software distribution – getting it there erick engelke & daniel delattre

Software Distribution – Getting It There

Erick Engelke & Daniel Delattre

WatITis | Enabling The 6th Decade Plan Through Effective I.T. Collaboration | December 6, 2005 | Software Distribution

Nexus Software Deployment

3,576 computers 1,750 in student or public areas 1,826 in private offices or research labs

Automated software delivery is a big part of the Nexus promise and solution necessary to keep system administration scalable


Challenges

Deployment of Windows Software Reliable Effective Automated Targeted Upgradeable Removable Secure


Requirements

Reliable: software installs properly or returns error report for debugging

Effective: fast, without user intervention and without user frustration (boot time)

Automated: remotely managed, workstations can be rebuild easily

Targeted: able to add software packages to specific group

Upgradeable: able to manage and deploy software upgrades

Removable: able to remove software reliably

Secure: must expose no new security risks


Possible solutions

Manual installation

RoboCopy

Active Directory Group Policy Objects

Third party commercial solutions

Open Source solutions

Others?


Manual Installations

Somewhat reliable: vendor supported, but not always identical results

Not very effective: need to visit every workstation Not automated: manually insert CD Targeted: one workstation at a time Upgradeable: manual process Removable: manual process Reporting: during installation process Insecure: exposes administrator password


RoboCopy

Reliable, similar to the Watstar nightly refresh

Not very effective. Works best on identical images and identical workstations

Automated, but only suited for file copy installations, not for MSI or executable installs

Upgrade or removal process involves overwriting or deleting files

No reporting tools


Active Directory GPO’s

Reliable for smaller software packages

Only for MSI software packages

Automated: build into Active Directory

Effective for initial installation

Upgrade process not very reliable

Removal process not very reliable and not very flexible; only remove package from GPO!

No reporting tools provided by Microsoft


Third Party Commercial Solutions

There are several options available

Nexus has 3500+ clients and growing – most products become very expensive with these numbers

Commercial systems are often less extensible than open source – which means less flexibility for our needs

Most tools offer excellent reliability and reporting


Open Source Solutions

Not many open source tools available

WPKG: popular and flexible, last updated July 2006, good support

ANI: less flexible, identical systems, includes OS, no upgrade or removal process, last updated 2005

Unattended: includes OS, not flexible, identical systems, last updated 2004

SDS: similar to SMS, command line only, not very flexible, last updated 2005


Current Environment

Nexus uses Active Directory GPO’s

Not all software comes with MSI packages

Some software is very unreliable to install

Upgrades or uninstall is extremely unreliable

Once software is unusable, it becomes very hard to detect and fix

Microsoft offers no reporting tools


GPO Issues

Repackaging: capturing unrelated, unnecessary or even damaging elements

Hardware dependencies: capturing hardware information

Logic: capturing removes logic, such as compatibility, other components and hooks to other installed software

Large software packages: seem to install less reliable


GPOTool

Locally developed tool

Looks for broken software Initially used for lab of 120 supposedly identical computers. Now used many places on campus

analyze delivery reliability – to fix broken and assure quality

can reset flags on individual computers to reinstall software

able to uninstall software

reporting capability


GPOtool Observations

Reliability of GPO’s in a 120 station lab

Microsoft Office – 100% Microsoft Visual Studio – 97% Nexus Common Applications – 96% Altair Hyperworks – 89% Ansys – 85% MasterCAM – 81%


Open Source: WPKG

Software deployment, removal, updates

Offers push and pull features

Deploys MSI, InstallShield, other vendor supported formats

Supports layered images – like GPO’s

Files can be distributed for better total scalability

Limited local and remote reporting

Very small footprint


WPKG - overview

Software Packages defined – e.g.. Matlab

Packages can depend on other packages

Stations profiles defined - list of packages e.g.. All computers in a given lab

Profiles can extend other profiles e.g.. scanner machine is superset of generic lab

Computers are assigned to profiles


WPKG - Example

GAFF Lab Microsoft office SSH MatLab Other scientific software

GAFF Lab with Scanner Scanner software Inherit rest from GAFF lab profile


GAFF Lab Example

g a ff01g a ff02...g a ff29

g a ff30

G AFF LAB

G AFF SC ANNER

O FFIC E SO FTWARE

SC IENTIFICSO FTWARE

SC ANNERSO FTWARE

e xc e l m a tla bwo rd m a thc a d o c r

p c

g ro upp ro file

so ftwa rep ro file s

so ftwa rep a c ka g e s


WPKG – Web Tool

WPKG uses XML files to list packages, profiles and computer names

XML is hard for users to enter but easy for software to parse

Administrators need shared access

We added a web based interface and database backend for WPKG - XML generated as needed


WPKG Busy Warning


Possibilities

Configure PC client software from any web browser

Perform reporting for gauging software license renewal interest

Reduce duplication of effort in packaging software

Truly handle software life cycle including upgrades/uninstalls


Our Plan: 2007

We currently use GPOs extensively – this will not change anytime soon

We will use WPKG too• Initially target only difficult or unreliable installs• Monitor the results and refine our tools


Resources on the Web

wpkg http://www.wpkg.org

GPOtool http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~erick/nexus/gpotool.exe


Questions?

Any questions? Open discussion.

software distribution – getting it there erick engelke & daniel delattre

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