Symantec Software Management 7. Best Practices, Part 2. Software Resource Import Method. Manual Creation. Software Component Details. Package. Command- Line. Rules. Static File Expression. Associations. File Inventory. Software Publishing. Software Resource. A Software Resource houses Package and command- line information, and contains a myriad of metadata for a specific piece of Software. This includes Package information, or the physical files, the command- lines that can be executed against the package, detection and applicability rules, file information, associations with other Software Resources, and Software Publishing information. The culmination of this data makes up a single Software Resource, also known as a Software Component, in the Notification Server infrastructure. Software Resources are organized in the Symantec Management Console under Manage > Software > Software Catalog. The Catalog view within the Enhanced Console View (ECV) contains a list of Newly discovered/undefined software, of Managed software products (installed, licensed, metered, deliverable), and Unmanaged software. See this screenshot for an example: This is only a condensed view of the Catalog, typically software that is active in your environment. Actions you can do from this view are: Import - Import new Software via the installation files. Add - Manually create a Software Resource. Edit - Edit an existing Software Resource. Add Product - Create a new Product.
NOTE: Products are how licensing and usage are tracked, so proper Product configuration is essential. To view the entire Catalog in a single view, browse under Settings > Console > and select Views > browse under Views > Software > and select the Software Catalog. This gives you a full view of all Software Resources in your environment. To view software that can be delivered, browse in the Symantec Management Console under Manage > Software. This will load the Enhanced Console View (ECV). In the left- hand pane labeled . The items that populate the center pane have associated Packages and/or command- lines. Symantec Enterprise Technical Support Articles, videos and downloads that help solve technical issues related to your Symantec products. In our experience, Newly Discovered Software consists on recently detected new Software resources which, after an internal software matching policy being applied, it hasn't been matched and added to a SW Product or matched. Patch Management System Best Practices It's not Patch Tuesday anymore. Maximize your network's security with these patch management system tips. You need to respond to active security threats on a network, or review virus removal and troubleshooting best practices. Mountain View, CA, United States; Industry Technology / Software / Internet; Website www.symantec.com. E-Business and Business Technology Management Best Practices Research Center; 300 Latest Articles on e-Business & BizTech Management; 1,400 e-Business & BizTech Management Concepts. There are several ways Software Resources are created. They can be imported manually (this process is covered in the next segment), manually created, created by Inventory Solution running Add Remove Programs Inventory or alternatively via the Software Discovery Task, or imported through a data provider. Import Method. The best way to add deliverable software to your Software Catalog is to use the Import function. The import will auto- generate much of the fields needed for a Software Release, including a command- line (or multiple command- lines if using an MSI), version information, Package details, and if you are using an MSI a Detection Rule of MSI Product Code type is automatically generated. Follow these basic steps to import Software into the Software Catalog. Please also review the manual steps as it will illustrate what is being done during the automatic import process. In the Symantec Management Console browse under Manage > Software. This will load the Enhanced Console View (ECV). Within the Installed Software pane in the upper left, right- click in the white space and choose Import Software. Select the appropriate Software type (most will be Software Release). Choose an appropriate Source, such as the Software Library. Click the Add button to browse to the source installation files of the software. When you select a directory, this directory should only contain the files for this specific software. This is because the selected folder becomes the package root, and all files, folders, subfolders and files will be included in the Package. The Package contents will be populated. Note that the Console will attempt to auto choose what file is to be the default Installation File. This is due to the hash created for each program file found within the package. The following screen allows you to either create a new Software Resource, or update an existing one, as shown in the following screenshot. If the import detects that an existing Software Resource appears to match what is being imported, that will be the default option. The process will help illustrate how each set of functions operate, and how they can be configured to meet your specific use- case. Software Component Details. To create a Software Resource, log into the Symantec Management Console and browse under Manage > Software. If you are already in the Enhanced Console Views (Silverlight) you can click the Software option in the lower left- hand pane. Right- click in the white space found under the Installed Software pane in the upper left and choose Managed Software Catalog. This will bring you to the Catalog management screen, as shown. Click the Add button on the icon bar for the left- side pane and choose the appropriate Software Resource type from the list: Software Release (most common)Service Pack. Update. Fill in the resulting fields using the guidance below. Name - This is the label or name that this Software Resource will show up as in lists or pickers. Type: This will list what type of Software Resource it is from the above list. Version: This field affects how the versions are calculated for a Product. It is recommend to use an approximation of the version of the application you are creating the Software Resource for. One function of this version field is to check against changes made to the Resource. For example if the Version number changes, the components within the Resource are invalidated and must be refreshed. This means any changes you've made to the components of the Software Resource will go through the update process on the Notification Server and can expedite updates to the targeted clients. Company: Used to put the manufacturer of the Software contained within the Resource. This affects reporting by Manufacturer so it is highly recommended to use a consistent naming scheme, and avoid differences such as. Microsoft. Microsoft Inc. MSoft. MSSoftware Product: This ties the Software Component to a Product, as managed in the Symantec Management Platform. In Software Management 7. Product level. It is highly recommended to use a consistent assignment to existing Products within the system. Application Metering, Asset Management, Licensing, and more are calculated against the Product level. See the below screenshot for an example of the Properties. The most basic explanation is a Package is a folder and all files and subfolders/files therein. For all Package Source types except for the Software Library, this is all a Package is. The Software Library option adds another layer to include the default execution file no matter where it is contained within the folder structure of the package. The Software Library is the default selection for a Package Source. A Package can be configured to use one of the other options, such as UNC, URL, or a local directory on the NS. See the previous section on Importing Software for details on how to do this. To aid in understanding what source is best for you to use, the following details can help you make a decision. Please note that the Package Source does not necessarily indicate where a targeted client will obtain the Package from. It's where the Notification Server will provide the Package from. Access package from an existing UNC - The Notification Server will provide the UNC to any Package Server or Client that requests the Package. An HTTP link is also created off the UNC to be used to distribute the Package. Access package from a URL - This reacts the same way as UNC only flip- flopped. Access package from a directory on the Notification Server - The Notification Server will turn the designated folder into a UNC and URL share to provide to all Package Servers or Clients that request it. Software Library - The Notification Server will import the package when configured. This process does the following: The contents of the folder (files and subfolders/files) to the location specified in the Configuration of the Software Library covered earlier in General Configuration section. Each file will be scanned. All EXE, DLL, or other programmatic files will be cataloged as part of the Software Resource. A hash will be generated for each of these files. A default Installation File will be set. The below screenshot shows a sample of this. Note that the Installation File will be bolded. By default the import process will try to analyze the most likely file and automatically set it. It is advised to check and ensure the right file is selected. To manually set it, select the file and click the Set Installation File button. While there are a lot of factors that contribute to this, including network speed between the NS and the Package Source and Resource availability on the Notification Server, I've seen large packages take up to 4. The specific IE session will be locked during this process, so open a new console if you need to continue working in the meantime. In 7. 0 we saw issues where the Import would time out, but in later version and in 7. Click on the Package Server tab. The default configuration is set to All Package Servers with Manual Prestaging. Despite the name, this feature basically means the package will not be delivered to Package Servers until a client has a policy that needs it. This recommendation comes with a caveat. If you have a large distributed environment, you may not want all your Package Servers to host every package until they are needed. If this is the case the default should be OK. Otherwise, follow these steps: Click on the Package Server tab after you have configured the Details tab of the Package. Under the dropdown labeled Assign package to, change the option to All Package Servers. If you leave the selection on Package Servers with Manual Prestaging, be aware of the implications of this. Package Servers will not download the package until another Package Server or Client is services requests the Package.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2017
Categories |