OSD/MDT SCCM Custom Boot Wizard
Linking to a great post by Chris Stauffer.
Read the full post here:
http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/cstauffer/archive/2009/07/10/osd-mdt-sccm-custom-boot-wizard.aspx
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This was the Goal:
Create a wizard that would allow the following:
- Enter computer name
- Select OU for machine to be added to
- Select what image to apply to the system
The problem
OSD with MDT integration is great but it falls short when it comes to the things that are built in for the SCCM admin.
All of the things listed above work great if you are using lite touch in MDT but if you are using SCCM you are not given the same lite touch options because 90% of what you are doing in SCCM can be configured without the need of any interaction from an admin or end user. But the problem comes in when you have multiple images to choose from as I do and the default OU is locked. So if you are just doing a refresh on a machine you simply add the machine to the correct collection and SCCM does the rest. But if you are building a new machine from bare metal or if you are reimaging a machine and the 3 variable i listed have changed then that is when you need some customization. Technically you can also define the OU in SCCM, the problem comes in when you have lots of OU’s that means that you would need another advertisement for each image and each OU. In my case that would come out to 44 different choices. I don't want that many choices let alone have to give that many.
I will say that the MDT team provided great help in getting this working so thank you to Michael Niehaus.
In MS’s defense they provide what people ask for and most of the code that I used was cut and pasted from the code provided by MDT with little to no tweaking. So i am defiantly not badmouthing anybody here just saying that there are some short comings when it comes to the MDT/OSD lite touch integration. Zero touch is great, just not always practical.
Solution:
Create our own webservice or use one that someone already has in place, no need to reinvent the wheel.
then create a wizard to do what we need. This is a scalable solution that you can add to if needed. Suggestion would be to add additional application chooses. I prefer to have a helpdesk ticket for anything that is not part of the standard image so we can track deployments but it is all based on what you need.
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