ADS Unplugged

Your boss has asked you to consolidate some under-used servers to save rack space. You also have some old Windows NT 4.0 servers you'd like to retire because their hardware is at the end of its life cycle. You decide to rehost these physical machines as virtual machines running on Microsoft Virtual Server 2005. Microsoft provides the free Virtual Server Migration Toolkit (VSMT) to help with this task, but it requires Windows Server 2003's Automated Deployment Services (ADS). Your migration deadline doesn't give you time to plan for and deploy ADS to your entire enterprise. So what can you do? You can build an ADS solution that you can move to where it's needed. This solution lets you perform the migration with no impact on or reconfiguration of your production network.

To create the mobile ADS solution, all you need is some basic hardware and software and a mobile cart in which you can move the solution around. You can build this solution in five simple steps:

Note that this article assumes you're familiar with ADS. If not, check out the resources listed in the Learning Path box.

STEP 1. Get the Gear
To build the mobile ADS solution, you first need to find a cart or some other mobile platform to move the ADS solution around in. Next, you need to obtain a network switch (a four-port switch is sufficient) and a single CPU server with dual disks capable of running the ADS solution. You should select a standalone server that

For example, you might obtain a 1U rack server with a single 2GHz CPU, dual 160GB hard drives, 2GB RAM, and a Gigabit Ethernet network adapter.

Finally, you need to obtain the software that makes it all work. The software includes Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition Service Pack 1 (SP1) and ADS 1.1.

To test the solution, you need a test server that's preloaded with a Windows OS. It doesn't matter which OS version (e.g., Windows 2003, Windows 2000) is installed on this server. The test server needs to have Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) boot capabilities or have a PCI NIC that's supported by Windows 2003's Remote Installation Services (RIS) boot floppy disk. To make the test as fast as possible, I recommend that the test server have only one partition and only the OS loaded on it.

STEP 2. Build the Mobile Platform
After you have the cart and necessary hardware and software, you can build the mobile platform. Begin by loading Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition SP1 on the server. I'm assuming that you have loaded Windows OSs before, so I won't provide instructions. (If you need help, refer to the installation instructions on the Windows 2003 CDROM.) Use the following parameters during the installation:

On the first disk, reserve 40GB for the OS (C drive) and reserve the rest for storing ADS images (D drive). Format the second disk as one partition for storing virtual machine (VM) files (E drive). You can use any available drive letter for the CD-ROM drive. I use the Z drive.

After you've installed Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition SP1, connect the server to a network that has a local patch management solution, such as Microsoft Software Update Services (SUS), and apply the crucial security patches. Alternatively, you can get patches directly from Windows Update. You also need to install all new network hardware drivers. Note that you might have to configure the server for DHCP-enabled addresses instead of a static address to install the patches and drivers. If you do so, remember to reconfigure the server back to the static address afterward.

After the server is loaded and patched, you can disconnect it from the production network and connect it to the four-port switch. I highly recommend that you purchase a Gigabit Ethernet switch to minimize the imaging transfer time.

STEP 3. Install and Configure DHCP
For ADS to image source servers, the source server must be PXE bootable and a DHCP server must be on the network to provide IP address information. Because the mobile ADS solution will be isolated from your production network, the solution must provide the DHCP services.

You need to install DHCP before you install ADS so that the ADS installation will automatically configure DHCP to support ADS. To install and configure DHCP, you can use the Configure Your Server Wizard or the Control Panel Add or Remove Programs applet. The Configure Your Server Wizard is basically a scripted front end to the same process you would go through if you used the Add or Remove Programs applet. Here's how to use the wizard to install and configure DHCP:

It's a good idea to test DHCP. After you make sure that your test server is configured to use DHCP, connect it to the switch and run the command

ipconfig /renew 

Make sure that the returned IP address is in the range from 10.10.10.25 to 10.10.10.34. You can also look in the DHCP snap-in to verify the address was assigned.

