[sims] Auto upgrading sims on clients (permissions)

[zag]

How do I get Sims to actually upgrade the clients reliably. I'm sure its just a permissions thing but some work, some don't, different updates seem to have different problems.

 

Currently I add the teachers and admin OU's to the local power user group on the machine. This seems to work but not 100%.

 

Whats simsperm.bat for and how do I use it?

 

Cheers.

[jcollings]

We put our staff in the local admin group and it seems to work for them.

[Jamman960]

Simsperm.bat uses subinacl.exe(or something like that) to apply file permissions and registry permisisons to for certain groups. I have used group policy to apply the same changes to machines here for staff only. So far its worked a treat

 

I've added the following to Computer Configuration>Windows>Security Settings>File System:

 

%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\SIMS Applications

%ProgramFiles%\SIMS

 

(Configure this file or folder then - Propagate inheritable permissions to all subfolders and files)

 

Computer Configuration>Windows>Security Settings>Registry:

 

MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes

MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID

MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Interface

MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\TypeLib

 

(Configure this key then - Replace permisisons on all subkeys with inheritable permissions)

 

On each of these I've added the teachers group. After these changes upgrades have worked perfectly(so far)

 

James

[vikpaw]

full rights over C drive, which comes via having them in local admins.

full rights over sims share.

recently found that random dll files go missing or get deleted. usually this is when it's a laptop on wireless that may be getting interrupted.

post february a local dll i think it was msvbsm60.dll just disappeared. copying it back from another machine and restarting sims fixed it.

[enjay]

Our users complain about the time the auto-updates take, so now I push the new versions round (using RM's wrapper, but I'm sure there are non-RM ways) when the PCs boot up. That way, the user just clicks on the icon the next morning and everything is fine.

[Michael]

Once the update has been applied on your SQL server, you could place a Sims shortcut within the Startup folder on the required workstations.

 

When users logon to Windows - Sims would start, search for an update and apply the update or would start, search for an update, find no update and be ready for a user to logon.

[enjay]

When users logon to Windows - Sims would start, search for an update and apply the update or would start, search for an update, find no update and be ready for a user to logon.

 

It would annoy them even more if they had to wait while SIMS loads up before the could open Word or whatever they actually wanted. Only a handful of people are constantly in SIMS, the rest use it very rarely (and most teachers never touch it).

[jcollings]

Our users complain about the time the auto-updates take, so now I push the new versions round (using RM's wrapper, but I'm sure there are non-RM ways) when the PCs boot up. That way, the user just clicks on the icon the next morning and everything is fine.

 

Yes - we usually get a bit of a moan when they click SIMS and it runs the upgrade! Trouble here is every single teacher and half the support staff use SIMS every day for lesson monitor etc.

[kmount]

The problem is that the upgrade contains things it really shouldn't .... IE, who wants a shedload of PDFs that could easily be held on the server and downloaded when someone wants them.

 

Client / Server Model my bum!

[vikpaw]

i wrote an app in vb that runs the sims update check to see if an update is needed and then gives the user the option of whether or not they want to run the upgrade. if no update is needed it just presents the login screen or for single sign-on users just logs them straight in.

 

i designed it for wireless laptop users so they had the chance to plug in via a network cable without their machines being taken over for upto 30mins downloading the updates.

 

it could be adapted i guess to run on startup and inform users that an update will be required before they can use sims, so at least they are aware that it needs doing.

 

the only bit it relies on is that sims is mapped to the s drive but could easily be changed. any guinea pigs want to try it out...?

 

surely it's fairly trivial to get a script or routine that logs into a machine overnight and runs sims. even if you have to alter the registry to make it autoboot a user in, run sims on startup and then alter the registry back before restarting.

[kmount]

Hi Vik,

 

That sounds awfully interesting given most (90%) of our users are on wireless and its a painful process getting them to proactively plug in!

 

More than happy to demo with the masses if you want?

 

Cheers.

[Guest Guest]

I can say with 100% certainty that Sims has a mind of its own. Our office girls have admin rights on their machines and the appropriate permissions on the server and the autoupdate sometimes works, sometimes doesnt.

 

 

Ive wrote a little batch script. Its not the most eligant but it does the job. Basically how it works is it makes a folder in the sims directory with the same name as the current update version (ive named this revision). The script runs at computer startup.

 

When the script runs it looks for the revision number and checks if it has been installed.

If the revision matches then the script ends.

If sims isnt installed at all the script ends as i have not made it to do the initial installation of sims, although im sure with a line or 2 more it couyld be easily achieved.

If the revision number doesnt match it deletes the full sims directory and installs it again from fresh, then sets the appropriate permissions.

 

 

Once you have adapted the script all you have to do in future is change the revision number on line 3.

