Symantec ALTIRIS 7.0 SP2 - MANAGEMENT SOLUTION User manual

Altiris™Software
Management Solution from
Symantec Users Guide
Version 7.0 SP2

Altiris™Software Management Solution from Symantec
Users Guide
The software described in this book is furnished under a license agreement and may be used
only in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
Documentation version 7.0 SP2
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Technical Support ............................................................................................... 4
Chapter 1 Introducing Software Management Solution ................ 13
About Software Management Solution ............................................. 13
Components of Software Management Solution ................................. 14
What you can do with Software Management Solution ........................ 15
How 6.x features compare to Software Management Solution
7.0 ....................................................................................... 17
Comparison of software agents and settings in versions 6.x and
7.0 ................................................................................. 18
Comparison of software delivery in versions 6.x and 7.0 ................ 19
Comparison of Software Portal features in versions 6.x and
7.0 ................................................................................. 23
Comparison of application management in versions 6.x and
7.0 ................................................................................. 25
Comparison of virtualized software delivery in versions 6.x and
7.0 ................................................................................. 27
Comparison of the Wise Toolkit in versions 6.x and 7.0 ................. 29
Where to get more information ....................................................... 29
Section 1 Setting up Software Management
Solution ....................................................................... 31
Chapter 2 Implementing Software Management Solution ............ 33
Implementing Software Management Solution .................................. 34
About the Software Management Solution installation ........................ 36
About the agents and plug-ins that Software Management Solution
uses ..................................................................................... 37
Installing the Software Management Solution agent ........................... 38
Extra schedule options section ....................................................... 40
Installing the Software Management Solution plug-in for UNIX, Linux,
and Mac ............................................................................... 41
Recommended security privileges for Software Management
Solution ............................................................................... 43
Contents

Options for installing the Software Portal agent ................................ 45
Installing the Software Portal agent ................................................ 46
Installing the Software Virtualization agent ...................................... 47
Web parts for Software Management Solution ................................... 48
About Wise Toolkit ....................................................................... 49
Installing the Wise Toolkit tools ..................................................... 50
Chapter 3 Configuring Software Management Solution
settings ............................................................................ 53
About Software Management Solution settings .................................. 54
Configuring the default settings for Managed Software Delivery ........... 54
Schedule settings for Managed Software Delivery .............................. 55
About recurring software deliveries ................................................. 57
About the Wake-on-LAN setting ..................................................... 57
Download settings in Software Management Solution ......................... 58
About the alternate download location for packages ........................... 60
Run settings in Software Management Solution ................................. 61
Run As settings in Software Management Solution ....................... 62
User run conditions settings in Software Management
Solution ......................................................................... 63
Results-based actions settings in Software Management
Solution ......................................................................... 67
Reporting settings in Software Management Solution ................... 69
Advanced options in Managed Software Delivery policies .................... 69
Advanced options for tasks in Software Management Solution ............. 70
Task Options settings in Software Management Solution tasks ............. 72
Options for purging Software Management Solution data .................... 72
About replicating Software Management Solution data ....................... 73
Chapter 4 Performing common tasks in Software Management
Solution ........................................................................... 77
About the Software Management worker view ................................... 77
Sources of status information in Software Management
Solution ............................................................................... 79
About Software Management Solution event files .............................. 81
About Software Management Solution reports .................................. 82
Running a Software Management Solution report .............................. 83
Contents8

Section 2 Delivering software .................................................... 85
Chapter 5 Introducing software delivery ........................................... 87
About software delivery ................................................................ 87
Methods for delivering software ..................................................... 88
Methods for uninstalling software ................................................... 91
How Software Management Solution integrates with the Software
Catalog and Software Library ................................................... 93
Chapter 6 Performing advanced software deliveries ..................... 95
About advanced software deliveries ................................................. 96
Advanced delivery actions that Managed Software Delivery can
perform ................................................................................ 97
About the execution of Managed Software Delivery policies ................. 99
About policy applicability, compliance, and remediation .................... 102
Performing an advanced software delivery ...................................... 104
Creating a Managed Software Delivery policy with the Managed
Software Delivery wizard ....................................................... 106
Select software resource page ....................................................... 108
Creating a Managed Software Delivery policy .................................. 110
About editing a Managed Software Delivery policy ........................... 112
Editing a Managed Software Delivery policy .................................... 113
Select Software dialog box ............................................................ 114
About the destinations for a Managed Software Delivery policy .......... 114
Policy Rules/Actions section ......................................................... 115
Policy Rules/Actions: Software tab .......................................... 115
Policy Rules/Actions: Policy settings tab ................................... 119
Software Publishing tab ............................................................... 120
Select Task dialog box ................................................................. 122
About software delivery deferral options for the user ........................ 122
About deferring the execution of software remediation ..................... 124
About installing software that replaces other software ...................... 124
About delivering multiple software resources and tasks ..................... 125
Delivering multiple software resources and tasks sequentially ............ 126
About the status of Managed Software Delivery policies .................... 128
Chapter 7 Performing quick software deliveries ............................ 131
About quick delivery of a single software resource ............................ 131
Performing a quick delivery of a single software resource .................. 132
About the Quick Delivery wizard ................................................... 133
Creating a Quick Delivery task with the Quick Delivery wizard ............ 134
9Contents

