Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients

Transcription

1 Whitepaper Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Version 1.01 Blog: blog.cloud-client.info This document can be distributed / used free of charge and has no commercial background. It s not allowed to use parts of this document in other documentations, articles or any other way without the permission by the author. For questions related to the document contact mhoting@cloud-client.info. The author is not responsible for any damage related to this document incl. usage of 3 rd Party Software or configuration suggestions provided by this document. Please test any provided information in advance! Michael Hoting 2012 Whitepaper: Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Page 1

2 Task Do you ever want to install or modify a Microsoft Windows (ES / ES W7) based IGEL Thin Client? By default most people are using the old school way by creating a new snapshot, this makes sense if you change a couple of thinks in the Image like replacing the Background Image, installing a couple of printer drivers and more. But why should you send a complete image (~ 1GByte and more) thru the network when you change only a few Kbytes? One way to get this task done very simple is a partial update, IGEL do provide a small manual for this which can be downloaded here: Download This manual is helpful if you are a developer but for normal Administrators it s hard to deal with it. For this reason we will use a none IGEL Tool here: DATI (Deployment Assistant Tool for IGEL Thin Clients). This software is free of charge and provides a very simple way to create a complete partial update only with a few mouse clicks. Requirements - A running IGEL Universal Management Suite environment (Version should be 3.09.x and higher) - The Deployment Assistant Tool for IGEL Thin Clients (Freeware: Download) Please Note For this Whitepaper I ve used the IGEL Universal Management Suite Version and the IGEL Universal Desktop ES W7 Firmware Version Important: A partial Update is a very powerful tool and you can damage the IGEL software Image permanently with it! Be aware what you re doing! Test anything in advance! The author is not responsible for any damage done with this tool or not proper testing in any way! DATI Benefits - DATI is free of charge, a donation is welcome of course - Fast x86 machine code, DATI supports any Microsoft Windows platform since Windows XP - Can run from any Drive without a required installation - Compatible to the IGEL Partial Update Builder - Inbuilt Online Update check to always use the latest Version - Used by a couple of IT Professionals without any reported issues since the first Beta release - Future versions will be available incl. support for custom partition packets to use with IGEL Linux based Thin Clients and also free -> Guaranteed! Whitepaper: Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Page 2

3 Installing DATI The installation is quite simple, just download the DATI Package from the link mentioned in the Requirements section and extract the Archive to a folder on you HDD. After you ve done this just start dati.exe and read/confirm the disclaimer. After this you will get the standard DATI GUI, please note: The initial DATI release do not support the IGEL custom partition feature for Linux based Thin Clients. Now you will see the standard DATI GUI: Now you re ready to create your first partial update. What can be done with a Partial Update - Easy deployment of small changes to a Windows ES and/or ES W7 based IGEL Thin Client - Deploy MSI packets or other installers - Delete files, folders or entries from the Windows Registry - Can run automatically during the client boot time - Can access other partitions, snapshots can only deploy changes to partition C: - Whitepaper: Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Page 3

4 What can t be done with a Partial Update - Can t change files that are active during the partial update run time, for example the Microsoft Windows Gina or a service related file if the service is running. - Settings deployed to the windows registry current user are limited for an partial update, current user during a partial update is not the default user and this means: No access to the default user registry settings! Use a start script for these tasks. Important first steps First of all you should set a Project Name for your Partial Update and setup a Version Number, this information s will be also stored at the client and can be used for future Version of your partial update to deploy newer versions automatically. Please select now a project folder located on a hdd! This folder will be used to store/create the partial update script files and all other content related to the partial update (like.msi packets, batch- and registry files, graphics and more) will be automatically copied to this project folder. After you ve done your work you will find the complete partial update in this project folder. It should look like this: After you have assigned a project folder, you are now able to select Windows based options and actions for the partial update. For a list of available options and command please review the two following pages. Whitepaper: Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Page 4

