The following scenario demonstrates how you can use out of band management to install an operating system and applications on bare metal computers.

Woodgrove Bank receives a batch of new computers that are delivered to various branch locations. The company's policy does not allow these computers to use PXE installation, and it would be very time-consuming for an engineer to travel to each location and manually install the operating system and required applications. However, there is an image file located on the network that contains the required operating system, custom applications and settings, and the Configuration Manager client.

To ensure that the computers are up and running in an efficient manner that also complies with the company's policies, Mary North decides on the course of action outlined in the following table.

As a result of the preceding course of action, the new computers are deployed in a way that meets the company's requirements, without requiring local access to the computers.

The following scenario demonstrates how you can use out of band management to power on computers to install applications (or perform routine maintenance) without using traditional wake-up packets.

The marketing department at Woodgrove Bank has been approved a request to install a nonstandard application on five computers. Mary North has already created a collection for these five computers and an advertisement to install the application as soon as possible. After establishing a time period when no users will have their computers turned on and will not be unduly inconvenienced, she performs the actions in the following table to power on the computers so that the application can be installed.

Process	Reference
Mary locates the computers in the Configuration Manager console and then performs the following actions: Multi-selects and right-clicks the five computers. Clicks Out of Band Management, and then clicks Power Control. Selects Power on. Confirms the action by clicking OK. She then monitors the progress of the application installation.	How to Power On or Restart a Computer Using Out of Band Management
If required, after the installation is complete, she can shut down each computer individually by using the Configuration Manager remote control tools and selecting the shutdown option from within Windows. Note The out of band management power-off command is not appropriate here because this does not perform a graceful shutdown of the operating system.	How to Remotely Administer a Client Computer

As a result of the preceding course of action, the application is installed outside business hours without sending wake-up packets over the network, without requiring that the computers are left on, or without requiring local access to the computers.

The following scenario demonstrates how you can use out of band management to power off computers when it is imperative that they do not remain running and cannot be shut down by normal means. Powering off computers should always be considered a last resort because it has the same effect as removing the power cable from the computer: the operating system does not shut down properly, unsaved work is lost, and logged-in users are given no notice of the power-off action.

Woodgrove Bank has an intrusion detection system that monitors suspicious activity on servers and the network. In the early hours of the morning, an alert is generated that indicates a security attack has occurred on one of the servers. Although the desktop computers are usually turned off at night, some users leave their computers on. These computers need to be turned off immediately to safeguard them against the security threat.

To help protect the desktop computers from the security threat, a security administrator performs the actions in the following table.

As a result of the preceding course of action, the risk of these computers being vulnerable to the security attack is greatly reduced.

The following scenario demonstrates how you can use out of band management to re-image a nonfunctioning computer when other troubleshooting steps have failed.

Woodgrove Bank has a help desk policy that computer desktop issues that prevent business continuity must be resolved within a set period. There is no data stored locally on the computers, so re-imaging these computers is the most efficient way to resolve these types of reported problems. However, in the past this has meant that a help desk engineer must visit the site or the computer must be transported to and from the help desk location.

To more efficiently re-image a nonfunctioning computer, the help desk engineer proceeds with the course of action outlined in the following table.

As a result of the preceding course of action, the computer is efficiently re-imaged without requiring local access, even though the operating system was not responding. This level of control helps to resolve critical issues in a timely manner, ensuring higher levels of business continuity for the company.

The following scenario demonstrates how you can use out of band management to configure BIOS settings for a desktop computer without requiring local access to the computer.

The help desk at Woodgrove Bank receives notification that two newly deployed computers do not boot successfully. This is a custom build, and the engineer suspects that the BIOS settings are not correctly configured.

To check the BIOS settings without local access to the computer, the help desk engineer proceeds with the course of action outlined in the following table.

As a result of the preceding course of action, the time-to-resolution for these computers is dramatically reduced because local access to the computers is not required.

The following scenario demonstrates how you can use out of band management to run diagnostic commands and utilities for a desktop computer that is not functioning (for example, the operating system stops responding or will not load) without requiring local access to the computer.

The help desk at Woodgrove Bank receives notification that a computer has stopped responding. To troubleshoot the computer, the help desk engineer proceeds with the course of action outlined in the following table.

As a result of the preceding course of action, the time-to-resolution for this computer is dramatically reduced because local access to the computer is not required.

The following scenario demonstrates how you can use out of band management with software updates in Configuration Manager to help achieve higher success rates for installing software updates within a specified time frame.

Woodgrove Bank has a security policy that requires that all computers on the network running Windows have critical security software updates installed within two weeks of release. The installation of these software updates on servers has a 100% success rate, but the success rate on desktops is only 80%, despite the Configuration Manager administrator deploying them within one week after release. On investigation, the computers that do not have the software updates installed are turned off for various reasons—for example, because users are on vacation or sick leave or because the computers are not in everyday use and are turned on only when needed for a specific application or process.

The security policy also prohibits sending wake-up packets over the network, but there is often not enough time to track down each computer, turn it on, and install the required software updates to meet the compliance deadline.

To help achieve the compliance levels in a timely and efficient fashion, Mary North decides on the course of action outlined in the following table.

As a result of the preceding course of action, critical software updates are installed on the majority of computers within one week. This leaves a comfortable margin of one more week to track down and correct the few desktop computers that still require the software update, perhaps because the computer went into sleep mode before it received the software update deployment or because there was no power to the computer.

Using the combination of software updates with a deadline for the majority of computers, Wake On LAN with power-on commands for the few computers that are turned off, and manual intervention for the minority of computers that remain noncompliant, Woodgrove Bank can now meet its compliance levels every month.

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