Deployment Strategy systemhound 2007

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Contents


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Overview

Deployment of both the systemhound server and client software is via the supplied Windows Installer package. The preferred deployment mechanism for live installations is via Microsoft Active Directory and group policy. Manual installation by double-clicking the msi is recommended for customer evaluations of the systemhound product.

Additional tools to assist with deployment are also installed with the systemhound 2007 server product. Detailed guides for these tools are provided in separate links and within the systemhound online Wiki.


The client deployment options (all utilising the Windows Installer package) are as follows:

Regardless of the chosen deployment approach, the following pre-requisites must be met on the target machine:

  • Microsoft Windows Installer must already be installed
  • The user account launching the tool must either have local administrator rights to the computer or Windows Installer should be able to run in an elevated privileges. More information can be found at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q259459
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Manual Deployment

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Introduction

systemhound 2007 (v5) is deployed via 2 separate Windows installer packages rather than a single installer for both client and server. The installer for the client machines should only be installed onto client machines (and not the systemhound central server). 

When installing into an existing systemhound environment there is no need to re-install the 
clients. By re-installing the server the existing client machines will be upgraded to the
latest version
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Installation prerequisites

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Server Machine

Recommended requirements for systemhound central server are:

  • Microsoft Windows XP or Windows 2003
  • 1 GB memory
  • 2 GHz processor
  • 1 GB hard drive space free on program files drive.


NOTE: systemhound server will not function fully on Windows 2003 where the optional windows component 'Internet Explorer Enhanced Security' is deployed as this prevents the systemhound console from running the web pages from the local disk. However, reports will still be generated and visible via IIS.


Minimum requirements are:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista.
  • 512 GB memory
  • 1 GHz processor
  • 200Mb hard drive space free on program files drive.

The download version of systemhound 2007 is pre-loaded with a 10 user licence to audit up to 10 PCs including the central server.

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Install systemhound 2007 server

Firstly, install the systemhound central server software onto a Windows server. The machine will collect and report on the asset details within your pc estate.

The installation will default the website folder to program files\systemhound\website; if you wish to use a different folder please see changing website folder location

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Manual Installation

1. Double click the "systemhound central server.msi" to start the installer

Figure 1

2. Click next, please read the licence agreement, indicate your acceptance by selecting ’I accept…’ then click next

Figure 2

3. On the customer information page, enter your name and organisation details.

Figure 3

4. You are now ready to install the program:

Figure 4

The installation will now start

After a short while the following screen will be displayed to indicate successful installation

Figure 5

Once the install completed page appears, click finish.

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View server details within web reports

The server will be automatically scanned by the server software and the machine details will be added to the systemhound database. As systemhound is lightweight and runs in the background it will only take a couple of minutes for the details to be collected and processed.

After a short while, navigate to the systemhound menu installed under

and select Programs->systemhound->Reporting.

Figure 6

This will launch the main reporting web site of systemhound (as below).

Figure 7

Confirm that the systemhound central server machine is reported by clicking on the server shown under "Machine count".

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Client machine installation

To collect the details of additional machines in your company you can manually install the systemhound client using the provided Windows Installer package. Manual installation is fine for evaluation but the next section provides alternative deployment options which are available. 

The client install msi is deployed as a single file as part of the central server installation
into the folder systemhound\utils\LoginscriptInstallation.
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Alternative deployment options

Other deployment options are available including (all utilising the Windows Installer package):

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Manual installation

1. Double click the file "systemhound client.msi" to start this installer.

Figure 8

2. Click next, please read the licence agreement and indicate your acceptance by selecting ’I accept…’ then click next

Figure 9

5. On the customer information page, enter your name and organisation details and click next.

Figure 10

6. On the next page enter the server name of the systemhound central server. This is the DNS hostname of the computer that you installed the systemhound central server software onto. Once you have entered the name click next.

