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Thread ID: 115194	2011-01-06 19:08:00	Internal software distribution over a limited pipe to hundreds of staff	Chilling_Silence (9)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1167761	2011-01-06 19:08:00	Hi all, I figure I'm not the only one who's done this before so I figured I'd get some feedback on what you're all using out there. We've begun doing software distribution using Ghost, packaging up applications using the Snapshot builder. It's freaking marvelous! Anyways, that's all fine and dandy, except we've got staff across the country in several branches, all on a 1m/bit pipe. We're looking at doing a rollout of software but the problem is we need to do the server-side software at the same time as the client-side software. Usually that's not a big issue, except we've got potentially 250 peoples that all need to have a 100MB package pushed to their machine prior to them using Email. Only difficulty is getting that pushed down a smallish pipe to potentially a TON of staff all at once. There's local Server Core 2008 machines in each of these branches so we're thinking of pushing a copy to each and trying to manage the deployment locally, but we're wondering how others have done things like this in the past? Surely we're not the only ones who've tried this? :D I'm keen for any constructive feedback, and to hear others experiences and things! Cheers Chill.	Chilling_Silence (9)
1167762	2011-01-07 00:32:00	Your 1 meter diameter pipe is far to small to handle the TON of sh!it you want to pass through it .... probably not long enough either .... suggest you go to a 2 meter diameter pipe with adjustable extensions .... :D Payback is so sweet at times .... :clap:clap:clap	SP8's (9836)
1167763	2011-01-07 00:43:00	:thumbs:	Chilling_Silence (9)
1167764	2011-01-07 00:53:00	we do deal with this exact problem at work. 200+ sites many on 1Mb or slower. we are doing it all in unix, with a custom solution. the heavy lifting is done with rsync. the control and UI is done with java. each site has a "server" (desktop PC) which we use as a depot. in our case the server is a print server and a software depot. from the data centre we push packages (a TGZ file) to each site in the middle of the night. then each day when a user logins in a login script gets any new packages from the depot server. we have been using this system for many years. PM me if you want a more in depth description.	robsonde (120)
1167765	2011-01-07 01:19:00	With Windows desktops? I was wondering about modifying the login script with something that checks to see if an application is installed, if not, then run it, or if it is installed, skip it ... These packages Ghost makes are .exe's that can also be manually run interactively, or silently deployed through Ghost.	Chilling_Silence (9)
1167766	2011-01-07 01:36:00	we've got staff across the country in several branches, all on a 1m/bit pipe . Send actual people down to each branch .	pctek (84)
1167767	2011-01-07 01:39:00	Wait for FTTD to be deployed?? :)	Snorkbox (15764)
1167768	2011-01-07 01:44:00	With Windows desktops? I was wondering about modifying the login script with something that checks to see if an application is installed, if not, then run it, or if it is installed, skip it ... These packages Ghost makes are .exe's that can also be manually run interactively, or silently deployed through Ghost. yep, windows desktop, both win2k and XP. login script check the share on the localserver for installers. if not installed then it will install during login. we also set a job to run at 4am to check for installers, so anyone who leave the desktop turned on will get updates in the night. this little trick speeds up login.	robsonde (120)
1167769	2011-01-07 01:57:00	Yeah we're tempted to try some stuff with WOL and sending out a packet to the broadcast address in each branch to wake up all the machines... What sort of things do you package in the tarballs? What do you use to make them?	Chilling_Silence (9)
1167770	2011-01-07 02:07:00	the installers are just MSI files that the desktop team provide. I don't know too much about how they make the MSI files. we (the unix guys) then take them and make a TGZ. using a a web GUI we can schedule the tar ball to be sent at any time. we can send to all sites, or a single site or even a selection of sites. once the rsync has pushed the tar ball, it is automaticly untared. this leaves the .MSI file in the share for the desktops to find. rsync lets us throttle the speed so we can even push packages during the day with out impacting the network.	robsonde (120)
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