If you are developing hardware that is compliant with the Microsoft Server Appliance Kit hardware reference specification, you will be most interested in the hardware development kit sections of the Help documentation. The following instructions will lead you through the development of a compliant hardware platform.

Prerequisites

• Development system with Windows Server 2003 installed on standard computer hardware
• Server Appliance Kit 3.0 CD

To develop a compliant hardware platform

1. Install the Server Appliance Kit from a CD onto your development system. In the Setup Wizard, choose one of the two configurations: Windows Storage Server 2003 or custom. Accept the default components.
2. Read the Hardware Development Kit to view the recommended hardware extensions for server appliances.
3. Design your hardware components.
4. Develop the following hardware components:
   • Keypad hardware
   • Local display hardware
   • NVRAM hardware
   • Operating system failover mechanism - This is the capability to allow the system to failover to a different partition or different drive when the primary operating system fails n times. This can be done through BIOS modification together with NVRAM and watchdog.
   • Watchdog timer hardware
5. Read the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Driver Development Kit (DDK) to see the required drivers for any server appliance hardware extensions. The DDK can be found in the latest edition of the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) library.
6. Design your driver software components.
7. Develop any of the following driver software components:
   • Keypad device driver
   • Local display driver
   • NVRAM driver
   • Watchdog timer driver
8. Package your driver components so that your customers can easily install them. This will typically be done using either a .bat or .msi file.
9. Build your hardware.
10. Install Microsoft Windows Server 2003.
11. Install your drivers.
12. Install the Server Appliance Kit from CD onto your newly-created hardware.
13. Test your hardware, drivers, and BIOS to verify that they work correctly with the Server Appliance Kit.

Once you have verified the quality of your hardware, drivers, and BIOS, you are ready to distribute them to your customers.