5 Available Options for Windows based partial Updates Check available space for drive C: If this option is enabled, the script will check the available space for drive C: when deploying the partial update to the Thin Client. Only files and folders deployed to drive C: will be calculated, this option did not recognize empty space if files or folders are deleted with the same partial update. Check available space for another drive If this option is enabled, the script will check the available space for a specified drive when deploying the partial update to the Thin Client. Same limitations like the previous option! Reboot after deploying Partial Update After the partial update is deployed to the Thin Client, the Thin Client will execute an extra reboot. Shutdown after deploying Partial Update After the partial update has been deployed to the Thin Client a shutdown will be performed. Run script in protected mode Enable this option to make sure that the partial update will be executed on the Thin Client. Errors will be complete ignored! No record in the thin client update journal The partial update will not be recorded in the thin client journal, this means and update will or can run several times! Record in Windows Event Log after partial update is finished The partial update will create an entry in the Windows Eventlogs when finished. Use MD5 checksums to secure the partial update All files get a MD5 checksum to prevent a damaged download or corrupt data during the partial update. Please note: If you modify or replace a file you have to recreate the partial update with DATI again. Set full rights for deployed folders/files to users All deployed files and folder can be accessed by the USERS group. If this option is disabled, only the ADMINISTRATORS group can access the deployed files and folders. Whitepaper: Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Page 5

6 Available commands for Windows based partial Updates Deploy registry file to Thin Client Windows registry Deploy and import a registry file (*.reg) to the Thin Client Windows registry. Deploy file to Thin Client Deploy only one file to the Thin Client, target drive/folder can be selected. Deploy several files from same folder to Thin Client This option allows you to select several files from one folder in one step, after that the selected files will be deployed like a folder. Deploy folder with content to Thin Client Deploy a folder with files or subfolders to the Thin Client. This options deploys the complete content to the Thin Client, there is no limitation for files or subfolders. In some scenarios the Options "Check available space on drive C:" should be enabled. Create empty folder on Thin Client Create one empty folder on the Thin Client, the folder name and the target drive can be selected. Remove file or folder from Thin Client Delete a file or folder on the Thin Client, folder or file name can be selected. Remove entry from Thin Client Windows registry Remove a single key or path from the Thin Client Windows registry. Warning: This works recursive, if handled in the wrong way this option can destroy the windows registry! Execute command Execute a command during the partial update; this could be a installer or a batch file. Following actions will be stopped until the command execution is done. Execute command as separate process Same like execute command but without any delay for following actions, Warning: Dangerous! Windows installer From here you can install or uninstall.msi packets to the Thin Client. This is a very comfortable way to deploy an application. This routine will add all needed actions to the "Partial Update action" window. Install Microsoft Update (KB) unattended and Other installers This will offer the same functions like for the Windows installer for other Installer packets, for example updates from Microsoft. Please note: Not all regular Windows XP or Windows 7 updates can be applied to the embedded operating systems. Check this in advance! Whitepaper: Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Page 6

7 Save a project file for a partial Update After you have assigned some action to the partial update you can save the project and use it later for modifications or to change options. To save the project just select the Menu File and then select Save Project Now you can select the name for the project file and locate the path where the project file should be saved, the file extension is always.dti. Please note: DATI is able to handle also project files from the IGEL Easys Partial Update Builder (EPUB) but these project files will be converted to the DATI format once written to the harddisk. Whitepaper: Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Page 7

8 Create a partial Update After you added some actions to your partial update and you have saved your project file, you are now able to create your Partial Update. Expand the Windows based Menu and select Create Partial Update The partial update will be created in the project folder and you will get a receipt message like this: Now open you project folder, in my sample it looks like this now: Whitepaper: Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Page 8