Software settings for Quick Delivery tasks ...................................... 135
Chapter 8 Delivering packages .......................................................... 137
About Package Delivery ............................................................... 137
Delivering a package without defining a software resource ................ 138
Package settings for Package Delivery tasks .................................... 139
Chapter 9 Creating and managing Software Management
tasks ............................................................................... 141
Types of tasks in Software Management Solution ............................. 141
Creating a task in Software Management Solution ............................ 142
Editing a task in Software Management Solution .............................. 143
Scheduling a task and selecting computers in Software Management
Solution .............................................................................. 144
Chapter 10 Delivering 6.x software packages .................................. 147
About the delivery of Altiris 6.x software packages ........................... 147
About Legacy Software Delivery .................................................... 149
Accessing a Legacy Software Delivery policy ................................... 150
Delivering software packages with the same configurations as 6.x
Software Delivery tasks ......................................................... 150
How Legacy Software Delivery policies differ from 6.x Software
Delivery tasks ...................................................................... 151
About assigning 6.x software packages to software resources ............. 152
Assigning an Altiris 6.x software package to a software resource ......... 153
Assigning multiple Altiris 6.x software packages to software
resources ............................................................................ 154
Adding 6.x software packages to a package assignment task ............... 156
Editing 6.x software packages ....................................................... 157
Section 3 Delivering software from user
requests ..................................................................... 159
Chapter 11 Introducing the Software Portal ..................................... 161
About the Software Portal ............................................................ 161
About Software Portal user roles ................................................... 162
About the software in the Software Portal ....................................... 163
Contents10

Chapter 12 Introducing software requests ....................................... 165
About the approval of software requests ......................................... 165
Software request work flow .......................................................... 167
Methods for delivering software from approved software
requests .............................................................................. 169
Statuses of software requests in the Software Portal ......................... 170
About request status notifications ................................................. 172
Chapter 13 Setting up the Software Portal ....................................... 173
Implementing the Software Portal ................................................. 173
Recommended security settings for the Software Portal .................... 175
Methods for adding software to the Software Portal .......................... 176
Adding a software resource to the Software Portal ............................ 177
About deleting a published software resource .................................. 178
Adding a Managed Software Delivery policy to the Software
Portal ................................................................................. 179
Add User dialog box .................................................................... 180
Configuring the Software Portal settings ........................................ 181
Chapter 14 Reviewing and approving software requests ............... 183
Administrator Portal page ............................................................ 183
Finding and filtering software requests .......................................... 184
Processing a software request on the Administrator Portal page ......... 185
Section 4 Managing applications on client
computers ................................................................ 189
Chapter 15 Managing Windows Installer applications ................... 191
About managing Windows Installer applications .............................. 192
About Windows Installer repair .................................................... 193
Types of Windows Installer repairs ................................................ 193
Repairing Windows Installer applications ....................................... 194
Configuring a Windows Installer Repair policy ................................ 195
Windows Installer Repair settings ................................................. 196
About source path updates for Windows Installer applications ........... 198
Updating the source paths of Windows Installer applications ............. 199
Configuring a Source Path Update policy ........................................ 200
Configuration settings for Source Path Update tasks ......................... 201
About the Application Management agent ...................................... 203
Creating customized Windows Installer policies and tasks ................. 204
11Contents

