A. You can preconfigure a computer account for the client computer that you're installing through RIS, including specifying which RIS server will service the installation request. By prestaging RIS clients, only known client machines can install from the RIS server, instead of any machine on the network, which prevents unwanted machines from joining the domain and installing software. To a lesser extent, this approach also lets you perform a certain level of load balancing by spreading the clients over multiple RIS servers.
To prestage a client, you need to know the machine's globally uique identifier (GUID). If you're booting the machine from the RIS boot disk, the GUID is the computer's media access control (MAC) address prefixed with 20 zeros to make a 32-character GUID (e.g., 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000C2912404E\}. If the machine is Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) compliant, its GUID should be available from the BIOS and is sometimes available on a sticker on or in the actual machine.
After you obtain the GUID, you can prestage the client by performing the following steps:
- Start the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in (go to Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, then click Active Directory Users and Computers).
- Right-click the container in which you want to create the computer account, then from the context menu select New, Computer.
- Enter a name for the computer, then click Next.
- Select the "This is a managed computer" check box as this figure shows, enter the machine's GUID (without any dashes), then click Next.
- Select whether you want any RIS server or a specific RIS server to service the client, then click Next.
- Click Finish, as this figure shows, to close the summary window.
