When do deployments run on the KACE clients
I am trying to test deployments for some packages set to "Execute anytime - Next Available" but they do not install after I force an inventory. For instance I am trying to install the Cisco Anyconnect client which is just a few meg and should take a minute or two to download and install, but it is taking an undetermined amount of time.
I guess I would like to know how to determine when something is going to install and also know where the logs are so I can check for errors for units that do not install the package.
Thanks.
Answers (3)
To force a deployment, you can set it to run at "NEXT AVAILABLE TIME" and make sure the pc you want is on the list, then go to your inventory and check mark the PC's you want and force update them. when the update is complete, it will run the deployment.
The reason this is (I BELIEVE): is the kinventory has to be as up to date as possible for the KACE to 1) know that it needs the software and 2) make sure it's not installing with something already ON the machine. These are for the "set to deploy" and go home types.
FYI is a computer is ASLEEP I have found that MSI's that are keyed manually using the UID will still launch but loaded MSI's will not run. Which makes this a pain as WAKE ON LAN is designed to wake a TURNED OFF computer, as there is no "WAKE FROM SLEEP" command. To manage this I sent one guy out to hit the mouse on all the PC's in an area and hit the FORCE UPDATE on all the computers... went to another area and touched the mouse then hit FORCE UPDATE on kace for all those PC's....
PAIN??? YEP. anyways, that's my experience.
Comments:
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I have my machines set to hibernate instead of sleep because of the wake on LAN issue. Machines in hibernate will respond to the wake on LAN packets so we get the power saving benefit but they are more manageable that way. - chucksteel 10 years ago
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got an easy way to set that setting an a couple hundred PC's? I hear so much about WOL settings in bio's and such and it was giving me a headache so I just went with "touch mouse, move on" - Wildwolfay 10 years ago
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The following commands will turn off sleep and set hibernate to the given timeout:
c:\windows\system32\powercfg.exe -x hibernate-timeout-ac 90
c:\windows\system32\powercfg.exe -x standby-timeout-ac 90
You still need to have WOL enabled in the BIOS. If you have Dell computers then they have a utility to push out those settings but I've had mixed results with that tool. - chucksteel 10 years ago -
silly question:
Where did you run these commands? Just looks like a batch file or something? or did you put it in a script and push it out to everything? (We are getting offtopic a little bit but eh, maybe this will help someone else doing a distro with sleepy PC's) - Wildwolfay 10 years ago -
Yes, I have a script in KACE that I use to run the commands. - chucksteel 10 years ago
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In our Kace environment I am stuck working on an RSA but I am also pretty much the only guy who maintains and tests all the software/scripted installs we add and deploy via Kace. Which means I have to sync everything over from the K1000 before I successfully do any testing or deployments. But I digress. :)
I have found working with Kace in our environment that it can sometimes take a couple of checkins for a managed install to deploy. Maybe something is screwy in our environment, I am not sure but thats the reason I usually opt for forcing the managed installs with "runkbot.exe 6 0" from the client. It saves me a few checkin cycles.
It sounds like I am alone on this? - designworks 10 years ago-
One thing to remember is that with older version of the KBOX the inventory didn't reflect that installs completed until the next time the machine checked in, so there was an extra delay. The process was something like this:
1. Computer added to managed install
2. Computer checks in and runs inventory
3. KACE detects software not installed and installs it
4. Computer checks in and runs inventory
5. Managed install reflects that the software is now installed on the computer
Depending on your configuration the delay between step 3 and 4 could be a few hours, so it seemed to take a much longer time to know if a managed install worked without forcing an update twice (once to trigger the install and a second time to update the inventory).
The newer versions of the client seem to immediately update the inventory after the managed install runs, although it doesn't appear to happen 100% of the time. - chucksteel 10 years ago-
Yeah ok that has certainly been my experience.
I have just this week upgraded to 5.5 after holding off a few weeks to see how otheres fared. Heres hoping I find it more efficient. - designworks 10 years ago -
One of the ways around this, especially handy if you start to order the installs (software and prerequisite) , is to create a Smart Label for what you're installing, and assign it to a script that force checks in every 15 or 30 minutes, while the Smart Label is applied. Once installed, the Smart Label is removed and wala the agents go back to normal checkins.
You can do this with any software with three labels. Let say you have software (Sketchup) that requires .NET 4.x or better as a prerequisite. Create the following three labels for .NET installation: "Needs .NET", "Has .NET", "Install .NET". The "Needs .NET" Smart Label gets tied to software labels that require it (i.e. "Install Sketchup"). The "Has .NET" checks to see if it already has it. The "Install .NET" checks both "Has .NET" and "Needs .NET" for compliance, if it needs it and does not have it, it gets installed. The "Install .NET" is assigned to run the script previously mentioned to force checkin the agent until it is in compliance.
You can also do the same with the Sketchup Installer as well. "Needs Sketchup", "Has Sketchup", "Install Sketchup".
This way, you only need to setup the prerequisites once, and then when you add machines to the software titles, the prerequisite software automatically gets checked, and installed as needed. - archangel michael 10 years ago
In my experience it can take a few hours sometimes. A first check-in flags the machine for the software and the second installs it.
But you can force it through for testing by running the following on the client.
c:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\Kace\runkbot.exe 6 0
The above assumes you have an x64 OS of course.
Any failed installs can be found in the machine's inventory under Activities > Failed Managed Installs.
Managed installs should run on client checkin. To figure out what might be happening you can check C:\ProgramData\Dell\KACE\data folder. The kdeploy.log file sometimes helps. Also, check the downloads folder for the software ID of the title you are deploying (it's the ID of the software title, not the distribution). I normally have the managed install set to not delete the downloaded files when I'm testing so I can check the folder to make sure it downlaoded and extracted the files correctly.
On the managed install page click the show all link towards the bottom and if it says there was an attempt but the software isn't installed then I normally check the Application event log on the system. Most installers will place errors there.
