Deploying Operating Systems
The operating system deployment (OSD) functionality of BMC Client Management uses the Pre-boot eXecution Environment (PXE) industry standard for its operation. This standard allows to install an operating system on a device without the need for an operating system to be present on the local disk of the target device.
This allows IT departments to deploy operating systems with the possibility to remotely (re-)install individual devices, groups of devices and even complete subnets of the infrastructure; the target devices either already have an operating system installed or they are "virgin" devices.
This topic includes:
License considerations
OS Deployment is a limited module and requires a specific license.
System restrictions
The OSD system relies on Windows dependent tools for the creation of OSD projects, therefore the OSD Manager functionality is only available for Windows devices. However, the other two OSD roles, Image Repository and Network Boot Listener , are independent from Windows. This allows any relay in your infrastructure to execute either or both of these roles if they have a Linux or Mac OS X operating system.
OSD Modes
The operating system deployment functionality allows for a number of different possibilities to execute these deployments:
Mode | Description |
|---|---|
Setup Mode | Using the setup mode allows you to execute a regular installation of the operating system on the remote devices or targets via the operating system's setup executable file. The use of an unattended file makes the installation silent and automatic. |
WIM Image Capture | The WIM capture mode allows you to create your own WIM images to be deployed via the WIM mode within your network. You may also use this mode create images of other, non-booting disks, such as drives that contain only applications or data and deploy these via the WIM mode to other devices within your infrastructure. The WIM mode also supports the new Sysprep Microsoft technology and thus provides the categories of WIM images. |
Standard WIM Image | This mode is used to create a standard WIM image without the Sysprep tool. |
Windows XP/Server 2003 Sysprep WIM Image | This mode is used to create a WIM image for Windows XP and 2003 Server using the Sysprep tool. Sysprep is a Windows system presentation tool that facilitates image creation and preparation of an image for deployment to multiple computers. After the initial image is created it runs a wizard after the device restart, prepares the device for cloning and copies an image to the computer. |
Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10 Sysprep WIM Image | This mode is used to create a WIM image for Windows Vista and 2008 Server using the Sysprep tool. |
WIM Image Mode | The WIM mode allows you to deploy the new operating systems or images of other non-booting disks to the targets via a WIM image, that is either delivered on the operating system disk or via a custom created WIM image. This mode can only be used if the target hardware is compatible to the hardware of the source device. All explained categories of WIM images can be used by this mode. |
Custom Mode | This mode allows you to use other applications with which snapshots of existing installations can be created and then be "duplicated" on other devices, such as for example ghost images. |
Related topics
- Prerequisites for OSD
- Performing advanced OSD tasks
- Managing OSD Managers
- Managing Image Repository
- Configuring Network Boot Listener
- Managing OSD Drivers
- Managing OSD Images
- Managing OSD Disk Configurations
- Managing OSD target lists
- Managing targets
- Managing OSD Projects
- Managing OSD multicast sessions
- Creating an OSD PXE Menu
- Managing OS Deployment via the wizards
- OS Deployment parameters
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