Software Deployment

Carlo,

I know this is my first post but I've feel your pain. I'm in the process of deploying the SAP-710 client to > 3000 machines and I've used the installation server method. Being used to MSI's it was quite confiusing at first - but now that I've got it working it's fairly straightforward.

I'll send you an email with some of my findings - they're too big to post here!

Thanks, I will forward my mail addy to you

No worries - I hope they are of use!

I'll send you an email with some of my findings - they're too big to post here!It would make more sense to add your findings to the Package KB here on AppDeploy and then everyone can benefit.

Initial Investigation

This is the new SAP client front end that is to replace all previous versions of SAP such as 6-20 & 6-40. Unlike the ones we’ve packaged in the past, this will NOT be deployed as an MSI. According to SAP, changing this into an MSI would cause problems. Their recommendation is to use the supplied SAP Installer routine to create the package. This method has been accepted as it should (we hope) make the process of upgrading / patching the software easier. Instead of having to create a completely new package as we would with other software, we should be able to:

Take a copy of the main SAP installation folder

Apply patches / service pack upgrades

Copy back to our code source server

Update the Distribution Points

Create a new advert to upgrade the targeted machines

As such, this install isn’t an MSI and the routine to create the package is unlike anything I’d seen before. The installation (or upgrade / patching) of SAP is called from within the install.vbs I've created.

Pre-requisite Software

Despite many efforts to create a running & stable manual install of SAP-GUI-7-10, I kept getting failures. Part of the problem was tracked down to an answer posted by a SAP representative on a message board saying that the problem we were suffering from needed to be patched by them - but this took more than a week arrive.

I found that SAP-GUI-7-10 requires some other software to be installed. This my not be the same for your organisation (you may have a different version of Office etc) but for us we need installations of:

Microsoft-dotNETFramework-2-0

Visual-J-Sharp-DotNet-2-0-SE

Office-2003-KB907417-Hotfix

Office2003-Primary-Interop-Assemblies

I'm using a combination of SMS and VB script to install all of these before I install SAP-GUI-7-10

Creating the Installation Server

I created the installation server as follows (pity I can't link to show screen shots)

I unzipped the SAP-GUI-7-10 files I had been supplied into a folder on my Desktop

I navigated to the desktop unzip folder \WINDOWS\WIN32\setup and double clicked on NwCreateInstServer.exe

Click Next

Created a new, empty folder on my C:\ drive called New-Sap-Install and clicked Verify

Click Next / Next and the install will start

This then built an installation server into the New-Sap-Install directory I created.

Once it has finished, you are presented with a "SAPSetup Installation Server Admin Tool Screen" that shows you what you've created.

With the Products tab selected, click on the New Package button

Click Next

On our version, I see two tick boxes:

SAP GUI for Windows 7.10

Business Explorer

I put a tick into BOTH boxes (your needs maybe different) and clicked Next
I entered a name for the package: SAP-7-10-INSTALL and clicked Next then Finish

You should now be back at the SAPSetup Installation Server Admin Tool Screen. Click on the Properties tab to see the install / uninstall command lines. In my case these were:

For Install
NwSapSetup.exe /Silent /Package="SAP-7-10-INSTALL"

For Uninstall
NwSapSetup.exe /Silent /Uninstall /Package="SAP-7-10-INSTALL"

I've created VB scripts to remove the old versions of SAP and install the new ones.

I'll upload the documents (inc screenshots) to by webspace tonight and post links ... I hope these help someone!

Excellent but I meant you to use this http://www.appdeploy.com/packages/newpackage.asp :)

Hello all.

I have create an SAP7.10 package using the NWSETUPADMIN.EXE. The problem is using SMS to launch the package. If I use the following command in a .bat file it works fine...\\Server\Shared folder\NwSapSetup.exe /NoDLG /Package="my package" I get a progress bar with no user intervention. If I run this in SMS it runs a successful silent install with no progess bar. I would like to have a progress bar visable with no user intervention. Any halp on the command line for SMS? I thought it should be the same as the working .bat file?

Regards
Paul

The Post helped me a lot

ORIGINAL: alphaboy


Hello all.

I have create an SAP7.10 package using the NWSETUPADMIN.EXE. The problem is using SMS to launch the package. If I use the following command in a .bat file it works fine...\\Server\Shared folder\NwSapSetup.exe /NoDLG /Package="my package" I get a progress bar with no user intervention. If I run this in SMS it runs a successful silent install with no progess bar. I would like to have a progress bar visable with no user intervention. Any halp on the command line for SMS? I thought it should be the same as the working .bat file?

