So this will be the first of several posts, well, it’s sorta the second, this heavily relies on the Script I posted for writing values to registry & WMI a few posts ago, however I’ve made several modifications to it since then, and have done A LOT of testing. Hence my last post about testing Low Disk Space machines.
WaaS Process, as Designed by Mike Terrill & Keith Garner quick overview:
- PreAssessment: Set of Rules run against hardware inventory data to rule out machines that be known to fail the upgrade. Rules include:
- Hardware Checks
- Models
- Free Disk Space
- Memory
- Software Checks (Software we know that needs to be at specific versions to survive IPU, or not block it)
- 3rd Party Encryption Version level
- 3rd Party AV Version level
- Several other Apps
- General Checks
- Last HWInv Date
- Last MP Checkin
- OS / Build / OS Arch
- CCM Cache Size
- Hardware Checks
- PreCache / Compat Scan (Task Sequence): After it passes all of the rules, the computer then added to a collection targeted with this TS. The TS is setup as a Required Deployment, and set to Pre-Download Content, and Download all Content before starting the TS. Then will dynamically download the driver packages, run the Check Readiness, and then Compat Scan.
- Schedule for Upgrade: After it has been cached, and passes the compat scan, the machines can be schedule (added to collection targed with the upgrade).
That’s a really quick overview of how we’ve setup WaaS, we went over this in great detail @ MMS, and I’d expect Mike Terrill to eventually blog that detail, I just don’t want to steal all of this thunder, but felt you needed a little overview to explain where this TS fits in.