Altiris Deployment Solution is an industry leading management product which helps reduce the cost of deploying servers from bare metal and managing them all from a centralized location. Its user interface makes it easy to deploy operating systems and applications, apply custom configurations, and distribute software updates. Deployment Solution runs in either a virtual or physical server environment and supports deploying Linux, Windows, and ESX Server, as well as virtual machines to an ESX Server system. Deployment Solution also integrates with the IBM ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit to offer custom scripts for IBM hardware to further optimize the automation and standardization of complex server deployments on IBM hardware. Deployment Solution is a ServerProven application and is available directly from IBM. This IBM Redbooks publication describes the features of Altiris Deployment Solution and explains in detail how to implement features such as managing and deploying firmware updates and hardware configuration changes, image-based and script-based deployments, and integration with the IBM management tools. This book addresses the common issues and recommends best practices to overcome many of the challenges that arise during initial deployment setup. Update September 2006: Added 4.1.4, "Additional updates" on page 109 describing how to deploy updates such as server diagnostics using Altiris Deployment Solution and the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit.