The following checklists provide planning considerations that you should take into account before distributing software to your clients.
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| These checklists are not exhaustive and are intended only as guidelines. Some steps may be removed or added depending on the needs and policies of your site. |
Prior to distributing software to your clients, you should make the following determinations for your site:
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Determine whether to display a notification message when an advertised program is available on a client. |
Advertised Programs Client Agent Properties: Notification Tab |
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Determine whether to set a countdown period on the client before running the advertised program and how long it will be. |
Advertised Programs Client Agent Properties: Notification Tab |
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Determine what the restart countdown and notification period will be for required restarts caused by Configuration Manager. |
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Determine the location of stored packages on the site server. |
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Determine the concurrent package and retry settings for site distribution points. |
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Determine if you have adequate distribution points and branch distribution points to deliver the software to your clients. |
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Determine bandwidth throttling and BITS settings for branch distribution points as appropriate. |
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Determine if administrators and users will require specific rights (beyond the basic rights of most users) to run the programs you advertise. |
Classes and Instances for Object Security in Configuration Manager |
Each time you distribute software packages to your clients, you should also take into account the following questions or considerations before creating a software distribution package:
| Step | Reference |
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Does a package source directory need to be set up for this package? |
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Does a package definition file exist for the new package? |
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Create or locate the files, scripts, or applications that you are going to use in the package and programs being distributed. |
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Will any specific security rights or access accounts be needed to access the package (beyond basic access rights)? |
Classes and Instances for Object Security in Configuration Manager |
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Which standard or branch distribution points will be used to distribute the package to clients? |
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If using a branch distribution point for client access, how will the package be sent to the branch distribution point? |
About Standard and Branch Distribution Points |
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To which collections will the package be advertised? |
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Should the package be advertised to subcollections as well? |
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Should the package be assigned (mandatory)? |
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What schedule should be set for the advertisement or assignment? |
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Does Wake On LAN need to be enabled for this advertisement? |
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Do the collections have maintenance windows that the advertised programs will have to work within? If there are conflicts, how will they be resolved? |
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What will the program re-run behavior be for this advertised program? |
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How should the program be run from the distribution points? |