System profiles for Windows operating systems

A system profile is the partition layout and list of files to deploy an operating system, either by unattended setup or by cloning, from a reference target or from a reference image file.

The main purpose of Tivoli® Provisioning Manager for OS Deployment is to deploy an operating system on targets by replicating a reference system. However, unattended installation of operating systems is also possible. The latter case Tivoli Provisioning Manager for OS Deployment does not replicate a reference system, but merely provides the correct parameters to the operating system setup for a fully unattended installation.

There are a number of differences between an unattended installation and disk cloning. First, creating an unattended installation in Tivoli Provisioning Manager for OS Deployment is straightforward. All of the necessary tasks are performed on the server, using the Web interface. In contrast, a cloning-mode system profile requires you to configure a target, prepare it for cloning, and run the cloning process directly on the target. However, the native mode of operation of the product is centered around cloning-mode system profiles, because this method of deployment is faster than unattended installation. When deploying computers on a large scale, unattended installation is not possible. Novice users might start with creating unattended installation profiles because this is easier than cloning-mode profiles.