Configuring and Maintaining the Network Environment

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IntelliMirror and Remote OS Installation provide you the key management functions necessary for configuring and maintaining users' Windows 2000 Professional desktop environments in a Windows 2000 Server–based environment. This includes operating system installation and disaster recovery. Microsoft® Systems Management Server version 2.0 complements IntelliMirror and Remote OS Installation to provide advanced options for more complex environments.

When used together, IntelliMirror and Remote OS Installation reduce the costs of setting up new Windows 2000 Professional–based computers. These technologies also provide dynamic configuration and repair to make it easy for users to log on anywhere on a network and provide better recovery from computer failures. For example, if you use Folder Redirection, Roaming User Profiles, Software Installation and Maintenance, and Remote OS Installation, you can quickly replace a computer if a user's computer fails. You can quickly reestablish the user's required data on a replacement computer. You can use Remote OS Installation to install the user's operating system and base applications, Software Installation and Maintenance to assign or publish additional software, and Folder Redirection and Roaming User Profiles to restore the user's data. Folder Redirection and Roaming User Profiles store user data on a server and decrease the likelihood that a user loses critical data when his or her computer fails.

Whether you add or replace a computer, or return a repaired computer to the network, you can use Remote OS Installation to provide the services that reinstall the operating system, and you use IntelliMirror technologies to provide the services that quickly regenerate applications and restore key user data and personal computer settings. Used together, IntelliMirror and Remote OS Installation provide a basic set of features to manage your Windows 2000 Professional user community through centrally administered policy.

The following section provides an overview of Systems Management Server and explains when to use IntelliMirror, Remote OS Installation, and Systems Management Server separately or in combination with each other to provide specific management functions.