While working at IBM I wrote an article about how to install Windows Server 2008 using xCAT. The cool thing about this procedure is that you're using Linux to provision a Windows machine, using the native Windows installer. This isn't like the other solutions where they just do something like partimage. We think this still has a lot more cool stuff that can be done and from Sumavi's perspective (my company) its just the beginning of what we're going to be doing with Windows provisioning.
There are some common pitfalls to doing windows installations with xCAT. Here they are:
1. Is Samba enabled? This seems to be the biggest issue that I always forget. You'll know if this is your problem and it boots all the way to the command prompt and then reboots. My Samba configuration looks like this:
/etc/samba/smb.conf
[global]
workgroup = MYGROUP
server string = Samba Server Version %v
security = shared
passdb backend = tdbsam
load printers = yes
cups options = raw
[install]
path = /install
public = yes
writable = no
Once that's up restart it and make sure it comes back up on boot:
service smb start
chkconfig --add smb
2. Do you have the drivers in your base WinPE image?
This is the hardest part. If Samba is up and you don't have the drivers then you need to add them to your base WinPE image. I hope to write more on this later, but this is generally the big problem I run into.
3. Do you have drivers in your /install/drivers directory?
If the machine installs and then reboots fine, but then errors out its because it can't find the boot directory. These drivers in /install/drivers are for the reboot and the script adds them in.
Usually once you get past these issues you can install Windows pretty easily. I hope to write another article on how to do this with the latest updates. Since I left IBM that document has been removed, so if you have troubles either post to the xCAT mailing list or drop me an email and I'll be glad to see if I can help. We're trying to make this easier.