Automating Server Installation and Upgrade

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You are now ready to develop and perform the automated installation of Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server and associated applications. This is a prerequisite for performing any level of deployment—test, pilot, or production rollout. This chapter presents the automated installation methods that are available, including preparation requirements and example configurations. It is recommended that network engineers involved in the design of the installation process and system administrators involved in the installation of Windows 2000 and associated applications become familiar with this chapter.

Installing Windows 2000 Server involves either clean installations to computers that have no pre– Microsoft® Windows® 2000 operating systems installed, or clean installations and upgrades to computers currently running Microsoft® Windows NT® Server version 3.51 or Microsoft® Windows NT® Server version 4.0. The information in this chapter will help you determine whether to perform clean installations or upgrades.

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Determining Whether to Upgrade or Clean Install

Preparing for Installation

Automating the Installation of Server Applications

Automating the Installation of Windows 2000 Server

Installation Configuration Examples

Installation Planning Task List

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This chapter will help you develop the following planning document:

  • Automated Installation Plan

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  • For more information about planning, see the "Planning Overview" in this book.

  • For more information about administering client computers, see "Defining Client Administration and Configuration Standards" in this book.

  • For more information about automating client installation, see "Automating Client Installation and Upgrade" in this book.

  • For more information about the unattended setup parameters referenced in this chapter, see the "Microsoft Windows 2000 Guide to Unattended Setup" ** (Unattend.doc) on the Windows 2000 operating system CD. The Unattend.doc file is part of the Deploy.cab file in the \Support\Tools folder. In Windows 98 or Windows 2000, use Windows Explorer to extract this document. In Windows 95 and earlier, or from MS-DOS, use the Extract command to access the file.

  • For more information about unattended setup, including sample answer files, see the Appendix "Sample Answer Files for Unattended Setup" in this book.