Features added in previous versions

The following features were added with OS Deployment Version 3.8
Multicast support for Reimaging and Bare Metal Deployments on Windows targets
This release adds the support for deployments using multicast communication.
  • You can customize Bare Metal Profiles for multicast deployments
  • You can create reimaging profiles for both captured and Setup (ISO) images for multicast deployments
All profiles that are deployed using multicast communication must be pre-cached on the Bare Metal OS Deployment servers.
Driver management enhancements
New Check Drivers Tab in the Driver Library
You can select an image and computer model, or all images and all computer models in your environment and check if all the needed device drivers are available before you begin deployment. Based on the resulting table, you can import the missing drivers selectively and bind them to the computer models and images that you plan to deploy.
Non_PCI drivers can be bound to WinPE engines
You can now bind non-PCI drivers to WinPE engines from the Bindings tab.
Windows Bare Metal Deployment final action
After a Bare Metal deployment, you can specify a final action that will be completed on the target computer.
Assigning the Primary and Secondary Relay to targets Bare Metal Profiles
When you create a Bare Metal Profile for Windows images, you can choose to assign the Primary and Secondary relays for the targets to the Bare Metal Server and to the IBM® BigFix server respectively.
New Operating System support:
VMWare
This release adds the support of VMware ESXi 6 for Bare Metal deployments.
Windows 10 support for capturing, imaging, and Bare Metal deployments (Version 3.8.1)
OS Deployment 3.8.1 adds the support of Windows 10 and related tools (WADK 10 and MDT 2013 Update 1). To deploy Windows 10, you must create an MDT Bundle using the new tools.
The following features were added with OS Deployment Version 3.7
Extended Linux support (SUSE) for targets
This release adds the support of the following Linux operating systems:
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) Version 12
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) Version 12
For Reimaging (install mode only) and Bare Metal deployments.
Support of VMware
This release adds the support of VMware ESXi 5 and later for Bare Metal Deployments.
Device Driver Management Enhancements
The Windows Driver Library dashboard was enhanced with several new features:
  • Increased efficiency when importing driver packages provided by hardware vendors.
  • During driver import, you can associate the imported drivers to one or more computer models that are known in your network.
  • You can assign labels to imported drivers so that they can be easily retrieved within the driver library, and managed as a single unit.
  • You can edit existing drivers by adding or removing associated models and labels.
  • Support of non-PCI drivers with the possibility to import them and manually associate them to a Windows image (WIM).
  • Improved usability:
    • New and enhanced driver import wizard
    • New dashboard layouts
    • New search capabilities
Serviceability Improvements for Bare Metal Deployments
From the Deployment Activity Dashboard you can
  • Upload the Bare Metal deployment logs from the Bare Metal Server to the IBM BigFix server for Linux and Windows deployments
  • For Windows, LiteTouch and Windows deployment logs are uploaded from the target to the Bare Metal Server at the end of the deployment for both successful and failed deployments.
  • You can view the deployment activity end time in the activity details
  • During the reimage of a Windows target you can enable real time logging of the LiteTouch phase on a user-defined network share for debugging purposes
  • IBM BigFix client installation during a Bare Metal Deployment is completed through the network instead of from stored setup files in the MDT Bundle.
The following features were added with OS Deployment Version 3.6
Bare Metal target management from the IBM BigFix console
This version introduces the Management Extender for Bare Metal Targets Plug-in that discovers and registers Bare Metal targets to theIBM BigFix server Server. When targets PXE boot to the Bare Metal OS Deployment server, you can manage them from the console. You can:
  • View inventory information for the targets
  • Perform deployment tasks
  • Define custom variables and associate them to bare metal targets so that tasks can be triggered on these targets after a deployment
  • Wipe the disk contents of bare metal targets

    The Wipe Disk functionality is typically used when the hardware needs to be dismissed or re-provisioned and allows you to erase the system disk content in a secure manner, so that the data originally stored on the hard disk can no longer be retrieved.

Deploy a scripting environment on a bare metal target
You can leverage vendor scripting toolkits to implement configuration tasks on your bare metal targets. Through a dedicated dashboard, you can import scripting environments and deploy them to your Bare Metal Targets. The product can deploy configurations created with hardware-specific scripting toolkits from IBM, Dell, and HP.
Copy image settings from an existing image to an image that has no objects associated to it.
From the image library, you can copy the following settings from a reference image: bare metal profiles, targeting rules, associations to the bare metal server where the profile is stored, and binding rules. When you copy the bare metal profiles from the selected image, you can specify a prefix or suffix for these profiles in the target image.
Create offline deployment media for Windows targets
You can create CD/DVD or USB media for offline deployments on targets that are not connected to the network.
The following features were added with OS Deployment Version 3.5
Linux Enterprise Support for image creation from installation media (ISO), reimaging and Bare Metal deployments
This version introduces support for the following Linux Enterprise Versions:
  • RedHat Enterprise Linux Versions 5, 6 , and 7
  • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server Version 11
You can import images from ISO for Linux reimaging and Bare Metal deployments. You can reimage Linux systems both as an upgrade or as a fresh installation. You can perform Bare Metal deployments on Linux targets.
New image creation from installation media (ISO) for Windows Deployments
You can create and import images directly from ISO ( Setup Images). From the Image Library dashboard you can:
  • Import images for Windows deployments from ISO installation media:
    • in archived format by specifying the file name (.iso)
    • by selecting an ISO folder containing the uncompressed image files.

