IMPLEMENTATION OF WINDOWS DEPLOYMENT SERVICES (WDS) ON WINDOWS SERVER 2008 R2 – DAY 1
Hi everyone
I will try to explain the implementation of Windows Deployment Services (WDS) on Windows Server 2008 R2 in this two part article series. Lets begin with the explanation of WDS. What is it and used for? WDS is an continuation and upgraded version of Remote Installation Services (RIS) which comes with older Windows Server products. The aim of the service is to install operating system on a baremetal client machine through network connection. So, why do i want to install an OS through network connection? I can tell you few reasons for this: the client machine doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive, install a bunch of computer at the same time, to implement a fully installed (OS and programs) client image to lots of computers in a short time etc. OK. That is enough for intro. Lets get into the real subject.
There are 3 main components for WDS infrastructure. First is the server that we have to install the service. Second is the administrator which will implement and coordinate the WDS (which is YOU). Third is the client machines that we have to install the OS. So, what are the server prerequisites for WDS installation?
Table 1 summarizes the prerequisites for WDS. Actually (as you will see during installation phase) there are two different installation types we can perform. First one is Deployment Server+Transport Server installation. The other one is Transport Server installation. I am going to explain the Deployment Server+Transport Server installation in this article series. Transport Server is another issue. Shortly, the difference is; Transport Server installation is used in advanced scenarios. For instance, if you don’t have Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) or DNS services in your environment, you can install Transport Server. But it is more restricted version of Deployment Server+Transport Server installation. In addition, Deployment Server is dependent on the core parts of Transport Server. Therefore, we couldn’t install Deployment Server role only. Here is the prerequisites:
Table 1: Prerequisites for WDS installation
| Deployment Server + Transport Server Installation | Transport Server Installation |
| AD DS. A Windows Deployment Services server must be either a member of an AD DS domain or a domain controller for an AD DS domain. The AD DS domain and forest versions are irrelevant; all domain and forest configurations support Windows Deployment Services.ü DHCP. You must have a working DHCP server with an active scope on the network because Windows Deployment Services uses PXE, which relies on DHCP for IP addressing.DNS. You must have a working DNS server on the network before you can run Windows Deployment Services.NTFS volume. The server running Windows Deployment Services requires an NTFS file system volume for the image store.
Credentials. To install the role, you must be a member of the Local Administrators group on the server. To initialize the server, you must be a member of the Domain Users group. |
For Windows Server 2008 R2: You must be a member of the Local Administrators group to install Transport Server. In addition, if you are using Transport Server to network boot, your environment must contain DHCP (Windows Server 2008 R2 contains a PXE provider, which allows you to network boot). |
Now we can start WDS installation. We open the Server Manager interface of our server and click on the link Add Roles in Roles Summary part (Figure 1). We press the Next button on the first screen of the Add Role Wizard and select the Windows Deployment Services checkbox on the second screen. Then press the Next button (Figure 2).
Figure 1: Adding WDS role
Figure 2: Selecting WDS for installation
The next screen is an explanation screen for WDS services. We press Next and select the installation type. We leave the default as it is (Deployment Server + Transport Server) and press Next (Figure 3).
Figure 3: WDS installation types
Last screen is the confirmation screen. We press the Install button here and the process finishes in a minute. Now we have a WDS server. If you don’t want to install the role through GUI, here are the command line installation commands:
ServerManagerCmd –install WDS (for Deployment Server installation)
ServerManagerCmd –install WDS-Transport (for Transport Server installation)
As the installation has finished, we can get into the configuration phase. To finish the configuration, we have to add install and boot images to WDS. After the addition, we can start to install operating systems over network connections. For configuration, we open Start -> Administrative Tools -> Windows Deployment Services. By the way, we have to be Domain Administrator to do the configuration. This opens the WDS MMC Snap-in. On the left-hand side, we have to see the name of our WDS server. If we can not, we right click on Servers and select Add Server and find our server. We extract the Servers and right click on the WDS server name and select Configure Server from the menu (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Configuring WDS server
The first screen that we are facing (as always :) ) is the welcome page. We press the Next button and decide the folder that WDS will use on the second screen. As i mentioned before, this folder must be on an NTFS partition and (if possible) be on a different partition than the system one (but it is not imperative). I prefer to create the folder first, then show this path to the WDS wizard (Figure 5). If we create the folder on system partition, a warning message occurs as seen in the Figure 6.
Figure 5: Remote Installation directory for WDS
Figure 6: Warning message
DHCP Option 60 screen is the next screen when we press Next button. There is a sufficient explanation what Option 60 is used for but i have to repeat it here. If WDS service is running on a DHCP server, we have to fill the “Do not listen on port 67” and “Configure DHCP option 60 to ‘PXE Client’ “ checkboxes. The decision is yours according to your environment but this is the case for me. Therefore, i fill these two checkboxes (Figure 7) and press the Next button.
Figure 7: DHCP Option 60 screen
We decide the types of computers that WDS will serve on the next screen. The first choice is “Do not respond to any client computers” but I don’t want to select this one :). The second choice is “Respond only to known client computers”. If we create computer accounts in Active Directory before installation (using GUID number), this can be the choice but not in my environment. The last choice is “Respond to all client computers (known and unknown)” and i select this one. If we select the below checkbox also, an administrator should confirm the client installation, otherwise it will not end. I press the Next button without filling this checkbox (Figure 8).
Figure 8: Selection of client computers
Wizard starts to copy the installation files and after copy action, there is an opportunity to add install image at the last screen of the wizard. I uncheck the checkbox and press Finish button. Because i will add the images myself at a later time. As soon as i press the finish button, WDS administrative interface opens (Figure 9).
Figure 9: WDS administrative interface
That is all for today. Next day, we add images to WDS serverand install client computers through network connection. Bye for now.
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