We have been looking at the security, networking and
management features available in
Vista
. This month we see how easy is it for you to deploy
Vista
and maintain systems running it reliably? How quickly can you get a new system
up and running on this OS and make sure everything is running fine? Single
deployments are easy: all you need to do is boot the target workstation with the
Vista
installation disc and install the OS as usual. But, you have hundreds of
systems to manage and running back and forth between them with optical media and
keeping track of CD keys and licenses is a hassle. That's where the ability to
deploy multiple systems remotely comes in, though its not new to Windows.
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Multiple deployments
Of course, administrators have always had the use of deployment tools like
the Pre Installation Kits and the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit) or
they could use things like RIS (Remote Installation Service) to remote-deploy
XP. However, it was very difficult to make changes to pre-created images as one
needed to actually deploy the image to a test system, make the changes to that
running system and then re-create the image, most often with just standard ISO
compression. Considering the number of patches and fixes to add and drivers to
install, this is a long and tedious process to repeat on hundreds or even tens
of systems. The WAIK for Windows Vista includes a tool called XImage which
becomes the create/modify tool for a new disk-imaging format in
Vista
called WIM (Windows IMage). This tool not only lets you create the images for
deployment, but also lets you add and modify files and settings within it
similar to that provided by ISO-editing tools.
The WIM images contain data in a highly compressed format.
It is documented that if multiple copies of a file exist in the image, only one
of them is stored (similar to the philosophy of 'Content Addressed Storage'
in storage devices). This lets one store more image files on the same size disk
compared to earlier formats. Also, a single WIM file can contain multiple system
images that can be deployed selectively without needing to destroy data on the
entire partition or hard disk as is necessary with traditional methods (like
Ghost). XImage accepts a variety of command line parameters that lets you
capture, configure, deploy, edit, compress and export.
Files created with XImage are denoted by a WIM extension
and if you examine the set-up image downloaded from MS, you will notice that the
installer itself comes in this format (notice the files 'boot.wim' and
'install.wim' under the 'sources' folder).
Using XImage
Download the WAIK ISO image from your MSDN Subscriber downloads site and
burn it onto a CD. Run the installer on the disc on a
Vista
system to install WAIK-note that you will require to have installed .NET
Framework 2.0 (provided in the image) before starting install of WAIK itself.
However, you will only see 'Setup Manager' in your Programs menu. XImage is
a commandline tool and needs to be accessed separately. To do this, go to the
'Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86' (or x64 if you use the 64-bit
Vista
to run it).
The first thing to do is to capture an installable image.
There are a couple of things you need to keep in mind before you try to capture
disk images: one, you cannot capture the current instance of
Vista
. Trying to do this will give you errors about various files being in use. This
means, you need to install WAIK/XImage on a different system and plug your
source hard disk into that system. Two: make sure that you have lots of free
space on your (XImage system's) hard disks before starting the process. From
an elevated command window, run the command (assuming the
Vista
source drive is 'D'):
XImage /compress maximum
/capture D: vistaclean.wim “Vista Clean Image”
The 'maximum' parameter value tells XImage to compress
the captured image file to the maximum possible size. Alternately, you can
select no compression by specifying 'none' instead. The WIM file
specified is the name of the target image file and the final quoted text is a
descriptive name for the image. This will take a long time, so plan these
capture sessions carefully. We found that we could capture not only
Vista
images but also Win XP and any hard disk at all.
When you want to deploy such a captured image, you use the
'/apply' parameter with the image file and the target drive letter.
Obviously, you do not specify the compression values at that time.
Disasters and recovery
When your system refuses to boot or work properly, it is essential that the
system environment lets you quickly fix and get the system back online as soon
as possible. Win XP had only a fixed number of ways to do this. You could either
use a number of commands from the Repair console or use the ASR, both when you
boot using the installation media XP comes on.
How has this changed in
Vista
? When you boot off
Vista
's installation DVD, and select the 'System recovery options' link, the
application scans for valid Windows installations on your hard disks and
displays them. You need to select the one you want to recover and then you are
shown five options: Startup repair, System restore, Windows backup disaster
recovery and the built-in Memory diagnostic tool along with the command prompt.
Yes, the last option is there in case the first four cannot help solve the
problem.
Startup repair fixes booting problems and corrupted system
files that are needed at boot time. System Restore needs you have the restore
information, which means you need to configure Vista to take regular system
snapshots for reliable recovery to the nearest desirable working condition.
Windows backup can take backups of system files and settings along with data and
this tool can recover your system to a working state from such backup. To use
this feature, you can have the back-up files on CD/DVD media, somewhere on your
network or on the same system's hard disks.
The memory diagnostic cannot run in the post-boot
environment and needs to reboot the system. This diagnostic is the same as the
one examined in our earlier article, and can either reboot the system
immediately to run or can be scheduled for the next time the system starts.
Unlike the TUI environment of Win XP where special commands are available to fix
the system, the one you get when you select 'Command Prompt' from the
disaster recovery options is your regular command prompt. In fact, even the
'help' command that's usually helpful in seeing what commands are
available is not there! We conclude our Vista series next month with a look at
the latest CTP (due to be released as we go to press with this issue-so no
time for that) and the updates and the ways in which your life is set to
become easier (or much tougher) because of this new client OS. Also, MS has now
released the specs requried to run
Vista
. So, stay tuned.
Sujay V Sarma