I'm looking for info/details on using Multicast on WinPE3.x with a Win2k8 backend server. Not looking for WDS, looking to create my own solution using the bare bones tools.

Anyone actually have first hand info on it?

Here are some old blog postings:

Multicast Deployments with Windows Server 2008

Revisiting Windows Deployment Services

I don't think it has anything to do with ImageX or WinPE. It all comes down to the fact that 2008 has it and 2003 doesn't. WDS doesn't count either because it really doesn't even manage anything.

I've been using 2008 with Win PE 2.0 (now 2.1) for awhile now. It multicasts by default since this is handled by 2008.

Do you know what service, or application in Windows 2008 handles the multicast functions?

Can you describe from a high level how you are using multicast from Win2k8? Thanks

I don't have a high level explanation. Also it isn't really featured by any of the books I have here. It appears to be native.

if you are looking to make use of Multicast programming you may want to start here

Multicast Programming
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms739172(VS.85).aspx

Try this:

Using WDS:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/b/1...Server_2008.doc

It mentions this for non-WDS:
"Using the Transport Server role service During installation, you can choose to install only Transport Server. This option provides a subset of the functionality of Windows Deployment Services; it contains only the core networking parts. You can use Transport Server to create multicast namespaces that transmit data (including operating system images) from a standalone server. The standalone server does not need AD DS, DHCP, or DNS. You can use Transport Server in advanced scenarios as a part of a custom deployment solution. For more information, see the Transport Server[role] topic. "




But I can find nothing on the "see the Transport Server[role] topic" anywhere. I'd be interested in this also.

Thanks for the tip, i'll keep the thread updated if I find anything.

I found some docs, will post more once I run some tests:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...964(WS.10).aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...475(WS.10).aspx

I was just getting ready to post the first one, found it last night but was having internet issues.

Hadn't found the second one, you would think they would have the related information in the same sub category not buried two or three branches away.

Yeah, I love how hard they make finding info on TechNet.

Trying to figure out if I gain anything by using R2 or not.

So, from my reading, this is what I'm seeing:

Just to let everyone know, The server side has Transaction Server installed, but not WDS.

The namespaces are setup on the server using the command line tool 'WDSUTIL.EXE'

Connections to the server from the client (WinPE2.x +) are with the command line tool 'WDSMCAST.EXE'



Does anyone have any actual real world command line examples on this? (I see how to pull down individual files, but what about unloading the contents of a WIM to the root of C? Or do I have to multicast the WIM to the C drive then extract the OS files?)