9 You can see now three files: Procmon.exe = The file I want to deploy to the Thin Client manifest.lua = The partial update Header File script.lua = The partial update itself. The manifest.lua always looks in the same way, from my sample it looks like this: INFO = { NAME = "My first partial update", VERSION = 1, DESCRIPTION = "Do something... :-)", SCRIPT = "02774b5799b ea2c4cd5b3a63" } Header Partial Update Name Partial Update Version Number Partial Update Description MD5 Checksum End of manifest.lua The content of the script.lua depends on the partial update actions and is more flexible, also let s get a small view on my sample. Partial Update: My first partial update created with Deployment Assistant Tool for IGEL Thin Clients Version 1.00 USE THIS PARTIAL UPDATE ON YOUR OWN RISK! Donate if you like Deployment Assistant Tool for IGEL Thin Clients Timestamp: :13 Script section MD5 checksum protection enabled, you have to generate a new script if you modify or replace the files Unprotected Mode, errors in script will abort action Create folder C:\test fs.mkdir("c:\\test") set userrights C:\test sys.exec("setacl.exe -on \"C:\\test\" -ot file -actn ace -ace \"n:users;p:profile\" -rec cont_obj") deploy file Procmon.exe PKG:get("Procmon.exe", "C:\\test\\Procmon.exe", "cc81571ccc4f382c90548e8f694023cf") set userrights C:\test\Procmon.exe sys.exec("setacl.exe -on \"C:\\test\\Procmon.exe\" -ot file -actn ace -ace \"n:users;p:profile\" -rec cont_obj") End of script.lua Marked in Blue you can see the script header, it contains a couple of information s to the partial update. Marked in read you see the important part of the script and the created command by DATI. Please remember If you re using MD5 checksums: DO NOT CHANGE THE SCRIPT WITHOUT THE USE OF DATI. Whitepaper: Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Page 9

10 Deploy the partial updates Now you can deploy your partial update to the Thin Client, you can use the IGEL Universal Suite for this task by following the IGEL Manual (see also Quick deployment guide on the next page) or you can use any other Webserver. Please note: Depending on the Partial Update the process to deploy the packet take some time- DO NOT SWITCH OFF THE THIN CLIENT DURING THE PARTIAL UPDATE PROCESS Deploy multiple Partial Updates thru catalog.lua If you want to deploy a couple different partial update you can use the catalog.lua feature, to do this copy all you partial updates do one folder on your webserver / IGEL UMS Server. In DATI you can now select the option MISC->Catalog LUA for Windows Partial Updates. Two options are available: 1) Create catalog.lua that contains all subfolders All Partial Updates in the main folder will be added to the catalog.lua file. 2) Create advanced catalog.lua This option allows you to select separate partial updates and you can also change the order how the partial updates will be installed at the Client. In the picture below you can see two activated partial updates and with the arrows you can change the position. By selecting OK a catalog.lua will be created with only these selected partial updates available. Using this system allows to create and combine several partial updates in one step and quite simple. Whitepaper: Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Page 10

11 Quick deployment Guide thru IGEL Universal Management Suite This is a quick deployment Guide to show you how you can deploy a Partial Update thru the IGEL Universal Management Suite very fast. 1) Create a new folder on your UMS Server HDD s like c:\partialupdate and copy your partial update folder(s) in this folder. If you want to work with the catalog.lua, create the catalog.lua in the main folder (c:\partialupdate) in this sample. 2) Open the IGEL UMS Administrator Tool and create a new Snapshot-File source 3) Click on a Apply and close the UMS Administrator 4) Open the IGEL UMS Console and login with your main administrator account 5) Create or Edit a profile based for the Windows ES / Windows ES 7 firmwares and open the profile 6) Go to System->Update->Partial Update and edit the settings like below, make sure that you type in the right UMS Main Administrator credentials! If you don t want to use the main Administrator, you can also create a new (Service) account in the UMS Console->System->Administrator accounts (don t forget to assign correct rights in Snapshot Management!!). Whitepaper: Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Page 11

12 7) If you have done this, assign the profile to a test client and run the command WES/XPe->Partial Update without any given Options. 8) Verify the the partial update run on the client device, this will need a little bit time! 9) After the partial update process is done, you can verify the result in the IGEL Setup->System->Update- >Partial Update tab local at the client. 10) If everything is done and verified, you can roll out the partial update to other clients. Whitepaper: Create and deploy a partial Update for IGEL Universal Desktop ES based Thin Clients Page 12