMgrdatabase,whichusuallytakesonlyfiveto20minutes.YoucanthenopentheAppClarity console, (see illustrations on this page) and see the details of yourorganization’ssoftwarefootprint.

ForthepurposeofyourWindows7migrationapplicationrationalization,youwillalsowanttousethereportsfunction.Inparticular,theUnusedSoftwareIdentificationreportshouldberuntogenerateaCSVfilethatyoucanuseforyoursoftwarefootprintanalysis.Whenyourunthereportyoushouldusethedefaultoptionsexceptthatyouselect“ExportreportdetaildatatoaCSVfile”.

Youmaywanttokeepthedefaultoptionofshowinglicensableproductsonlyonthefirstanalysissincethisissoftwarethatcouldhavecostsifyouhavetoupgradeit.AllsoftwarecanbeimportantduringanOSmigrationsoshowingallproductsisimportantatsomepointaswell.

WiththedatainaCSVfileyoucannowmanageitwithMicrosoftExcelorasimilarprograminordertofindthemostcommonlyinstalledsoftware,especiallyfilteringoutthesoftwarethatisrarelyused.

Thanks to AppClarity the data will all be normalized so that whoever is doing this work will not be overwhelmed with the ‘noise’ that the rawConfigMgrdatawouldhaveincludedandnodataanalysttechnicalspecialistsarerequired.Yourapplicationmigrationactivitiescanimmediatelyfocusontheapplicationsthataremostimportanttoyourorganization.

Note:whiletheinfrastructurerequirementsforAppClarityarerelativelylight,therearesubstantialtasks to be done in customizing the catalog for yourinternallineofbusinessapplications,trainingyourstaff,andsimilarpreparationsforproductionuse.Therefore1Erecommendsthatyouengageaconsultantfrom1EServicesora1Epartnerforapproximatelyaweekwhenimplementingyourproductiondeployment.

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ApplicationMapping

Theprocessofidentifyingandreinstallingtheuser’sapplicationsetcanbeautomated.Conceptually,thisisaccomplishedbyidentifyingrelevantapplicationsintheoldsystem’sinventoryandtranslating,or“mapping,”themtoaConfigMgrpackageandprogram.Thisprocessisoftenreferredtoas“PackageMapping”or“ApplicationMapping”.

Infact,theMicrosoftDeploymentToolkithasincludedalittle-knownapplicationmappingsolutionsinceitoriginalrelease(BDD2.5).Variationsoftheoriginalsolutioncanbefoundonvariouspublicinternetblogs;allusesomeformofstringcomparisontomatchAdd/RemoveProgramentriestoConfigMgrpackagesandprograms.

At the center of the process is a custom table, populated by an administrator,containinginventoriedapplicationsdisplaynamesinonecolumnandConfigMgrpackageID’sinanother.AsampleofwhatthisPackageMapping table may look like is below.

Thepotentialtimesavingsfromautomatingthisaspectofpersonalitymigrationhasanobviousappeal,especiallywhenplanningalarge-scalemigration;butapplicationmappingcandomorethansavetime.Firstly,

applicationmappingcanbeusedtoinstallanupgradedversionofparticularapplication.

Intheprecedingexample,installationsofProjectProfessional2007areautomaticallyupgradedtoProjectProfessional2010duringthemigration.Secondly,thisprocesscanrationalizeandreducethesizeoftheorganization’ssoftwareportfolio.Againreferringtotheprecedingtable,installationsofWinZipandjZipwillbereplacedwith7-Zipatdeployment.

ApplicationmappingcanaddsignificantvaluetoaWin7migration,but this approach to the problem can introduce new challenges and complexities.Thedefaultapplicationmappingruleistoinstallnothing,meaningthateveryapplicationtobereinstalledduringdeploymentrequiresanentryinthePackageMappingtable.Anyproductthatdoesnot match a PackageMapping table entry will not be reinstalled.

Foranenterprisemanaginghundredsorthousandsofsoftwaretitles,populatingandmaintainingthePackageMappingtablemaybeadauntingandlengthytask.Also,theprocessreliesonraw,un-normalizedConfigMgrinventorydata.AnyvariationindisplaynameforaparticularproductmustbeidentifiedandmanuallyaddedtothePackageMapping table.

IntheprecedingPackageMappingtable,fivevariationsinthedisplaynameforAdobeAcrobatProfessional8existingintheenvironment,thereforerequiringfiveseparatetableentries.Anyoverlookeddisplayname variants for this product not listed in the table will not be reinstalledatdeployment.Byfar,themostsignificantdrawbackwiththissolutionisthat,byimplementingit,theorganizationimplicitlyforgoesarareandprimeopportunitytorationalizesoftwareusageandreducesoftwaremaintenancecosts.

Whenapplicationsareautomaticallyreinstalledbasedontheirpresenceinthesystem’sinventory,thereisnoopportunitytoquestioniftheuserstillneedstheapplication,orconsiderifalessexpensivealternativemaysuittheuser’sneeds.Theresultisacostly,inefficientallocationoflicensesandunnecessaryapplicationbloat.

Lastly,alltheConfigMgrpackagesmappedusingthisprocessmustbeinstalledduringtasksequenceexecution.Thispreventstheuseofapplicationmappingtoinstallsoftwarewithinteractiveinstallationprogramsandthosepackagedtoinstallviaatasksequence.