Command-line options for the Application Management agent ........... 205
Chapter 16 Managing virtual applications ........................................ 211
About managing virtual applications ............................................. 211
About software virtualization ....................................................... 212
About the applications that you can virtualize ........................... 213
About virtual software archive files ......................................... 214
About preventing the loss of virtual application data .................. 215
About exclude entries for virtual software layers ........................ 215
About data layers ................................................................. 217
Managing virtual applications ...................................................... 217
Methods for virtualizing software ................................................. 219
Virtualizing software during installation ........................................ 220
Methods for installing and managing virtual software ....................... 221
Actions that you can perform on a virtual software layer ................... 223
Installing and managing a virtual software layer with a Software
Virtualization task ................................................................ 225
Software Virtualization settings .................................................... 226
Installing and managing a virtual software layer with a Quick Delivery
or Package Delivery task ........................................................ 228
Installing and managing a virtual software layer with a Managed
Software Delivery policy ........................................................ 230
Index ................................................................................................................... 233
Contents12

Introducing Software
Management Solution
This chapter includes the following topics:
■About Software Management Solution
■Components of Software Management Solution
■What you can do with Software Management Solution
■How 6.x features compare to Software Management Solution 7.0
■Where to get more information
About Software Management Solution
Software Management Solution provides intelligent and bandwidth-sensitive
distribution and management of software from a central Web console. It
significantly reduces desktop visits and lets you easily support your mobile work
force.
Software Management Solution also lets users directly download and install
approved software or request other software.
Software Management Solution integrates with the Software Catalog and the
Software Library that are part of the Symantec Management Platform. By
leveraging this information, Software Management Solution ensures that the
correct software gets installed, remains installed, and runs without interference
from other software. This integration lets your administrators focus on delivering
the correct software instead of redefining the packages, command lines, and so
on for each delivery.
1
Chapter

For more information, see the topics about the Software Catalog and the Software
Library in the Symantec Management Platform Help.
Software Management Solution combines the functionality of earlier versions of
Software Delivery Solution and Application Management Solution. It also supports
the software virtualization technology that was available in Altiris Software
Virtualization Solution.
See “How 6.x features compare to Software Management Solution 7.0”on page 17.
Software Management Solution supports packages for the Windows, UNIX, Linux,
and Mac operating systems. With few exceptions, all the functions in Software
Management Solution work the same for all platforms. For example, you use the
same method to create a delivery task for a Windows, UNIX, Linux, or Mac OS
package.
For a complete list of the platforms that Software Management Solution supports,
see the Software Management Solution Release Notes.
See “How Software Management Solution integrates with the Software Catalog
and Software Library”on page 93.
See “Components of Software Management Solution”on page 14.
See “What you can do with Software Management Solution”on page 15.
Components of Software Management Solution
The components of Software Management Solution let you deliver and manage
software on client computers.
Table 1-1 Components of Software Management Solution
DescriptionComponent
You can use any of several methods to deliver software to client
computers. The method that you use to create the task or policy
depends on your delivery requirements.
See “Methods for delivering software”on page 88.
Software delivery tasks
and policies
The Software Portal is a Web-based interface that is installed
on the client computers. With the Software Portal, users can
request and install software with little or no administrator
involvement.
See “About the Software Portal”on page 161.
Software Portal
Introducing Software Management Solution
Components of Software Management Solution
14

Table 1-1 Components of Software Management Solution (continued)
DescriptionComponent
You can manage Windows Installer applications as follows:
■Repair broken Windows Installer applications.
■Update the source paths for Windows Installer applications.
See “About managing Windows Installer applications”on page 192.
Tasks and policies for
managing Windows
Installer applications
You can use software virtualization to facilitate the management
of most Windows-based software on managed computers.
Software virtualization lets you avoid conflicts between
applications. It also lets you quickly restore a broken application
to its original installed state.
See “Managing virtual applications”on page 217.
Tasks for managing
virtual applications
Predefined reports let you easily view and analyze your software
management data. You can also create your own custom reports.
See “About Software Management Solution reports”on page 82.
Reports
Wise Toolkit provides the tools that let administrators create,
customize, and manage installations.
Wise Toolkit consists of the following tools:
■Wise InstallTailor
■WiseScript for NS
See “About Wise Toolkit”on page 49.
Wise Toolkit
See “What you can do with Software Management Solution”on page 15.
What you can do with Software Management Solution
Software Management Solution lets you distribute and manage the software that
is used in your organization.
See “About Software Management Solution”on page 13.
15Introducing Software Management Solution
What you can do with Software Management Solution

