I run an engineering Development Lab with around 130 Servers in it ruuning
mostly Server 2003 flavors but also some Windows 2000 and we are just adding
Server 2008 to the mix as well. We have mostly Physical servers today and
have just recently begun making use of Virtual Server 2005 R2 and Virtual
Machine Manager. We plan to consolidate around 35 servers in the coming 2
months While expanding our server farm capacity by about the same number on
virtual hardware. To do a lot of this we use RIS, actually today we use
Windows Deployment Services (Legacy mode) to roll out our Server 2003
environments and support software.

I'm in the process of developing plans to integrate and migrate more Server
2008 machines. Part of our desire is to upgrade deployment capabilities onto
Server 2008 machines but we seem to have hit a roadblock or at least a large
pot hole. It appeard that the Windows Deployment role in Server 2008 only
supports Server 2008 and Vista deployments, legacy Windows 2003 is not
included. I understand the difference in the deployment models between the
two and need to find out if the Server 2003 deployment services can support
mixed mode deployment or if the lastest Windows Automated Install Kit can do
it. I would like to consolidate our deployment services on to as few machines
as can handle the load as possible and it simply does not make sense for us
to migrate out deployment system up to server 2008 early if we are hamstrung
by only partial support for our server deployments.

I've been looking for discussions and whitepapers on mixed mode deployment
support but found only docs that one or the other mode. Does anyone have any
advice, resources or links to docs etc on the subject?

Anything that gets the ball rolling would be ful.

Thanks,
Phil
CheckFree

Hello Phil,

Step-by-Step_Guide_for_Windows_Deployment_Services_in_Wind ows_Server_2008.doc:
https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...displaylang=en

FAQ go to CONFIGURATION:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/window....mspx?mfr=true

You can run 2008 WDS and 2003 WDS together in one network:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/window....mspx?mfr=true

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
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> I run an engineering Development Lab with around 130 Servers in it
> ruuning mostly Server 2003 flavors but also some Windows 2000 and we
> are just adding Server 2008 to the mix as well. We have mostly
> Physical servers today and have just recently begun making use of
> Virtual Server 2005 R2 and Virtual Machine Manager. We plan to
> consolidate around 35 servers in the coming 2 months While expanding
> our server farm capacity by about the same number on virtual hardware.
> To do a lot of this we use RIS, actually today we use Windows
> Deployment Services (Legacy mode) to roll out our Server 2003
> environments and support software.
>
> I'm in the process of developing plans to integrate and migrate more
> Server 2008 machines. Part of our desire is to upgrade deployment
> capabilities onto Server 2008 machines but we seem to have hit a
> roadblock or at least a large pot hole. It appeard that the Windows
> Deployment role in Server 2008 only supports Server 2008 and Vista
> deployments, legacy Windows 2003 is not included. I understand the
> difference in the deployment models between the two and need to find
> out if the Server 2003 deployment services can support mixed mode
> deployment or if the lastest Windows Automated Install Kit can do it.
> I would like to consolidate our deployment services on to as few
> machines as can handle the load as possible and it simply does not
> make sense for us to migrate out deployment system up to server 2008
> early if we are hamstrung by only partial support for our server
> deployments.
>
> I've been looking for discussions and whitepapers on mixed mode
> deployment support but found only docs that one or the other mode.
> Does anyone have any advice, resources or links to docs etc on the
> subject?
>
> Anything that gets the ball rolling would be ful.
>
> Thanks,
> Phil
> CheckFree