CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Experience with Windows Vista at CERN Rafal Otto Internet Services Group IT Department CERN

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Outline Current Deployment Status Service Pack 1 –Changes –Deployment Plans for the nearest future –Vista deployment policy change –x64

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Vista Deployment Currently –Vista is proposed only on selected models of PCs and Laptops –Windows XP is still the default OS If a computer is running Windows XP, it is possible to perform Vista Readiness check Vista Supported Desktop Models Windows Aero HP dc7700√ HP dc7600√ HP dc5750√ HP dc5850√ HP dc7800√ Elonex ProSentia√ Elonex Xelium√ Elonex Elium√ Elonex Elix√ Vista Supported Laptop Models Windows Aero HP Compaq 2510p √ HP Compaq 6910p √ HP Compaq 8510p √ HP Compaq nc6400√ HP Compaq nc6220 NEC Versa P550√ NEC Versa P570√ NEC Versa M360√

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Deployment Progress Today 5% of all Windows workstations at CERN run Vista

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Service Pack 1 – Introduction Service Pack 1 has been released on 15 th of February 2008 –It is already May and preparations for the upgrade are not finished –Very heavy Installation might take even 2 hours 3 reboots are needed –Strong prerequisites Several other updates needs to be installed first (KB949939, KB937287, KB935509, KB and eventually KB938759)KB KB937287KB935509KB938371KB Several drivers are not compatible with SP1 (KB948343)KB Once installed –Performance and reliability are improved –No new feature

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Vista SP1 Main Changes Includes 300+ bug fixes! Windows Explorer performance improvements –Copying files is faster 25% faster when copying files locally on the same disk on the same machine 45% faster when copying files from a remote non-Windows Vista system to a SP1 system 50% faster when copying files from a remote SP1 system to a local SP1 system –uses less bandwidth while browsing network shares –Copy progress estimation when copying files is fast now Internet Explorer performance improvements –Especially improved for pages with a lot of JavaScript Group Policy Management Console –Replaced by Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) Reduced Functionality Mode (RFM) removed –Instead system will continuously popup the user to activate once the grace period is passed –It allows us to get rid of complicated activation schema and rely only on the KMS Drivers architecture –Several drivers which worked with Vista RTM do not work with SP1! Source:

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Vista vs. Vista SP1 Source: PCMark Vantage:

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Vista vs. Vista SP1 (2) Source: PCMark Vantage:

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Vista vs. XP Report by Principled Technologies: Responsiveness of Windows Vista ™, Windows Vista ™ SP1, and Windows XP ™ on common business tasks

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Vista vs. XP  Source:

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t First Year Security Report windows-vista-one-year-vulnerability-report.aspx

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t SP1 Installation Options UsageDownload Size (x86) Standalone Package PCs without internet access System administrators About 450 MB (5 Language package) About 550 MB (Full 36 language package) Windows Update Most home users Many business customers About 65 MB Integrated DVD New PCsN/A Source:

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t SP1 Deployment at CERN New PCs –SP1 is integrated into the network distribution since 8 th of April Existing PCs –We would prefer to use local instance of the Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) package Package is lighter All prerequisites are verified and when they are not met SP1 is not applicable on a PC –SP1 is still not available on WSUS! Hopefully should be soon there! –Standalone package is available on DFS for impatient users Progress –Currently 20% of Vista computers are running Vista SP1

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Plan for the nearest future Vista Readiness Check will run during the network installation wizard –If computer is not compliant with recommendations but on the list of supported models Windows XP is proposed by default but Windows Vista remains as an option –If computer is fully compliant with our recommendations Windows Vista is proposed by default but Windows XP remains as an option

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Deployment Predictions (end of mainstream XP support) (end of extended XP support) Only security hotfixes for XP No Policy Change Vista by default on new PCs

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Vista x64 Memory requirements are constantly growing –32 bit OS can accept up to 4 GB of physical memory installed –64 bit OS has a limit of 128 GB Already most of the CAD applications on the market support Windows Vista No point in starting support for 64 bits on old desktop OS (Windows XP) –we start directly with Vista

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Vista 32-bit vs. 64-bit Sources: PCMark Vantage:

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Summary Vista Deployment Policy –Do not force people to run Vista if they do not want –Encourage people who could run Vista to try and to run it allows smoothly increase number of Vista computers before XP will have to be phased out Vista SP1 brings performance and reliability improvements, however requires significant effort to deploy Vista x64 will soon be available at CERN

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t CD player story – episode 2 DON’T STAY WITH OLD TECHNOLOGY TOO LONG!!!

CERN IT Department CH-1211 Genève 23 Switzerland t Thank You!