I, for one, propose that we form a start-up government contract company. Since the government will almost certainly demand that someone build a special botnet for this, we could build stripped down custom, cheap, computers to do the work. Slap a copy of linux on them, and we're set. Plus, we'll be the only one's that can maintain this special system, so we'll get all the maintenance work. I think we can build nodes that are nothing more than a 486, 64MB, 10MB ethernet, and PXE boot. We'll sell each node to the government for somewhere between $500-1000, and a special 'controller' node (same specs but with a harddrive) for $1500-2000. And we're rich!!!
Here's my two cents. If your sticking with strictly Microsoft OSes, I'd recommend the Business Desktop Deployment Solution Accelerator from Microsoft. It not only discusses the technologies needed to roll out a standard desktop, but also the practices needed to keep the project running. You can find it by searching technet for Desktop Deployment.
It comes in two different versions, standard and enterprise. The standard version will work with smaller organizations, but I highly recommend the enterprise version. It requires Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 and the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack (which is Free, SMS isn't though). Leveraging all of this with the User State Migration Tool (free), you can easily deploy new OS images over existing systems while preserving user data and settings.
If you want to get really fancy, you'll be able to take new incoming PCs, boot them up off the network (using RIS) and, based of the MAC Address, or serial number, automatically assign the correct computer name, and install the appropriate software for the user receiving the system. Even cooler, with BizTalk Server and sharepoint, users can go out to a web site, request software, and have it installed automatically (based on availabe licensing, system requirements, etc.) without having to physically touch the system.
I'll stop the sales pitch now. It's really a very good system, most of the tools are free and it will work with other imaging systems like Ghost. Good luck, and I hope this helps.
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I, for one, propose that we form a start-up government contract company. Since the government will almost certainly demand that someone build a special botnet for this, we could build stripped down custom, cheap, computers to do the work. Slap a copy of linux on them, and we're set. Plus, we'll be the only one's that can maintain this special system, so we'll get all the maintenance work. I think we can build nodes that are nothing more than a 486, 64MB, 10MB ethernet, and PXE boot. We'll sell each node to the government for somewhere between $500-1000, and a special 'controller' node (same specs but with a harddrive) for $1500-2000. And we're rich!!!
Here's my two cents. If your sticking with strictly Microsoft OSes, I'd recommend the Business Desktop Deployment Solution Accelerator from Microsoft. It not only discusses the technologies needed to roll out a standard desktop, but also the practices needed to keep the project running. You can find it by searching technet for Desktop Deployment.
It comes in two different versions, standard and enterprise. The standard version will work with smaller organizations, but I highly recommend the enterprise version. It requires Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 and the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack (which is Free, SMS isn't though). Leveraging all of this with the User State Migration Tool (free), you can easily deploy new OS images over existing systems while preserving user data and settings.
If you want to get really fancy, you'll be able to take new incoming PCs, boot them up off the network (using RIS) and, based of the MAC Address, or serial number, automatically assign the correct computer name, and install the appropriate software for the user receiving the system. Even cooler, with BizTalk Server and sharepoint, users can go out to a web site, request software, and have it installed automatically (based on availabe licensing, system requirements, etc.) without having to physically touch the system.
I'll stop the sales pitch now. It's really a very good system, most of the tools are free and it will work with other imaging systems like Ghost. Good luck, and I hope this helps.