30/10/2000 Software Installation and Maintenance at LAL - JLab 2000 Software Installation and Maintenance at LAL Michel Jouvin LAL, Orsay [email protected]

30/10/2000 Software Installation and Maintenance at LAL - JLab 2000

Software Installation and Maintenance at LAL

Michel Jouvin

LAL, Orsay

[email protected]


Outlines

• OS unattended installation strategy

• Software maintenance through SMS

• W2000 IntelliMirror technology and tools

• Evolution of application deployment strategy


Situation 1 year ago

• 100 Windows PCs with 25 more/year– 80% NT– New in 2 waves : 2x10 in 2 weeks

• 2,5 FTE to install and maintain– Possible to deal with installation and support

with a reasonable response time– Impossible to upgrade OS or applications

widely


NT4 Installation Options

• Cloning considered but not chosen– Post cloning work (SID, drivers…)– Difficulty to update the master disk

• Network-based installation– Ability to run normal installer in silent mode

when necessary (WNT, SP, IE5, Office…)– Almost no post-installation (and by script)– Cloning by application (sysdiff or equivalent)


W2000 Installation New Options

• Remote Installation Services– Advanced cloning through network– Initial boot through DHCP/PXE

• built-in in some PC or floppy

– Some parts of the setup redone (SID, network)

• Active Directory Group Policy– Ability to assign applications to computers– Allow unattended deployment of apps


NT4 Installation at LAL...

• Network based installation– Create an entry for the new PC in a special file

(UDF) defining its name and address– Boot a floppy (MSDOS)

• Need a MSDOS driver for the ethernet adapter

• Doesn’t work for notebooks with PCMCIA adapters

– Enter Return at the end of text mode– Run a script for post-install actions

• Actions needed to be done after first reboot


… NT4 Installation at LAL...

• Apps installed during OS installation– SP, IE5, Office using installer in silent mode

• MS Installer quite flexible in silent mode

– Other apps by sysdiff packages (cloning at application level)

– Works to install LPR printers– Occurs before end of OS config and first reboot

• NT4 SP1

• Some post-install required after first reboot


… NT4 Installation at LAL

• Easy to upgrade a package– Recreate with sysdiff or upgrade installer

• 1 install : 1 hour through Ethernet 10– No intervention required after the first 5

minutes, except Return at end of text mode

• All PCs in the lab install by computing division


W2000 Installation at LAL

• Currently, same method as NT4– Only for OS

• Considering RIS– More integrated with 2000 management– Ability to have the install done by the user

• Configuration will be pre-staged in AD

– Need to solve issues with auto-answer files• Ability to have a non DHCP configuration


Why SMS at LAL ?

• Manpower problem for massive updates – Not solved by automated installation

• Regular and controlled update required for some software– Anti-virus signatures, service packs...

• SMS cost effective for us – Select through University

• Automated inventory of our resources


SMS Current Configuration

• Current configuration– 1 dedicated server for MSQL and SMS– 1 PII 450 - 9 Go - 256 Mo– SQL 7.0 and SMS 2.0SP2

• Installation experience– Easy and fairly quick to install


SMS Setup at LAL

• Client installation at user login– Modification of user login script

• Can be done automatically by SMS

– At LAL, one common login script for everybody, except Administrator

– Done at install time for new PCs

• Hardware/Software inventory– Automatically done one a regular basis after client

installation


SMS Software Distribution...

• Define a group of target machines– SQL request or direct membership

• Define a ‘batch’ for your package– Very easy if you have a package description for

SMS (*.pdf or *.sms)– Not so hard if installer has a silent mode– Else repackaging needed

• Ex : SMS Installer or MSI tools


...SMS Software Distribution

• Define a publication– Associates a group of machines and a batch

• Several installation options– Use a privilege account or not– Install when a user is logged in or not– Reboot after install or not

• Usage examples at LAL– Virus signatures update and NT SP installation


W2000 IntelliMirror...

• Standard config defined by ‘group policies’– Required software, configuration parameters

(audit, DNS…)– Groups of users/computers(organizational unit)

to apply the policy to– Security : installation through services

• No privilege required by users

– Several upgrade strategies• Direct upgrade ore remove before upgrade


...W2000 IntelliMirror

• Allows automatic installation of software– During boot when applied to computers– At login when applied to users

• Group policies defined in Active Directory– Manageable from any computer in the domain – May apply several GPs to one machine (OU)– Flexible GP applicability : determined by ACL


Change in Installation Strategy

• Apps install no longer related to OS install– Happens after end of OS (and AD) config– Works out of OS installation phase– Not so important if we have to install OS

manually (notebooks)– Several GPs defined (base, physicist, testing…)

• Possible only with MSI– Need tools to produce or tune MSI


MSI Tools : WinInstall LE

• Standard tool in W2000 (server)– Light Edition of Veritas WinInstall

• Application repackaging in MSI format– Almost impossible to edit a MSI after

repackaging (ex: add a shortcut)– Application files outside MSI

• Not able to produce MST for existing MSI

• A non LE version (full featured) available


MSI Tools : Wise for Win Installer

• MSI/MST Editor + Repackager– Compact MSI : application files inside MSI– SMS package definition for the MSI

• Easy to edit MSI/MST files – Ex: add a shortcut

• Cost : 600$ (Professional Edition)– Edition without repackaging less expansive


MSI Tools : InstallShield Tuner

• MST creation/edition only– Impossible to edit MSI directly

• No repackaging feature

• Less features than in Wise– Nicer GUI but more difficult to use

• Complementary tools available

• Cost = 450$


IntelliMirror and SMS...

• Initial installation : IntelliMirror– Immediate installation– W2000 only (15% of LAL PCs)

• Upgrade and maintenance : SMS preferred– Log of actions– Required for NT4 machines and OS SPs– Can occur without a PC reboot

• GPs are applied at reboot only


… IntelliMirror and SMS

• Can be used in // with IntelliMirror– Use same MSI do distribute apps with SMS– GPs will detect if the application has already

been installed through SMS

Documents

30/10/2000 Software Installation and Maintenance at LAL - JLab 2000 Software Installation and Maintenance at LAL Michel Jouvin LAL, Orsay [email protected]