Figure 11

7. The installer will attempt to validate and contact the server name you entered. If you receive an error of "Failed to connect to server" (Figure 12) then confirm you’ve entered the server name correctly and confirm that the PC can "ping" the server correctly.

Figure 12

8. Once the server name has been validated, the installer is ready to deploy the systemhound agent software. Click next.

Figure 13

9. After a short while the following screen will be displayed to indicate successful installation

Figure 14

The machine will be audited by systemhound within a few minutes of installation and you will be able view the information gathered by viewing the web reports on the central server (Figure 7).

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Automated deployment via Group Policy

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How to deploy the systemhound client MSI installer via active directory

The following steps can be followed to configure Microsoft Active Directory Group Policy to deploy the systemhound client to your pc estate. Before starting make sure you are logged in as an administrator. 

The client install msi is deployed as a single file as part of the central server installation
into the folder systemhound\utils\LoginscriptInstallation.
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Creating an MSI administrative install

Create an Administrative Installation of the systemhound client msi by typing the following at the command line: 

MSIEXEC.EXE /a "<Path>\systemhound-client.msi" CENTRALSERVERNAME=<systemhound Servername>

Where 

<systemHound Servername> represents the name of your systemhound central server
<Path>                   represents the location of the “systemhound client.msi” file

This will launch the Administrative Installation wizard. Be sure to install the systemhound Client installation package to a network share capable of being accessed by all computers you wish to install the software onto. Once the administrative installation point is in place, you can assign or publish the application from Active Directory so that it is made available to your computers or users. The 'systemhound central server name' you provided on the command line will be stored within the administrative install - be sure that the computers that receive the software install will be able to perfrom a TCP/IP 'ping' against the server.

Tip: It is recommended that you create a dns entry for yout systemhound cental server rather than using the hostname in case you change the server name in the future.

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Configuring a group policy

The systemhound client must be assigned to Computers (and not Users) because it audits the PC and not the user. Using either 'Active Directory Users and Computers', or the 'Group Policy Management Console', edit the Group Policy that affects the computers you wish to make this software available to.

  • Select 'Computer Configuration' and double click 'Software Settings'
  • Next, in the console tree, right click Software Installation, and select New Package from the menu.

  • Select the MSI-package from the Administrative Installation you created earlier. In the Browse Box, enter the UNC path to the MSI file deployed earlier. You must only use UNC paths here, and never paths that include drive letters.

  • Choose a deployment option of 'assigned'

Exit the GPO management application

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Deployment

When your users reboot their machines systemhound will be installed whilst they log on. (Install time may vary depending on network speed and traffic).

Once the user has logged on, the client install will complete and the machine will report to the systemhound Server.

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Administrative Rights

systemhound client installs a windows service and therefore requires administrative rights during the install. If the user performing the install does not have administration rights to their pc the following FAQ may be of assistance to you : How To Allow Users Who Are Not Administrators to Install MSI Packages


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Additional Reference

KB324750 HOW TO: Assign Software to a Specific Group By Using a Group Policy

KB816102 HOW TO: Use Group Policy to Remotely Install Software in Windows Server (includes uninstall)

KB321713 HOW TO: Use Group Policy to Set Automatic Installation Options Based Network

KB314934 HOW TO: Use Group Policy to Remotely Install Software in Windows 2000

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Automated deployment via Login script

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Client install tool

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Introduction

The preferred deployment mechanism for systemhound 2007 clients is to deploy the client MSI (Windows Installer) via Active directory.

The client install tool provides an alternative approach to this enabling you to deploy (and uninstall) the client software via a login script but still using the MSI deployment package. It is suitable for all Windows platforms where the pre-requisites are met.

Each time the tool is launched it checks whether the client is installed before launching the client MSI. Deployment is controlled by a parameterised INI file where you can specify the basic rules the tool uses to decide on whether to deploy or not.

To following pre-requisites are required for deploying using the tool:

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Configuration

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Required Files

Copy the files clientinstall.exe and clientinstall.exe.ini from "C:\Program Files\systemhound\Utils\LoginscriptInstallation" to a shared network location where they can be referenced by your login scripts. Also copy the client installer "systemhound client.msi" to the same location.