ARPName Packages

MicrosoftOfficeProjectProfessional2007 CEN00011:InstallProjectPro2010

MicrosoftProjectProfessional2010 CEN00011:InstallProjectPro2010

MicrosoftOfficeProjectProfessional2010 CEN00011:InstallProjectPro2010

MicrosoftOfficeVisioProfessional2007 CEN00022:InstallVisioPro2010

MicrosoftVisioProfessional2010 CEN00022:InstallVisioPro2010

7-Zip9.20 CEN00033:Install7zip9.20

WinZip10.0 CEN00033:Install7zip9.20

WinZip12.0 CEN00033:Install7zip9.20

jZip CEN00033:Install7zip9.20

Adobe Acrobat 8.1.3 Professional CEN00044:InstallAcrobatPro8

Adobe Acrobat 8.1.4 Professional CEN00044:InstallAcrobatPro8

Adobe Acrobat 8.1.5 Professional CEN00044:InstallAcrobatPro8

Adobe Acrobat 8.1.6 Professional CEN00044:InstallAcrobatPro8

Adobe Acrobat 8.1.7 Professional CEN00044:InstallAcrobatPro8

AdobeAcrobat9Pro-English,Français,Deutsch CEN00055:InstallAcrobatPro9

Table 1: Sample PackageMapping Table

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InsideV1EW 11

ApplicationMapping–1EStyle1EconsultantsbringapowerfulApplicationMappingsolutionthatcombinesAppClarity’sapplicationinventoryandnormalizationcapabilitieswithShopping’sOSDfeatures(see Table 2). Here applicationsareidentifiedinAppClarity’sinventorybytheirIDandmappedtosoftwaretitlesavailableinShopping’ssoftwarecatalog.Howapplicationsaremappediscontrolledviaanadministrator-definedruleset.

The default mapping rule is to reinstall the same version of an application.ItemsinShopping’ssoftwarecatalogthathavebeenlinkedtoitemsinAppClaritydonotrequiremappingrulestohavetheapplicationautomaticallyreinstalled.Intheprecedingexample,installationsofProject2010areautomaticallyreinstalled,eventhoughProject 2010 is not referenced in the mapping table.

Creatingandmaintainingcustommappingrulesisalsomoreprecise,simpler and less prone to oversight. The preceding example produces the same result as its cousin (see Table 1), but with much fewer entries. Instead of matching products by name, they are matched to AppClarity ID number.

Furthermore,productsarelinkedtonormalizeddatainAppClarity;meaning that single ID number represents any subtle variants in the products display name to a single release. For example, where the traditionalapplicationmappingsolutionrequiresfivetableentriesforAdobe Acrobat 8 (one for each of the variants in its display name), The 1Esolutiononlyrequiresone.

ApplicationMappingBasedonUsageTheabilitytoreinstallanapplication,ornot,basedonitsusageiswhatreallysetsthe1Esolutionapart.Addingusagetothemappingcriteriaaffordstheorganizationanopportunitytoreclaimorcleanuplicensesthat may not be in use. Referring to the example above, on client systems where Acrobat Professional 8 and 9 are installed but not used (“Unused”)thesoftwareisnotreinstalledduringthemigrationandthese unused licenses are reclaimed.

AppClarityidentifiesthreecategoriesofusageforeveryapplication:used,potentiallyunusedandunused.1E’sapplicationmappingsolutionaffordsadministratorstheopportunitytocreaterulesspecifictoeachusage category.

Forexample,frequentusersofProjectProfessional2007wouldreceivean upgrade to Project Professional 2010, while occasional Project users receive a free project viewer. Finally, for those who haven’t usedProjectinquitesometime,noapplicationisinstalled.Notonlycantheorganizationsavetimeandimproveend-usersatisfactionbyautomaticallyreinstallinguserapplicationsforthem,softwarecanbesystematicallyrationalizedandreducedintheprocess.

Applicationstheusernolongerneeds,asdeterminedbyusage,areremovedduringtheOSmigration.Licenseupgradescostsarereduced,asistheannuallicensemaintenancefeeandexistinglicensesareefficientlyallocatedtothosewhoneedthem.Formany,thistypeofinternalsoftwareauditcouldtakeyearsofefforttocomplete,butwiththe1EapproachtoOSmigration,itisjustpartofthemigration.

AppClarity ID Source Product Name Release Usage Target AppID Target Product Name

16543 Project Professional 2007 Used 55 Project Pro 2010

16543 Project Professional 2007 PotentiallyUnused 68 Project Viewer

16543 Project Professional 2007 Unused NULL NULL

27654 WinZip 10 • 77 7-Zip9.20

27518 WinZip 12 • 77 7-Zip9.20

42140 JZip 1 • 77 7-Zip9.20

11877 Acrobat Professional 8 Unused NULL Do not reinstall

11932 Acrobat Professional 9 Unused NULL Do not reinstall

Table 2: logical representation of a 1E Application Mapping Rules

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Preparation:WakeUpandClientHealthMicrosoft’sSystemCenterConfigurationManager(ConfigMgr)isthemostpowerfulsolutionavailabletodeployOperatingSystems,especiallywhenusedwith1E’sproducts.However,ConfigMgritselfmustbefullyfunctional(healthy)onboththeserversideandtheclientside in order to provide its services, including OS deployments.

Managing server health is generally well understood, primarily focusing on System CenterOperationsManager.However,mostorganizationsthat1Eworkswithstrugglewith client health, primarily because of the highly distributed and diverse nature of clients.Fortunately1Ehasasolutioninthisareaaswell,intheWakeUpcomponentofNightWatchmanEnterprise.

NightWatchmanEnterpriseisapowermanagement(includingshutdown)andWake-on-LANsolution.NightWatchmanEnterprisecanbeusedtoenhanceyourOSmigrationproject in several ways, one of which is maximizethehealthofyourConfigMgrclients.

This can be done even if you choose to not use NightWatchmanEnterpriseforitsshutdownandWakeUpcapabilities.

Whileworkingwithitscustomers,1EfoundthatiftheConfigMgrclientfailedthenanothertoolwasrequiredtofixit.Severaloptionshavebeentriedby1Eandwwmanyotherswithlimited results:

• ClientPushInstallationfromtheConfigMgrserversthemselves–thisrequiredthattheserversbeabletofindandaccesstheclients, and it only helped with a small subset of client failure scenarios

• Computerstartupscripts–theseonlyranwhenthecomputerrestarted,whichiscommonlynotfrequent,andtheyrequiresophisticatedskillstodevelopandmaintain

• Server-sidescriptsandtools,suchasPSExec–thesealsorequired

theserversbeabletofindandaccesstheclients,andtheyrequiresophisticatedskillstodevelopandmaintainaswell.

