After you have completed the configuration steps and clients have completed a hardware inventory, you are ready to distribute custom software updates to clients. Use the following procedure to distribute the custom updates to clients.

To distribute a custom software update to an SMS client

  1. In the SMS Administrator console, navigate to Software Updates node:

      Systems Management Server

      └ Site Database <sitecode - sitename>

        └ Software Updates

  2. On the Action menu, point to All Tasks and click Distribute Software Updates. Click Next.

  3. Click Select an update type, and select the name of the custom updates catalog from the drop-down list. Click Next.

  4. Select New and click Next.

  5. Type a name for the Custom Update package in the Package name box. Click Next.

  6. Type the name of your organization in the Organization box. Click Next.

  7. Click Next to accept the default values of the Custom Updates Tool program and package.

    When the Add and Remove Updates dialog box appears, it displays a list of custom software updates that are applicable for the site. The Requested column indicates the number of clients for which the custom software update is applicable.

  8. Select the custom software updates to distribute by checking the box to the left of the specific updates. Click Next.

  9. Click Next to automatically download the custom software update from the Internet. After the custom update has downloaded, click Next. Skip to step 15.

  10. To use a local source, click I will download the source files myself. Click Next.

  11. When manually downloading custom software updates, the Ready value is set to No initially. This indicates that the custom software update file location has not been designated yet. Highlight the custom software update and click Properties.

    The Binary path displays the full Internet path of the custom software update as it appears in the catalog. To download the file manually, browse to this location from the Internet-connected computer and save the custom software update to a location that can be accessed from the site server.

  12. Click Import to browse to the location of the manually downloaded custom software update. Click Open.

  13. The wizard verifies the imported custom software update against the long file name listed in the catalog. If the wizard cannot verify the custom software update you imported, it warns you with the Software Update Security Validation dialog box and asks if you want to continue. Click Yes if you are sure the custom software update is correct, click No to return to the dialog box, or click Tell Me More to go to the SMS 2003 R2 Catalog and Software Update Security Validation Dialog Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sms/sms2003/secdialog.mspx) for more information.

  14. Click OK and the software update should now have a status of Ready. Click Next.

  15. Select the SMS distribution points to use for client access to the custom software update. Click Next.

  16. Configure the installation agent settings on the next three wizard pages, and click Next on each page.

    Note
    For more information about the installation agent settings, see the SMS 2003 help file. You can access the help file by pressing F1 or clicking Help Topics from the Help menu item in the SMS Administrator console.
  17. Select the Advertise item to create an advertisement for the custom software updates. Specify the collection to target and a recurrence interval for the custom software updates. Click Next.

    Note
    If a more recent version of the software update is already installed on the client when the advertisement is received, the custom update installation is not performed and the most recent version remains on the client.
  18. Click Finish.

See Also