 

@ECHO OFF
REM Change the below number to the current SIMS upgrade number. No need to touch any other part of the script.
[b]SET revision=7.100[/b]


ECHO Script revision number is %revision%

REM *//Is SIMS installed on this PC? No=exit *//
IF NOT EXIST "%programfiles%\sims\" GOTO end2

REM *// Check to see if the latest revision of SIMS is installed.*//
IF Exist "%programfiles%\sims\revisions\%revision%\" GOTO end

REM *// Delete sims folder and map k: *\\
rmdir "%programfiles%\sims\sims .net" /s /q
[b]net use /delete k: /y[/b]
[b]net use k: \\SIMSSERVER\mis /persistent:no /user:DOMAIN\USERNAME PASSWORD[/b]

REM *// Install SIMS *//
ECHO Installing SIMS Applications
[b]\\SIMSSERVER\MIS\sims\setups\SIMSApplicationSetup.exe /s /norestart[/b]
ECHO Installing SIMS Ampark
[b]\\SIMSSERVER\MIS\sims\setups\SIMSAMPARKSetup.exe /s /norestart[/b]
ECHO Installing SIMS Manuals.
[b]\\SIMSSERVER\MIS\sims\setups\SIMSmanualSetup.exe /s /norestart[/b]
[b]copy \\SIMSSERVER\MIS\client\connect.ini "%programfiles%\sims\sims .net\connect.ini"[/b]

REM *// Make revision folder *//
mkdir "%programfiles%\sims\revisions\%revision%\"

REM *// ACLs - this is probably not needed as it is taken care of by another script but it only takes a few seconds to execute so its here too *//
cacls "%programfiles%\SIMS" /E /G [b]"All Staff"[/b]:F /T
cacls "%systemdrive%\IDAPI" /E /G [b]"All Staff"[/b]:F /T
cacls "%WINDIR%\SIMS.INI" /E /G [b]"All Staff"[/b]:F /T
[b]\\DOMAIN.local\netlogon\[/b]SubInAcl.exe /KEYREG HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes /GRANT=[b]"all staff"[/b]
[b]\\DOMAIN.local\netlogon\[/b]SubInAcl.exe /KEYREG HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID /GRANT=[b]"all staff"[/b]
[b]\\DOMAIN.local\netlogon\[/b]SubInAcl.exe /KEYREG HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Interface /GRANT=[b]"all staff"[/b]
[b]\\DOMAIN.local\netlogon\[/b]SubInAcl.exe /KEYREG HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\TypeLib /GRANT=[b]"all staff"[/b]


ECHO Sims has finished upgrading
GOTO finished

:end
ECHO Sims does not need upgrading
GOTO finished

:end2 
ECHO Sims is not installed on this PC. To upgrade you must first install SIMS using SimsInst.exe
GOTO finished

:finished

 

In bold ive marked the bits you will have to change to suit your environment. From top to bottom these are;

 

 

 

Revision number - change this to the current update version. (Or any numbering scheme you want will work)

 

Delete mapped drive - change this to your sims server share drive letter

 

Remap the drive - again change the drive letter & the server share path & specify a username and password whioch has WRITE permissions on the server.

 

Install the application - change to the server share

Install AMPARK - change to the server share

Install the manuals - change to the server share

Copy the connect.ini - change to the path of a ready made connect.ini on the server

 

Set the permissions on files - change your "all staffs" security group

Set the permissions on files - change your "all staffs" security group

Set the permissions on files - change your "all staffs" security group

 

Set the permissions on the registry - change your "all staffs" security group & specify the path to SubInAcl.exe (this should be on your sims server somewhere)

Set the permissions on the registry - change your "all staffs" security group & specify the path to SubInAcl.exe

Set the permissions on the registry - change your "all staffs" security group & specify the path to SubInAcl.exe

Set the permissions on the registry - change your "all staffs" security group & specify the path to SubInAcl.exe

 

 

 

This script can be run manually by staff should it happen to not run on computer startup but your "all staff" group MUST have WRITE permissions on the server.

Edited March 27, 2008 by Guest

[vikpaw]

Hi Vik,

 

That sounds awfully interesting given most (90%) of our users are on wireless and its a painful process getting them to proactively plug in!

 

More than happy to demo with the masses if you want?

 

Cheers.

 

vpn doesn't appear to work at the mo' (halts on verifying username and password) so i'll post it 2moro, it relies on sims server being mapped to S: and the next folder in the share being \sims and then all the others e.g. setups beneath. also, i think it wants .Net v3 being installed on the pc.

[vikpaw]

I post this with the proviso that it is used entirely at user's own risk. This is not endorsed in any way by Capita (apart from the principle it uses was posted on their support website).

 

Any faults or issues that arise are completely your fault because you should have done it on a test system!

 

@KMOUNT here you go, let me know how you get on. i think you'll need me to make a change to the code to let it work with your setup.

SimsUpgradeHandler.zip

[vikpaw]

A few people have contacted me regarding the simsupgradehandler and clearly the path to the sims server is the biggest stumbling block.

 

i've edited the code so that it now prompts for the path to the sims server, it needs to be via the mapped drive that the user's use, upto and including the setups folder with trailing slash.

e.g. "S:\sims\setups\"

 

i'm attaching this updated version so people can try it out in their own environment and then let me know what path they need hard coding into the program.

 

i'm quite enjoying playing around with the vb so am willing to try any other mods requested if i have the time.

 

let me know how it goes, and the caveats in previous post still apply.

 

for those unfamiliar, the simsupgradehandler.exe file is aimed at laptop users and will check if a sims update is needed, if so, it informs the user of this and gives them the opportunity to plug into the wired network before continuing with the update.

 

enjoy

SimsUpgradeHandlerPathTest.zip