Assessing Your Network Resources

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Before you deploy Microsoft Office 2000 in your organization, you must use the software inventory, hardware inventory, and query features of Systems Management Server to determine which client computers in your organization can receive an upgrade and which client computers need a hardware upgrade before you install Office 2000.

You can also use the SMS Network Monitor tool to assess your network environment to determine the impact that deployment will have on your current network resources. Finally, you must determine which servers in your network will host Microsoft Office Server Extensions (OSE).

The network can be used in two ways to deploy Office 2000. You can install Office 2000 on client computers from a network server, or you can run Office 2000 applications over the network from a server. You might need different configurations for the different levels of network connectivity within your organization.

Wide area network (WAN) connections   For client computers connected over a slow-link network, installing or running Office 2000 remotely over the network might not be practical.

Network operating systems in use   Your particular network operating system might affect your plans for deploying Office 2000. Some issues to consider include server file sharing methods and client-server permission schemes.

Network bandwidth   Installing Office 2000 over the network or running Office 2000 applications over the network place different demands on network bandwidth, both in response time and in length of time connected. You can use Network Monitor, a Systems Management Server utility, to help identify network traffic patterns and network problems.

Collecting hardware inventory

Before you run queries, you must first collect hardware inventory. When you collect hardware inventory for the computers in your network, Systems Management Server automatically gathers a wide variety of information about each computer. Some of the most important information collected includes the following:

• Processor type and speed
• Memory capacity
• BIOS
• Hard disk space

This information helps determine whether a user’s computer is capable of running Office 2000. Queries, collections, and reports that ship with Systems Management Server can help you categorize your systems. A basic query for Office 2000 checks the amount of RAM, disk space, and processor type and speed on users’ computers. You can also use reports generated from this information to plan for future upgrades.

Collecting software inventory

Before you upgrade to Office 2000, you need accurate software inventory for existing servers and client computers. Then you can use a query to determine what operating system and application software programs are running when you plan your Office 2000 deployment.

You can use Systems Management Server software inventory capabilities to collect information about the software running on client computers, including installed user configurations and operating environments and installed versions of Office. This information helps you determine which computers are ready for the Office 2000 upgrade.

Targeting client computers for upgrade

Running queries on hardware and software inventory data produces a list of target computers that can be upgraded to Microsoft Office 2000. Depending on the number of computers in this inventory, you can divide the computers into groups and stagger the distribution of Office 2000. These subsets are known as machine groups in Microsoft Systems Management Server version 1.2, and collections in Microsoft Systems Management Server version 2.0.

See also

For more information about creating queries in Systems Management Server 1.2, see the Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.2 Resource Guide in the Microsoft BackOffice Resource Kit, Second Edition.