Installation Process on Terminal Servers

From DSM's "technical perspective" Terminal Servers are just a special type of managed computers. Due to the peculiarities of Terminal Servers, how­ever, there are a number of differences from "normal" managed computers.
Ivanti DSM recognizes a Terminal Server automatically and considers this when creating policies for the installation of packages.

Assigning packages

The same packages can be used for installations on Terminal Servers and FAT clients (i.e. normal managed computers), it is not necessary to maintain two packages. The package execution is automatically "switched on" by the Installer at runtime (execution of the package), if the package is executed on a terminal server.

Assigning packages to computers

A package can be assigned to a Terminal Server directly. If you are using several Terminal Servers or a Terminal Server Farm, the packages can be assigned to the respective containers or groups.

The packages will be installed on the Terminal Server during the installation timeframe and will be available to all Terminal users later. Packages containing user-related portions are installed when the individual user logs on or when the link is clicked.
If you want to exclude specific users from installing user-related portions, you can exclude the respective user when assigning the package.

Assigning packages to users

If you want to install a package on Terminal Servers that is to be available to specific users only, you can also assign the package to the specific user directly.
The computer-related portions will be installed as usual with the Service Installer on the Terminal Server but the user-related portions are only installed for the specified users.

Automatic Installation Only

Service Installer and AutoInstaller

The ServiceInstaller or the AutoInstaller execute the installations on Terminal Servers. The Software Shop is deactivated on Terminal Servers.

We advise against automatically starting the AutoInstaller to install the user-related portion of packages on Terminal Servers. Reason: The DSM Agent (who starts the AutoInstaller) would have to be started on the Terminal Server for every user who logs on to the Terminal Server.
Instead, we recommend installing the user portions automatically later on when the user attempts to use the software for the first time. (See below: Installing the user portion on demand only).

The setting Allow AutoInstall on Servers = NO (default) is ignored on Terminal Servers.

If user-specific changes are made with the DSM Runtime Service – and this is a rare special case – , sometimes multiple instances of the Installer are needed on a terminal server. If DSM Runtime Service is being accessed and is needed by another Installer, the Installer waits until DSM Runtime Service is available (on non-WTS servers, the installation would be canceled).

Computer Portion and User Portion

On Terminal Servers, the computer portion of the package is always executed first. All the computer-related commands are automatically executed via the Service Installer.
By employing maintenance plans you can ensure that the packages will be installed only if all users are logged off.
As soon as the user logs in again, the AutoInstaller executes the user portions. This takes place in the Terminal Server's execution mode and is executed for each Terminal Server user separately.

Recommended: Installing the User Portion On Demand

As an alternative to installing the user portion with the AutoInstaller you can also install a link (e.g. on the Desktop or in the program group) for every user along with the installation of the computer portion.
In this case, the user portion is not installed with the AutoInstaller but is installed automatically later on as soon as the user clicks the link the first time.

If this configuration is used for all packages that are to be installed on a Terminal Server, you can completely dispense with automatically starting the AutoInstaller (e.g. with a login script).
The AutoInstaller will be started on demand if a post-installation of the user-portion is requested.