Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Configuring Multiple Computers

Whenever possible, apply configuration settings to multiple computers. You can define groups of computers and then apply configuration settings to the groups you define. Group-based configuration settings allow you to apply the same settings to a group of client computers. After you apply group-based settings, you can apply computer-specific configuration settings through computer-based settings.

Selecting a Grouping Method

You can use different methods to group client computers. After you determine how you want to group computers, select the appropriate properties.

Using the processing rules in MDT 2010, you can group computers based on any property that might be applied to a group of computers (such as Make, Model, DefaultGateway, and so on). Table below lists methods of grouping computers, descriptions of the methods, and the properties that you can use to group the computers.

Grouping Methods

Grouping Method	Description	Properties
Geographically	Group configuration settings based on resources located within a geographic region (such as a shared folder on a computer within a geographic region).	DefaultGateway
Target computer hardware attributes	Group configuration settings based on hardware attributes (such as the make of the computer or processor architecture of the target computer).	Architecture CapableArchitecture Make Model HALName
Target computer software attributes	Group configuration settings based on software attributes (such as the operating system version of the target computer).	OSVersion
Default attributes	Apply configuration settings to all target computers when the properties are not located in other sections.	Default

In most instances, you can nest computer groupings. For example, you can use the DefaultGateway property to designate the IP subnets on which a computer resides within a geographic location. You can define locations by using the user-defined properties in the [DefaultGateway] section, as shown in the following listing. When grouping computers by hardware configuration, you can use a variety of methods, and the script searches for the substituted value. For instance, if you specify Priority=Make, the script substitutes the value for Make that it determines through a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) call and looks for the corresponding section, such as [Dell Computer Corporation].

Grouping with [DefaultGateway]
[DefaultGateway]
172.16.0.3=NYC
172.16.1.3=NYC
172.16.2.3=NYC
172.16.111.3=DALLAS
172.16.112.3=DALLAS
172.16.116.3=WASHINGTON
172.16.117.3=WASHINGTON

[NYC]
UDShare=\\NYC-AM-FIL-01\MigData
SLShare=\\NYC-AM-FIL-01\Logs
Packages1=NYC00010-Install
Packages2=NYC00011-Install
Administrator1=WOODGROVEBANK\NYC Help Desk Staff

[DALLAS]
UDShare=\\DAL-AM-FIL-01\MigData
SLShare=\\DAL-AM-FIL-01\Logs
Administrator1=WOODGROVEBANK\DAL Help Desk Staff