The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Systems Management Server version 1.2
SUMMARY
In some situations, you may want to have multiple shared network
applications using the same share or drive letter on the client
workstation. Although you can easily accomplish this with a single
Sharing package, the process becomes more complex when multiple packages
are involved.
The Microsoft Office 4.x sharing package that is created by using the
Package Definition Files (PDFs) supplied with Systems Management Server
gives a good example of how to set up a single Sharing package to run
multiple applications. This article concentrates on how you can configure
multiple Sharing packages delivered by Program Group Control (PGC) to use
the same network share or drive letter.
MORE INFORMATION
As an example, this article will configure two applications, Solitaire and
FreeCell, as separate Systems Management Server Sharing packages that will
both use the same network share. To do this, perform the following steps:
- Prepare the package source directory for each application.
To use a common share point, the files for each application must be
located in a subdirectory of the directory that will be defined as the
package source directory. For this example, all packages will be located
under a Package directory that is also shared as "Package."
For Solitaire, the files will be located in the Solitaire directory,
with the following structure:
Package\App1\Solitaire
For FreeCell, the files will be located in the FreeCell directory,
with the following structure:
Package\App2\FreeCell
NOTE: Defining the App1 and App2 directories as subdirectories of the
Package directory keeps Systems Management Server from combining the
source directories for both applications into the same compressed
package.
- Use the Systems Management Server Administrator program to create a
Systems Management Server Sharing package for each application. To do
this, perform the following steps:
For Solitaire
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a. Define the package source directory as \\<server>\Package\App1.
b. Define the common share that each application will use: SMS_APPS.
c. Create a program item with the following attributes for the
Solitaire package:
Description: Shared Solitaire
Command Line: Solitiaire\Sol.exe
Registry Name: solitaire
Configuration Command Line: <optional; not needed for Solitaire>
NOTE: You can customize the values defined for the Description,
Registry Name, and Configuration Command Line parameters, but you
must manually type the correct Command Line parameter for the
Solitaire directory before the executable file can be run.
d. Select the desired option for Drive Mode. For this example, select
Requires Specific Drive Letter and type "P:" for the network drive
that the client will use to connect to the SMS_APPS share on a
Systems Management Server distribution server.
For FreeCell
------------
a. Define the package source directory as \\<server>\Package\App2.
b. Define the common share that each application will use: SMS_APPS.
c. Create a program item with the following attributes for the
FreeCell package:
Description: Shared Freecell
Command Line: Freecell\Freecell.exe
Registry Name: freecell
Configuration Command Line: <optional, not needed for Freecell>
d. Select the desired option for Drive Mode, making certain to use
the same option that was chosen for the other package. Select
Requires Specific Drive Letter and type "P:".
- Use a separate Share Package On Server job for both the Solitaire and
FreeCell packages to deliver the shared applications. This creates the
following directory structure on each Systems Management Server
distribution server defined in the jobs:
Sms_apps\Freecell
Sms_apps\Solitaire
- Define one or more Systems Management Server program groups that
includes the program items created with each package.
After the Systems Management Server client's desktop has been updated with
the new icons for the shared applications, starting one of the applications
maps the network drive P: to the Sms_apps share and runs the application
from the appropriate subdirectory. The other application will also use the
same drive when it is run, thus reducing the number of network drives
consumed by these applications.
NOTE: It is important to consider that a package cannot be updated by
Systems Management Server if the drive or share is in use at the time
Systems Management Server attempts to update it. Therefore, use caution
when using the steps outlined above to configure multiple packages to use
the same share.
For example, if you needed to apply an update to Solitaire and there were
users currently playing FreeCell, the update to Solitaire could not occur
without first disconnecting all users from the Sms_apps share.
WARNING: If a Remove Package From Server job is sent to remove one of the
packages defined below the existing common share, all of the packages below
the existing share will be removed. Therefore, if you need to remove a
single package from a distribution server, it is recommended that you
manually perform this procedure.