Tony,
OCS is quite powerful in terms of pushing applications, scripts and patches
and works well.
The difficulty with this tends to be automating the installations - there
are so many application packaging methods for windows like NullSoft, Wise,
Inno, InstallShield, MSI, Online Installers etc. that it can take some time
to get to grips with each. Nightmare. Pushing an executable or script to
the machines is probably the least of your worries and if the machines are
not standardised you can't assume anything - dll versions, location of
Program Files folder, file associations etc.
I've used AutoIT for a few utility functions, IzArc is great for turning
zip files into executables. You could also have a look for WGET - an
attempt at a windows package system, and the Unattended project on
SourceForge. Both are very interesting and my next ports of call on this
topic. Another tip is to write to the registry at the end of all
installation packages then set up OCS to read this key - this way you've
achieved a full loop from software push back to inventory database.
Andrew Clarke
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