NightWatchmanEnterprise’sWakeUpavoidstheseproblems;itisaprofessionally developed lightweight service that runs on the client

computers themselves to regularly check the ConfigMgrclient.ThereforetherearenoissueswithfindingtheConfigMgrclientintermsoftiming,nameresolution,privilegesorsimilarissues.TheNightWatchmanEnterpriseserveris always up with a constant address, so the clientshavenoproblemfindingtheserverinorder to report results or occasionally update policies.

TheWakeUpclienthealthpoliciesareillustrated herere. Some are general purpose computer health policies, maximizing user productivity,butmostarespecificallydesignedtomaximizeConfigMgrclienthealth.

MostorganizationsfindthatWMIisoneofthemostcommonrootcausesofConfigMgrclientproblems.ThenumerousWakeUpWMI(alsoknownasWBEM)testsandfixeshelpwiththeseproblems.OnceWMIisconfirmedtobeworking(orfixed),thenissuesrelatedtotheConfigMgrclientitself,suchassiteassignment and service state, are also checked and repaired.

TheWakeUpclienthealthsolutioncanbeusedinalargelyautomaticmodewithminimaladministratorintervention.Theadministratorcan monitor reports carefully and stage repairs cautiouslyasmightbeappropriatewhenfirstdeployingthesolutionandexpectingalargenumber of repairs. The administrator can

useeithertheConfigMgrconsoleortheNightWatchmanEnterpriseconsoletomanageclienthealth.Forexample,thefollowingConfigMgr2012consolescreenshotshowsbothcollectionsthatcanbeusedtocategorizehealthproblemsthatWakeUpfinds,andcollection-specificcontextsensitivemenuoptionstocontrolclienthealth(andthesearealso available for individual clients).

WithyourConfigMgrclienthealthnowmaximized,ConfigMgrcannowdoanevenbetterjobdeployingyournewOperatingSystem.

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ContentDistributionSoftwarecontentisgrowinglargerinsizeandthisisespeciallytrueof OSD content. The typical OSD content includes OS images, boot images,driverpackagesandsoftwarepackages.Forexample,abaseWindows XP image including only the service pack is around 800 MB insize,whereasabaseWindows7Enterprisex64imageincludingonlythe service pack is around 2.6 GB in size. On the other hand, network speeds (both WAN and LAN) are growing at a much slower rate in comparison. The end result is that it takes longer to deploy content out in an enterprise environment and it can possibly congest networks if not done correctly.

There are many ways to go about solving this problem. One way is to simply increase the bandwidth to the maximum that is available, howeverthisisaverycostlyapproachandoftentimesnotverypractical(i.e.satellitenetworks).Anotherwayistoplacecontentdistributionservers,knownasdistributionpoints,ateverylocationthroughoutthe network. This approach is also very costly in terms of hardware, software,powerconsumptionandongoingsupportandmanagement.Nomadovercomestheselimitationsandcostlyapproachesandinadditionprovidesseveralbenefits.

AnOSDprocessitselfcanbeverycostlyandtimeconsumingnotonlyfromanapplicationcompatibilityperspectivebutalsowhentryingtotransferthecontenttoremotelocationsandautomatethemigrationprocess.ThisincludesnothavingtoshuffleuserdataacrossthenetworkduringthemigrationprocessbutalsonothavingtodealwithnetworkconfigurationortrafficwhendoingPXErequestsforbaremetalsystem builds.

Nomad2012reducesthenetworkimpactbyautomaticallyprioritizingbusinessapplicationsandbackingoffthroughitsuniqueReverseQoS™networkingtechnology.ReverseQoSensuresthatITtrafficautomaticallybacksoffcontentdistributions–forinstanceinanOSDscenario–whenbusinessapplicationsneednetworkresources.

It does this by looking at how packets of data traverse the WAN andregulatesthebandwidthtoremotebranchlocationsviaanautonomicthrottlingsystem.IteliminatestheneedforserversasclientsystemscanautomaticallyholdlocalelectionstodetermineasinglerepresentativetopullthisdataacrosstheWANandhasdynamicfailback methods built in to ensure successful deployments.

CombinedwitheliminatingtheneedformorenetworkbandwidthortraditionalQoSconfigurationsNomad2012lessenstheoveralladministrationforConfigMgrtasks.InadditiontothenetworkthrottlingthatNomad2012controlsitalsohasautomationtoolsintegratedintotheTaskSequenceengineoftheOSDprocesstoallowforlessadministrationandmoresuccessaroundkeepingdatalocaltobranchesso that the network isn’t impacted when user data needs to be backed upduringthemigrationprocess.

Nomad 2012 contains a Peer Backup Assistant which seamlessly offloadsuserdatalocallyandsecurelywithoutcrossingtheWANlinksothatOSmigrationscompletefasteranddonottakedownthenetwork.FinallythePXEEverywherecomponentofNomad2012allowsanyclientsystemtobootfromanotherwithoutanynetworkconfiguration,trafficorimpactasitallowspeerPXE-bootinglocallyonclientsubnetswithoutserversandwithoutexternalnetworkcommunications.

Peer Backup Assistant (controlled by NMDS infrastructure)Peer Backup Assistant is a feature of the Nomad Branch client by which PeerBackup-enabledclientscanprovideanintermediatemigrationstoragelocationtotheirNomadpeers.Leveragingtheavailablestorageonpeercomputersavoidstheneedforadditionalserverinfrastructureand/orstoragewhilstminimizinglocalnetworktrafficandpossiblyWANusage.Again,1Econsultantsrecommendtheuseofhard-linkstoragewheneverpossible,butforthosescenariosthatprecludehard-linkdatamigration,PeerBackupoffersaviableandmanageablealternative.

