Windows "in the house" around here - which is neither a vote for or against - I just belive that to be the majority of our userbase.

Common sense leads me to windows is the most documented/supported platform for deploying windows.

check out the Universal Imageing forum here at DriverPacks
do a search here for RIS
check out RogueSpears AutoImage

generally we

RyanVM for updates
nLite for setting unattended values and tweaks
DriverPacks - hardware support
WPI Windows Post Installer  (application installation tool)

Autoimage will act as a front end for this list and populate a RIS server with a deployable image.

if you have many identical machines to load then load one machine a use Ghost (i like 8.3 corp) to multicast that master to the rest or create an image that can be deployed at any time. The multicast is incredibly fast and is a true multicast so the network traffic is little more than loading a single machine. the combination of a solid UXP install combined with RIS and ghost images is quite versitile. maintainace on the initial UXP (Unnattended XP) is the key as the more things you accomplish with that the fewer manual setps you have after the install. WPI and nLite are the key tools to get there and they are both easy to get used to. Once you ahve a solid UXPCD built and working you will have all the building blocks in place (and you will be familiar with the settings) for AutoImage to create your RIS image useing your UXPCD as the source / template for the RIS image - you now have teh same image on dvd and on the server for local and remote deployment. If you have ten or more of a particular machine then run the UXP on one and use ghost to create an image. Updateing the Ghost image is NP if you have a GOOD UXP to start with. If no user input is required to set a machine up then it's NP to re-image it is it?

this is a FAQ and is searchable except for the linux based deployment part of your query.

Thanks So much for a very well thought post and good details of your needs and ideas.

Welcome to DriverPacks and have a great day!

There is also another open source RIS you may have heard of called ris-linux

http://oss.netfarm.it/guides/

Has ris-linux not been mentioned in any of the forums / guides I've read because its incomplete/buggy/inferior or is it actually because its newer and not so well known as unattended? The same questions I asked about RIS vs unattended equally apply to ris-linux too of course

If Linux is the best OS for job, which distro (if any) offers the best performance out-of-the-box?

I can see this thread forming the basis of a new FAQ...

Windows Server 2003/2008 using RIS

or

Linux/BSD using unattended

I've been googling around but I've been unable to find a proper comparison of these two methods. I should point out that I am proficient with windows but I'm certainly no windows expert and that I'm probably more experienced with Linux although I do realise that some tasks can be a lot easier to achieve under Windows if you're a newb. I do prefer open source app but I am not so biased that I would rule out using MS RIS or another proprietary solution if it is the superior solution.

If anyone if familiar with both server setups could you please tell me:

1) Which is the easiest to setup and maintain for someone who is proficient in both unix and windows but has never set up an RIS or unattended server?

2) Which setup is the fastest/ offers the optimal usage of available network bandwidth when multicasting. I would imagine this would come down to whick kernel has the best implementation of DHCP and SMB?? Server 2003? 2008? Linux? FreeBSD? It would be great to see some figures to compare the different OS/app setups ie size of install image, number of machines imaged and time took on an identical hardware setup.

3) Does RIS offer any important features missing from unattended or vice versa? GUI's are nice but not essential-  far as I'm concerned speed and reliability are much more important.

4) Any other pros/cons I should be aware of when comparing the two?

I would certainly be prepared to put a bit more effort into configuring unattended on platform X if it has long-term advantages.

I'm sorry if this has already been discussed on these forums, I couldn't find it. If there is a better forum to be asking these questions then please let me know!

Thanks for your help!

dan