Cisco - Precautions OEM Guided Installation Utilities

Short Description
These multi-lingual GIUs are intended to ease the installation of an operating system and install necessary device, port, and mini-port drivers relevant to the particular target server hardware. These GIUs all support multiple operating systems, for example, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Linux variants. Only Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Advanced server issues will be discussed in this Technical Note. These GIUs do not actually embed a version of any operating system within their media. Instead, they rely upon the installer to furnish operating system media at an appropriate time during execution of the utility. These original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) utilize a Microsoft utility named “SysPrep” (also known as Mini-Setup) to control and automate the actions of the Windows installation process through use of an “answer file”.

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Content
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The default installation of Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server installs a component that has been subject to very public security exploits. That component is IIS. Dell Computer has adopted a policy, beginning with Server Assistant version 7.0.1, of prohibiting default installation of IIS without manual installer consent as placed into the SysPrep answer file. HPQ and IBM have not yet followed suit, but may do so in the future. The absence of IIS in an instance of the Windows operating system will make impossible the correct operation of an installation of some Cisco applications, including, but not limited to Cisco Unity, Cisco Unity Bridge, and Cisco Personal Assistant. By default, Dell Server Assistant also prohibits a number of otherwise default Windows service/component installations. Conscious installer deviation from the OEM’s guided installation defaults is now required to enable Cisco software installation success in a single pass.
As an additional security concern, OEMs publish and sell server monitoring application software that uses Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps for administrative notification. These applications are identified in the table above. Both HPQ and Dell now enable the Windows SNMP service by default during usage of Smart Start or Server Assistant, in preparation for the potential usage of their management products. Some Cisco customers may object to the enabling of the SNMP service without their knowledge during the build of a Cisco product based on an OEM server.
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