The software directory management feature (see Figure 6.18, shown just a bit later) is a powerful tool. A Software Distribution Directory object represents a directory on a file server that contains GroupWise software. These objects can be assigned to post offices, but each post office can be assigned to only one Software Distribution Directory. Figure 6.18. Defining a Software Distribution Directory
Your scheme for managing software distribution directories can have a huge impact on your successful rollout of the GroupWise client, or on upgrading the GroupWise client. Chapter 12, "Administering the GroupWise Client," goes into a significant amount of detail on leveraging the software distribution directories to your advantage. There are several things you might want to do with software distribution directories as part of your GroupWise administration:
Creating a Software Distribution Directory is straightforward. Chapter 12 will give you a better understanding as to why you should create a Software Distribution Directory. Creating New Software Distribution DirectoriesClicking the Create button from the Software Distribution Directory Management window results in the dialog box shown in Figure 6.18. Software distribution directories describe a directory that typically exists. When you first installed GroupWise 7, you most likely established a Software Distribution Directory (SDD). The purpose for defining an SDD is to associate the SDD to post offices so that the users of that post office can update their GroupWise clients when upgrades happen. The following are the fields you fill in when defining a Software Distribution Directory:
Note The process responsible for this copy operation is ConsoleOne, running on your workstation. It might not be wise to use this feature to populate software distribution directories across a wide area network (WAN). In these cases, you should not use the Copy software from this feature. Instead, have someone local to that server manually copy the GroupWise 7 Admin & Client software from CDs into the directory you specified. Editing or Moving Existing DirectoriesMoving a Software Distribution Directory is simple, and is accomplished by following these two steps:
Note Be careful about editing SDDs; this causes a number called the bump number to be incremented on all post offices that point to this defined SDD. This could cause users to start receiving prompts that there is new GroupWise software available. You'll find more about this subject in Chapter 12. Deleting Existing DirectoriesThe Software Distribution Directory Management window can be used to delete the SDD object, but the directory itself must be deleted manually. This action prevents accidental deletion of software in cases in which SDD objects share physical directories. Patching or Updating Existing DirectoriesThe Update tool (shown in Figure 6.19) is used only after a patch or an upgrade has been applied to an SDD somewhere on the system. For instructions regarding applying patches, refer to the readme file or files associated with that particular patch. Figure 6.19. The Update Software Distribution Directory dialog box
After one directory on the system has been updated, you can use this interface to copy the updated files from the updated directory to other directories. Note Again, be careful about using this to distribute software across the WAN. It is probably a wiser use of bandwidth to patch or update a remote SDD while on location. The Force Auto-Update Check by GroupWise Components check box exists to alert the GroupWise client that new software is available. When you check this box and click OK, the new software bump number associated with this SDD is incremented by one. Therefore, this is not something to be undertaken lightly! Every GroupWise client that attaches to any post office assigned to this SDD must browse to the UNC path and determine whether the code in the directory is newer than the code on the user's workstation. If the UNC path is not available (that is, the user has no rights to the directory), and SETUPIP is not configured, an error will be reported. This subject, along with SETUPIP, is covered in Chapter 12. |