A few weeks ago I posted about some of the tools Microsoft provides to help establish the costs and saving that deploying Vista can bring. One of the issues that I have is how do we get the numbers to fill in those forms; well MS has you covered there too. This tool is really useful.

With the MS Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator you can scan the computers in your network for information such as which OS and Service pack they are running, and if they are good candidates to upgrade to Vista. There are even some tools geared towards migrating your servers to 2008, and qualifying workloads that are good for virtualization. You can also generate some really nifty reports. These reports save a ton of time, and can help in presenting information to the managers in your life. In short this tool was designed with lazy admins in mind!

Note: When you install MS APSA you also need to install SQL server, and the installer will automatically download and install it for you during the installation. You also need a copy of Word 2007 and Excel 2007 for document generation.

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solutions Accelerator

Once you have installed the MS APSA you can scan your network using the AD, NetBIOS names, or by specifying an IP subnet,

Once you have finished scanning your computers you'll be presented with reports, mostly organized in Excel spreadsheets. The reports contain detailed information about the computers scanned.

Reports are generated that cover a wide spectrum of information about upgrading your infrastructures including:

Assessment Results for Client Computers

This worksheet provides a summary of Windows Vista readiness information for computers that are already running a Microsoft Windows client operating system. For more detailed hardware inventory data, refer to the Hardware Inventory worksheet. For rows that report "Insufficient Data" refer to the WMI Status column for more information about why inventory data could not be collected.

Hardware Inventory Results for All Computers

This worksheet describes the complete inventory and assessment results. This includes the following information: basic information about the computer, Windows Vista readiness information, domain information, asset tracking information, and system hardware details.

Device Assessment Summary

This worksheet summarizes the hardware devices discovered on computers. It identifies whether a driver is available on the Windows Vista DVD, from Windows Update, or if you need to contact the hardware manufacturer to identify if a driver is available for Windows Vista. This summary worksheet has a row for each discovered device and provides the number of computers where the device was found. To identify the specific devices on each computer, refer to the Device Inventory Details Worksheet.

Device Assessment Details

This worksheet describes the hardware devices discovered on each specific computer. It identifies whether a driver is available on the Windows Vista DVD, from Windows Update, or if you need to contact the hardware manufacturer to identify if a driver is available for Windows Vista. A report generated with Microsoft Excel 2003 will display only the first 65,536 rows.

Windows Vista Capable Computers After Hardware Upgrades

This worksheet describes computers that are not currently able to run Windows Vista, and the hardware upgrades required for them to be Windows Vista Capable.

Windows Vista Premium Ready Computers After Hardware Upgrades

This worksheet describes computers that are not currently able to run Windows Vista or are already Windows Vista Capable. This worksheet provides the hardware upgrades required for the computers to be Windows Vista Premium Ready.

Discovered Applications

This worksheet describes the applications discovered through the inventory process and provides a count of the number of times that inventory found a particular version of the software.

The solution accelerator also generates a highly detailed report based on the information retrieved from the network scan. This includes a gap analysis so you can get a good idea of what steps to take.

Finally you can even run performance benchmarks on a list of computers (you need to prepare the list in a text file) So that you can gage the load that workstations and servers are under in order to determine how they should be upgraded, and if they are good candidates for virtualizaiton.

The best part about this application is it's FREE! You can download the applications here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=67240B76-3148-4E49-943D-4D9EA7F77730&displaylang=en

Don't forget to check out the Windows Springboard website which contains a ton of great resources for deploying Vista: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8418918

One last thing, I have a bunch of copies of Windows Vista SP1 Ultimate, to get your copy all you need to do is post your Springboard related question or comment in our TLA forums: http://thelazyadmin.com/forums/25/ShowForum.aspx At the end of this week I will send out a copy of Vista to the most thought provoking post. So don't just sit there get posting!

As far as making sure that you do not overload your primary hard drive with assorted programs and files you need, if you have a partitioned your hard disk, try to use them. This saves you a lot of problems especially if you talk about speed when you use your computer. Just like us, a computer needs the proper breathing space and by managing the directories where you install third party programs, you can really save yourself the trouble of seeing your primary hard drive being filled up.

Actually, if you had a choice it would be wise to have only these things on your main hard drive:

1. The Operating System
2. Anti-Virus Software
3. Microsoft Office

If you look at it, you can even choose to install your MS Office applications on a separate drive. It will not harm anything as far as performance is concerned. For their target save directory, you can choose not to save it at the usual My Documents folder. You can create and assign a new folder on the secondary hard disk space so that you can be sure that new files will not clam up your main drive.

Ideally, most people would allocate 10 to 15 gigabyte for their main operating system’s destination drive. Depending on your operating system requirements (Windows XP or Vista), the size allocation should be just about right. With the large-sized hard disks that are coming out today, it would be wise to partition and then format each drive before you install the actual operating system to avoid problems in the end.