Opinion Needed: Is it wise to deploy a Windows Virtual Machine via Self Service

[edickson]

Hi Everyone,

My organization is testing the use of Self Service to deploy Windows virtual machines, the VM file we want to deploy is very large (~10GB or more). We are testing this because we can keep the Windows image more updated with security patches and Windows updates so a network deploy is preferred.

My question for everyone is this, is deploying a Win VM via Self Service a wise course of action? Are there other, more efficient ways of doing this? Any caveats to be aware of or other thoughts/ideas/suggestions?

Responses are much appreciated, thanks guys!

[Look]

I wouldn't say 10 GB was overly large, we deploy a number applications of a similar size using Self Service.
You just have to make sure your checking space and ensuring the machine is going to sleep, it probably also isn't a great idea to try it over Wi-Fi.
My answer is not really specific to VM's just to large files in general.

[khey]

You can cache it before running it. Eg rtrouton OS upgrade

[khey]

Also if you are using SCCM to manage Windows Workstations inc VM, it can be a nightmare when you are providing a compliance report to the management for Software Updates as VMs are rarely online.

[jkuo]

We've done it before with about a ~7GB size VM, and it does indeed work, but often we just resorted to plugging in a local drive to get it installed. Much faster, and like @Look said, you have to make sure the machine doesn't go to sleep and it's not over wifi.

[edickson]

Agree @jkuo we used to deploy via a thumb drive but IT Security doesn't want us doing it that way anymore since the version on those drives aren't updated regularly.

[jkuo]

@lakingsfn yes, indeed, we were running into that problem as well, our prepackaged VMs got stale really fast. :(