Re: Third Party applications mainteneance

Nate_Bloyd · ‎Feb 14, 2005

I have a question regarding the capabilities of AdminStudio. I am a current IS 10.5 user, and have a requirement for a new project that I need to redeploy and maintain two third party applications; one is a msi package and the other an exe, neither of them were created in InstallShield. The final install will get deployed either electronically or by cd, and is a product that only gets installed to one or two users' machines.
My main concern is with the maintenance of the third party products. I have tried a number of approaches using 10.5, without much success even in the installation. I am close, but I think sequencing has a lot to do with my issues as far as when I can launch other installs.

DavidLock · ‎Feb 15, 2005

I don't understand the question.

If you want to launch a sub-install use a custom action to kick it off. "Launch an exe custom action" ... and then , as you say, you can put it whether you want in the sequences to control when it launches.

If it is an MSI sub-install then you can't normally do it in the execute sequence. You will either have to use a nested installed (which isn't really recommended, see the help file topic on this) or launch a custom action at the end of the UI sequence.

Having said that if you work in an environment with a deployment technology it is much better to control sub-installs and dependencies that way...then you can patch them separately.

Not sure if that answers your question mate...

Nate_Bloyd · ‎Feb 15, 2005

Not really....
I guess the key here is that I am not developing this for internal deployment; I don't know what all possibilities there are as far as what technologies our clients may be using. The third party vendor provides us with an msi and an exe. I understand the whens and hows of CA's, but making sure the dependencies are handled at the appropriate times is a headache. If I run my IS 10.5 install, their msi and then their exe on a machine independently, all goes well. If I run in that order in a single setup, it fails. I was hoping that by utilizing the Repackager in AdminStudio I would be able to overcome this. I played with AdminStudio for the last day & 1/2, and I am pretty sure this is not how I want to go forward, though.
I apologize for the unclarity of my first post, but its about as difficult to deploy as it is to describe.

Thank you for your reply.

Christopher_Pai · ‎Feb 15, 2005

I think what your saying is you have a few installs to chain together and since your not having much luck doing that you'd like to know if AdminStudio could just repackage them all into 1 big MSI.

Sure it could, but it isn't cheap and as you said you only have a couple machines to install on.

Nate_Bloyd · ‎Feb 16, 2005

Thanks fior the reply, Chris. I get the vibe from those who know what's coming down the road here that we may be in line for more and more integration with third party vendors. Likewise, discussions have become more centered on what we need to do to afford our larger clients the ability to easily install our software. Yes, it isn't cheap, but, we have a subscription as it is now and it really wouldn't be that bad to add AdminStudio; if it will do what we need it to do.

Christopher_Pai · ‎Feb 16, 2005

Let's role play....

You ( an ISV ) make a great product with a crappy install and sell it to someone in my company ( one of my departments who broke the rules yet again and purchased a product without Technologies approval )

So now that department comes to me and says "Were ready to roll this product out to 2000 machines, tomorrow night!"

We roll our eyes in disbelieve and say let us see it. Suddenly the nightmare of all the install ( tons of manual steps ) becomes known and we realize that SMS is not going to be able to push this product out. The department gets upset that we can meet their deadline ( tommorow!! they actually got the product 6 months ago!! ).

So enter AdminStudio. I use it to pick the install(s) apart along with all the manual steps to build the MSI that the ISV should have given us all along. Then we test the heck out of it and deploy it.

So it's really cool that you are considering this, but you don't need AdminStudio to do it, you only need Editor. Now perhaps you need AdminStudio just to pick apart the crappy install that one of your vendors provided you as a redistributable, but that would be about it.

To make an administrator happy....

1) Always test that your install runs silently
2) Make sure you expose key properties as PUBLIC
3) Even better yet, fully document PUBLIC properties

DavidLock · ‎Feb 16, 2005

Hmmm, maybe better to spend the money on consulting to do it properly rather than a new product to hack at it with.

Nate_Bloyd · ‎Feb 16, 2005

DavidLock wrote:
Hmmm, maybe better to spend the money on consulting to do it properly rather than a new product to hack at it with.

We already pay an @$$ load of money for our 10.5 Subscriptions and support contracts. All I am looking for is a better way to facilitate current and potential future needs. If AdminStudio is capable of filling this need, then I would put my butt on the line and recommend it. If not, then I will have to work harder at getting better with what I have to work with.