STEP 4. Install ADS
With DHCP installed and operational, you can install ADS 1.1. You can download ADS from the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/management/ads/default.mspx. In this page, you'll see a link to download the technical documentation. The ADS download includes this documentation, so you don't need to download it separately. Here are the instructions to install ADS on the MobileP2V server:

You can use the MMC ADS snap-in to make sure that all the ADS services (i.e., Controller Service, Image Distribution Service, and Network Boot Services) are in the connected state. To launch the ADS snap-in, select Run on the Start menu, type ads.msc, and click OK. Click the Services folder. As Figure 2 shows, the right pane then displays the status of the three ADS services. The State column should read Connected for each service.

STEP 5. Test ADS
To ensure that ADS is operating correctly, you need to use the test server, which we'll name TESTSERVER, to perform some basic functions. However, you first need to install the ADS Administration Agent on your test server and add TESTSERVER as a device on the ADS Controller.

To install the Administration Agent, connect your test server to the network switch on your mobile ADS solution. Copy the ADS files from MobileP2V to TESTSERVER. After the ADS files are in place, double-click ADSSetup.exe and select the option to install the ADS Administration Agent. The Administration Agent Setup Wizard appears and walks you through the installation process. On the Configure Certificates page, select the Now option and type \mobilep2vadscertadsroot.cer as the path to the certificate. On the Configure the Agent Logon Settings page, select None for the agent's logon settings.

To add TESTSERVER as a device on the ADS Controller, you can use the ADS snapin. In the console tree, right-click Devices, then select Add Device. Type TESTSERVER for the device name and click OK. In the right pane, right-click the device, select Take control, then click OK.

After you've made TESTSERVER a controlled device, you need to set the default template on TESTSERVER so that it always boots into the Deployment Agent. To do this, right-click the TESTSERVER device, then click Properties. In the TESTSERVER Properties dialog box, select boot-to-da in the Default Job Template drop-down list box.

Now that the necessary preparations are complete, you can run one of the sample scripts in the C:Program FilesMicrosoft ADSSamplesAgentscripts folder to make sure ADS is operating correctly. In the ADS snap-in, rightclick the TESTSERVER device, then click Run job to start the Run Job Wizard. Click Next. On the Job Type page, click Create a onetime job, then click Next. On the Description page, enter test job as the job's description and click Next. On the Command Type page, click Script or executable program, then click Next. On the Script or Executable Program page, enter C:Program FilesMicrosoft ADSSamples AgentscriptsCpuspeed.vbs in the Path to file text box. Make sure that the Send to the device check box is selected, then click Next. Click Finish to complete the wizard and run the job. Make note of the Job ID that appears after the wizard runs.

To view the results of the job you just ran, click History in the left pane of the ADS snap-in. In the right pane, double-click the Job ID of the job you just ran. If you see TESTSERVER's CPU speed in the job history results, you've successfully configured ADS. However, you're not quite done yet. You still need to make sure Network Boot Services is working properly.

To test Network Boot Services, boot TESTSERVER using the built-in PXE boot client or the RIS boot floppy disk. After TESTSERVER boots, the test server should get an address from the DHCP server, contact Network Boot Services to download the ADS Deployment Agent image, download the image into memory, start the agent, and show that the Deployment Agent is in a connected state, as Figure 3 shows. At this point, you've verified that the ADS task sequences are working, DHCP and Network Boot Services are working, and that you can use jobs to remotely control the test server.

Just the Beginning
Now that you have an operating mobile installation of ADS, you can go to any server in your enterprise, unplug it from the production network, plug it into MobileP2V's network switch, and use ADS to capture or deploy an image. In future articles, I'll show you how to expand the mobile ADS solution to include Virtual Server 2005 and VSMT and walk you through an image capture of the test server. I'll also explain how VSMT works and demonstrate how to use the mobile ADS solution to perform physical machine to virtual machine migrations.