Accelerated Windows 7 Deployments with 1E (Long Version)

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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

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Accelerated Windows 7 Deployments with 1E


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

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

OptimizingWindows7Migrations ............................................................. 5• Applicationrationalization ............................................................................................................................ 5

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

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

• InitiatingaWindows7migration–whatisthebestapproachtoschedulingandinitiating aWindows7migrationatanofficeortoadepartment? ...........................................................................6

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

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

• Optimizationandreductingcosts:Where1Efitsin ......................................................................................6

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

ApplicationMapping .................................................................................. 8• ApplicationMapping–1EStyle .................................................................................................................... 9

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

Windows 7

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ContentDistribution ................................................................................. 10• Peer Backup Assistant (controlled by NMDS infrastructure) ......................................................................10

• PXE Everywhere .......................................................................................................................................... 10

Initiatingthemigrations ........................................................................... 11• ApplicationReinstallation .......................................................................................................................... 11

UserStateMigration(UserPersonalityMigration) ............................................ 12• Intermediate data storage ......................................................................................................................... 12

• Hard-linkdatastore ................................................................................................................................... 12

• ConfigMgrStateMigrationPoint(SMP) .....................................................................................................12

• Network Share ............................................................................................................................................ 13

• UserStateMigration .................................................................................................................................. 13

Howcan1Ehelp? ..................................................................................... 14• Project Approach ........................................................................................................................................ 14

• TechnicalSolution ....................................................................................................................................... 15

• ApplicationRationalization ......................................................................................................................... 15

• ApplicationRemediation ............................................................................................................................ 15

• ImageEngineeringandAutomation ...........................................................................................................15

• Infrastructure Design and Deployment ......................................................................................................15

• PersonalityMigration .................................................................................................................................. 16

• Hardware Provisioning ................................................................................................................................ 16

• End-UserTraining ........................................................................................................................................ 16

Summary .................................................................................................. 16

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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,abaseWindows7Enterprisex64imageincludingonlytheservicepackisaround2.6GBinsize.

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-goingsystemsmanagementplatformtoservethebusinessITneeds into the future.

Overcoming the challenges of Windows7MigrationThebiggestsingleconcernraisedduringanyOSmigrationprojectistheelapsedtimeittakesandtheassociatedimpactandcosttothebusiness.The1Esolutionsuitehashelpedsomeofourlargestcustomersachievephenomenaldeploymentstatistics,forexample,inearly2012,alargetelecommunicationsproviderwasableto:

• Migrate roughly 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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The1Esolutionsuiteuniquelyhastheabilitytoachievethissort ofrapid,highly-optimizedmigrationbecauseofthefollowing main features:

• 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.Theamountoftimetogatherandanalyzethisdatacanbeextensive.

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-boxsystemsisnotnormallyavailableinremoteofficesandrequiresaPXE server infrastructure to be in place on site.

Othermethodsincludeshippingstand-alonebootablemediaouttoremoteserverlessoffices,butthiscanquicklyturnintoamanagementheadache–trackingandkeepingthemediauptodate.

Howareadditionalone-offsoftwareinstallationshandledafterasystemismigratedtoWindows7?Oftenthereareseveralsoftwarepackagesthatendusersusedaytodaythatarenotbusinesscriticalbutimproveproductivity.ManytimestheseproductswereinstalledoverthecourseoftimethroughindividualservicedeskrequestsandarenottypicallyincludedinaWindows7migration.

However,theydoplayaroleinend-userproductivity.Howdoweallowuserstorequesttheseone-offsoftwarepackageswithoutoverwhelmingtheservicedeskafteradepartmentorofficeismigratedtoWindows7?