We typically recommend Peer Backup Assistant to:

• Supportuserstatemigrationatlocationswithnoserverinfrastructure

• Avoidprovisioningadditionalserversorserverstoragetosupportuserstatemigration

• Eliminatetheneedfortemporarydeploymentinfrastructure

• Avoidtheadditionaloverheadofmanagingnetworksharestorageandsecurity(seetheproceedingsection).

PeerBackupAssistantintegrateswithexistingOSDtasksequences.Thesourcecomputerlocatesapeerbybroadcastingarequesttothelocalsubnet.PeerBackup-enabledhostsrespondtotherequestandelectthe most suitable candidate based on a number of relevant factors. The elected peer host then creates a share to store the user state data andinformstherequestingclientitslocation.Userstatedataisthencaptured and transferred to the peer share and secured. Later, when deploying the target system, the user data is restored from the Peer Backup host.

ThePeerBackupAssistantfeatureprovidesadministrativecontrolssimilar to an SMP including:

• PeerBackupstorageallocation.

• AutomaticselectionofsuitablePeerBackuphostbasedonavailablediskspaceandcurrentPeerBackupstorageconsumption.

• Dataretentionperiod.

• Limit the number of concurrent Peer Backup shares in use (to prevent any impact to the user).

ConfigMgrcomputerassociationscanbeusedtodefineandmanagetheassociationbetweenoldandnewsystems,buttheiruseisnotrequired.Whencreated,thePeerBackupstoreissimplyassignedaname. The same Peer Backup name is used later to locate the share. Thisaddssomedegreeofflexibilitytotheprocessofassociatingoldandnew computer hardware.

PXEEverywherePXEcapabilitiesallowpeersystemstobaremetalboottoeachotherandinstallanOperatingSystemwithnonetworkconfigurationand noadministrativeeffort.

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ThiscanbedonebyenablingPXEonspecificsystemsorNomad’s“PXEEverywhere”featurewhichallowsdynamicelectionstotakeplaceatlocal sites and peer systems will determine the best system to host the PXEprocess.Nomad’sPeerBackupcapabilities(asexplainedabove)allowforinstancebackupandrestoreofUSMTdata.Thismeansthatwhen doing bare metal builds, the user data that was on the previous system can be safely backed up and restored to the new one seamlessly to the user without needing to transmit the data over the WAN.

AdditionallyNomadhasfullWinPEsupportwhichmeansthatallthedynamiccapabilitiesofNomadforcontentlocationarepartofyourbuildprocess.WiththeWinPEsupportNomadcanmulticastinWinPEallowingforfastand/orlargescalemigrationstotakeplace.

All of these OSD features, including the prestaging of content at branch locations,arecompletedinsidethenativeConfigMgrconsoleasNomadleveragestheexistinginfrastructurecompletely.

InitiatingthemigrationsThe vast majority of companies will have some staffthatmaywanttoinitiatetheirownOSDs,manyorganizations,ofcoursewillhavetheirOSDs scheduled by the IT department.

Fortheself-serviceoptionwerecommendShoppingfrom1E.

Shopping™takesusersthroughasimplewizardthatexplainseachstepofthemigrationprocessastheymovetotheirnewOS.Formulti-regionalorganizationsuserscanchoosetoselecttheir language or version preference.

UsersarepresentedwiththeapplicationsthatwillcomewiththeOS.ThesearethecoreapplicationsdeliveredwiththeOSimage.Theycanalsoselect(orunselect)applicationstoreplicatethosetheycurrentlyhaveandwishtohaveautomaticallyreinstalledwiththenewOS.(See dedicated section below entitled Application Reinstallation)

Asdescribedearlier,thisinformationcanbesourcedfromAppClarityorviatheirpreviousShoppinghistory.TheinformationisshowninthewizardandapplicationsthatarenotcompatiblewiththenewOScanbefilteredoutoralternativesandsupportedversionsprovided.Shoppingcanprovidetrueapplicationlicenseandlifecyclecontrolfromthepointofmigration.

Schedulingthetimeanddateofthemigrationisextremelyflexible.The available slots are set by an administrator who sets the start and enddatesoftheOSDeploymentprojectandthetimeblocksuserscan

choose.Thisenablestheadministratortocontrolthemigrationaswellasallowinguserstoselectatimeanddatewhenitisconvenientforthem to upgrade.

Oncethewizardiscompletedthemigrationisscheduledandthebannerchangestodisplaythemigrationtimeandthreelinks,toeditorcancelthemigrationanddownloadaremindertotheircalendar.WhenthescheduledtimearrivesaConfigMgrtasksequenceisactivatedandtheuser’smachineiseffortlesslyandautomaticallymigratedtoWin7.

ApplicationReinstallationWithoutsoftware,anewWindows7workstationofferslittlebusinessvalue.Thecorebuildmayincludemanycoreapplications,butmanyusersrequirespecialtyandline-of-businesssoftwaretodotheirjobs.Ensuringtheuser’simportantapplicationsareavailableondayonepreventsbusinessdisruption,maintainsproductivityandensuresend-usersatisfaction.Despiteitsimportance,thisaspectofpersonalitymigrationisoftenpoorlyaddressedinmanymigrations.

Often,userapplicationsaremanuallyinstalledpost-deploymentbya deployment technician. In some cases, the technician analyzes the inventoryoftheoldcomputer,identifiestherelevantapplicationsandreinstalls them one by one. In other cases, the deployment technician “interviews”theendusertoidentifytheapplicationsrequired.EvenwhenapplicationsarepackagedfordistributionwithConfigMgr,suchmanualprocessesaretime-consuming,inefficient,andpronetooversight and inconsistency.

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UserStateMigration(UserPersonalityMigration)In an enterprise client environment, rarely are any two client systems exactlyalike.Auser’sdata,settingsandinstalledapplicationswilldifferfromitspeers.Inthehandsoftheuser,thecomputerdevelopsauniqueconfiguration,orpersonality.Thispersonalitymaybetiedtothesystem’sprimaryuser,multipleusersoraspecificbusinessrole.Atthesystem-level,thepersonalityconsistsoffiles,registryentriesandinstalledapplicationsthatdeviatefromtheorganization’scorebuild.Typically,personalityislayeredontopofthecoreOperatingSystem,driversandapplicationlayers.

