Use multicast to deploy Windows over the network with Configuration Manager
Applies to: Configuration Manager (current branch)
Multicast is a network optimization method that you can use when multiple clients are likely to download the same OS image at the same time. When you use multicast, multiple computers simultaneously download the OS image as it's multicast by the distribution point. This behavior is instead of each client downloading a copy of the image over a separate connection from the distribution point.
Deploy operating systems over the network by using multicast in the following OS deployment scenarios:
Complete the steps in one of these OS deployment scenarios. Then use the following sections to support multicast.
Configure distribution points for multicast
To use multicast, configure at least one distribution point to support multicast. For more information, see Install and configure distribution points.
For a list of ports required to support multicast, see Ports.
Prepare an OS image for multicast
You need to configure the OS image to support multicast. For more information, see Prepare the OS image for multicast deployments.
Deploy the task sequence
Deploy the OS to a target collection. For more information, see Deploy a task sequence.