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Editing Configuration

Open the file clientinstall.exe.ini within notepad and ensure that the following entry contains the name of the systemhound central server:

You can now add a call to clientinstall.exe within your login scripts to deploy systemhound out to your company’s computers.

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Monitoring Deployment Progress

Whenever the tool launches the installer, the file deployments.ini is updated. This file is created within the same directory as the clientinstall.exe and contains two INI file sections: SUCCESS and FAILURE. Each entry under these sections contains the machine name as the field name and the username and date of entry as the value.

In addition to this the log file generated by the Windows Installer is stored in the same directory. This log file is named with the client computer’s name as its prefix and should be used to troubleshoot deployment.

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Alternative Scenarios

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Moving systemhound central server

Ideally you would use a registered DNS entry to refer to your systemhound central server but if this was not possible and you rename or move your systemhound central server to another PC you will need to redeploy the systemhound client to reflect the host name change. By editing the value "expected value" within the [installedok] section of clientinstall.exe.ini you can force the reinstall of the client software should the client machine be referring to a different central server name. For example replace "expectedvalue=*" with "expectedvalue=newcentralservername".

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Uninstalling systemhound

Should you need to remove the systemhound client, repeat the configuration steps detailed for deploying but when calling clientinstall.exe from within your login scripts add the command line argument ’UNINSTALL’. 

clientinstall.exe UNINSTALL

Of course you can also manually remove the client software from within Add/Remove programs inside Windows Control Panel.

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Automated deployment via Drive Imaging

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Deployment via drive imaging

Deployment of systemhound using drive imaging technologies such as Symantec© Ghost© is support however it does requires special consideration because the systemhound server allocates each systemhound client a unique id. Therefore, when deploying systemhound via drive imaging software you must follow the following steps prior to taking an image that includes the systemhound client:

1. Stop the systemhound scheduler service on the machine

Windows NT/ 2000/ XP/ 2003/ Vista (administrative rights are required)

  • Stop the systemhound scheduler service via services within control panel

Windows 95, 98 & ME

  • Start\Run "c:\program files\systemhound\shservice.exe" -stopall


2. Delete all files under c:\program files\systemhound\logs

3. Delete the registry values machine_id and machine_id2 from under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\systemhound key using the regedit utility 

Note: If the machine is rebooted whilst on the network the above steps must be repeated to ensure the client does not re-register itself with the systemhound server.
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Automated deployment via Remote Deployment Wizard

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Introduction

The install wizard can be used to deploy the msi remotely but its use is limited with the prevalence of firewalls with Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista. As of systemhound 2007, this is no longer the recommended way to install clients to Win NT/2000/XP Pro/2003/Vista machines. The preferred deployment mechanism is via Active Directory policy. 

You must use an administrator account to use the Install Wizard.
  1. When deploying within a Windows WORKGROUP rather than a DOMAIN network environment you must ensure that the target machines do not enforce Guest access from the network. This is enabled as a default on Windows XP PRO and Windows VISTA. MS290403
  2. The remote installation tool will need to access the remote machines file-system and remote management interface. Firewalls should be configured appropriately. MS840634
  3. The remote installation tool attempts to access the machine using the file share ADMIN$. This is not available on some 'home' operating systems such as Windows XP Home / Windows VISTA Home and an alternative deployment option should be used. Category:Deployment
  4. Virus protection on the remote machine may prevent the systemhound remote installation service from being installed. This has been seen to occur when Symantec or McAffee application protection products are installed.
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Launching the application

On the systemhound server, go to Start/Programs/systemhound/Tools/Install Wizard/systemhound console. This will open up the systemhound console. From within this application click the 'deploy' button under 'remotely install systemhound' tp open the remote install utility as shown in Figure 1. Alternatively run the program from the file system at "Program Files\systemhound\Utils\RemoteInstall\shwizMSI.exe"

Figure 1

Choose the Install mode (this is selected by default) and click Next

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Target Selection

The next screen (Figure 2) shows the domain / workgroups installed across your Microsoft Windows Network and allows you to select computers to install the systemhound client to. You can select individual machines, a domain or machines by IP range.

