[sims] User forced SIMS update on workstations?

[DJ-1701]

At the Primary here the staff have laptops which they use to access their registers on SIMS.

 

Everytime there is an update, some users don't seem to get the update pushed out to them automatically and the Solus agent says there is no update. So, I have to go into Solus on the server and repush the package to the machines that are out of date and online. Unfortunately this can take a few days to do due to the times that teachers are in, job shares, etc.

 

Is there anyway command one could run on the client machines to force a check and update?

 

Cheers.

[Banjo]

You can run in 'mixed mode' by which you can still use the simsload.exe to ensure the workstations are kept up to date. This is more reliable than S3 for upgrades.

[DJ-1701]

You can run in 'mixed mode' by which you can still use the simsload.exe to ensure the workstations are kept up to date. This is more reliable than S3 for upgrades.

 

Oooo, interesting, thanks. So by that do you just have to run simsload.exe, or is enabling mixed mode a little more complicate than that?

[TwistedHelixis]

I would also check DNS on the server for the effected machine ip's as duplicate IP's can cause odd issues

[DJ-1701]

I would also check DNS on the server for the effected machine ip's as duplicate IP's can cause odd issues

 

Thanks, that's the strange thing though, the DNS resolves the name fine, I gave it a test this morning and pinged the right machine, right IP.

[TwistedHelixis]

Still might be worth doing a manual check on the DC, round robin, if enabled in DNS should resolve to the correct IP even when more than one are listed but I had odd issues with Solus 3 and multiple DNS ip's anyway.

[DJ-1701]

Still might be worth doing a manual check on the DC, round robin, if enabled in DNS should resolve to the correct IP even when more than one are listed but I had odd issues with Solus 3 and multiple DNS ip's anyway.

 

Tested, and completely fine. No DNS issues with the names, all resolving correctly.

 

You can run in 'mixed mode' by which you can still use the simsload.exe to ensure the workstations are kept up to date. This is more reliable than S3 for upgrades.

 

Also ran SIMSload.exe... which did nothing unfortunately.

 

In reply to @Boredguy's offline suggestion yesterday, when I open the Agent I can't find a manual way to deploy either. It just shows that there are no updates to deploy with no tabs to switch between.

 

 

Only when I force it out via the server, is it getting there.

 

[Banjo]

Oooo, interesting, thanks. So by that do you just have to run simsload.exe, or is enabling mixed mode a little more complicate than that?

 

On the workstation you will have a SIMSLoad.ini in the SIMS.net folder with contents similar to this:

 

SIMSApplicationSetup=1.636.36.0

SIMSAmparkSetup=1.636.24.0

SIMSManualSetup=1.636.33.0

SIMSApplicationSetupLastChecked=11:35

SIMSManualSetupLastChecked=11:36

SIMSAMPARKSetupLastChecked=11:36

SIMSClientUpdateSetupLastChecked=11:36

SIMSApplicationSetupLastInstalled=11:36

SIMSManualSetupLastInstalled=09:51

SIMSAMPARKSetupLastInstalled=09:51

 

Also on the workstation in the Windows folder you will (or should have to make this work) sims.ini file with this. The important bit is SIMSSetupsDirectory=D:\Shared\SIMS\Setups this has to point to your SIMS server and up to date setups. If I tweak the SIMSApplicationSetup=1.636.36.0 to > "35" and run simsload it kicks off the upgrade. You could in theory push out new .ini files to the workstations and script SIMSload on login.

 

[setup]

SIMSDirectory=D:\Shared\SIMS

SIMSSetupsDirectory=D:\Shared\SIMS\Setups

SIMSDotNetDirectory=D:\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SIMS .net

SIMSSQLAppsDirectory=D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.SIMS2014\MSSQL\Binn

Folder=SIMS Applications

NovaSatellite=C:\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SATS

[Meldrew]

We just export the exe's from SOLUS3 and use our usual software deployment system to install on clients. Much easier than relying on SOLUS3 to deploy or not on laptops.

 

Meldrew

[Banjo]

We just export the exe's from SOLUS3 and use our usual software deployment system to install on clients. Much easier than relying on SOLUS3 to deploy or not on laptops.

 

Meldrew

 

Once SIMS has been installed on a workstation you can just copy n paste over the top (or zip and extract) the new SIMS .net folder into the default location C:\Program Files (x86)\SIMS. This is probably the easiest way of upgrading :-)

[DJ-1701]

Also just found out that although Capita set the server to automatically deploy updates for SIMS and FMS on a Saturday for the server... Solus has never been updated.

 

Deploying the latest version gives an two tabs in the Solus Agent, Info (which is defaultly displayed in older versions) and Applications, which allows you to check for updates manually.