Standard operating environment
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A standard operating environment (SOE) is a standard implementation of an
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...
and its associated
software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...
. Associated names and concepts include: * Managed operating environment (MOE) * Consistent or common operating environment (COE) * Managed desktop environment (MDE) * Desktop managed services (DMS) * Standard desktop environment (SDE) * Standard desktop configuration (SDC) * Unmanaged operating environment (UOE) * "Standard image" Administrators typically implement SOE as a standard
disk image A disk image, in computing, is a computer file containing the contents and structure of a disk volume or of an entire data storage device, such as a hard disk drive, tape drive, floppy disk, optical disc, or USB flash drive. A disk image is us ...
for mass deployment to multiple computers in an organisation, to ultimately set security controls and increase the security posture of an environment. SOEs can include the base operating system, a custom configuration, standard
applications Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...
used within an organisation, software updates and service packs. An SOE can apply to servers, desktops, laptops, thin clients, and mobile devices. The major advantage of an SOE in a business environment is the reduction in the cost and time taken to deploy, configure, maintain, support and manage computers. By standardising the hardware and software platforms used within an organization, an IT department or service provider can deploy new computers and correct problems with existing computers quickly. A standardized, repeatable and automated solution creates a known, expected and supportable environment. A standardised solution ensures maintaining known outcomes, with automation fostering speed, repeatability and standardization. The introduction of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and the significant increase in employee-supplied devices has led many organisations to reconsider the use of an SOE. A number have implemented an unmanaged operating environment where users manage and maintain their own devices, subject to policies enforcing minimum standards.


Examples

There are many
Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
deployment guides and tools available from
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
and other vendors. Many businesses endeavor to build their own SOE solutions using the Microsoft Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) solution accelerator or Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). However, some do not have the capability to build all features in one single SOE and their processes often include documented manual configuration steps. SOEs on
Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...
,
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...
, and other
Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...
/
Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...
systems can typically be made simply by creating and deploying disk images. This can be achieved using tools such as
Disk Utility A disk utility is a utility program that allows a user to perform various functions on a computer disk, such as disk partitioning and logical volume management, as well as multiple smaller tasks such as changing drive letters and other mount po ...
and dd. Whereas deploying a disk image originating from a system with non-identical hardware will often result in boot failure with Windows, the process is generally achievable on Unix systems with the caveat that the systems must be of the same
computer architecture In computer engineering, computer architecture is a description of the structure of a computer system made from component parts. It can sometimes be a high-level description that ignores details of the implementation. At a more detailed level, the ...
and drivers will need to be installed on the image for all the possible hardware configurations. Since Apple does not have third party computer manufacturers usually only hardware add-ons are a concern with respect to drivers. On Linux most hardware with kernel support can be auto-detected. Boot scripts can be used for automated post-deployment configuration. There are also a number of vendor-specific SOE systems for various Linux/Unix-like distributions. For Solaris the use of jumpstart scripts is more frequent to ease the automation of setting specific parameters for each system. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux this is typically done by using kickstart scripts, there are specific products to create and manage an SOE like Red Hat Network Satellite Server which avoid the disk space usage and maintenance difficulties of managing disk images.


References

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impeltec SOE definition
System administration