Deploying SIMS via GPO or WDS?

[mnaim]

Good Morning,

 

I am an Apprentice within IT and I need help. (Please bare in mind that I am still learning the concepts/fundamentals and how to use Windows Admin Tools).

 

We use Windows Deployment Service to create and deploy our images, however, our images never include SIMS which we always have to manually install onto the machines. Is there a way we could have GPM (Group Policy Management) install SIMS onto the OU for staff? I did speak to my network manager about this and he said with scripting we probably could. We have to also add the connect.ini file into the SIMS .net folder after installing SIMS and we need to change the security permissions to allow everyone on that config file. Not to mention the pain of SOLUS never deploying the SIMS updates correctly so we have to painfully update them manually. Would this really be possible?

 

Has anyone tried something similar? Or has been able to accomplish deploying SIMS remotely?

[clareq]

I used to deploy SIMS via SCCM - http://www.edugeek.net/forums/enterprise-software/205256-sccm-deploying-solus-3-sims-net.html. You are deploying exe not msi, so I don't think it can be done by GPO - unless you can write a script. We now use SOLUS - as long as DNS is right, it does work. Connect.ini and permissions can be done via GPO.

[Griff]

My top priority here would be fixing the issues with SOLUS. In the long run that is going to save you bags of time, if you're manually deploying updates as well it must be painful. Your SOLUS issues could also be pointing to other issues on the network DNS, ports not open etc.

[mavhc]

Use GPO to install Solus, then Solus to install SIMS.

 

Don't put your connect.ini file in Program Files, that'll solve your permission problem, use ProgramData, or network share

[mnaim]

True, I think the SOLUS fix would be best. I will have a look into the MIS server and SOLUS on why it deploys SIMS updates perfectly for some machines and not for others. Thank you guys for the support. Edited January 18, 2023 by mnaim

[Jay241]

We've always had to install SIMS via SOLUS as we've never found a way that works reliably to deploy it with the image or doing it through GPO. We set the connect ini file to copy to machines within our GPO so that when we do deploy it with SOLUS manually, it will automatically connect.

I suggest looking at getting your ini file to be deployed to the machines via a script in GPO, and then unfortunately, might have to use SOLUS to manually deploy SIMS.

[clareq]

SOLUS errors usually go back to DNS, particularly if some machines are fine.

[Griff]

Below is a script I run on my workstations here that I know will need SIMS/FMS etc. Someone at ESS gave me it a few years ago.

 

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Solus 3 DS" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=52965

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Solus 3 DS" dir=out action=allow protocol=TCP localport=52965

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Solus 3 Agent" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=52966

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Solus 3 Agent" dir=out action=allow protocol=TCP localport=52966

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Solus 3 Agent UI" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=8739

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Solus 3 Agent UI" dir=out action=allow protocol=TCP localport=8739

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="windows management instrumentation (wmi)" new enable=yes

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Windows Remote Management" new enable=yes

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="File and Printer Sharing" new ENABLE=Yes

[mikes]

We don't have SOLUS here, something about our LEA not wanting to pay for it - is it true SOLUS is a paid extra or am I being told lies and the LEA just don't want to set it up? We had to install SIMS manually on every laptop and then manually upgrade every single laptop every time there was a SIMS upgrade.

But I wrote a batch file I can run via Impero, simsapplicationsetup.exe /S {QuietMode} (it needs simsmanualsetup.exe and SIMSAMPARKSetup.exe too), you could also add the connect.ini into the batch file if needed. It's not ideal but I can select any needed client in Impero and run the batch file, and it'll install SIMS. If you have SCCM you could probably create a custom Application for it, not sure if it'd work well though.

[jthompson]

The official SOLUS 3 deployment guide from ESS is nice and detailed and will give you all the Windows Firewall rules, GPO settings, etc. needed. I'm fairly certain that you won't want to try and get SOLUS 3 working well without using that guide.

 

As already mentioned, SOLUS 3 can be very sensitive to DNS blips.

[icttech]

We always installed Sims Via Solus, and would advise getting that sorted, as deploying the updates from Solus 3 times a year is much easier. Most issues point towards DNS records if machines are not updating.

[mnaim]

Hi jthompson,

 

Where can I find this guide? Do you have a link?

[rush_tech]

Not sure if its been updated, this is the version I have SOLUS3School.pdf

[David44]

Surprised there is so much love for Solus here. Surely using a deployment tool that is only able to deploy one piece of software (and not very well from what I have read over the years) is not worth the effort. Much better to deploy SIMS via whatever method you use to deploy all other software. Why treat it differently, SIMS is already messy enough without adding another layer of ESS to it.

 

For what it's worth, we deploy SIMS like this...

SIMSInfrastructureSetup.exe /S {QuietMode} {SIMSWorkstation} {FMSWorkstation}SIMSApplicationSetup.exe /S {QuietMode} {NoServerApps} [sIMSDotNetDirectory]="C:\Program Files\SIMS\SIMS .net" [sIMSDirectory]="S:\SIMS"SIMSManualSetup.exe /S {QuietMode} {NoServerManuals} [sIMSDotNetDirectory]="C:\Program Files\SIMS\SIMS .net" [sIMSDirectory]="S:\SIMS"SIMSAMPARKSetup.exe /S {QuietMode} [sIMSDotNetDirectory]="C:\Program Files\SIMS\SIMS .net" [sIMSDirectory]="S:\SIMS"

 

It installs SIMS in c:\ptogram files, it should probably be c:\program files (x86) nowadays but we have been doing it this way for so long that that wasn't a thing when we started. It doesn't cause any issues.

