Server Requirements

The hardware requirements for running Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 are sufficient to support most Windows Deployment Services installations. If you are supporting a large number of images or if you are expecting greater-than-normal client load, investigate adding additional memory for performance and additional hard drive space for image storage. Adding more network adapters can also help with the TFTP download phase if you have a large client load.

The following list describes the software and service requirements for installing and using Windows Deployment Services:

• AD DS A Windows Deployment Services server must be either a member of an AD DS domain or a domain controller for a domain. AD DS is used by Windows Deployment Services to track Windows Deployment Services clients and Windows Deployment Services servers. In addition, systems can be preconfigured in AD DS, instructing Windows Deployment Services on how to image them. Note that AD DS is required only for Deployment Server, not Transport Server.
• DHCP You must have a working DHCP server with an active scope on the network because Windows Deployment Services uses PXE, which in turn uses DHCP. The DHCP server does not have to be on the Windows Deployment Services server. The type of DHCP server is not critical for Windows Deployment Services to function properly. To operate Windows Deployment Services and DCHP on the same server, see the section titled "DHCP Requirements" later in this tutorial. Note that if you are using Transport Server for multicast only (no PXE), then you don't need DHCP.
• DNS A working DNS server on the network is required to run Windows Deployment Services. The DNS server does not have to be running on the Windows Deployment Services server. DNS is used to locate AD DS domain controllers and Windows Deployment Services servers.
• Installation media Windows 7 media or a network location that contains the contents of the media are required to install Windows 7 using Windows Deployment Services.
• An NTFS partition on the Windows Deployment Services server The server running Windows Deployment Services requires an NTFS File System (NTFS) partition for the image store. You should not create the image store on the partition containing the operating system files, so an additional partition is necessary.
• SP1 or later version and RIS installed (Windows Server 2003 only) If you're installing Windows Deployment Services on a server running Windows Server 2003, you must install RIS for the Windows Deployment Services update package to be run. Windows Deployment Services also requires at least SP1.

Note Installing and administering Windows Deployment Services requires the administrator to be a member of the local Administrators group on the Windows Deployment Services server. In addition, most administrative tasks for Windows Deployment Services require Domain Admins credentials.