System Center Configuration Manager 2012 OSD & PXE

System Center Configuration Manager 2012

System Center Configuration Manager 2012 is a central management point for your computers and servers. It can centralize distribution of Software, Software Updates, and Operating System Distribution (OSD). Through a web interface User can have a catalog of approved software available to them for installation and reinstallation, or can request approval for other software that is available in Configuration Manager but requires approval. It also comes with Forefront Endpoint Protection 2012 which provides centralized antivirus and malware protection for  your enterprise and can be managed and reported on by Configuration Manager 2012. Configuration Manager also integrates and enhances features and services already offered by Windows Server such as WSUS and WDS.

Operating System Deployment (OSD) and PXE

OSD allows you to build hardware independent images from a windows distribution with your standard set of software, capture it and redistribute it to other computers. This is done through Task Sequences (TS) which are workflows that are utilized through the Software Center Deployments to collections, TS Boot Media or PXE advertised TS. These task sequences are just what they say they are, the sequence of tasks that will tasks that need to be completed. Task Sequences are found under "\Software Library→Overview→Operating Systems→Task Sequences"

The ribbon menu has several options to administer task sequences:

Create Task Sequence: this opens a wizard that helps you create your TS.

You have 3 options:

Install an existing image package: This is allows you to create a imaging TS for deploying the image to a computer via Software Center, PXE, Boot Media,  or deployment from a device collection.

Build and capture a referrence operating System Image: this allows you to use a instillation media (OS CD/DVD) that has been imported into SCCM to build a machine, install software packages and applications, update it then suck it all up into a .wim image for redeployment.

Create a new custom task sequence: this allows you to create a tesk sequence from scratch by passing the wizard.