Figure 2

To select individual machines, click on the ’+’ sign next to the domain. Highlight a machine from the list and click on Add. This machine will now appear in the target client list on the right. If you are not logged in to the domain the machine belongs to, you will be prompted to enter an administration username and password for that domain. This must be entered using the domain\username format. Note that only Win NT/2000/XP/2003 machines can be installed using the Install Tool; you will not be able to select any Win 9x machines.


Alternatively, you can find a machine on the network by name or IP address by choosing the Find option as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3

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Add by Domain

To select a domain or workgroup to install systemhound clients to, instead of individual machines, highlight the domain/workgroup and choose Add Level. This will add all WinNT/2000/XP/2003 machines shown under that domain / workgroup to the list of target clients on the right. It is recommended to check the Batch Mode option; this prevents all pop up boxes from showing and eliminates the need for any user input, thus speeding the process of machine selection.

Pop up boxes will appear if a username/password is required (Figure 4) or to display error messages; these could result from Win 9x machines being discovered on the domain/workgroup that is selected, or if the Install Tool is unable to access the registry on the target machine. Once the machines have been selected and the clients are installed, you can return to those machines with installation issues. Note that selecting an entire domain can take some time as each machine’s suitability for a client install has to be determined; a progress bar (Figure 5) will display as this is being carried out.

Figure 4

Figure 5

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Add by IP Range

Clients can also be selected by IP Range. Choose the Add IP Range option to discover all suitable machines within a given IP range. Input an IP range into the dialog box as shown in Figure 6. Click OK to initiate the discovery process, as shown in Figure 7. Once this is complete, it will then proceed to check each machine to determine its suitability for a client installation (Figure 8). As with using the Add Level option, you may find it better to use the Batch Mode option to prevent pop up boxes from showing.

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

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Confirmation

Any machine that is selected for client installation will have an icon to its left which indicates whether a systemhound client has been installed on the machine or not. Hover the mouse over an icon for more details.

blue Indicates no systemhound client is installed.
green Indicates systemhound client is already present.
red Indicates systemhound client is present but not running due to a problem.
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Central Server Details

Once machines for installation have been selected, click Next. The next screen shown in Figure 9 will indicate the systemhound central server automatically. The central server can be defined by DNS Name or IP. Identification of the server via DNS abstraction is the most flexible option and recommended. By default, the central server name is displayed.

Figure 9

The following Batch Install Options shown are available:

  • Do not install software where server already has systemhound installed

The client software will not be installed on the user machine if already present. Uncheck this box if you are re-installing a client.

  • Report installation errors as they occur

Indicates that installation will stop at the first error, but you will have the option to carry on. If it is unchecked, the installation will continue to the end even if errors occur. For example, if the 56th machine failed, it would still install machines 57-100. The installation log file will record details for all client installations.


Click Next to be shown the list of machines selected for installation, as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10

Click on Install to start the installation process. The client software will now be installed on to the remote user machines.

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Completion Screen

Fig 11 shows the end of a successful install process. A log file of the install process is created as indicated, in the Program Files\systemhound\logs folder.

Figure 11

Note: A successful installation does not necessarily indicate that client data will be sent to the central server. It simply means the client software has been remotely installed successfully on the target machine. The client machine may not be able to communicate with the server. If there is a networking issue, the systemhound client may be unable to send data, which means it will not show on the systemhound reporting. When a client has been successfully installed but does not appear on the reporting, check upload.log on the problem client machine in the first instance, for details of any errors. The remote install agent also writes to the event log (source name of ’systemhound ri’) on the target machine so please also review the event entries to check for errors.

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