Regards
Paul



I used this in my VB script for SMS deployment:

[font="courier new"]SAPCHKFIL = "C:\Program Files\SAP\SapSetup\setup\SapATL71Wksta.xml"

If objFSO.FileExists(SAPCHKFIL) Then
SapInstCmd = "SAP-GUI-7-10\SAP-7-10-BASE\Setup\NWSAPSetup.exe /package:"&Chr(34)&"SAP-7-10-BASE"&Chr(34)&" /update /noDlg"
Else
SapInstCmd = "SAP-GUI-7-10\SAP-7-10-BASE\Setup\NWSAPSetup.exe /package:"&Chr(34)&"SAP-7-10-BASE"&Chr(34)&" /noDlg"
End If
XErr1= oShell.Run(SapInstCmd,1,True)

This checks for the existance of a file called "C:\Program Files\SAP\SapSetup\setup\SapATL71Wksta.xml". If this exists then SAP-7-10 is already installed so NWSAPSetup.exe is called with the update command.

If the file "C:\Program Files\SAP\SapSetup\setup\SapATL71Wksta.xml" does not exist then NWSAPSetup.exe is asked to do a full install.

Both of these commands show a SAP window with a progress bar. However, as the SAP install takes so long I've added a 'Splash Screen' (that completely fills the screen) at the start of the process informing the user that SAP is being installed, please do not shutdown the PC blah blah blah. So although the SAP progress bar is there, it cannot be seen as it's in the background.

HTH's

Thanks for the quick reply.

OK I will use that command for execution. As far as SMS... What settings do you have set for deployment of this package? For some reason I believe it might be related to SMS. ALLUSER=1 or 2? ect... Someone on MS Technet came back with this answer...

"If you have it running under admin rights, then we run under the Local System context and no user displays are generated. You can try the "Allow users to interact with this program" on the Environment tab, and see if that does what you need."

Best Regards
Paul

The environment tab of the program is set to:

Only when a user is logged on (altough it could be set to whether or not a user is logged on)
Run With Administritive Rights
Allow users to interact with this program

As this isn't in MSI format, I've not has to set the ALLUSERS property anywhere.

Hi

So the script will see if what is deployed has the proper patch level and if not it will update the existing 7.10 installation to the patch level on the distribution point.

Thanks
Paul

Paul,

If SAP is already installed (by looking for the file I mentioned in an earlier post), NWSAPSetup.exe is run with the /update command. If the version on the distribution point is the same as that already on the PC then nothing happens - NWSAPSetup finishes quite quickly.

If NWSAPSetup.exe recognises that the version on the Distribution Point (DP) is higher than that on the PC, it will upgrade the client installation to match that of the DP.

If the file does NOT exist, then NWSAPSetup performs a full install.

And this is the beauty of the SAP designed system. We only need to apply patches to the base package of SAP-7-10, upload these to the DP's and then get the SMS advert to re-run on all the PC's. When run, NWSAPSetup can see that the DP version has changed and simply applies the client upgrades / patches. It's made our upgrade / patch work to SAP-7-10 much easier, quicker and less painfull than we ever thought, or even hoped, it would be.

Why do all this SAP can be packaged.

See my entry http://itninja.com/question/blackberry-3.6-must-run-setup.exe883
I have packaged and deployed SAP 7.10

Hi DLL_HELL...

I did not re-package with Wise Package studio and create an MSI. I used the tools that came with SAP7.1 to create a deployable package which is the supported method by SAP. By using this method I am able to update the clients and also previous version is removed automatically by the deployed solution. I prefer to use the method to deploy by the manufacture rather then re-invent the wheel so if any issues I have some support from SAP.

Thanks
Paul

ORIGINAL: DLL_HELL

Why do all this SAP can be packaged.

See my entry http://itninja.com/question/blackberry-3.6-must-run-setup.exe883
I have packaged and deployed SAP 7.10

That's great if it works for you but won't you need to repackage SAP every time a patch / upgrade comes along? I would have thought you'd need to do this and uninstall your current SAP MSI before installing the new one. The nice thing about using the SAP routine is that once you have your base installation on a Distribution Point, this can be patched, distributed and then get the users (or force) a re-run of the SMS advert.

Ah ...Paul beat me to it! :)

patched, distributed and then get the users (or force) a re-run of the SMS advert

Hi,

You need to use a professional packaging tool, i use installshield. Also if there is an upgrade or patch it is no big deal, just do what you would for any other .msi

Create & deploy the patch vie SMS, radia or whatever or author the .msi as a major upgrade.

SAP is not a special case and can be packaged/deployed as normal.

The only real issue with SAP is the run time .msi used doing install.

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