Optimizationandreducingcosts: Where1EfitsinAllofthe1Eproductcomponentsreducedeploymenttimeaswellasdirectcosts.Nomadcontentdistributionreducesthenumberofserversand desk side visits, whilst Shopping accelerates the deployment schedule and helps reduce the burden on the IT help desk. AppClarity immediatelyidentifiesandaccuratelyquantifiessoftwarewaste.AspartofanOSMigration,AppClarityprovidestheaccurateinformationtoallowyoutoretire,replaceorupgradeadditionalsoftwareapplications,streamliningtheenvironmentandreducingsoftwarewasteandcosts.

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

Business traffic

Datacenter

Officelocation

IT sys mgt

Nomad

Streamlining infrastructure• Fewer servers needed• No disruption of business traffic• Rapidly deliver larger amounts of content

App reduction• Identify which apps are really used• Only migrate apps that are required now• Remove legacy apps

AppClarity

Consumerization• User select the Apps they need• Then decides when to start the OS migration and app delivery

ShoppingServices

Automation• Collapse the deployment timeline• Eliminate desk visits• Reduce the burden of IT Help Desk

The solution set

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ApplicationRationalizationNomatterhowyouplantodeployyournewOS,likemostorganizations,youwillfindthatoneofthemostcostlyelementsoftheprojectisensuringthattheapplicationsyourusersrequirearecompatiblewithyourOS.Thisinvolvesidentifyingtheapplications,testingtheapplicationsandtheirdeploymentpackagesforcompatibility,resolvingcompatibilityissues,deployingthepackages,andtrainingtheendusersonrelevantdifferences.

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.TheAppClarityworkloadinitselfisrelativelylightsoitcanoftenbeinstalledonyourConfigMgrsiteserveritself.AppClarityisthenconfiguredtosynchronizewithyourConfigMgrdatabase,whichusuallytakesonlyfiveto20minutes.Youcanthenopen the AppClarity console, (see illustrations on this page) and see the detailsofyourorganization’ssoftwarefootprint.

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

Youmaywanttokeepthedefaultoptionofshowinglicensableproductsonlyonthefirstanalysissincethisissoftwarethatcouldhavecostsifyouhavetoupgradeit.AllsoftwarecanbeimportantduringanOSmigrationsoshowingallproductsisimportantatsomepointaswell.

WiththedatainaCSVfileyoucannowmanageitwithMicrosoftExcelorasimilarprograminordertofindthemostcommonlyinstalledsoftware,especiallyfilteringoutthesoftwarethatisrarelyused.

ThankstoAppClarityallthedatawillbenormalizedsothatwhoeveris doing this work will not be overwhelmed with the ‘noise’ that the rawConfigMgrdatawouldhaveincludedandnodataanalysttechnicalspecialistsarerequired.Yourapplicationmigrationactivitiescanimmediatelyfocusontheapplicationsthataremostimportantto yourorganization.

Note:whiletheinfrastructurerequirementsforAppClarityarerelativelylight,therearesubstantialtaskstobedoneincustomizingthecatalogforyourinternallineofbusinessapplications,trainingyourstaff,andsimilarpreparationsforproductionuse. Therefore 1E recommends that you engage a consultant from 1E Services or a 1E partner for approximatelyaweekwhenimplementingyourproductiondeployment.

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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,containinginventoriedapplicationsdisplaynamesinonecolumnandConfigMgrpackageIDsinanother.AsampleofwhatthisPackage Mapping 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,fivevariationsinthedisplayname for Adobe Acrobat Professional 8 exist in the environment, 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:Install Project Pro 2010

MicrosoftProjectProfessional2010 CEN00011:Install Project Pro 2010

MicrosoftOfficeProjectProfessional2010 CEN00011:Install Project Pro 2010

MicrosoftOfficeVisioProfessional2007 CEN00022:Install Visio Pro 2010

MicrosoftVisioProfessional2010 CEN00022:Install Visio Pro 2010

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:Install Acrobat Pro 8





Table 1: Sample Package Mapping 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 the AppClarity ID number.

