[THIN] Re: Installation Manager vs. Cloning
- From: "Waller, Tom" <twaller@xxxxxxx>
- To: <thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 16:05:14 -0400
Not sure what version you are using, but the current version has Package
groups allow you to group apps together and specify order of
installation.
________________________________
From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Joe Shonk
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2006 10:43 AM
To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [THIN] Re: Installation Manager vs. Cloning
The problem I have with IM:
Cannot select the order things are installed. (This can be really
important)
Cannot chain several application installs between reboot.
Many application require repackaging for IM because, well not every app
is an .msi package. If I use IM to launch a .cmd file, well I have to
create the script anyways.
Repackaged Apps are harder to reverse engineer that scripts. In a way
scripts are self documenting.
Most installations require some type of customization/clean up that
requires a script anyways.
You still need a method for applying an OS and Presentation server.
Not every server in your Citrix Environment will be running Presentation
Server (Web Interface, License servers, etc).
As a consultant, scripts are easily portable and customizable. I wrote
a set of script that works well with and without a deployment tool (such
as altiris). Works great for multiple silo, non-TS servers and It also
generates a report of what installed and what failed.
Personally, have a deployment tool such as Altiris is the way to go...
My second choice, it to lay down an unconfigured OS (Ghost or otherise)
and the let the scripts handle the rest.
On 6/15/06, Rick Mack <Rick.Mack@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Joe,
Gotta disagree with a couple of your comments. Unless your organization
is using something like Altiris already, if you've got the Citrix
enterprise product you should consider using IM.
It does a pretty good job of controlling software installation and
keeping track of what's happened. There are things IM does really well
like letting you co-ordinate software installation and time-based load
balancing so you can maintain 100% farm uptime during a software
installation cycle.
The ability to use multiple packaging/installation technologies from a
single control point isn't real bad either. You can push out MSIs or
other custom installs, registry updates, file updates etc to your Citrix
servers. As an example, you can use it as a front end to update SAPGUI
on demand.
Probably it's biggest drawback is it doesn't record/inventory what's
already installed on a server. So if you clone or even just rename a
server, or move it from your development farm to a production farm,
you've got no record of what's been installed on that server. It doesn't
let you modify all the package properties, so the easiest way to
modify/update a package is to remove it and re-add it in the management
console. That loses all the IM information in the datastore for that
piece of software on your servers.
It's actually not that hard to get the IM-installed software inventory
off a system, but I'm not aware of any way to pump that into the
datastore. So the IM interface doesn't have a reliable way of telling
you exactly what's been installed on a server.
But if it did have an inventory capability, it'd actually be pretty darn
good.
regards,
Rick
Ulrich Mack
Volante Systems
________________________________
From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of Joe Shonk
Sent: Fri 16/06/2006 5:14
To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [THIN] Re: Installation Manager vs. Cloning
With IM, you still have to drop an OS with Citrix on the server. Also
note, with IM there is no gaurantee that applications will be installed
in the order you'd like them to be.
From personal experience, no one really uses IM. Sure there are a few,
but there are better solutions out there.
Imaging is OK but there is still some clean up work that has to be
performed.
Scripting is the way to go. Sure, it's bit of work to setup but when
your done you'll have flexibility to the nth degree.
Joe
On 6/15/06, Chad King <caking76@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Some things I've come up with..
Pro's and Con's For using Installation Manager
Pro - Easy to upgrade apps (No need to update and recapture the
image)
Pro - Easy and Clean uninstallation of apps (either before an
upgrade or for troubleshooting)
Pro - Easy to manage application deployment for custom builds
Pro - No need to reimage all machines for major upgrades (Apps
that don't uninstall cleanly)
Con - Currently using imaging (There has been a lot of time
invested into this process already)
Con - Takes longer to build a complete server
Con - Every server is gaurenteed to be the same after imaging
If anyone can throw some more Pro's and Con's to me I would
really appreciate. I'm convinced that Installation Manager is better,
cleaner, and easier in the long run but I have done both in the past and
can't say one's hands down better than the other. I'm looking for
realistic pros and cons not Installation Manager is best practice (if
you say that tell me why it's best practice..)
Thanks!
Chad
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