by Jason Zandri
www.2000trainers.com
Welcome to the tenth installment of Learn Active Directory Design and Administration in 15 Minutes a Week, a weekly series aimed
at current IT professionals preparing to write the new Windows Active Directory Design and Administration exams (70-219 and 70-217 respectively), as well as newcomers to the field who are trying to get a solid grasp on this new and emerging directory service from Microsoft. This
installment is going to cover some of the Windows 2000 Server Software Management Tools for handling the deployment
and management of software through Group Policy. This week
is going to focus on Software Installation Mechanics and
assigning and publishing software to users and computers.
Jason Zandri’s latest article in the Learn Active Directory Design and Administration in 15 Minutes a Week covers some of the Windows 2000 Server Software Management Tools for handling the deployment and management of software through Group Policy.
Software
Installation Extension
System
Administrators can use Software Installation and Active
Directory Group Policy to centrally manage their networks
initial deployment of software, all of its upgrades,
patches, and quick fixes for the deployed software. You can
update a version of the software, replace it and even
totally remove it from systems using Software Installation
and Active Directory Group Policy.
Software
Installation settings allow you to ASSIGN software to
users or to computers. When applications are assigned to
users they are advertised to the user the next time he or
she logs on to a workstation, regardless of which
workstation that user logs in to because the software is
assigned to their account. The assigned application is
installed on the system the first time the user activates
the application on the computer (e.g. selecting the ICON
from the Start Menu, desktop or Quick Launch Menu) or by
attempting to access a file associated with the application
to be installed by assignment (e.g. double clicking on a
spreadsheet would cause Excel to be installed due to
assignment if it wasnt present on the system).
When you
ASSIGN an application to a computer, the application is
advertised to the local system, and the installation begins
when the computer is first powered up by default.
Software
Installation settings allow you to PUBLISH
applications to users only. Computers cannot have
applications published to them. When applications are
published to users, the application shortcuts are not
available on the Start Menu, desktop or Quick Launch Menu by
default. The published application is available for users to
install using Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel
or by attempting to access a file associated
with the application (e.g. double clicking on a spreadsheet
would cause Excel to be installed if it wasnt present on
the system.)