Installation prerequisites

In the Packaging Workbench you can specify the settings for a package required for installation:

  • Define Computer Prerequisites (Client)
  • Define Basic Inventory Prerequisites (Server)

Define Computer Prerequisites (Client)

Conditions

Conditions link the execution of a package to properties of the managed computer; the list of the possible con­ditions is independent of the network used.

Some of the most important conditions are:

  • Installed package (IsSwPackageRevInstalled)
  • Existence of a file (Exist)
  • Computer is defined as a laptop (IsLaptop)
  • Existence of a registry key (RegKeyExists)
  • File version (FileVersion)

You may also use these conditions within a script (with the statement IF...) to control the process.

Network Permissions

Network permissions link the execution of a package to network-dependent properties: User, user group membership, computer name, computer group membership.
The selection of network permissions depends on the network used.

Network permissions are always checked, even when a computer is offline.

To support computers that occasionally work offline the DSM Client saves the group membership of domain users in a locked state (not migratable) in the registry.
This means:
If users log on offline with their domain account they can access (in accordance with the NetInstall permissions) the same projects as if they were in a LAN.

Define Basic Inventory Prerequisites (Server)

A basic inventory of each computer is stored in the DSMDB. Based on this data, an LDAP filter can be created for a package.

This filter can be used to specify the basic requirements a computer must fulfill for package installation.
The filter is not evaluated when trying to install a package on the managed computer (which is the usual case when specifying ”general“ system requirements) but already when the policy instances are created:
Policy instances are created only when the defined inventory-based system prerequisites are matched!