My TechNet subscription finally came to an end, so I asked my fellow CTP’s about their preferred TechNet replacement.
It became very clear that Microsoft Action Pack Subscription for Partners is the best-kept secret no one seems to know about. Even though it’s a bit limited, for only $475 you get RDS Licenses, Windows 8 / 2012, SQL, Exchange and much more.
Other suggestions were BizSpark and DreamSpark for Startups and Students that qualify.
TechNet Replacement – Do other options exist?
I’ve been a great fan of automation for years and I have created a pretty comprehensive collection inside my own Automation Framework based upon the free Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT).
You simply leverage Technet Evaluation Center and automated deployments via MDT. When your evaluation period expires after 60/90/120 days, you can simply redeploy or run the command slmgr –rearm to further extend the time bomb.
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT)
The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit is free and can deploy almost anything. Some might argue that because it’s free it not good enough for Enterprises.
Wrong! MDT belongs to the SCCM Product Team and is the preferred tool for creating reference images for whatever deployment product you might use. Ask any deployment guru out there.
As you know, installing just a normal Operating System (OS) can take quite some time and involves a lot of manual steps. The older the OS version, the longer it takes.
- Downloading and locating the ISO image and correct license key
- Burning the ISO or mount it to the Virtual Machine
- Start Install and Join domain
- Installing any required roles and features
- Downloading and installing any required .NET / Visual C++
- Running Windows Update – Various times and reboots required
- All other software installation
Even with Windows Updates Services (WSUS) in your Local Area Network, applying all these updates and hotfixes takes quite some time and also waste valuable storage if not cleaned up properly.
In my blog post Automated Reference Image Creation I show you how to do this automatically so the image always contains the latest Windows Updates, reducing the deployment time and network traffic even more.
So as you can see a combination of Evaluation Licenses and MDT is the best free option for TechNet Replacement if you don’t qualify for the subscriptions mentioned at the beginning of the blog post.
Webinar
On 24th of September at 14:00PM EDT I’m hosting a webinar showing all this an much more. Register for my webinar “Automated Deployment of Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 in 45 minutes” now before it gets full. Even if you can’t attend, you’ll get an email with the webinar replay.
PS: I’m going to offer a big surprise in the end, so make sure you don’t miss it!
Thanks for the informations! Unfortunately, the MSDN level from the Action Pack contains no App-V (MSDOP) iso disk. Do you have any idea to still come to the MSDOP?
No and strange, since you get RDS Licenses it would be logical to get App-V as well since it’s free with RDS Cal.
Hi
I am finding it difficult to produce demo’s using the Office product line as we do not have volume licences. The trial licence key doesn’t work with App-v or TS so showing migrations etc is impossible..
Have you any suggestions to get round this with MS licencing.
thanks
Ronnie
Unfortunately not. Just explain the problem to your customers and use OpenOffice in the demos instead.
I thought as much
cheers
Ronnie
there a recording of the webinar? I missed it!