Table 1-2 What you can do with Software Management Solution
DescriptionTask
Configuration settings control the behavior of Managed Software Delivery policies.
Rather than configuring these settings individually for each policy, you can configure
the default settings that apply to all new Managed Software Delivery policies. Then
you can change the settings for a specific policy only when needed.
See “About Software Management Solution settings”on page 54.
See “Configuring the default settings for Managed Software Delivery”on page 54.
Configure the default
settings for Managed
Software Delivery policies.
Managed Software Delivery simplifies your advanced software deliveries by letting
you deliver software as a unit, which can include multiple software resources and
their dependencies. For example, you can create a single Managed Software Delivery
policy that installs an application and its associated patches and service packs.
Managed Software Delivery can also run any task at any stage of the delivery.
See “About advanced software deliveries”on page 96.
See “Performing an advanced software delivery”on page 104.
Perform an advanced
software delivery.
You can perform a quick delivery of a single software resource that runs with
minimum configuration. You can use the task-based Quick Delivery method to specify
the software to deliver, the action to perform, and the computers to deliver to. Because
the software resources and the delivery settings are predefined, Quick Delivery makes
it easy for administrators and non-administrators to deliver software.
See “About quick delivery of a single software resource”on page 131.
See “Performing a quick delivery of a single software resource”on page 132.
Perform a quick delivery of
a single software resource.
Package Delivery lets you quickly push out any package regardless of whether it is
associated with a software resource.
See “About Package Delivery”on page 137.
See “Delivering a package without defining a software resource”on page 138.
Deliver a package without
defining a software resource.
When you upgrade from Notification Server 6.x to Symantec Management Platform
7.0, you can migrate your software-related tasks and packages.
See “How 6.x features compare to Software Management Solution 7.0”on page 17.
For more information about 6.x data migration, see the Symantec Management
Platform Release Notes.
Deliver the tasks and
packages that were created
in Altiris Software Delivery
Solution 6.x.
By using the Software Portal, users can request and install software through a
Web-based interface with little or no administrator involvement.
See “About the Software Portal”on page 161.
Deliver software to fulfill
user requests.
Introducing Software Management Solution
What you can do with Software Management Solution
16

Table 1-2 What you can do with Software Management Solution (continued)
DescriptionTask
You can create policies and tasks to manage Windows Installer applications on
managed computers as follows:
■Repair Windows Installer applications.
You can proactively identify and repair broken applications on selected computers.
If an application needs repair, a repair command is sent to the Windows Installer
service to initiate self-repair.
See “Repairing Windows Installer applications”on page 194.
■Update the source paths for Windows Installer applications.
You can update the source paths of Windows Installer applications with resilient
source paths. The updated source paths point to the package servers that you
designate. If an application needs modification or repair, Windows Installer can
access the needed installation file from one of these servers.
See “Updating the source paths of Windows Installer applications”on page 199.
See “About managing Windows Installer applications”on page 192.
Manage Windows Installer
installations on client
computers.
You can use software virtualization to facilitate the management of most
Windows-based software on managed computers. Software virtualization lets you
avoid conflicts between applications and quickly restore a broken application to its
original installed state.
Software Management Solution lets you perform the following virtualization actions:
■Virtualize applications during a Managed Software Delivery installation.
■Deliver and install virtual layers with any Software Management Solution delivery
policy or task.
■Manage the existing virtual layers on the client computers.
See “Managing virtual applications”on page 217.
Manage virtual applications.
How 6.x features compare to Software Management
Solution 7.0
Software Management Solution 7.0 replaces the 6.x versions of Software Delivery
Solution and Application Management Solution as well as some features of
Software Virtualization Solution. Software Management Solution contains most
of the functionality of those solutions as well as many new features and functions.
You can discover how to perform familiar 6.x tasks in Software Management
Solution 7.0 by reviewing the comparisons between the features of the different
versions.
Comparisons between the tasks in 6.x and the tasks in 7.0 are available as follows:
17Introducing Software Management Solution
How 6.x features compare to Software Management Solution 7.0