Constructionofthispersonalitymaybetheresultofsignificanteffortfromboththesystem’suser(s)andtheITsupportorganization.Criticaltouserproductivityandtheorganizationasawhole,theOSmigrationmust ensure the relevant aspects of this personality survive the migrationintact.

Efficient,effectiveandautomatedpersonalitymigrationrequirestheconvergenceofthreedistinctprocesses.Thedetailsoftheseprocesseswillvarybytheneedsoftheorganization,butnearlyalwayscenteraroundtheMicrosoftDeploymentToolkit(MDT),UserStateMigrationTool(USMT)andoneormore1Etechnologies.1EProfessionalServicesconsultantsbringexperienceandbest-practiceguidancearoundeachofthe technologies employed in the process.

Intermediate data storage UserstatemigrationwithUSMTrequiresanintermediatestoragelocation,or“StateStore”.Therequisiteintermediatestoragecanbelocatedonanylocaldirectoryorremotefilesharewherethesystemhaswriteprivileges.Inalarge-scalemigration,rarelycanasingleintermediatestoragestrategyadequatelyaddresseverydeploymentscenario.AtypicalOSmigrationwilllikelyleverageacombinationofoneormoreofthefollowinglocations:

• Hard-linkmigrationstore

• ConfigMgrStateMigrationPoint(SMP)

• NomadMigrationDataSharing(NMDS)

• Network Share

Hard-linkdatastoreThehard-linkstatestoreisafeatureofUSMT4.0thatsavesbothtimeanddiskspacebycreatingadirectoryofhardlinkstotheuserfilesselectedforcapture.Ratherthancopyingfilesselectedforcapture,USMTcreateahard-linktooriginalfiles.Becausefilesarenotduplicatedonthedisk,theprocessconsumessignificantlylessspaceand completes much faster.

Unfortunately,theuseofahard-linkmigrationislimitedtothefollowingdeploymentscenarios–ahard-linkdatastorecanonlybeused when:

• ThenewOperatingSystemisdeployedtoexistinghardware,aswithanin-placerefreshmigration.

• ThenewOperatingSystemistobedeployedtothesamevolumeastheexistingOperatingSystem.

Furthermore,theuseofhard-linkintermediatestorageisfurtherlimited as it cannot be used in any following scenarios:

• Userdataneedstobemigratedfromonecomputertoanother(suchasintheReplaceoraSide-by-Sidedeploymentscenario).

• Thediskmustberepartitionedorreformattedduringthemigration.

• Userdataneedstobemigratedfromonevolumetoanother.

ConfigMgrStateMigrationPoint(SMP) TheStateMigrationPoint(SMP)ConfigMgrsiteroleisdesignedtoprovideintermediatestorageduringOSdeployment.Duringexecutionofthetasksequence,anavailableSMPlocationwhereuserstatedatawillbestoredisidentified.OncethenewOSisinstalled,theuser

1Erecommendstheuseofthehard-linkmigrationdatastoragefeaturewheneverpossible.Eliminatingthe need to provision or manage intermediate storage coupledwithsignificanttimeandnetworkbandwidthsavings make it an obvious and preferred choice.

Pleasenote:Dependinguponitsconfiguration,thepresenceofthirdpartywholediskencryptionmayalsopreventtheuseofthehard-linkdatastore.

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statedataisretrievedandrestoredfromthesamelocation.Thestatemigrationpointoffersanoptionfordeploymentscenariosthatpreventtheuseofhard-linkdatastorage.

Morethanjustafileshare,theSMPaddsseveralfeaturestoimprovethe manageability and security of intermediate storage such as:

• IntegrationwithConfigMgrtasksequencesusingbuilt-inactions

• AutomatedSMPselectionbasedonConfigMgrsite-systemboundaries and available storage

Protects the privacy of user data by:

• Encryptingtheuserstatedataduringtransmissionandstorage

• Restrictingaccesstostatestore

• Automaticremovalor“clean-up”ofoldand/or“expired”statestore

• Additionalcontrolstomanagetheamountofstorageavailableforuser state storage.

Thestatemigrationperformsitsintendedrolewell,butdoesintroducesomeinherentlimitationsandchallenges.

• Requiresthecreationofacomputerassociationbetweenthesourceanddestinationsystemspriortocapturinguserstate.

• InaConfigMgr2007multi-sitehierarchy,thiscomputerassociationmust be created at the clients’ assigned site (not at the central site).

• Userstatecannotbemigratedacrossprimarysites(with ConfigMgr2007).

• Precludes the use unknown computer support for replace deployments.

• Mayrequireadditionalserverstorageoradditionalsitesystems.

• The transfer of data to the SMP does not leverage any bandwidth throttlingmechanismssuchasBITS.ToavoidWANsaturation,theSMP should be located near the target systems.

• Removingacomputerassociationalsoremovesthestore’sencryptionkeyandmayresultinlossofuserdata.

Network ShareA basic network can also provide intermediate user state storage by simplyassigningaUNCpathvaluetotheOSDStateStorePathtasksequencevariable.Networksharerequiresonlyprovisioningthesharewithamplestorageandproperlyconfiguringitspermissions.

Whilesimpletosetup,thisoptioncanbethemostdifficulttoadministerandmaintain.1Econsultantstypicallyrecommendthisoptiononlyaslastresortbecauseitaddsthefollowingchallenges:

• Nomethodtoautomaticallyidentifyavailablenetworksharesduringtasksequenceexecution

• In a distributed network, the provisioning and maintenance of multiplenetworksharesisrequired

• Theremovalofagedandorphanedstatestoresrequiresdevelopment and maintenance of a separate process

• Nomethodtoidentifywhenorifaparticulardatastoreswererestored

• Potentialprivacyissuesandchallengesinrestrictingaccesstouserstate data

• Nocontrolofstorageallocation.Clientsmayattempttostoreuserdatainalocationthatlackssufficientstorage.

