Description

LANDESK Management Suite has the option to deploy a Remote Console that looks and acts very similar to the Admin Console on the core server. This console is 64-bit and can only be installed on 64-bit operating systems. Users can install the Remote Console to their own machines using the same install files that are used to install the LANDESK Management Suite Core Server. When deploying multiple Remote Console's in an environment it is helpful to deploy it silently to certain users with LANDESK's Software Distribution tool to automate the install process for users.

This document will discuss what command-line parameters are necessary to install the console with no user interaction, and also how to setup a Windows Actions package in LANDESK Management Suite to automate the deployment to multiple users.

Solution

Command line for silent install

Some of you may only be here to find the command line switches necessary to run the install silently. Here... take it and leave if you must! But you may learn something if you read on.

• C:\LANDESKSoftwareXXXX\Setup.exe /s Feature=RemoteConsole

Obtain a copy of the installer

• First things first, we need the install media. If you do not already have this downloaded please get the information here: Where to download LANDesk Management Suite / Security Suite products

Preparing the install files

To run a silent install we need to first unpack the install files out of the EXE format and put them into a ZIP format. This is necessary so that we can pass the proper command line switches

The EXE that you download is a self-extracting executable, and not the EXE used to install the client although it will automatically launch the Setup.exe once it finishes unpacking the files.

1. Run the LANDESKSoftwareXXXX.exe that was downloaded from the LANDESK website.
2. This will extract all the install files to the C:\LANDESKSoftwareXXXX directory by default.
3. Once the extraction is complete Setup.exe will automatically launch providing you with the install GUI that you can follow through to install the Remote Console if desired. But, we want to set this up to run silently...
4. Cancel out of the setup.exe installer to close it.
5. Navigate to C:\ so that you can see the C:\LANDESKSoftwareXXXX folder.
6. Right click on the folder and select "Send to... - Compressed (zipped) Folder", this will create a ZIP of the "LANDESKSoftwareXXXX" directory.
7. You should now have a ZIP file called LANDESKSoftwareXXXX.zip.
8. Copy this file to your Software Distribution share on your network.

Configure your deployment package

As of LANDESK 2016 we have a new package type that makes this process much easier called the Windows Actions Package. This is the package type we will be using to deploy the Remote Console. Below I have attached an export of the a Windows Actions Package that is already configured for deployingthe Remote Console, and only needs to know where to download the ZIP we just created, and the file path to find it once it is on the client.

Import the package

1. Download the attached "LANDESK Remote Console.ldms", move that file over to the device you are using to run the LANDESK Management Suite Console.
2. In the Management Suite Console go to Tools - Distribution - Distribution Packages.
3. Right click on the My Packages folder, and select the "Import..." option.
4. Navigate to the "LANDESK Remote Console.ldms" file and select "Open"
5. On the Import Options screen we recommend using the "Insert items into selected group or owner" this is usually the second option. Nevertheless, use the option that works best for your environment.
6. Click Import.
7. Once the import completes, click close.
8. Locate the package under the My Packages folder.

Modify the package

1. First, we need to add the ZIP we created to the package so that it will get downloaded to the client.
   1. Open the LANDESK Remote Console distribution package.
   2. In the view on the left side of the window, select "Additional Files"
   3. In the field with the file path listed, change that to either the UNC or HTTP path where you would like clients to download the ZIP file from.
   4. Click the blue arrow button to the right to update the directory listing under "Available Files"
   5. Locate the LANDESKSoftwareXXXX.zip that was created earlier, then click the ">>" button to add it to the "Additional Files" list.
   6. Take note of the whole path used for the ZIP.
   7. The ZIP is now added to the package, and will automatically be downloaded to the client when the package is deployed.
   8. Click Save.
2. Next, we need to figure out the file path the client will initially find the ZIP file at after it has been downloaded. Although LANDESK downloads files to the "sdmcache" folder by default, the location under that directory can vary from one environment to the next.
   1. On step 1.6 you noted down the path to the ZIP file, it should look something like this:
      • http://FileServer/PackageShare/PackageFolder/LANDESKSoftwareXXXX.zip
      • \\FileServer\PackageShare\PackageFolder\LANDESKSoftware.zip
   2. When LANDESK downloads files to the agent it will place them in "C:\Program Files (x86)\LANDesk\LDClient\sdmcache\..."
      
   3. The "..." at the end of that path is the part we have to work out to update the package so that the "Unzip Action" in the package knows where to find the ZIP to be unpacked.
   4. Files in the "sdmcache" folder are organized according to the file structure on the share they were downloaded from. So, based on the examples above the ZIP will be downloaded to:
      • C:\Program Files (x86)\LANDesk\LDClient\sdmcache\PackageShare\PackageFolder\LANDESKSoftwareXXXX.zip
   5. For the sake of simplicity we can use the %LD_CLIENT_DIR% variable for the first part of the file path. So the path we will plug into the package becomes:
      
      • %LD_CLIENT_DIR%\sdmcache\PackageShare\PackageFolder\LANDESKSoftwareXXXX.zip
3. Finally we need to add this updated file path into the package.
   
   1. Open the LANDESK Remote Console distribution package.
   2. In the view on the left side of the window, select "Actions"
   3. In the Actions box, select the "Unzip File" action.
   4. Below in the Arguments box, on the "Source File" line, you will see a path that resembles the path we resolved on step 2.5.
   5. Replace that path, with the path resolved on step 2.5.
   6. Click Save.
4. We now have the package prepared to deploy. Right click on it and schedule out to a test client to ensure it is functional before trying to deploy it to a larger audience.
   
5. Also it is important to take into consideration the size of the ZIP file that this package will download to machines, it is at a minimum 2.5 GB, and possibly larger. Plan accordingly.

Conclusion

If you run into any problems, please review the package in detail and ensure that you have made the proper changes. Feel free to comment below with any issues or suggest updates to the document.