Deploying software that resides in DFS Folders via Configuration Manager 2007

Sep. 27

Deploying software that resides in DFS Folders via Configuration Manager 2007 Disclaimer: This Document is provided AS IS and has been checked for errors and any inaccuracies; the steps described in it have been tested in Test and Real environments and the procedure is refined to perfection. However this IS NOT the official recommended way of distributing software via the System Center Configuration Manager and Microsoft will not support it. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. We Secu.Re IT Services & Infrastructure hold no responsibility for any damages or/and loss happened from the incorrect usage of these instructions. By continuing to read this guide you Agree to accept any risks and demand nothing from the Author. Names used for the Locations and domains in this document are not fictional, they were selected on purpose due to their significance to the Author.

Author: George Simos | SecuRe IT Services & Infrastructure G.Simos@SecuReITServices.eu | George_simos@hotmail.com

v.1.0, rev.3

Deploying software that resides in DFS Folders via Configuration Manager 2007
Sep. 27

This document describes the steps needed in order to deploy software or programs via DFS namespaces that span and replicate across the enterprise. The software that will be deployed through this walkthrough is Office 2007. Why use DFS as your software repository

onsider the following scenario, you have one Primary/Central Site server with two (2) secondary servers that connect with a saturated or bandwidth constraint WAN Link, control of the bandwidth consumed is at high priority. You need one logical place to access the data from any of the three sites and always access the closest one. You want to quickly move the data to another drive when hard drive space is limited and attach this replica in the same namespace in such a way that users wont notice the change. If something happens in a secondary sites DFS folder, you want the clients to fallback to another site. You need to organize the packages and any other software in a manner you understand and apparently cant do it with SCCMs software distribution shares (which are hidden).

All these are the benefits of using DFS with Replication; however there is a cost for using them and this is a small administrative overhead (its really small). So lets say that our Servers are named like this: 1) 2) 3) 4) Prim1 is the Primary/Central Server which is in Thessaloniki /Greece Sec1 is the first Secondary Server and is Located in Katerini/Greece Sec2 is the second Secondary Server and is located in Ioannina/Greece The domain name is longbeach.gr

Our DFS Structure is the following: 1) Every Server from the above list has a folder named Server_Software in their D: Drive. 2) The DFS Root is named as \\longbeach.gr\SCCM 3) We make a new NameSpace folder named as Server_Software and add as folder targets the corresponding folders named Server_Software of each participating server, starting with Prim1. 4) We setup replication for the aforementioned Namespace folder in a Hub and Spoke topology for having Prim1 as HUB and Sec1/Sec2 as Spokes. 5) The software packages reside in the path \\longbeach.gr\SCCM\Server_Software\Packages any software needed must be placed in there for consistency and management. At least those packages that will be DFS distributed.

Author: George Simos | SecuRe IT Services & Infrastructure G.Simos@SecuReITServices.eu | George_simos@hotmail.com

v.1.0, rev.3

Deploying software that resides in DFS Folders via Configuration Manager 2007
Sep. 27

We will not get into more detail for the DFS Structure; we have all we need to get our first package deployed. We will use Office 2007 as an example; it has some options we need to check. Office 2007 has an exceptional installer and a tool to tweak it for administration purposes, just run setup /admin and you will be presented with numerous options. The installer caches locally the installation files on every client after the installation completes, however if you ever lose them, it would be wise enough to setup a path to the DFSs package folder in the MSP file that holds Offices installation options, lets name this file Office_Silent.msp, assume that this path is: \\longbeach.gr\SCCM\Server_Software\Packages\Office_2007 (mind the underscores). Summing up we have: 1) An administrative installation of Office 2007 in \\longbeach.gr\SCCM\Server_Software\Packages\Office_2007 2) An MSP file that holds the information passed to the setup routine, named Office_Silent.msp in the same path. In order to apply an MSP file you run the following command: Setup.exe /adminfile Office_Silent.msp This is the command we need for our package, but we want it to run from the DFS folder and not from an ConfigMgrs package. Lets see how we achieve this objective. We assume that the replication has completed for all the targets and we are ready to roll our installation. Lets say that we have a collection named Windows Clients and has as content a mix of Windows XP and Vista Clients, we will advertise Office 2007 at this collection. Please go to next page...