UserStateMigrationUserstatemigrationistwo-stepprocessbywhichtheimportantfilesandsettingspresentwithintheoldOSarecapturedandsavedtoanintermediatestoragelocation.OncethenewOperatingSystemisinstalled,beitonexistingornewhardware,thefilesandsettingsarerestoredtonewOperatingSystem.

1EconsultantsusetheUserStateMigrationTool(USMT)toaccomplishthistask.USMTintegratesintothestandardMDTtasksequencetemplateandincludestherequiredlogictomigratethemostcommonlyrequireditemssuchas:

• My Documents

• Favorites

• Outlookprofiles

• Network printer and drive mappings

• OfficeSettings

• ...and more.

USMTcansignificantlyacceleratedevelopmentandtestingoftheuserstatemigrationprocess.MigratingfromWindowsXPtoWindows7requiresmorethancopyingfilesandregistryentriesfromonesystemtoanotherasthelocationandconfigurationofthesefilesandsettingshaschangesdrastically.

USMTunderstandsthesedifferencesandrestoresfilesandsettingstotheirappropriatelocation.Also,themigrationtoWindows7likelyincludesanupgradetoOffice2010.USMTunderstandsthedifferencesbetweenOfficeversionsandrestoresfiles,registryentriesandapplicationdataasappropriate.

Bydefault,USMTmigratesasignificantamountadataandsettingsfromtheoldOperatingSystemtothenew.ConfiguringUSMTrequiresadegreeofdiligenceandcautiontopreventmigrationofsystemsettingsthatmayoverwritethoseconfiguredwithUnattend.xmlorGroupPolicyPreferences. (This problem may be especially acute in an environment whereusershaveadministratorprivilegestotheirXPworkstation.)

Also,theUSMTrulesetneedstobelimitedandmanagedtopreventthemigrationofirrelevantfilesthatmayunnecessarilybloatthesizeoftheuserstateandincreaseoveralldeploymenttimes.

Lastly,ifanyapplicationsthatrequiremigrationofusersettingsand/ordatawereidentifiedduringtheapplicationrationalizationandremediationphase,customruleswillneedtobeauthoredandtested.

1EconsultantsbringtheexpertiseandexperiencewithUSMTneededtomaximizetheefficiencyoftheuserstatemigrationprocess.Byofferingbestpracticeguidanceaswellasforesightintopotentialproblems,pitfallsandissuesinvolvingtheuseofUSMT.

1Econsultantscanassistininterpretingthedefaultruleset,developingacustomizedrulesetanddevelopingacomprehensiveUSMTtestplanthatensuresthedesiredresultisachievedinpilotandproduction.

AlthoughUSMTmigratesthesettingsanddataassociatedwithsomeapplications,itdoesnotmigratetheapplicationitself.Additionally,inordertomigrateapplicationsettings,suchasthoseforMicrosoftOfficesuite,theapplicationmustbeinstalledpriortorestoringuserstate.

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Howcan1Ehelp?An overview of how we can help (of what we do and don’t do)

Inordertoovercometheaforementionedchallengeswhilstmeetingbusinessandtechnicalrequirements,itiscriticalthatastructuredapproachisusedtomanagethelifecycleofthemigration.Thiscanbeachievedusingdefinedprojectphaseswithchecksandbalancestoensurethatthemigrationprojectdeliverswhatitsetouttodo.

Usingprojectmanagementmethodologiesaddsanadditionallayerof control which enables progress to be monitored against planned timescales,qualitytobemaintainedandearlyresolutionofissues.

OfequalimportanceistheoveralltechnicalqualityofthesolutionwhichshouldbefocusedonrequirementsanddesignedtoreliablymigrateuserstothenewOSwiththeminimumofdisruptiontothe

business.However,underpinningeverythingandultimatelythemostimportant factor is the need to do all of this whilst reducing deployment andoperationalcosts.

1Econsultingengagementsadheretotheprojectframeworkdescribedabove and are targeted to reduce costs where possible. This is primarily achievedbyincreasingautomationofthemigrationprocesstothemaximumnumberofendpoints,thus,reducingtheoperationalandadministrativeburdensothatfewermanualtasksarerequired.

1Econsultantsusetheirtechnicalknowledgeandexperiencetoobtainrequirementsandidentifyareaswhereinfrastructure,plannedmigrationtasksandexpecteddisruptioncanbereduced.Solutionsarethendesignedandengineeredusingbestpracticetoolsandtechniquesi.e.ConfigMgrandMDTbutalsousing1Esolutionstoaddfurthervalue.

Project ApproachIntermsofthe1Eengagementapproach,thedistinctprojectphasesare:Assessment,Preparation,PilotandDeployment.Eachelement can be delivered standalone, to giveorganizationscompletefreedomandflexibility,ordeliveredtogethertobuildintoacomprehensivemigrationsolutionfortheentiredeployment project lifecycle.

Projectmanagementisrequiredandusedthroughout all phases to control the complex nature of the tasks and includesactivitiessuchas:managingrisks,ensuringresourcesareavailable when needed, progress tracking against milestones, ensuring quality,managingbudgetandreportingonstatus.

Assessment:

TheAssessmentphasebuildsaninitialjustification,reviewingcurrentOperatingSystemdeploymentprocessesinadditiontothosefocusedaroundthemigrationproject.Assessmentcomponentsinclude:hardwarereadiness,currentapplicationusage,applicationcompatibilitytesting,atechnicalinfrastructureanalysis,migrationplanningandtrainingexpectations.

Businessandtechnicalrequirementswillbegatheredalongwithanypre-determinedtimescales,dependenciesandknownissues.Theassessment concludes with a report detailing the key components for theOperatingSystemmigration,thetimescalesandlikelycostsinvolvedand1E’srecommendations.