■Implementation
See “Comparison of software agents and settings in versions 6.x and 7.0”
on page 18.
■Software delivery
See “Comparison of software delivery in versions 6.x and 7.0”on page 19.
■Software Portal
See “Comparison of Software Portal features in versions 6.x and 7.0”
on page 23.
■Application management
See “Comparison of application management in versions 6.x and 7.0”
on page 25.
■Software virtualization
See “Comparison of virtualized software delivery in versions 6.x and 7.0”
on page 27.
■Wise Toolkit
See “Comparison of the Wise Toolkit in versions 6.x and 7.0”on page 29.
Comparison of software agents and settings in versions 6.x and 7.0
Software Management Solution 7.0 contains many of the delivery settings that
were available in earlier versions of Software Delivery Solution. However, you
can configure those settings as global defaults instead of re-entering them for
each new software delivery policy or task. The global defaults save time during
the creation of policies and tasks, and they help provide consistency in how your
software deliveries run.
Software Management Solution 7.0 requires a different set of agents than earlier
versions of Software Delivery Solution and Application Management Solution.
See “Implementing Software Management Solution”on page 34.
Introducing Software Management Solution
How 6.x features compare to Software Management Solution 7.0
18

Table 1-3 Comparison of Software Management Solution agents and settings
in versions 6.x and 7.0
Method in 7.0Method in 6.xTask
Agent and plug-in requirements are as follows:
■Software Management Framework agent
This agent is installed with the Altiris Agent.
■Software Management Solution agent for Windows
■Software Management Solution plug-in for UNIX, Linux,
and Mac
■Software Portal agent (Windows only)
■Application Management agent (Windows only)
See “About the agents and plug-ins that Software
Management Solution uses”on page 37.
Agent requirements are as
follows:
■Software Delivery agent
■Task Synchronization
agent
■Software Delivery Task
Server agent
■State Management agent
■Windows Installer agent
Install agents on the
client computer, in
addition to the Altiris
Agent.
You can configure Managed Software Delivery settings as
follows:
■Configure the default settings that govern all new
Managed Software Delivery policies.
■Override the default settings when you create a Managed
Software Delivery policy without the ManagedSoftware
Delivery wizard.
■Override the default settings when you edit an existing
Managed Software Delivery policy.
See “Configuring the default settings for Managed Software
Delivery”on page 54.
Each type of task in Software Management Solution contains
the default settings that control how it runs. You can
override the default settings for specific tasks.
See “Advanced options for tasks in Software Management
Solution”on page 70.
Configure the settings when
you create each policy or
task.
Configure settings for
Software Delivery
policies and tasks.
See “How 6.x features compare to Software Management Solution 7.0”on page 17.
Comparison of software delivery in versions 6.x and 7.0
Software Management Solution 7.0 is completely new. With few exceptions, you
can perform all the software delivery actions that were available in earlier versions
of Software Delivery Solution. However, Software Management Solution provides
the additional features and functions that provide more reliable management of
your software before, during, and after delivery.
See “About software delivery”on page 87.
19Introducing Software Management Solution
How 6.x features compare to Software Management Solution 7.0

In versions earlier than 7.0, the delivery of non-Windows software required the
separate installation of Software Delivery Solution for UNIX, Linux, and Mac.
Software Management Solution 7.0 combines support for Windows software and
non-Windows software in one product.
Table 1-4 Comparison of software delivery in versions 6.x and 7.0
Method in 7.0Method in 6.xTask
Depending on the complexity of your requirements, create
a task or policy as follows:
■Create a Quick Delivery task to deliver a single software
resource.
See “Performing a quick delivery of a single software
resource”on page 132.
■Create a Managed Software Delivery policy to fulfill
advanced delivery requirements.
See “Advanced delivery actions that Managed Software
Delivery can perform”on page 97.
■Create a Package Delivery task to push out a package
that is not associated with a software resource.
This feature replaces the functionality of the Software
Delivery Task Server plug-in.
See “Delivering a package without defining a software
resource”on page 138.
You can also migrate 6.x tasks to the following 7.0 policies
and tasks:
■You can migrate Software Delivery tasks to Legacy
Software Delivery policies.
We recommend that you use these policies only if you
cannot deliver the packages with one of the new delivery
methods.
We recommend that you use Legacy Software Delivery
policies only for 6.x packages that you cannot deliver
with Quick Delivery or Managed Software Delivery.
See “About Legacy Software Delivery”on page 149.
■You can migrate Software Delivery Task Server Plug-in
tasks to Package Delivery tasks.
Create a Software Delivery
task in Software Delivery
Solution or create a Deliver
Software task in Altiris Task
Server.
Deliver software or
push out a package.
Introducing Software Management Solution
How 6.x features compare to Software Management Solution 7.0
20