 

We then run a batch file that copies sims.ini to the Windows directory and LessonMonitor.ini and connect.ini to the C:\Program Files\SIMS\SIMS .net directory.

 

Finally, we run simsload.exe as part of the Windows login script. This checks for updates and runs them if there are any or silently quits if there aren't any.

 

This seems to work reasonably well. Most issues are solved by deleting simsload.ini and running simsload.exe again to reinstall all the SIMS components again. Which is something you can do instantly and not have to wait for a deployment tool to decide to start or not.

[Banjo]

You can run a script to create the Sims and Connect ini such as the one I used to use below. If you have the time and patience you can write a script to install a complete new install of sims including Doc Server and Discover or update sims/discover on servers or workstations at the push of a button

 

IF EXIST "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini.old" DEL "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini.old"

IF EXIST "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini" REN "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini" "connect.ini.old"

ECHO [sIMSConnection] > "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini"

ECHO ServerName=%computername%\SIMS2016 >> "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini"

ECHO DatabaseName=SIMS >> "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini"

TYPE "%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\connect.ini

[Koldov]

Not to mention the pain of SOLUS never deploying the SIMS updates correctly so we have to painfully update them manually.

 

SOLUS has come a fair way since the days when I first started using it and very rarely gives any issues now (although I've probably jinxed that now)...

 

I'm no expert but I really would look into the reasons it isn't deploying SIMS to your workstations.

 

DNS and Firewall as others have said and make sure you are on the latest SOLUS3 version.

 

When you try to deploy, failing installs should report back the reason to SOLUS, even though sometimes they are a little hard to understand a quick search on here will turn something up (or even post your own question) a lot of people here use it (or have used it at some point in their career).

 

First thing is to look at SOLUS and see if you can account for all workstations and that they are reporting in via the agent, make sure all the settings in SOLUS are correct for your school.

[Boredguy]

Solus 3, when it works saves time when SIMS wants to update, however it does have a lot headaches when a station might not communicate happily to the server for any reason (often DNS).

 

In the thread posted earlier, is the method on how we deploy out the Solus Agent to Stations via SCCM and ensure it retained the same GUID each time and that still works, however we are looking to move our new network over to deploying SIMS via the old EXE method as @David44 mentioned as it will allow us to ensure the stations should have SIMS updated when they turn on other than the hit and miss we sometimes get at one or two sites (especially as we can push the new version out to stations before we've updated the server)

 

Depending on the Solus issues, they aren't that hard to fix. Only real headache we've had recently was it trying to keep redownloading files from the old Capita URL's but a simple tweak in the Database to make it think it's already downloaded fixed that for us.

[Koldov]

Only real headache we've had recently was it trying to keep redownloading files from the old Capita URL's but a simple tweak in the Database to make it think it's already downloaded fixed that for us.

 

We had that and even had an engineer remote on and run a fix.... a couple of weeks later and it's back!

[jthompson]

Hi jthompson,

 

Where can I find this guide? Do you have a link?

 

SOLUS 3 for Schools

 

That and all the other technical guides will be available here: SIMS 7 Documentation Centre - Technical page

 

Interesting that people are running without SOLUS 3. What do server and database upgrades look like without it? Being able to easily schedule those to run unattended out of hours is handy.

[Banjo]

SOLUS 3 for Schools

 

That and all the other technical guides will be available here: SIMS 7 Documentation Centre - Technical page

 

Interesting that people are running without SOLUS 3. What do server and database upgrades look like without it? Being able to easily schedule those to run unattended out of hours is handy.

 

something like this that can be scheduled at any time for the Apps

 

REM ------ Upgrades SIMS to Latest Version ---------

 

REM ------- Installs SIMS APPLICATIONS -----

 

%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups\SIMSApplicationSetup.exe /S {QuietMode} [sIMSDirectory]="%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups"

 

REM ----------------------- Wait Time --------------------------

ping 127.0.0.1 -n 10> nul

 

REM ------- Installs SIMS AMPARK -----

 

%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups\SIMSAMPARKSetup.exe /S {QuietMode}[sIMSDirectory]="%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups" [sIMSDotNetDirectory]="%DRIVE%\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SIMS .net"

 

REM ----------------------- Wait Time --------------------------

ping 127.0.0.1 -n 10> nul

 

REM ------- Installs SIMS Manuals -----

 

%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups\SIMSManualSetup.exe /S {QuietMode}[sIMSDirectory]="%DRIVE%\Shared\SIMS\Setups"

 

REM ----------------------- Wait Time --------------------------

ping 127.0.0.1 -n 10> nul

 

REM -- SIMS Load ----

 

IF EXIST "%DRIVE%\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SIMS .net\SIMSLoad.exe" "%DRIVE%\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SIMS .net\SIMSLoad.exe"

 

REM ----------------------- Wait Time --------------------------

ping 127.0.0.1 -n 20> nul

[jthompson]

But that's just your clients, isn't it? How are you updating your SIMS server, SIMS database and SIMS file server without SOLUS?

[Banjo]

Using the same process. Once the updated files have been copied to the server and unzipped, then using scripting will install or update them. We used to take a clean server, copy the install files to it, run a script and 30 mins later have SQL, SIMS and Disco installed and working from 'SIMS-2013-Summer-2-Installable' and then automatically updating to the latest version. Dbupgrade can be scripted to run at any time you just have to provide it with credentials.