Miscellaneous

One previous place we use to work at used DFS so it would be :

\\domain\dfs\Software\<package name>\

Inside the package folder would be the various MSI's and scripts to install the MSI.

The version number was part of the package name with a revision id also included eg 01/02 etc.

nmi

This is our structure, if it makes any sense. Not my design, but its servicable :

-Software
- -ApplicationName (vendor name first only w/ duplicate names)
- - -Version
- - - -Documentation (Package/Install documenation here)
- - - -InstallFiles
- - - - -Source (Application Source here)
- - - - -Development (Package work here)

DFS here too...

DomainDFSname\install$\Core\APPNAME - (Core is the directory for apps deployed via machine GPO)

or

DomainDFSname\install$\Dept\CITYCODE-APPNAME - (where city code is the three letter code for a location, say CHI for chicago, and Dept is the directory for apps deployed via User GPO)

Sometimes GPO won't do, so SMS will do the distro.

Using LANdesk for deployment

Sharepoint1\msiname.msi
Sharepoint2\msiname.msi
SharepointN\msiname.msi

Each person, when they connect their PC to the network and log in, is assigned the nearest local sharepoints (so London doesn't use New York's install point), and then at the end of the list is the master repository.

No attempt is made to split them up by vendor or OS anymore (thank god, it's all XP). We have a folder for MSIs with Transforms, and the install script points to the MSI and MST in said folder.

Install scripts exist only on the master repository. The msiname is allways 'applicationV###.msi' so that's our version tracking.

We dont really use any type of documentation as such.

We have an area where the software is kept N:\Apps\UserApps\MSIfiles\<Software.version>

Here, we keep it pretty simple.

D:\Wise\progname\*.doc - Documentation, usually 1 file.
D:\Wise\progname\*.wse,mst,msi,ini - The development Code, usually 3 files
D:\Wise\progname\Image\*.* - a copy of all files and directories as they would appear on the target machine.

D:\Wise\progname\Source\*.* - If the application is 'tiny' the source files would appear here for convenience
\\ALBSVC1\Install$\Souftware\Vendor\Progver\*.* - The source and/or install point for larger programs.

My machine has a backup agent on it, with a big pile of disk, so we are backed up every night. But when I go to compile my deployment package, I work at BUS speeds rather than working at LAN speed :) I suspect this would also help to speed up the conflict reporting as well.

If I get a DLL hell complaint, I can simply use the below high tech conflict resolver to isolate the problem.

CD D:\Wise
DIR/S xxxx.DLL

Once I know where the bad version of xxxx.DLL is coming from, it's a simple matter to resolve and or update the packages to fix the problem.

Regards,
---- Robb ----