Furthermore,productsarelinkedtonormalizeddatainAppClarity;meaning that a single ID number represents any subtle variants in the product’s 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.Addingusagetothemappingcriteriaofferstheorganizationanopportunitytoreclaimorcleanuplicensesthat 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’sapplicationmappingsolutiongivesadministratorstheopportunitytocreaterulesspecifictoeachusage 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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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,whereasabaseWindows7Enterprisex64imageincludingonlytheservicepackisaround2.6GBinsize.Ontheotherhand,networkspeeds (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, howeverthisisaverycostlyapproachandoftennotverypractical (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.Finally the PXE Everywhere component of Nomad 2012 allows any clientsystemtobootfromanotherwithoutanynetworkconfiguration,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

• Eliminate the need for temporary deployment infrastructure

• 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 andinformstherequestingclientofitslocation.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.

PXE EverywherePXEcapabilitiesallowpeersystemstobaremetalboottoeachotherandinstallanOperatingSystemwithnonetworkconfigurationand 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)allow for instance backup and restore of USMT data. This means that when 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.WiththeWinPEsupport,NomadcanmulticastinWinPEallowingforfastand/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-serviceoptionwerecommendShopping™from1E.

ShoppingtakesusersthroughasimplewizardthatexplainseachstepofthemigrationprocessastheymovetotheirnewOS.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,toedit orcancelthemigrationanddownloadaremindertotheircalendar.Whenthescheduledtimearrives,aConfigMgrtasksequenceisactivatedandtheuser’smachineiseffortlesslyandautomaticallymigrated to Windows 7.

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

Often,userapplicationsaremanuallyinstalledpost-deploymentbyadeploymenttechnician.Insomecases,thetechniciananalyzestheinventoryoftheoldcomputer,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) and one or more 1E technologies. 1E Professional Services consultantsbringexperienceandbest-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,USMTcreatesahard-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 of the following scenarios:

• User data needs to be migrated from one computer to another (such asintheReplaceoraSide-by-Sidedeploymentscenario).

• Thediskmustberepartitionedorreformattedduringthemigration.

• User data needs to be migrated from one volume to another.

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

IntermediateStorage• Hard-link• Peer Backup• SMP• Network Share

Application Mapping• Identify Installed Applications• Translate or ‘Map’ Installed Applications to ConfigMgr Packages

User State Migration• USMT Capture User State• USMT Restore User State

Personality migration

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).

• User state cannot be migrated across primary sites (with ConfigMgr2007).

• Precludes the use of 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 simply assigning a UNC path value to the OSDStateStorePath task sequencevariable.Networksharerequiresonlyprovisioningthesharewithamplestorageandproperlyconfiguringitspermissions.

Whilesimpletosetup,thisoptioncanbethemostdifficulttoadminister and maintain. 1E consultants typically recommend this optiononlyaslastresortbecauseitaddsthefollowingchallenges:

• Nomethodtoautomaticallyidentifyavailablenetworksharesduringtasksequenceexecution

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

• Theremovalofagedandorphanedstatestoresrequiresdevelopment and maintenance of a separate process

• Nomethodtoidentifywhenorifparticulardatastoreswererestored

• Potentialprivacyissuesandchallengesinrestrictingaccesstouserstate data

• Nocontrolofstorageallocation.Clientsmayattempttostoreuserdatainalocationthatlackssufficientstorage.

UserStateMigrationUserstatemigrationisatwo-stepprocessbywhichtheimportantfilesandsettingspresentwithintheoldOSarecapturedandsavedtoanintermediatestoragelocation.OncethenewOperatingSystemisinstalled,beitonexistingornewhardware,thefilesandsettingsarerestoredtothenewOperatingSystem.

1EconsultantsusetheUserStateMigrationTool(USMT)toaccomplishthistask.USMTintegratesintothestandardMDTtasksequencetemplateandincludestherequiredlogictomigratethemostcommonlyrequireditemssuchas:

• My Documents

• Favorites

• Outlookprofiles

• Network printer and drive mappings

• OfficeSettings

• ...and more.

