[sims] Solus deploy problems

[Simcfc73]

Morning,

 

I noticed the release of Autumn last night so thought I would deploy it. It seems fine for the computers that are on at the time but any computers which are off fail and don't update. Now I am in the situation where most Sims computers are getting username and password prompts becaise of incompatible database.

 

The deployment history says 'An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host' , the logs says loads of connection attempts failed.

 

I can't believe they don't have a deploy now or check now for individual machines after you have approved the updates.

 

And why in gods name do they push the database update seperately even though its in the main update so when you redeploy it messes about skipping these on the server before it starts the clients.

 

Utter utter garbage.

[Simcfc73]

Just seen the redeploy link on Solus 3 but it does all the failed ones.

[Simcfc73]

No wait.. it does nothing.

 

Have I signed up for a Beta release?

 

The normal way I fix this is run the simsapplication .exe from the Sims driver but that not working.

[matt40k]

It's not working because SOLUS3 doesn't use the Setups directory - so it doesn't get updated. Log a call with your local support team and they'll help you out.

 

PS: Sounds like a firewally\AV problem to me.

[Simcfc73]

Sorry, its nothing to do with the firewall. Last time a support engineer had to remote in and change the fails on the Solus console to something else so they would deploy. I can't remember which table I need to change or I woudl do it myself.

 

I have one machine stuck deploying holding everything else up.

 

I've logged a call and expect a reply within 28 days.

[matt40k]

Is it a machine it's trying to install the agent on? Or the actual upgrade?

[Simcfc73]

its an upgrade.

 

I have a long list of machines just showing in progress (for over an hour now)

 

I think they need failing and redeploying in the SQL table.

[gsayer]

I feel your pain, I wasted about a month of my life wrestling with Solus 3 over last Summer.

Your experience seems to be similar to mine. Solus 2 is going to be canned possibly next year, so

I hope that '3' is going to eventually do what it says on the tin, otherwise we are all going to be right in it.

[matt40k]

This is where the next SOLUS3 release due out by the end of the month will help - it'll "ping" the workstations to confirm they're still alive.

[Simcfc73]

Got it sorted.... was nearly 3 hours on the phone with them but the tech was good. Its a shame now my Solus console is all messed up as he had to deploy the update 9 times to get it working. One computer in particular hated it and stopped it deploying to the rest of the machines which they had to replace a DLL on to get it fixed.

 

Agreed about the next release of Solus 3 with the pinging... he said its a common issue where the console thinks there is an error on the machine and calls it as a fail when its really just not turned on.

[Rawns]

SOLUS3, the work of the Devil.

[Heebeejeebee]

Don't even get me started about SOLUS 3! I've got a list of complaints that seem to be ignored in each update. And what about after re-imaging of PCs - what a disaster area! They never pick up the clients again so never get updated. You have to remove them from the SOLUS system and then faff about getting it to re-deploy (alolng with extra fiddling to get Discover working again). Then they all stay listed as 'removed' but with the current client working. Gaaahhh!

 

I'm dreading the next update to SIMS now. It was so easy before this.

 

HBJB

[matt40k]

SOLUS3, the work of the Devil.

 

I thought that was just SIMS? Seriously, I always knew SOLUS3 wouldn't be smooth, we've been installing it our fully managed schools and the amount of problems we've had and it's not with SIMS, is where the server\workstation wasn't configured right. Like if the SIMS Server is also the DNS server, some of them weren't set to use it's self as a DNS server so you couldn't browse the domain, or the domain had additional (wrong) IP set, or the workstation weren't using the right DNS server - so you couldn't qualify the full DNS name or the firewall wasn't set right. It's all these bit that stop SOLUS3 from working, which isn't Capita fault but it's seen as a SOLUS3 fault as that's the only thing that is affected.

 

Hopefully SOLUS3 will get the credit when the network bugs disappear at least, regardless I'm not looking forward to doing this for the rest of the schools!!

[Simcfc73]

Not sure how Solus 3 can get credit when the old system seemed to work perfectly well. The client checked the version number and if it wasn't right then it installed the updates.

 

The new system is fine and dandy if it didn't break the connection everytime a database update installed. If there is any problem with the client then the outdated client does not work.. where are we.. 1996? There should be at least an option to tell the user that it needs an update instead of going to the username and password with an incompatible database error.

 

The heartbeat update will be good but come on.. this should have been put in at the get go not after the horse has bolted and they have annoyed lots of techies.

