Desktop Application Distribution with Files in ZFS 6.5

Question

I'm trying to do a Desktop Application Distribution with a simple NAL and
can not get the files associated with the NAL to copy to the subscriber
server. I am using ZFS 6.5 SP1. I am using a mapped drive letter in the NAL
and have chosen "Keep the same source paths for the replicated objects" in
the distribution. I also have defined a variable in the service location
package as 'drive letter'='volume name' and associated this policy with the
container that the distributor and subscriber are in. I checked the box in
the subscriber's variable property to use this policy. The documentation
also says to use a SOURCE_PATH macro and 'Package Source List' to define the
mapped drive but I am unsure how those should be defined. Should they be
just a drive letter or the entire path to the applications files? Also, I'm
not sure if anything else is need to make this work.
Any Ideas of what I might need to do to get this to work?
Thanks!
John

Answer 1

Graham,
Thanks for the suggestions. I thought this type of distribution still
worked in Zen 6.5. It used to work great for us under Zen 6 and I hadn't
seen anything that said it didn't work with Zen 6.5. We'll probably use a
second distribution for the short term and then try one of your other
suggestions or see if we can find another way that works better.
John
"Graham Mitchell" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Depends on the kind of app you're trying to distribute... If it's a simple
> one ie you run something like setup.exe in a directory of files, then the
> files will NOT replicate out. If it's an MSI you're trying to distribute,
> even one with a file of support files (like say office), these WILL
> replicate out. Unfortunately, this is working as designed. You'll also
> find
> that file rights are NOT copied out yet either...
>
> There are a couple of ways round it... One is to do a seperate file
> distribution object to copy out the needed files/directories - I think
> this
> is messy, as you need to have 2 distributions for each application.
>
> You can use the repackager that comes with Zen to repackage the files into
> an MSI and use that to install the application on the workstations. This
> will replicate out fine.
>
> Another way, and they way we're starting to look at doing it, since it
> resolves some issues with workstation associated installs, is to have the
> application object copy all the files from the server onto the local
> workstation and run the install from there. To do that, you need a
> SOURCE_PATH pointing to the server distribution point, and another
> variable
> (we call it INSTALL_PATH) pointing to somewhere on the local workstation
> (C:\Install\MS\Office2k3). We then run the install from this location.
> Since
> all the files are mentioned in the distribution portion of the application
> object, when we distribute the application out to the remote servers, all
> the required files are copied out too.
>
> To do this manually for more than a couple of files is a royal pain in the
> ass... however, there's a makeaxt.pl PERL script available on
> coolsolutions
> that does most of the donkey work for you - give it the source and
> destination directories, and it will make an AXT file you can import. The
> only thing we have to do is to hit it with an editor, and replace the
> absolute paths (C:\Install\MS\Office2k3) with the variable we want to use
> (INSTALL_PATH).
>
> We're actually doing this, combined with the MSIs at the moment, since
> we're
> doing an image/application refresh for WinXPSP2, so we're rebuilding all
> the
> apps this way.
>
> If anyone is doing it differently, or has other suggestions, I'd love to
> hear...
>
>
>
> Graham
>
>
>
> "John Malinowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> I'm trying to do a Desktop Application Distribution with a simple NAL and
>> can not get the files associated with the NAL to copy to the subscriber
>> server. I am using ZFS 6.5 SP1. I am using a mapped drive letter in the
> NAL
>> and have chosen "Keep the same source paths for the replicated objects"
>> in
>> the distribution. I also have defined a variable in the service
>> location
>> package as 'drive letter'='volume name' and associated this policy with
> the
>> container that the distributor and subscriber are in. I checked the box
> in
>> the subscriber's variable property to use this policy. The documentation
>> also says to use a SOURCE_PATH macro and 'Package Source List' to define
> the
>> mapped drive but I am unsure how those should be defined. Should they be
>> just a drive letter or the entire path to the applications files? Also,
> I'm
>> not sure if anything else is need to make this work.
>>
>> Any Ideas of what I might need to do to get this to work?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>
>