Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 : Creating Packages for Distribution (part 1) - Creating a Package from Scratch

4/15/2013 6:16:23 PM

Now we can delve into the package distribution process in more detail, beginning with package creation itself. In this section we’ll explore the package creation process, including identifying distribution points and creating programs.

1. Gathering Source Files

If your package involves the accessing of source files, such as performing a software installation, you must define a location for the source files. The location can be a shared folder on the site server or on a remote server, including a CD-ROM drive. The most important characteristic of the source file location is that it must be accessible to the SMS site server either using the SMS service account if running SMS in standard security mode or using the site server’s computer account if running SMS in advanced security mode. If your program involves using a script file or files, be sure to include them as part of your source files as well or the program will fail.

2. Creating a Package from Scratch

As in all things SMS, you’ll begin in the SMS Administrator Console. You can create a package either from scratch—one for which you provide all the configuration details—or from a package definition file that already contains all the package details. In this section we’ll look at the former technique.

To create a package from the ground up, follow these steps:

1.	Navigate to the Packages folder, right-click it, choose New from the context menu, and then choose Package to display the Package Properties dialog box, shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. The Package Properties dialog box.
2.	In the General tab, enter the name of the package, its version, its publisher, its language, and a descriptive comment if desired. The only required value here is Name. Notice that the full package name is displayed in the text box to the left of the Change Icon button.
3.	Click Change Icon to enter or browse for an icon file or Setup.exe file to display the correct icon for the package. The default icon is the SMS package icon.
4.	Select the Data Source tab, shown in Figure 2. This tab lets you define details concerning the source files for the package. If the package contains source files—even a single file—select the This Package Contains Source Files check box to enable the options in the Source Directory frame. Figure 2. The Data Source tab.
5.	Click Set to display the Set Source Directory dialog box, shown in Figure 3. In this dialog box you define the location of the source files. The location can be either a local drive path or a UNC path to a remote share. Enter the location or click Browse to look for the directory. Then click OK to return to the Data Source tab. Figure 3. The Set Source Directory dialog box.
6.	If your source files aren’t likely to change or are on a removable medium such as a CD-ROM, or if the source path is likely to change, select the Use A Compressed Copy Of The Source Directory option. This option causes SMS to create and store a compressed version of the source files on the site server. When the package needs to be sent to a new distribution point or updated on existing distribution points, SMS will access the compressed files, uncompress them, and send them to the distribution points.
7.	If your source files are likely to change periodically—for example, if they include a monthly virus update file—select Always Obtain Files From Source Directory. Selecting this option also allows you to select the Update Distribution Points On A Schedule check box. Setting an update schedule ensures that as the source files change, the distribution points will be updated regularly.
8.	Select the Data Access tab, shown in Figure 4. The Data Access tab defines how SMS will store the package source files on the distribution points. The default setting is Access Distribution Folder Through Common SMS Package Share. With this setting, SMS will define a share point on the distribution points and place the source files in a folder in that share. The share will always be SMSPKGx$, where x represents the drive with the most free disk space. This share is a hidden share to keep prying eyes from browsing for it. When SMS runs out of disk space, it will find the next drive with the most free space and create an additional SMSPKGx$ directory and share there. Figure 4. The Data Access tab.
9.	If you prefer to create your own folder organization and access shares, you may do so first and then reference the share by selecting the option Share Distribution Folder and entering the UNC path to the share. This value can be a share or a share and a path, but whatever value you enter must be unique among all packages. Also, the share and path must already exist on the distribution points that you target. If you enter only a share name (in the form \\server\appshare), any file or subfolders created within the share will be deleted and re-created whenever the package is updated or refreshed. If you enter a share that includes a path (\\server\appshare\word), only the down-level folder will be deleted and re-created.
10.	Select Disconnect Users From Distribution Points to do just that. If you want to ensure that no users are connected to the package folder on the distribution points when files are being refreshed or updated, this option will cause SMS to inform users that they will be disconnected. Users will be disconnected after the time period you specify in the User Grace Period text box. The default value is 5 minutes, but you can specify from 0 to 59 minutes. The Number Of Retries Before Disconnecting Users option indicates how many times SMS will attempt to refresh the distribution points before disconnecting users. This value can range from 0 to 99.
11.	Select the Distribution Settings tab, shown in Figure 5. In this tab you identify the sending priority and preferred sender to use when sending this package to distribution points in a child site. If you have no child sites, these settings will have no effect. Figure 5. The Distribution Settings tab.
12.	Select the Reporting tab, shown in Figure 6. This tab lets you identify how SMS reports installation status Management Information Format (MIF) files from the client when the package is run. Select Use Package Properties For Status MIF Matching to simply use the values you supplied in the General tab to identify status MIF files generated during installation. Or select Use These Fields For Status MIF Matching and fill in the fields if you want to specify different values. Figure 6. The Reporting tab.
13.	Select the Security tab to set class and instance security rights for the package.
14.	Click OK to create the package.

We haven’t quite finished creating this package. If you expand the new package entry you just created in the SMS Administrator Console, as in the example shown in Figure 7, you’ll see that three areas of configuration remain. The first area, defining access accounts, allows you to further secure who has access to the distribution source files. The other two areas are absolutely essential to the successful distribution of the package: defining distribution points, without which the client has no access to the source files, and defining programs, which specifies how to install or run the source files. Let’s configure the access account first.