Preparation:

ThePreparationphasecommenceswithabespokedesigndocumentbuiltaroundtherequirementsgatheredintheAssessmentphaseandfocusedontheinfrastructureconfigurationofConfigMgrandMDT,alongwithatestplantovalidatethatthesolutioncomponentsmeettheserequirements.

Thetechnicaltasksarespecifictotherequireddeploymentscenariossuch as Bare Metal, Refresh and Replace. Such tasks may include: imageengineering,drivermanagement,userstatemigration;creationofprocessestoaccommodatehardware,locationorrolespecific

configurationsanddefinitionoftasksequencestocaptureanddeploythenewOperatingSystembuildalongwithanylineofbusinessapplications.

Inaddition,thismayalsoincorporate1Esolutionswheretheyaddvalue,increaseautomationorreducecost,e.g.tosimplifytheinfrastructurerequirements,identifyunusedapplicationsandthereforereduceapplicationcompatibilitytestingortoempowertheendusertocontrolthetimeandcomponentsthataremigratedacross.Byusingautomationtohelpensureconsistency,efficiencyandaccuracy,itispossibletominimizemanualintervention,reducecostsanddramaticallyacceleratedeploytimescales.

Asbestpractice,allaspectsofthesolutionshouldbevalidatedinatestenvironment before proceeding to the pilot phase to enable knowledge tobetransferredtointernaltechnicalteamsandprovideconfidencetothe business. A deployment plan should also be agreed for the Pilot and Deployment phases.

Pilot:

ThePilotallowsearlyadoptersanddefinedareasofthebusinesstobetargetedwiththenewOperatingSystemandprovidefeedbackintotheendtoendprocess.Thepilotgroupshouldberepresentativeoftheoverallorganizationandincludedifferenttypesofusers,indifferenttypesoflocationsusingadiverserangeofhardware.

ThePilotphasewillrepeatalloftherequiredimplementationtasksfromthePreparationphaseinordertobuildoutandconfigurethetechnicalinfrastructureintheproductionenvironment.ThetestplanwillagainbeusedtovalidatetheoverallsolutionagainsttheoriginalrequirementsbeforemovingontotheDeploymentphase.

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Thefinalphaseofthepilotisanin-depthreviewofthepilotmigration,toensurethattheplannedmigrationprocessworkedasexpectedandthattherewerenounexpectedscenarios.Ifrequired,themigrationplanshouldberevisitedwithamendmentsmadeandfurthervalidationperformed.

Deployment:

TheDeploymentphaseoftheprojectextendsthesolutionouttotheentireorganization.Itistypicalfor1Econsultingtoworkasadvisorsduring this phase to enable the customer’s technical personnel to become owners of the process whilst ensuring that the deployment goes smoothly.

In order to support the handover, training can be delivered to the customer’sadministrationandsupportstaffbasedontherequirementsoriginallyidentifiedintheassessmentphase,complementingthetechnical skills transfer that has taken place throughout each of the previous phases.

Finallyajointprojectreviewisarrangedtoensurethatthemigrationprojecthasmetthetechnicalandbusinessrequirementsthatwereidentifiedintheoriginalassessment.

TechnicalSolutionIntermsofthetechnicalcomponentsoftheproject,1EConsultingcanhelp directly with these tasks or recommend partners to undertake specificelements.Theleveloftechnicalworkcanvarysignificantlybasedonenvironmentsizeandcomplexity;howeverthefollowingcategories provide a high level overview of expected work.

ApplicationRationalizationThisactivityprovidesanunderstandingoftheeffortandcostrequiredtomigrateexistingapplicationstothenewOperatingSystem.Allexistingapplicationsarereviewedandanassessmentmadeastowhether they need to deployed in the new environment or if cheaper alternativesaremoreappropriate.

Atahighlevel,thetypicaltasksshouldinclude:identifyingdistinctapplicationsincludingversions,filteringandremovalofunwantedapplicationsbasedonbusinessneeds,applicationcategorizationandapplicationlicensingstatus.

Thisactivitycanbedauntingforeventhesmallestorganizationasinformationisoftenduplicatedandindisparatesystems.

1EConsultingengagementsrecommendtheinclusionofAppClarity,(wherebusinessvalueisdefined),whichisabletonormalizethisdataandprovideapplicationusageinformation.Thisprovidestheabilitytomakedecisionsfasterandreduceapplicationcompatibilitytasksandlicensingcosts(asapplicationsthatarenotcurrentlybeingusedwillnotbe migrated to the new environment).

ApplicationRemediationThisphaseinvolvesvalidationofallrationalizedapplicationsinatestenvironmentforcompatibilitywiththenewOperatingSystem.Applicationsaretypicallycategorizedastotheirvaluetothebusinessandprioritizedaccordingly.

Remediationtasksstartwithcompatibilitytestingandincludefollowonactivitiesiftheapplicationfailsduringvalidation.Dependingon

importancetothebusiness,remediationtasksmayincludeapplicationvirtualization,hostingonaterminalserverwithoptionalthinclientorvirtualdesktopinfrastructureorlegacyOperatingSystemvirtualization.

1EConsultingcanrecommendpartnerstoperformtheseactivitiesifrequired.

ImageEngineeringandAutomationActivitiesinthisphasefocusonthenewOperatingSystemimageandlayeringtherequiredapplicationsandusersettings.Buildingautomationintotheseprocessestodealwithdifferentdeploymentscenarios,typesofusersandcomputerswillincreaseautomationand reduce costs associated with manual tasks in deployment and operations.

TechnicaltasksfocusonConfigMgrOSDfunctionalityandincludethecreationofabootimageandreferenceimagealongwithdriversfordifferenthardwaretypes.Tasksequencesarecreatedfor:

i) the automated capture of the reference image ii)theautomateddeploymentoftheimagealongwithapplications andusersettingstotargetcomputers.

