Vahid Ajimine was born and raised on the island of Maui and graduated from Maui High School in 2003. He initially was a student at Maui Community College until ultimately deciding to transfer to University of Hawaii at Hilo and major in Computer Science. During his free time, Vahid enjoys playing video games, surfing the web, playing/listening to music and just having fun in general.

Home Island: Maui
High School: Maui High School
Institution when accepted: University of Hawaii at Hilo

Akamai Project: Windows Network Automated Deployment
Project Site: W.M. Keck Observatory
Mentor: Jason Ward

Project Abstract:

To prepare a new client computer to run Microsoft Windows in the observatory, it traditionally takes approximately 3-5 man-hours to install the operating system (OS), drivers, applications, and update the system. We have automated this installation process using the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE), Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 (MDT) to maximize the time efficiency of the observatory systems administrators. This process will store the installation files for the OS, drivers, and other programs onto a server computer and the new client computer will automatically access these files over the network by using a boot CD inserted by a systems administrator. To set up a workstation and testing area for this project, Microsoft Virtual PC (VPC) was used to create a virtual server-client network, instead of a physical network with multiple computers, for convenience purposes. The various installation files were created, deployed, and vigorously tested by MDT 2008 within the workstation before being implemented on the observatory’s main Windows server. Not only does the new deployment system save time, but it also will allow the observatory to easily switch computer brands and/or migrate to a Vista-based server structure. The new installation and deployment system should be compatible with the new PCs and/or new server structure by updating the appropriate driver files and adding the new OS images to the server.