The Methodology

The planning and deployment process consists of three phases:

Pre-planning This phase involves examining and documenting your current computing environment, determining your business and technical objectives, understanding risk, assembling project plan documentation, learning SMS, and building your test lab in preparation for the pilot project.

Planning In this phase, you fill in your project plan documents with details for your SMS hierarchy design, pilot project, SMS deployment, how you will use SMS features, and planning security and recovery. As you perform these steps, test configuration variations and deployment scenarios in your lab environment.

Deployment In this phase, you continue lab testing, perform a pilot deployment, validate the design, deploy your SMS sites, configure security and site settings for SMS, build your SMS hierarchy, and deploy the SMS client software in phases.

Table 7.1 illustrates this methodology. See Chapter 11, "Planning an Upgrade," if you are upgrading to SMS 2003.

Note:

• The post-deployment maintenance and operations phase is detailed in the Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Operations Guide.

Table 7.1 Planning and Deployment Methodology for a New SMS 2003 Implementation

The pre-planning, planning, and deployment phases are iterative processes. For example, you might complete a pre-planning step, such as building your test lab, and later revisit that step to revise your lab hierarchy when your planning work reveals that a hierarchy adjustment is required.

As you progress through the planning phase, you continue to perform risk assessments, evaluate staffing allocations, monitor your timeline, budget and expenditures, perform various tests in your lab environment, and make modifications to the plan that you are designing. Continue to do these same assessments, evaluations, and tests in the lab while performing a phased deployment of SMS in your production environment.

There are two frameworks that can provide you with additional information:

• Microsoft Operations Framework

• Microsoft Solutions Framework

Microsoft Operations Framework

Microsoft Operations Framework can provide you with additional information about successful planning and delivery of enterprise solutions. Microsoft Operations Framework provides a collection of best practices, principles, and models in delivering enterprise solutions such as SMS. It provides comprehensive technical guidance for achieving mission-critical production system reliability, availability, supportability, and manageability of solutions. Microsoft Operations Framework provides an in-depth supplement to the guidelines presented in this book.

For more information about the Microsoft Operations Framework process, teams, and risk models, see the Microsoft Operations Framework Web site at https://www.microsoft.com/business/services/mcsmof.asp.

Microsoft Solutions Framework and SMS

The cycle of planning, testing, deploying, and maintaining SMS is the same as for any major infrastructure product. It should follow an established and tested framework, such as Microsoft Solutions Framework, which is the basis of the planning and installation methodology used in this book.

Microsoft Solutions Framework describes in detail all the steps in the process of planning and building an enterprise solution. It also describes individual roles and responsibilities at each phase of implementation.

Microsoft Solutions Framework provides specific guidance for successful application and infrastructure projects. In addition to the technology choices, Microsoft Solutions Framework emphasizes the people and process elements of the project. The framework includes principles, models, and best practices that help project teams address the most common causes of project failure.

To learn more about Microsoft Solutions Framework, see the Microsoft Solutions Framework Web site at https://www.microsoft.com/business/services/mcsmsf.asp.

For More Information

Did you find this information useful? Please send your suggestions and comments about the documentation to smsdocs@microsoft.com.