Remote Installation Services (RIS) is designed to allow client
computers to boot onto a network and immediately begin installing Windows
2000 Professional over the network. RIS works through the creation of images
and settings for a remote installation on a RIS server. Clients then connect
to the RIS server over the network and install the operating system using
settings that are predefined by the administrator.One of the major benefits
of using RIS over Ghosted imaging techniques is that the hardware
configuration does not have to be an exact match between clients who will
receive the installation.
RIS Server Requirements
RIS only works with Windows 2000 operating system platforms. You must have a
Windows 2000 Server machine to host the RIS server service and you must be
installing Windows 2000 Professional only. You cannot install Windows 2000
Server from a RIS service. In addition, you network must have the the
following services installed:
- DHCP - This service is important for the clients to use so that they will receive automatic network configurations.
- DNS - Once the client has an IP address via DHCP, it must get the IP of the RIS server.
- Active Directory - The AD hosts the Computer accounts used by RIS and allows administrators to control permissions to log on to the domain. The AD also uses it's Group Poicy features to specify cient options.
- BINL - The Boot Information Negotiation Layer (BINL) service is responsible for ensuring that the correct computer is being installed and can be used to create a Computer account within an Active Directory domain.
- TFTPD - The Trivial File Transfer Protocol Daemon (TFTPD) service is used to transfer any required files from the server to the client. When a client is first connected to the RIS server, it only has the bare minimum information required to communicate.
- SIS - Single Instance Store (SIS) technology is created to reduce the redundancy of data stored on a RIS server. If you had three 300mb RIS images, that would take 900mb of space, while not much on today's servers, SIS is designed to eliminate this type of wasted disk space. SIS works by finding duplicate files and then replacing them with a link to one file. If you had 4 programs.exe, SIS would link each to a single file. When accessed by a client, SIS will access the real file.
The image files created for RIS must be stored on an NTFS volume that does
not contain either the Windows 2000 system files or the boot files.
RIS Client Requirements
The desktop client must have a NIC, a Notebook client must have a port
replicator or a docking station. Notebooks using PC Card (PCMCIA) network
adapters are not supported for RIS installations. A client must also use
one of the two methods below.
PXE Boot ROM
The Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE) specification is designed to allow
computers that do not have an operating system to access the network. The
PXE Boot Read-Only Memory (ROM) chip is part of a computer's NIC. Computers
that meet the Net PC / PC 98 specifications must include a PXE Boot ROM.
It initializes the NIC and gains network access via DHCP.
Boot Diskette
For computers that do not have the PXE Boot ROM, they can boot from a floppy
diskette. These disks, like the PXE ROM, contain the bare minimum information
to gain network access. The RIS Server will have a utility that will create
these diskettes for use with clients. Your network adapter must be supported
by the available drivers used by the utility.