 

Not getting at you by the way, just annoyed at another problem.. I really wanted Solus 3 to be the answer... they really should have looked at how others did the updating.. anti-virus software for one inparticular Sophos (not the best av but the console is great)

[Rawns]

Agree. It's like capita have said, "this is how you should deploy upgrades" but it does not meet the needs of everyone and in some cases like ours, will cause a vast additional workload. Our schools buy our support and we manage their upgrades for them as part of the service. We release the upgrades to them, we automatically install them and we mop up any failures for them. The work load is minimal and the process works a treat with minimum impact in the schools.

 

The thought of having to manual install SOLUS3 into 270 odd schools is a nightmare! It's something myself and my colleague share between us so most of our time will be spent on it. We're using the opportunity of Discover requests from School to get it out there initally, but when it becomes necessary to get SOLUS3 out to every school and move SIMS and FMS onto it, it's going to be awful getting the agents out to all relevant PC's, ensuring that every SIMS/FMS/Discover device has an agent, ensuring new/imaged/rebuilt PC's are re-added to the SOLUS3 environment to ensure they don't miss out on any upgrades etc! Most of the info you put into SOLUS3 is already in the SIMS.INI file! Why Can't SOLUS3 pull the info from there to save a bit of work?

 

We will have a Central SOLUS3 UI here to authorise upgrades to Schools, but as far as I can see, there is no suitable report in SOLUS3 to check on the status of any released upgrades. SOLUS2's reporting function worked a treat and gives a clear view of how the deployment went. I really hope there is something like that added to S3 soon.

[Cache]

Our Solus3 worked quite well during the summer upgrade apart from two silly users who left SIMS open which caused Solus to mark the update as complete when it should have failed, but the last Solus update of being able to redeploy an update should sort that if it happens again hopefully.

 

My only real criticism of it is the fct it seems to take an age to deploy updates now and move onto the next stage, but can set it off and leave it going.

 

The only other problem, which I haven't had chance to track down yet is Capita keep claiming we haven't done the summer upgrade, which we have so something musn't be reporting back properly. Will see what happens after the Autumn upgrade comes through properly...

[matt40k]

Not sure how Solus 3 can get credit when the old system seemed to work perfectly well.

 

I wasn't refering to your problem, more a general problem that comes from installing something new.

 

The only other problem, which I haven't had chance to track down yet is Capita keep claiming we haven't done the summer upgrade, which we have so something musn't be reporting back properly. Will see what happens after the Autumn upgrade comes through properly...

 

Most likely they're check Schools Manager - which SOLUS3 doesn't update as it's a separate system, just tell them you've done it via SOLUS3 and they can manually mark it as installed.

[vikpaw]

SOLUS3, the work of the Devil.

No, that's SOLUS 3D

[matt40k]

No, that's SOLUS 3D

 

Dammit!!! Server's not SOLUS 3D ready

[Rammie]

With respects to matt40k, this is not the first time I've heard software developers criticise user networks, saying that the software isn't seeing what it expects to see (implying that it's the users' fault). This generally proves that the testers have only a limited understanding of what user networks are really like. If the network works okay, so should Solus3, period (plus or minus the odd event). Just ask yourself how long it took to make proxies work properly in Solus2 - and loads of schools use them.

[matt40k]

With respects to matt40k, this is not the first time I've heard software developers criticise user networks, saying that the software isn't seeing what it expects to see (implying that it's the users' fault). This generally proves that the testers have only a limited understanding of what user networks are really like. If the network works okay, so should Solus3, period (plus or minus the odd event). Just ask yourself how long it took to make proxies work properly in Solus2 - and loads of schools use them.

 

I think your missing my point. It's highlighed problems (ie someone not set it up correctly), which we've solved, rather then getting Capita to make workarounds for the problems. Ironically, we could of actually selected the computer using the network browse, but again, cure the disease not the symptoms.

 

Capita released it on field trial, there was an issue with the proxy support - ie if the system didn't have the proxy settings applied it didn't auto download - Capita addressed this with a way of manually setting the proxy setting and they build upon this and this is why you see the proxy settings tab when you first setup SOLUS3. It's not possible to have every environment out there in the real world. They invited all schools and LAs to take part in the field trial when you had good access to the SOLUS3 development team - which we still have.

 

Years ago proxy were rare, like encryption on wireless networks - now it's the standard. You're shocked when you don't do via a proxy!