MDTcanbeusedtodeterminewhatsoftwareandsettingsareinstalledandconfiguredbasedonrole,locationorotherdefinedvariableandtoprovidearicherfeaturesetforimprovedautomationcapabilities.

1EConsultingengagementsrecommendtheinclusionofShopping,WakeUp,AppClarityandNomadEnterprise,(wherebusinessvalueisdefined),tofurtherincreaseautomation,reduceadministrationandsimplifytheConfigMgrhierarchythroughremovalofspecificsiteroles.

Infrastructure Design and DeploymentInfrastructure design and deployment focuses on the mechanics of deployingthenewOperatingSystemtoimprovesuccessratesandreliability(andthereforereducefailuresandtherequirementsformanual rework or site visits).

Typically this will include:

• PreparationtaskstoensurethatthetargetcomputersarehealthyandcompatiblewiththenewOperatingSystem, including automatedproactiveclientchecksandadministrativereporting.

• Managementofcontenttoensurethatallrequiredsourcesoftwareisavailableinalllocations.Thismayincludemethodsforpre-stagingcriticalcontentsuchastheOperatingSystem image, boot image anddriversusingthemostreliableandefficientmeans,aswellascreatinglogicinthedeploymenttasksequencetocontrolthemigrationbasedontheavailabilityofcriticalcontent.

• Methodsforinitiatingthedeploymenttocaterfortherequiredmigrationscenarios.RefreshandReplaceareinitiatedviatheConfigMgrclientwhereasBareMetalrequiresPXEfunctionalitytoprovidenetworkbootcapabilities.

• Configurationoftoolstoenableend-userstoself-servethemigration,selecttheapplicationstomigrateacrossandschedulewhenconvenientfortheend-user

1EConsultingengagementsrecommendtheinclusionofShopping,WakeUp,AppClarityandNomadEnterprise,(wherebusinessvalueisdefined),tofurtherincreaseautomation,reduceadministrationandsimplifytheConfigMgrhierarchythroughremovalofspecificsiteroles.

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IfyouwouldliketolearnmoreorrequestaWindows7consultation,1EconsultantsareavailabletodiscussanyissuesaroundWindows7migrationandhelpyouovercomeanychallenges you may come across.

US:+18665924214|UK:+442083263880 info@1e.com France:+33156605235|India:+911204024000 www.1e.com

PersonalityMigrationMovinguserdatafromtheoldtothenewOperatingSystemisoftenahighpriorityrequirement.Theabilitytoidentifyrelevantbusinessandpersonalsettingsinanefficientandhighlyautomatedmannerandthenapplyforthedifferentmigrationscenariosprovidesautomationandflexibility.

TypicallythetechnicalactivitiesinthisphaseusetheUserStateMigrationTool(USMT)withadditionalsettingsdefinedincustomconfigurationfiles.Dataissavedeithertothelocaldiskortoaservernetworklocation(dependingonmigrationscenario)sothatusersdonotneedtocarryoutmanualstepspostmigration.

1EConsultingengagementsrecommendtheinclusionofNomad,(wherebusinessvalueisdefined),toenableuserdatatobesavedtoalocalworkstationpeerinsteadofamanagedserver.

If Shopping and AppClarity are also used, this provides the ability for end-userstoself-serveandmapinstalledapplicationstothenewOperatingSystembasedoncurrentusagelevels.e.g.usedapplicationsareautomaticallymappedhoweverunusedapplicationsarenotwithfreeorcheaperalternativespreferred.

Hardware ProvisioningWherenewhardwareisbeingdeployed,activitiesarefocusedonaprocessthatrequirestheminimumamountofdesk-sideadministrativeconfiguration.Zero-touchorlight-touchprocessesareuseddepending

ontherequirementsandtechnicalinfrastructureoftheorganization.

TechnicaltaskstypicallyincludeprovisionofnetworkbootingandconfigurationofConfigMgrandMDTforinclusionofunknowncomputersupportoradatabaseofuniqueconstantssuchasMACaddress.

Tasksequencesusedforreplacescenariosmayalsoincludemappingfunctionalitytolinktheoldcomputertothenewinordertoinstallapplicationsandmigrateusersettings.

1EConsultingcanassistwithconfigurationofallOSDsoftwareelementsand recommend partners to supply and provision hardware on the network.

End-UserTrainingThemainobjectiveinprovidingsoftwaretrainingforend-usersistominimizeproductivitylossesassociatedwiththesoftwaretransition.Inordertodevelopandtargettrainingeffectivelyitisnecessarytoassess the training needs of all users and select the most appropriate delivery methods and tools.

Typicallythetrainingprogramwillconsistofacombinationofinstructor-ledandself-learningcomputerbasedtrainingwithproductguides and videos.

1EConsultingcanrecommendpartnerstoperformend-usertrainingactivitiesifrequired.

SummaryThe1Esolutionsuiteisproventoaccelerate,automateandreducerisksforlargescaleWindows7migrations.OurapproachistoextendandenhanceMicrosoftSystemCenterConfigurationManager(ConfigMgr),aswellasreduceandsimplifyitsinfrastructureandoperationalcosts.

Successisachievedbythehighlevelofautomationandoptimizationofthesoftwaredeliveryprocess.ThismeansWindows7migrationproject can be considered as business as usual as it will not impact the business.

Withtherightpreparation,companiescanapproachanOSmigrationprojectwithconfidence:fromrationalizingandmappingapplications,

andensuringclienthealth,tooptimizingcontentdistributionandempoweringuserstoreinstallapplicationsandinitiatingtheirowndeployments.

ThisapproachpaysinstantdividendsbothinreducingthetimeandbusinessdisruptioncreatedbyamassOperatingSystemmigrationproject,butalsoinbuildinganoptimized,on-goingsystemsmanagementplatformtoservethebusinessITneedsintothefuture.

It’s also proven, we have helped a number of customers achieve impressivenumbers–averaging1000-1500deploymentsina single day.