Whew...
Finally, we managed to get the updates for Microsoft Deployment and BDD 2007 out the door. I now understand why Microsoft product teams are so reluctant to announce specific release dates:
- Dates are always subject to change (dependencies, functionality changes, testing, bug fixes, security reviews, PR requirements, etc.)
- Once the original date passes, everyone e-mails wanting to know what the new date will be
I will never bug a product group again to ask when their product/service pack/update will release. I know how it feels to be on the receiving end...
We released two separate updates, one for Microsoft Deployment and one for BDD 2007.
BDD 2007 Update 2
Most of you probably realize that Microsoft Deployment is the successor to BDD 2007, so you might ask yourself "why was a new BDD 2007 update released". The answer is pretty simple: so many people are using it (and still downloading it), we wanted to provide them a simpler way of adding support for Windows Vista SP1 deployment, so that they aren't forced to move to Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 when all they want to do is get their current BDD 2007 installation working with Windows Vista SP1. So the BDD 2007 Update 2 release is focused on that single item. That said, we did include fixes for a few other BDD 2007 bugs, but overall the scope is very limited.
Now for those of you still running BDD 2007, I strongly encourage you to check out Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008. If you haven't started using either yet, skip BDD 2007 and go straight to Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008.
BDD 2007 Update 2 actually ships as a new MSI installer. This installer will automatically upgrade existing BDD 2007 or BDD 2007 Patch 1 installations if present. (This is different from BDD 2007 Patch 1, where you needed to install an MSP patch file.) If you haven't previously installed BDD 2007, you would still use this new MSI for doing the install. One installer for all purposes :-)
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008
Notice that Microsoft Deployment now has a new, slightly-tweaked name: Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008. This hopefully removes some of the ambiguity around the original name, and assigns a date to help make it more clear that Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 is designed to replace Business Desktop Deployment 2007. (As we added server deployment capabilities, keeping the "Business Desktop Deployment" name didn't work so well any more.) Let me say that one more time:
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 replaces Business Desktop Deployment 2007
There is more in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 than just Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 support. We've also added new documentation, new server role configuration actions, script enhancements, and many other changes. See the release notes and the official announcements for more details on what has been added. (I'll try to cover more of these new features over the coming weeks.)
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 ships as a new MSI installer (just like BDD 2007 Update 2). This installer will automatically upgrade existing Microsoft Deployment installations, and can be used for new installs too. It will not upgrade BDD 2007, since MDT 2008 and BDD 2007 are designed to coexist on the same server. (The "Create distribution share" wizard in MDT 2008 will automatically upgrade the contents of a BDD 2007 distribution share directory, but after doing that you can no longer use that distribution share with BDD 2007. See the MDT 2008 documentation for more on that.)
If you are upgrading an existing installation, you'll need to re-run the "Create distribution share" wizard to update the scripts and tools on the existing distribution share directory. If you are using the ConfigMgr 2007 integration, you'll need to re-run the "Configure ConfigMgr Integration" wizard. Your existing configuration will be preserved. (Just in case you run into any issues after upgrading, I would encourage you to create a backup before doing the upgrade. It never hurts to be too cautious.)
The "Official" announcements, and more
The official announcements for Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 and BDD 2007 Update 2 went out this morning on the Windows Vista and the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit team blogs:
It's amazing how quickly others pick up on this and post their own announcements. So far we've seen a few different languages:
https://blogs.technet.com/argolab/archive/2008/03/20/disponibile-mdt-2008-e-bdd-2007-update-2.aspx
https://blogs.technet.com/austria/archive/2008/03/20/microsoft-deployment-toolkit-2008-released.aspx
And there have been plenty of other sites too. Help spread the word :-)
Comments
Anonymous
January 01, 2003
How do you set the WSUSServer property so ZTIWindowsUpdate.wsf is run against a internal wsus server?Anonymous
January 01, 2003
One more thing, thanks a lot for adding a link to my post regardind MDT 2008 release :)Anonymous
January 01, 2003
Macke1 Did you find a solution to your problem? I'm stuck on this one now and can't find a work around.Anonymous
January 01, 2003
I just wanted to say thanks to the BDD/MDT dev team for getting this update out the door. Michael knows I have been waiting anxiously for this. ;) Great work everyone!Anonymous
January 01, 2003
The comment has been removedAnonymous
January 01, 2003
Hopefully this new release will get even more people to use MDT, and make them realize how it goes beyond BDD. Thanks, Priscila Silva (MCS Brazil)Anonymous
August 30, 2010
The comment has been removed