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    ConfigMgr - An Administrator's Guide to Deploying Applications using PowerShell
    ConfigMgr - An Administrator's Guide to Deploying Applications using PowerShell
    ConfigMgr - An Administrator's Guide to Deploying Applications using PowerShell
    Ebook262 pages1 hour

    ConfigMgr - An Administrator's Guide to Deploying Applications using PowerShell

    By Owen Smith

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    About this ebook

    My manager asked me to deploy an application: "Should be simple", he said. "It's a Setup.exe and part-way through the installer, the user has to make a choice from a drop-down menu - they must select 'Sage Enterprise Management' and you know they wont, so make sure that part's automated.

    "After that, I have one more urgent deployment; you'll need to customise an xml file which needs to be copied to a specific folder structure that may or may not already exist on the computer.  And there's an Excel Add-in - so we'll need it to be automatically picked up by Excel and activated so that the tab appears with no end-user config. Should be a piece of cake."

    Are you fed up of sand being kicked in your face? Exactly how do you deploy a PowerShell script? What if it's a function? What if it's not? What if it accepts parameters? How do you know which properties of your MSI can be tweaked and even more importantly, how do you know what values can be passed to them? What about detection rules? What if there's nothing to detect? Help!

    If you would like to know how to achieve all of this and much, much more using Microsoft Configuration Manager (SCCM) and PowerShell then you will want to read this book.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOwen Smith
    Release dateFeb 1, 2020
    ISBN9781393022893
    ConfigMgr - An Administrator's Guide to Deploying Applications using PowerShell
    Author

    Owen Smith

    Owen Smith has over 20 years experience working within the I.T industry and currently works as a Senior Network Administrator for a global company based in the U.K headquarters.  As well as being an author, he has an I.T podcast and runs a popular technology blog focused mainly on ConfigMgr and PowerShell.

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      Book preview

      ConfigMgr - An Administrator's Guide to Deploying Applications using PowerShell - Owen Smith

      Who This Book Is For

      I am going to make a few assumptions here:

      1. You already know how to deploy a standard application using Configuration Manager.

      2. You have some PowerShell experience.

      Number 2 is important because, fundamentally, this is a book about deploying applications using PowerShell.  Although you don't need a great deal of experience, it would be advantageous to have some PowerShell knowledge and a bonus would be some scripting experience too.

      I'll cut to the chase here: this book is not going to teach you PowerShell or how to script.

      Having said that, even if you do not possess either of these skills, I am certain that there is still a great deal of value to be had out of a read-through of this book.

      So, do you take the blue pill or the red pill?

      How This Book is Organised

      I recommend reading this book in order; however, it is not necessary to do that, and should you wish to then feel free to jump to any section that takes your fancy.

      Code

      All PowerShell code used is presented in this book so that you don't have to 'jump out of the moment' however the downside to this is that the formatting may be a little off!  A lot of the PowerShell screenshots taken for this book have backticks (`) added mid-line to split a single line of code over to multiple lines.  This has been done so that it all fits nicely in the picture.

      To see the actual code-as-is, look here on my Github repository:

      https://github.com/ozthe2/ConfigMgr-Book-Code

      All code examples used in this book will have the .ps1 filename just below it so you can easily find the matching PowerShell file in the Github repository.

      The Sum of Its Parts

      Part 1: Why Use PowerShell? explains why you may choose this method and takes you through the various PowerShell cmdlets that you will use all the time when deploying applications.

      Part 2: MSIEXEC covers some of the fundamentals of this command; how to get help, how to extract from a setup.exe, installing and uninstalling, using parameters as well as explaining where uninstall GUIDs are stored in the registry and how you can use them to your advantage.

      This part also explains how to easily find out not only which properties are available for you to set on your msi but crucially, how to find out what the allowed values are that you will pass to the property.

      You are then shown an example of a 'problem' deployment: a Setup.exe that has user input, and step-by-step I explain how the msi is extracted, how I discover the available properties and their allowed values and build the final command line.

      Part 3: Detection Rules explains why you should use PowerShell for your detection rules and how they work. I then demonstrate some of the more traditional ways that you can use PowerShell for your detection rules; such as checking the registry for certain values or interrogating the file system.  You will also learn how to create your own files or registry keys \ values to be used as part of the detection when all else fails.

      Part 4: Location, Location, Location is where you learn how to identify where your script is running from, how to use this to reference your files and where to place your script and files.

      Part 5: Installing the Program is the meat and bones of our deployment script.  Here you will learn how to script our msi or exe installation as well as deal with common issues such as passing parameters and dealing with spaces in file names.

      Part 6: Deploying the Script explains how to deploy your finished script using the ConfigMgr 'application method.'  We will learn the different methods we need to use depending on what type of script we have eg a function or a plain 'top-to-bottom' script.

      Part 7: A Deployment Template is a rough and ready template I created that can be used as the basis for all your deployments; you will just need to season to taste.

      Part 8: Useful Code Snippets gives examples of re-usable code I use frequently in my scripts, such as detecting Microsoft Office 'bitness' or obtaining the current logged in user as well as many more.

      Part 9: Real World Examples shows ready-to-go-code that can be used to deploy popular applications such as Java, Adobe Acrobat Reader, resizing the CCMCache and more.

      Part 1: Why Use PowerShell?

      My manager said to me, "Hey, I have an application that needs deploying to the Accounts department, it should be straight forward.  Oh, by the way, you’ll need to customise an xml file which needs to be copied to a specific folder structure that may or may not already exist.

      There’s also an Excel add-in, so you need to ensure that it’s automatically picked up by Excel and activated so that the tab appears with no end-user config.  Should be a piece of cake."

      Believe it or not, that was a true story and something that I had to deploy just the other day!

      Or how about that good old favourite: Java!  How can you be certain that all previous versions of Java have been removed and that only the new version gets installed?  Better yet how can this be made an easy, repeatable procedure for when the next version is released?

      Or how about an easy and repeatable method of uninstalling

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