Finally the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 beta1 supporting Configuration Manager 2012 is there! Something I have been waiting serveral months for. 😉 The free Microsoft Deployment Toolkit brings more deployment intelligence to System Center Configuration Manager 2012 to fully support Zero Touch OS Deployment, but of course it can also be used stand alone for Lite touch deployments.
Let’s look at the installation and the integration of MDT 2012 beta1 with Configuration Manager 2012. The installation of MDT is still very easy and basic, just next next finish 😉 After the installation you are able to configure the Deployment Share or configure the Configuration Manager Integration. Sorry Michael, but today I will look only at the Configuration Manager 2012 Integration. In a late stage I will have a look at the workbench and see where the OS Deployment of Configuration Manager and MDT amplify each other.
The configuration of the integration of MDT 2012 with Configuration Manager 2012 works still the same.
Just start the Configure ConfigMgr Integration application and select “Install the MDT console Extensions for ConfigMgr 2012” (which is new) and “Add the MDT task sequence actions to a ConfigMgr server” followed by the Site server name and the Site Code
The first look at the integration shows us the options in the Ribbon when browsing to Operaring Systems > Boot Images and Operating Systems > Task Sequences in the Software Library.
Creating new Boot Images is done via the Create Boot Image using MDT in the ribbon.
Is the MDT Task Sequence only for Windows 7 Deployment? Guess not because of the fact that Configuration Manager also supports deploying Windows XP SP3. Must be something cosmetic. (update)And it is cosmetic, now found out that when grabbing the screenshot I had selected a folder called “Windows 7”. When I select another folder under Task Sequences the text will change to the name of the folder.
The creation of all the MDT Task Sequence related packages are working great. Let’s hope that the beta2 version of MDT 2012 will support the creation of new applications instead of packages.
It’s beta1 so an early version and there is still alot of work to do, let’s see what I found just testing a bit of the integration with Configuration Manager:
- MDT doesn’t support the new Application Model yet fully, the new application objects are shown as GUIDs when you want to select the Configuration Client Package while creating a MDT Task Sequence.
- While creating a MDT Boot Image there is an option to Enable prestart command hook, this option is disabled during the creation of the boot image but after the boot image creation is finished the option is automatically enabled.
The first look at the integration is very positive, a nice step forward and good that the MDT team is also preparing for the 2012 wave of product releases 🙂 Next time I will look at the Workbench, does it also have a ribbon? I know the answer already, try and test it yourself or just wait until the next Configuration Manager 2012 & MDT blogs comes online.