http://rorymon.com/blog/index.php/how-to-get-started-with-deploying-application-with-sccm-2012/
Excuse the long title. I figured I should
include the words Get Started in there to get across the point that,
this is how you can simply deploy applications but it’s not necessarily
the way you should. SCCM 2012 has even more capabilities and cool
features than 2007. With that comes an even greater need for
standardization. When implementing SCCM 2012 you should look at all it
has to offer and decide what’s best for your environment. With the
different options, comes a huge variety of way to do any one task, you
need to define which one way is best for you and ensure everyone
deploying applications in your environment knows it and follows that
standard. The last thing you want to do is allow people to go rogue and
deploy applications the way they see fit because it could and likely
would lead to problems in the future which you may then have to remedy
on some of your deployed applications. Nightmare situation! With that
out of the way, here’s a couple of examples to get you started with
testing out application deployments in SCCM 2012.
Example of SCCM Application Deployment
This blog post provides an example
for pushing both an MSI application and also a Setup.exe with a custom
parameter. This is not following any standard or best practice and is
just an example of how to try it out. This also assumes you have
completed your SCCM Setup and have collections to assign your
applications to. For information on SCCM Setup try HERE
Before beginning you should be aware that
there is two options. Create a Package or Create an Application.
Applications have a lot more options e.g. can be based on requirements
such as machine specs, it can also encapsulate dependencies and can also
accept detection methods. If you used SCCM 2007 R2, a good way to think
about this, is that this includes the advertisement in these steps.
Where-as Packages are more like in-discriminant scripts to run on the
client devices. They should not appear in the Software Center and should
just execute on the end device when deployed.
Deploying a Setup.exe
For this example I pushed Microsoft Visio Professional 2010.
First. You need to open the Configuration Manager Console
When you are in there, you can click on Software Library
Next expand Application Management and you should see Applications.
Right Click on Applications and Click Create Application
Click Manually specify the application information
Enter in an appropriate name. Refer to the
company standards. Enter the Manufacture name and also the Software
Version. Click Next.
Enter Keywords for the application and also
browse to an appropriate icon. It’s a good idea to have the app
installed on a machine so you can point to the main .exe to grab the
icon. Click Next.
Click Add to configure the Deployment Type here or just Click Next and you can do it later. Click Next.
Click Next
Click Close
You can now browse to the application that
you created. Right click and then click Create Deployment Type, if you
did not already Add the Deployment Type.
Select Script Installer (Native) from the list. Click Next.
Follow company standards and add a name for your Deployment Type.
Point your content location to the company standard Application folder where your setup.exe lives.
Point to your Setup.exe and configure the
command you want to use. Browse to your Uninstall and configure the
parameters. If your application is 32-bit you need to check “Run
installation and uninstallation program as 32-bit process on 64-bit
clients.” Click Next.
Here you have a few different options. This
detection method is used to tell if the app is already installed on the
clients device and also tells the client if the installation completed
successfully after installation. Above is looking for the main
executable.
Select Install for System from the dropdown
for Installation Behavior. For this portion you may also want to resort
to company standards. Maximum allowed run time defaults to 120 mins,
you may want to change this.
Here you can set requirements e.g. Only
install if the client device has 4GB of RAM, 250GB free on the hard
drive, is a member of the Laptops OU etc. Click Next
If there’s dependencies you can add them here, if not Click Next
Click Next
Click Close
Next go back to your application and click Distribute Content. This will push the installation files to the Distribution Group.
Click Next
Click Next
Click Add and Click Distribution Point
Click Next
Click Next
Click Close
Go back to your application. Right click and then click on Deploy.
Browse to the collection of devices you want to receive the application.
Verify the Distribution Points and Click Next
Here you can select if the application will
be made available for the user to select to install it. With this
option they can also Uninstall as they please. If you select Required it
will get installed automatically and they will not be allowed to
Uninstall through the Software Center.
If you want to setup a schedule do it here. Click Next.
Select if you want notifications to appear just for reboots or also for installations. Click Next.
If you want to setup alerts and allow integration with SCOM you can set it here, I don’t want it right now so, Click Next
Click Next
Click Close
Deploying an MSI
The Distribute Content and Deploy sections
from above still apply here. But the creating the Application part is
slightly different. After you right click on Application and select to
create an application.
This time you select Windows Installer (Native). Browse to the MSI on your company standard share. Click Next
Ensure the Name pulled from the MSI tables
is ok. Also enter the Manufacturer and Software version if they don’t
appear. If you have any transforms, ensure they are passed as a
parameter in Installation program. If the application is 32-bit ensure
to check the “Run installation program as a 32-bit process on 64-bit
clients. Select Install for system (if this is the company standard)
from the drop down and Click Next.
Click Close
You can now proceed to Distribute the Content and Deploy the application as per the earlier instructions above.
If you need to change something later you
can do so by navigating to your application, navigating to the
Deployment types tab on the bottom. Right clicking on the Deployment
type and selecting properties. You will then see all of the possible
options for your deployment. If you need to update the file contents you
can make that change also. Right click again and select Update Content
before proceeding to the next step.
Once your changes are made. You can now
navigate to the Deployments tab, right click on the deployment and click
Update Content. All changes should then be replicated across.
Refreshing the Client
You should see Configuration Manager in your Control Panel. Open it up and navigate to Actions.
You can run the check backs by selecting Run Now as you please.
You can then open Software Center on your client device
You should now see every application which
is made available to you and choose to Install. You should also see the
‘required’ applications which should install automatically.
OU-Based
