Neils personal site

Citrix have released SP1 (strangely named SP1a - are they expecting a SP1b??) of Provisioning Server 5

There are a whole bunch of fixes and some new features - the most notable being 2008 server support and support for permanent difference disks that allow changes made to a provisioned server to persist over a reboot.

The main reason I would see the difference disk feature being used is the speedy automated deployment of security patches and hotfixes that require a server reboot. This would allow you to quickly deploy a critical hotfix without having to modify your "Gold image". Your image can then be "rolled up" to include all the latest hotfixes on a more relaxed schedule (e.g. quarterly) in a planned maintenance window.

Other than hotfixes, allowing servers to retain minor changes kind of defeats the whole purpose of a provisioned image where you are guaranteed all your servers are identical.