USMTcansignificantlyacceleratedevelopmentandtestingoftheuserstatemigrationprocess.MigratingfromWindowsXPtoWindows7requiresmorethancopyingfilesandregistryentriesfromonesystemtoanotherasthelocationandconfigurationofthesefilesandsettingschangesdramatically.

USMTunderstandsthesedifferencesandrestoresfilesandsettingstotheirappropriatelocation.Also,themigrationtoWindows7likelyincludesanupgradetoOffice2010.USMTunderstandsthedifferencesbetweenOfficeversionsandrestoresfiles,registryentriesandapplicationdataasappropriate.

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

Also, the USMT rule set needs to be limited and managed to prevent themigrationofirrelevantfilesthatmayunnecessarilybloatthesizeoftheuserstateandincreaseoveralldeploymenttimes.

Lastly,ifanyapplicationsthatrequiremigrationofusersettingsand/ordatawereidentifiedduringtheapplicationrationalizationandremediationphase,customruleswillneedtobeauthoredandtested.

1EconsultantsbringtheexpertiseandexperiencewithUSMTneededtomaximizetheefficiencyoftheuserstatemigrationprocessbyofferingbestpracticeguidanceaswellasforesightintopotentialproblems,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.

1E consultants use their technical knowledge and experience to obtainrequirementsandidentifyareaswhereinfrastructure,plannedmigrationtasksandexpecteddisruptioncanbereduced.Solutionsarethendesignedandengineeredusingbestpracticetoolsandtechniquesi.e.ConfigMgrandMDTbutalsousing1Esolutionstoaddfurthervalue.

Project ApproachIn terms of the 1E engagement approach, thedistinctprojectphasesare:Assessment,Preparation,PilotandDeployment.Eachelementcanbedeliveredstandalone,togiveorganizationscompletefreedomandflexibility,ordeliveredtogethertobuildintoacomprehensivemigrationsolutionfortheentiredeploymentprojectlifecycle.

Projectmanagementisrequiredandusedthroughout all phases to control the complex natureofthetasksandincludesactivitiessuchas:managingrisks,ensuring resources are available when needed, progress tracking againstmilestones,ensuringquality,managingbudgetandreporting on status.

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

configurationsanddefinitionoftasksequencestocaptureand deploythenewOperatingSystembuildalongwithanylineof businessapplications.

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

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-depthreviewofthepilot migration,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 be deployed in the new environment or if cheaperalternativesaremoreappropriate.

Atahighlevel,thetypicaltasksshouldinclude:identifyingdistinctapplicationsincludingversions,filteringandremovalofunwantedapplicationsbasedonbusinessneeds,applicationcategorizationandapplicationlicensingstatus.

Thisactivitycanbedauntingforeventhesmallestorganizationasinformationisoftenduplicatedandindisparatesystems.

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

ApplicationRemediationThisphaseinvolvesvalidationofallrationalizedapplicationsinatestenvironmentforcompatibilitywiththenewOperatingSystem.Applicationsaretypicallycategorizedastotheirvaluetothebusinessandprioritizedaccordingly.

Remediationtasksstartwithcompatibilitytestingandincludefollowonactivitiesiftheapplicationfailsduringvalidation.Dependingonthe

importancetothebusiness,remediationtasksmayinclude applicationvirtualization,hostingonaterminalserverwithoptionalthinclientorvirtualdesktopinfrastructureorlegacyOperatingSystemvirtualization.1EConsultingcanrecommendpartnerstoperformtheseactivitiesifrequired.

ImageEngineeringandAutomationActivitiesinthisphasefocusonthenewOperatingSystem imageandlayeringtherequiredapplicationsandusersettings. Buildingautomationintotheseprocessestodealwithdifferentdeployment scenarios, types of users and computers will increase automationandreducecostsassociatedwithmanualtasksindeploymentandoperations.

