A systems administrator is tasked with deploying 25 identical physical servers. The requirements are strict: each server's OS installation must be fully automated, requiring no manual intervention, and must include the latest security patches and drivers from the outset to minimize post-installation configuration. Which of the following methods BEST meets all these requirements?
Clone a fully patched virtual machine to each of the physical servers in a V2P conversion.
Perform a network installation of the standard OS, then apply patches using a post-installation script.
Create a slipstreamed installation media and use an answer file for an unattended installation.
Manually install the OS on a master server, apply all updates, and then deploy a clone of the master server.
The correct answer is to create a slipstreamed installation media and use an answer file for an unattended installation. Slipstreaming is the process of integrating patches, service packs, and drivers directly into the operating system installation source files. This meets the requirement for all updates to be included "from the outset". An unattended installation uses an answer file (e.g., unattend.xml) to provide all the necessary configuration details, which fully automates the setup process and requires no manual intervention. Combining these two methods is the most efficient and accurate way to meet all the scenario's requirements.
Performing a network installation and then running a post-installation script is incorrect because the patches are applied after the initial OS installation, not from the outset.
Creating a "golden image" from a manually configured master server is a viable deployment strategy, but it is less flexible than using a slipstreamed source with an answer file. The slipstream/unattended method allows for easier updates to the source and modification of the answer file for different roles, without having to rebuild an entire disk image.
Cloning a virtual machine to a physical server (V2P) is a complex migration process, not a standard deployment method. It often leads to significant driver and Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) issues, making it unsuitable for deploying new, identical servers.