The new import from ISO feature enhances the reimaging capabilities for Windows platforms. You can now perform reimaging and Bare Metal deployments choosing between two different sources: from a captured image of a reference machine, or by deploying an image created from ISO. In the latter case, you can choose between different flavors of the operating system (if available) from the ISO image that you imported.

Windows OS Resource creation directly from the Image Library
You can create and upload OS resources (from ISO installation media) for Windows deployments directly from the Image Library, concurrently with the import of the ISO image. Previously, you could create OS resources only from the MDT Bundle Creator machine.
The following features were added with OS Deployment Version 3.4:
New Bundle and Media Manager Dashboard
A new dashboard was implemented to perform the following tasks:
  • Install the MDT Bundle Creator and all its prerequisite software.
  • Create a MDT Bundle with or without OS resources.
  • Create OS resources only
  • Create CD, DVD, or USB bootable media for deployments to targets when PXE-boot through the network is unavailable.

The new Bundle and Media Manager dashboard simplifies the bundle creator installation and the bundle creation process by checking for installed prerequisites and helping you to make the correct choices for the operating systems you plan to deploy. The version of the User State Migration Tool (USMT) included in the bundle is displayed on the dashboard.

Join Domain usability improvements during reimaging
The following usability enhancements were added:
  • Information was added to the Image library dashboard to help you to provide the correct Domain Credentials when you are creating a Bare Metal Profile, and when you are deploying an image.
  • Improved documentation to explain the Domain and Organizational unit fields.
Support of Microsoft™ Windows™ 2012 R2 for capturing, imaging, and bare metal deployments.

You can capture, reimage, or perform bare metal deployments on Windows 2012 R2 targets. You can also install a Bare Metal Server on this operating system. Deployment of Windows 2012 R2 requires a new version of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT 2013) and of the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (WADK) 8.1, which includes Windows PE 5. These new versions can also be used for earlier supported operating systems.

The following features were added with OS Deployment Version 3.3:
Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-256) enhanced security support for deployment objects (with IBM BigFix 9.1 Platform)
The IBM BigFix platform Version 9.1 supports the NIST security standards and provides an enhanced security option. This setting enables SHA-256 as the hashing algorithm for digital signatures and content verification. SHA-1 and SHA-256 values for deployment objects (MDT Bundles, images, drivers) are calculated and assigned at creation time. Objects that were created with platform versions earlier than 9.1 only have SHA-1 hashing values. Objects created with version 9.1 or later have both SHA-1 and SHA-256 hashing values. OS Deployment version 3.3 supports deployment operations in a mixed environment for compatibility with previous versions. If you decide to set the enhanced security option for your environment, all objects must have been updated with SHA-256 hashing information. A new health check is provided to display non- compliant files and from which you can start a remediation action to update the affected objects.
Bare Metal and reimaging usability and customization enhancements
  • You can define a timeout when you are creating or editing a bare metal profile. This value defines the maximum time the LiteTouch script that installs the WIM image is allowed to run.
  • You can set a time limit for the caching of an image on the relay (Bare Metal Server) during a deployment.
  • You can start, stop, restart, or view the status of Bare Metal server services.
  • You can view if errors were recorded on server logs.
  • For any given image linked to a system profile, you can view whether the corresponding WIM image is cached on the relay.
  • You can customize the boot partition in the partition mapping for reimaging and bare metal deployments
Support of Microsoft Windows 8.1 for capturing, imaging, and bare metal, and corresponding Microsoft tools

You can capture, reimage, or perform bare metal deployments on Windows 8.1 targets. You can also install a Bare Metal Server on this operating system. Deployment of Windows 8.1 requires a new version of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT 2013) and of the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (WADK) 8.1, which includes Windows PE 5. These new versions can also be used for earlier supported operating systems. When you create a new MDT Bundle, you can choose the version of the tools that best suits your needs. A matrix of supported combinations is available.

MDT Bundle usability improvement
In the Upload MDT Bundle dashboard, you can view information about the WinPE version included in each bundle and its corresponding MDT version.
The following features were added in OS Deployment version 3.2:
  • Support of Microsoft Windows Server classes, (2003, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012)
  • Enhanced Bare Metal profile deployment, by defining rules for target selection based on computer properties.
  • Support of UEFI (x64 ) for capture, reimage and bare metal deployments
  • Optional creation of baselines for future use from the Deploy Image to Computer wizard.
  • Possibility of specifying a computer name during bare metal profile creation and deployment.
The following features were added in OS Deployment version 3.1:
  • Support of Microsoft Windows 8 and MDT 2012 Update 1.
  • Ability to upload multiple MDT Bundles and specify which to use during capture and deployment.
  • Multiple partitions support when capturing, editing, and deploying an image.
  • Ability to manage driver bindings at a global level before deployment.
  • Improved driver binding grid editor in the Activity Dashboard.
  • Improved options for encrypting actions with passwords using the V9.0 platform.
The following features were added in OS Deployment version 3.0:
  • Seamless bare metal provisioning through integration with Tivoli Provisioning Manager for OS Deployment
  • Dashboard content to configure and manage Tivoli Provisioning Manager for OS Deployment servers for bare metal provisioning
  • Activity dashboard to monitor of reimage, capture, and bare metal deployment tasks
  • Image Library dashboard expanded to support reimage task and bare metal profile creation
  • Enhanced templating features
  • Ability to edit CustomSettings.ini directly from the Deploy Image to Computer wizard