TechnicaltasksfocusonConfigMgrOSDfunctionalityandincludethecreationofabootimageandreferenceimagealongwithdriversfordifferenthardwaretypes.Tasksequencesarecreatedfor:

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

MDTcanbeusedtodeterminewhatsoftwareandsettingsareinstalledandconfiguredbasedonrole,locationorotherdefinedvariablesandtoprovidearicherfeaturesetforimprovedautomationcapabilities.

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

Typically this will include:

• PreparationtaskstoensurethatthetargetcomputersarecompatiblewiththenewOperatingSystem, including automated proactiveclientchecksandadministrativereporting.

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

• Methodsforinitiatingthedeploymenttocaterfortherequiredmigrationscenarios.RefreshandReplaceareinitiatedviatheConfigMgrclientwhereasBareMetalrequiresPXEfunctionalitytoprovidenetworkbootcapabilities.

• Configurationoftoolstoenableend-userstoself-servethemigration,selecttheapplicationstomigrateacrossandschedulewhenconvenientfortheend-user.

1EConsultingengagementsrecommendtheinclusionofShopping,WakeUp, AppClarity and Nomad Enterprise (where business value is defined),tofurtherincreaseautomation,reduceadministrationandsimplifytheConfigMgrhierarchythroughremovalofspecificsiteroles.

PersonalityMigrationMovinguserdatafromtheoldtothenewOperatingSystemisoftenahighpriorityrequirement.Theabilitytoidentifyrelevantbusinessand

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IfyouwouldliketolearnmoreorrequestaWindows7consultation,1E consultants are available to discuss any issues around Windows 7 migrationandhelpyouovercomeanychallengesyoumaycomeacross.

US: +1 866 592 4214 | UK: +44 20 8326 3880 [email protected] France: +33 1 56 60 52 35 | India: +91 120 402 4000 www.1e.com

personalsettingsinanefficientandhighlyautomatedmannerand thenapplyforthedifferentmigrationscenariosprovidesautomationandflexibility.

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.usedapplicationsareautomaticallymappedhoweverunusedapplicationsarenot,withfreeorcheaperalternativespreferred.

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

TechnicaltaskstypicallyincludeprovisionofnetworkbootingandconfigurationofConfigMgrandMDTforinclusionofunknowncomputersupportoradatabaseofuniqueconstantssuchas MAC address.

Tasksequencesusedforreplacescenariosmayalsoincludemappingfunctionalitytolinktheoldcomputertothenewinordertoinstallapplicationsandmigrateusersettings.

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

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

Typicallythetrainingprogramwillconsistofacombinationofinstructor-ledandself-learningcomputerbasedtrainingwithproductguidesandvideos.1EConsultingcanrecommendpartnerstoperformend-usertrainingactivitiesifrequired.

SummaryThe1Esolutionsuiteisproventoaccelerate,automateandreducerisksforlargescaleWindows7migrations.OurapproachistoextendandenhanceMicrosoftSystemCenterConfigurationManager(ConfigMgr),aswellasreduceandsimplifyitsinfrastructureandoperationalcosts.

Successisachievedbythehighlevelofautomationandoptimizationofthesoftwaredeliveryprocess.ThismeansaWindows7migrationproject can be considered as business as usual, as it will not impact thebusiness.Withtherightpreparation,companiescanapproachanOSmigrationprojectwithconfidence:fromrationalizingandmapping

applicationstooptimizingcontentdistributionandempoweringuserstoreinstallapplicationsandinitiatingtheirowndeployments.

ThisapproachpaysinstantdividendsbothinreducingthetimeandbusinessdisruptioncreatedbyamassOperatingSystemmigrationproject,butalsoinbuildinganoptimized,on-goingsystemsmanagementplatformtoservethebusinessITneedsintothefuture.It’salsoproven–wehavehelpedanumberofcustomersachieveimpressivenumbers,averaging1000-1500deploymentsina single day.

Accelerated Windows 7 Deployments with 1E (Long Version)

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