As part of the planning process, determine the types of images that you will create. The types of images you can create fall into these categories:

·     Thick images. Thick images are monolithic images that contain core applications, language packs, and other files. Part of the image-development process is installing core applications and language packs on the reference computer before capturing the disk image.

·     Thin images. Thin images contain few if any core applications or language packs, as these components are installed separately from the disk image, which typically takes more network transfer time at the computer.

·     Hybrid images. Hybrid images mix thin and thick image strategies by installing applications and language packs from a network shared folder. Hybrid images have most of the advantages of thin images, but they are not as complex to develop and do not require a software-distribution infrastructure. They do require longer installation times, however, which can raise initial deployment costs.

Table 4 lists the advantages and disadvantages of the thick, thin, and hybrid images types.

Table 4. Advantages and Disadvantages of Thick, Thin, and Hybrid Images

Method	Advantage	Disadvantage
Thick	·     Can be simpler to deploy, because all applications and language packs are in the image. ·     Reduced initial complexity, because advanced scripting is not typically required. ·     Applications and language packs are available immediately after deployment is complete. ·     Does not require software-distribution software, such as the Application Management feature in Configuration Manager 2012 and the Software Deployment feature in Configuration Manager 2007 R3.	·     Requires more storage for each image. ·     Requires more time to download over network connections than thin or hybrid images. ·     Requires an increased image maintenance effort, because any updates to operating systems, device drivers, applications, or language packs requires the creation of a new image.
Thin	·     Requires less storage for each image. ·     Requires less time than thick images to download over network connections. ·     Reduced image maintenance effort, because the image contains fewer components.	·     Can be more complex to create initially, because additional steps are required during image creation. ·     Potential for increased complexity, because advanced scripting may be required. ·     Applications and languages are not immediately available after image deployment is complete.
Hybrid	·     Requires less storage than thick images for each image. ·     Requires less time to than thick a thick image to download over network connections. ·     Reduced image maintenance effort, because the image contains fewer components. ·     Does not require separate software-distribution software.	·     Can be more complex than a thick image (but not than a thin image) to create, because additional steps are required during image creation. ·     Potential for increased complexity, because advanced scripting (though not as advanced as in thin images) may be required. ·     Applications and languages are not immediately available after image deployment is complete.

 

The costs associated with building, maintaining, and deploying disk images includes:

·     Development costs. Development costs include creating a well-engineered image to lower future support costs and improve security and reliability. Higher levels of automation reduce development costs.

·     Test costs. These costs include the time and labor involved in testing the standard image and the applications that might reside inside it in addition to applications applied after deployment. Test costs also include the development time required to stabilize disk images.

·     Storage costs. Storage costs include storing the distribution points, disk images, migration data, and backup images. Storage costs can be significant depending on the number of disk images, the number of computers in each deployment run, and so on.

·     Network costs. Network costs include moving disk images to distribution points and to computers. The disk-imaging technologies that Microsoft provides do not support multicasting, so network costs scale linearly with the number of distribution points you must replicate and the number of computers in the deployment project.

As the size of image files increases, costs increase. Large images have more updating, testing, distribution, network, and storage costs associated with them. Even if only a small portion of the image is updated, the entire image must be redistributed.

Related Topics

Planning MDT Deployments