Questions About SBRemote Deploy

Hello Friedrich and Company,

Hope all is well with you.

Here's my scenario, I have two 32 bit EXE's running on Windows on
numerous laptops. One EXE runs as a service and the other as a typical
application. Each laptop is installed in a vehicle. Windows' versions
range from Windows 7 to 10. The users of these laptops do not have
administrator privileges so they are heavily restricted on what they can
install or update. Each computer is connected to the internet via a
Verizon "MyFi" device. The users have the ability to connect to the
local LAN via a Sonic Wall NetExtender VPN application.

Installing or updating my applications on all these machines is a
tedious and time consuming endeavor. I have had some success conducting
the initial install, physically, as an admin and then having the users
perform the updates with the installer set to "As Invoker." This seems
to work so long as the installer doesn't do anything that requires admin
privileges. Right now I use CapeSoft's SafeUpdate product to check for
and notify users of updates. Works pretty good usually but I'm always
looking for a better way.

SetupBuilder's new SBRemote Deploy feature seems to be just what I need
but the laptops in the field will not always be connected to the LAN.
Does SBRemote Deploy have a way to execute when a machine connects? Or,
do you have any suggestions about my situation that may make my life easier?

My apologies for the long post. I hope you have a great day!!

By the way, this is why I have stayed away from these types of apps and
focused on NetTalk web apps for so many years! LOL! :-)

Don

Hi Don,

Remote Deploy deploys SetupBuilder "push-enabled" packages over a local area
network (LAN). A SetupBuilder "push-enabled" package requires the target
workstations be online. Remote Deploy "pushes" the client software to the
computers that you specify, either by IP address or by computer names. Once
the package copies to the target computer, the SetupBuilder package installs
automatically. The computer user does not need to begin the installation or
to have administrator privileges. Immediately after the installation is
complete, the SetupBuilder package sends a status message back to SBRemote.

BTW, the remote deploy technology requires only an IP address to a machine
that has SMB listening on port 445. If you open up Windows Explorer and
navigate to \\x.x.x.x\yada and you get a prompt for
credentials then Remote Deploy will work.

Friedrich

Hello Don,

this the approach I took in a similar environment.

I have a SOAPServer and SOAPClient.exes, all nmade with Clarion 10 and Nettalk
9, all made before SBRemote.

The clients may run on a LAN, either from a desktop-LNK or a local install. The
clienst must nut be installed in C:\Program Files, because I have some sub-dir
with .TPS in RW. So they have to be somewhere in userland.

At startup, each clients sends its own version-string (from WinEvent) to the
server. On the server-side, the recent version-number is stored in in INI for
an easier maintainance. If the client is up-to-date, the response is an empty
string.
However, when the client-version-number on the server-side is higher than the
requesting client, then the response is a string, which is actually the URL for
downloading the update.

The client downloads the updater and when complete (checked in .Pagereceived),
then the updater is called vian CHAIN(). The updater is a
SetupBuilder-installer, which gets called with the parameters /S for silent and
/X for the target path. Its evening here right now, I have no office machine
running, so I cannot look up the correct syntax. Finally the updater finisches
and calls the (new) SOAPclient.exe again.

It would be cool if I could display a progressbar during download. Have not
found a way to do so. But anyway, the updater for the client is just 3 MB, so
its still quick enough.

This works via WAN also, because my SOAPserver has to be reachable via static
public IP- or symbolic address then anyway. Its just plain vanilla TCP/IP
download, no SMB. Ideal for restricted scenarios.

Just as an idea. That new SBRemote might be even easier. But my homegrown
solution was no rocket science either.

Wolfgang


Regards,
Wolfgang Orth
www.odata.de

Please note:
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Please don't be angry.
In case of an emergency, try to contact me via mail.

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Hello Don,

> SetupBuilder's new SBRemote Deploy feature seems to be just what I need
> but the laptops in the field will not always be connected to the LAN. Does
> SBRemote Deploy have a way to execute when a machine connects? Or, do you
> have any suggestions about my situation that may make my life easier?

took a few days off last week to travel to the Netherlands. Sorry for my
late reply.

Okay, some more information. The current SBRemote Deploy implementation is
just the beginning. It introduces the "main framework" for future features.
What's coming next is the "SBRemote Server". This application allows you to
manage remote deploy installations in a networked environment, including
workstations and servers - from one central location (Windows computer).

In order to be able to manage the desired remote computers via SBR Server it
is essential the computers can be pinged from the SBR Server.

So in theory, the following should be possible (if your local LAN via a
Sonic Wall NetExtender VPN application supports it). The SBR Server detects
that the laptop connected to the LAN. It immediately pushes the update to
the machine executes it in silent mode.

The new SBR Server is scheduled to be available for beta testing within the
next 6-8 weeks. Do you think it would be possible for you to test it?

Friedrich