Windows 7 at Lodge Park Technology College

Windows 7
Stephen Peverett
Network Manager
stephen_peverett@lodgepark.org.uk

Staffing
Network Manager
Assistant Network Manager
ICT Technician
AV Technician (P/T)
Admin Support / First Line (am only, P/T)

Workstations and Laptops
600 Windows XP Desktops
40 Mac Desktops (iMac / Mac Mini)
120 Staff Laptops
All running Windows XP
In addition to four MacBooks!
All need access to SIMS (not supported yet)
Big Problem...
No upgrade path from XP to Windows 7!

Server Infrastructure
Windows 2008 Server AD infrastructure
Shortly to be upgraded to 2008R2
Also running 2003, 2003R2, and Mac OS X
Virtualisation solution
Two Windows 2008R2 Hyper-V host servers
MS Virtual Machine Manager 2008R2
Dell MD3000i iSCSI SAN storing VM images
12 servers now running virtualised

Terminal Servers
Security by Sun Secure Global Desktop
Terminal Servers running Windows 2003
4 x Student Terminal Servers
Supporting 90 Sun Ray clients
Connections through web – mainly out of hours
3 x Staff Terminal Servers
Supporting 1 Sun Ray client!
Potentially 120 ‘internal’ connections through web
Solution to Windows 7 and SIMS updates issues?

Why not Vista?
Slow on older hardware
Cost to upgrade RAM
Limited initial driver availability
Several programs not compatible
Lack of time to become familiar with:
The core O/S
Distribution methods
Security and integration with Windows 2003

Why Windows 7?
Much better performance on our hardware
Seems faster than XP Home on Atom laptop
Most of our hardware now has 1GB or more
Most Vista based drivers work
Better handling of esoteric applications
Distribution of images easier
Virtual image as distribution source
Drivers added to WDS and installed when image applied

Why Windows 7?
Built in BitLocker encryption
Encryption now a major issue
Use BitLocker To Go to encrypt USB
Can block use of USB devices that are not encrypted (requires 2008 AD)
No additional cost option
Issue...
Hardware must have TPM module, unless you want to use a USB startup key every time you boot

Why Windows 7?
DirectAccess
Apply group policy and manage machines whenever connected to the internet
VPN not required to attach to network
A couple of issues...
Windows 2008R2 server required
Uses IPv6-over-IPsec

Why Windows 7?
AppLocker
Block specified applications from running whilst allowing others to run (including installations and scripts)
More flexible rules based system than previous offerings
Can allow, say, all Microsoft applications, or all Microsoft Office applications for example

Before anything else...
Know your hardware (Hardware Audit)
List all the different laptops and desktops
Check at least processor, RAM and HD capacity
Ensure peripherals have Vista drivers if not Windows 7
Know your software (Software Audit)
Make a list of common applications
Ask departments to tell you the additional applications they are using

Test Machine
Get a copy of Windows 7
RC no longer available for download
Need Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise to work with AD domain
Enterprise only through SA volume licensing
Install on a test machine
1GHz Processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB HD, DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Test Machine
Test Applications
Install and test the applications you need first
You need to drive the Windows 7 rollout
Install and test ‘Software Audit’ applications
Can use a Virtual Machine to test software
Test Devices
Many device drivers built in to Windows 7
Check Optional Updates through MS Update first
Download Windows 7 or Vista drivers

Trial Deployment
Identify a machine type and department
Install Windows 7 and get updates
Get device drivers up-to-date
Don’t forget printers
Install and test core software
Don’t forget Flash, Adobe Reader, Java etc.
Apply any updates
Install and test department software
Apply any updates

Trial Deployment
Take image of completed machine
Don’t forget to Sysprep first!
Use WDS (free!) or other imaging software
Apply image to new target machine
Don’t use the original source machine!
Test drivers and applications
Some drivers are stripped off when machine is ‘Sysprepped’. Can be ‘pulled in’ from WDS when target machine is first imaged

Our Windows 7 Implementation
Windows 7 RC running in two ICT rooms
Same hardware (50 Dell Optiplex 760 USFF)
Same software (from Software Audit)
Next steps
Two ICT rooms with same software, different hardware (Dell Optiplex 755 USFF)
One room with different software, same 755 hardware etc..
Staff laptops an issue – some ideas...

Gotchas
Cannot upgrade from
Windows XP, Windows 7 RC or Beta
SIMS not supported in Windows 7 (yet!)
Unofficially seems OK on my laptop
Some drivers (e.g. Graphics) may need building in to WDS distribution
Printers drivers cannot be installed by user
Cannot connect to printer through login script
Alternative method using Printer Deployment with Windows 2008 server

Release Candidate Warning
March 1, 2010, your PC will start shutting down every two hours
The RC will expire on June 1, 2010
To avoid interruption, rebuild your test PC and replace OS with a valid version of Windows, and reinstall all your programs and data before the software expires
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/download.aspx

Windows 7 at Lodge Park Technology College

by Mike Herrity on Oct 07, 2009

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