Author: George Simos | SecuRe IT Services & Infrastructure G.Simos@SecuReITServices.eu | George_simos@hotmail.com

v.1.0, rev.3

Deploying software that resides in DFS Folders via Configuration Manager 2007
Sep. 27

We create the Software Package first:

This is the first significant step; dont select the checkbox This package contains source files:

Author: George Simos | SecuRe IT Services & Infrastructure G.Simos@SecuReITServices.eu | George_simos@hotmail.com

v.1.0, rev.3

Deploying software that resides in DFS Folders via Configuration Manager 2007
Sep. 27

At the next step, select Access the distribution folder through common ConfigMgr package share. The next step is a matter of preference concerning the Send Priority and the Preferred Sender, the branch distribution point content settings dont have any application in our infrastructure, and we have Distribution Points at the Sites, not BDPs. The Management Information Format selection at the Reporting Dialog are left as Use package properties for status MIF matching for Office 2007, this is something that depends from the package. At the security dialog, specify any security context you need for the Instance and Class rights (security context= User, Group). At the Summary dialog you must have something like this, proceed to finish with the package creation:
Package Information Name: Office 2007 Version: 12 Publisher: Microsoft Language: English Data Source Information Source Location: Not configured Update Schedule: Not configured Cache Persistence: No Data Access Information: Share Name: Enable Automatic Disconnect: No Disconnect Retries: Not configured Disconnect Grace Period: Not configured Distribution Settings Priority: Medium Preferred Sender: <No Preference> Branch Distribution Point Download: Automatic Branch Distribution Point Download On Demand: No Multicast: Disabled Encrypt in Multicast: No Only use Multicast to transfer this package: No MIF Settings MIF Matching: No MIF File Name: Not configured MIF Name: Not configured MIF Version: Not configured MIF Publisher: Not configure

The next action is to add a program in the package, this is the part where we add the execution commands and later advertise them to the collection(s).
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Author: George Simos | SecuRe IT Services & Infrastructure G.Simos@SecuReITServices.eu | George_simos@hotmail.com

v.1.0, rev.3

Deploying software that resides in DFS Folders via Configuration Manager 2007
Sep. 27

Expand the package weve created and go to Programs, create a new Program and name it Silent (No UI). At the Command line enter the program you want to run along with any flags, in our example we need to run the office 2007 setup with the msp file we created beforehand, so the command is: Setup.exe /adminfile Office_Silent.msp, I tend to enter the msps name in but this can be skipped. At the Start in: section type the path where the command above resides and will be run from, in our example is: \\longbeach.gr\SCCM\Server_Software\Packages\Office_2007, you dont have to add a training slash at the end of the path. At the Run section leave it as Normal; if you have setup office to suppress any dialogs then this has no impact. Select what to do after running the command, for Office 2007 you need to restart the client, so select ConfigMgr restarts computer. The only dialog that matters next is Environment, you should select Run with administrative rights and dont select Allow users to interact with this program in the Run section. In the Drive mode section, select Runs with UNC Name. Finally select how the program can run, in our example its Whether or not a user is logged on. You dont have to distribute the package to the Distribution Points as there are no files for it (remember that we selected that the package does not contains source files during its creation), all the files reside in the DFS folder structure. Now we have to proceed to the next action which is the Advertisement of the package. You may Advertise a program by right clicking on the Advertisements folder under software distribution and selecting New > Advertisement, then you name your advertisement and select the package we created before which is Office 2007 and select the program Silent (No UI), then target the Windows Clients collection and set Schedule options according to your needs. Again at the Distribution Points dialogue you dont have to select anything special, leave it as is. Proceed with the Interaction choices and the Security options and you are finished. This is the way you can use DFS (or a shared folder) for software distribution with System Center Configuration Manager 2007. Id like to thank my fellow MVPs Kim Oppalfens (kim.oppalfens@oscc.be) & Torsten Meringer (torsten@meringer.de) for reviewing this guide and their valuable comments.

George Simos SecuRe IT Services & Infrastructure Microsoft MVP in System Center Configuration Manager

Author: George Simos | SecuRe IT Services & Infrastructure G.Simos@SecuReITServices.eu | George_simos@hotmail.com

v.1.0, rev.3