Introduction

In this short guide we'll deploy a few Linux distro's through Microsoft Windows Deployment Services. It'll be my first online tutorial in English, so I thank you in advance for your understanding. If you come across a wronly used idiom, horrifying grammar and/or spelling mistake or other ways in which I've butchered the English language, please let me know.

This gitbook will guide you through setting up a WDS server to deploy linux from a local NFS server, in the shortest way possible. So be advised: this might, and probably is, not the most secure way to go. There are many other ways to approach a deployment using a WDS server, this is just one of them. Or if you want to do deployments completely the OSS way, go check out the FOG Projectarrow-up-right.

When you've gone through this tutorial you can:

  • Set up a simple WDS / Active directory / DHCP / NFS server

  • Make it deploy a Linux distro (Opensuse and Centos) from a local file server (using NFS)

What to do after this guide:

  • You can still use your WDS server to deploy Windows clients, so experiment. The excellent Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) will still work in unison with this setup.

  • Add more Linux distros

  • Amp up your security settings

  • Use kickstart or other automatisation options to have your Linux deployments automated.

I don't write these guides with PDF in mind. So no layout comments please. Only download if you're desperate!

Ken Vanden Branden

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licensearrow-up-right.

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