Article: Q173995
Product(s): Microsoft Systems Management Server
Version(s): winnt:1.2
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s): kbusage kbPGC smspgc
Last Modified: 30-JUL-2001
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Systems Management Server version 1.2
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SUMMARY
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In some situations, you may want to have multiple shared network applications
using the same share or drive letter on the client workstation. Although you can
easily accomplish this with a single Sharing package, the process becomes more
complex when multiple packages are involved.
The Microsoft Office 4.x sharing package that is created by using the Package
Definition Files (PDFs) supplied with Systems Management Server gives a good
example of how to set up a single Sharing package to run multiple applications.
This article concentrates on how you can configure multiple Sharing packages
delivered by Program Group Control (PGC) to use the same network share or drive
letter.
MORE INFORMATION
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As an example, this article will configure two applications, Solitaire and
FreeCell, as separate Systems Management Server Sharing packages that will both
use the same network share. To do this, perform the following steps:
1. Prepare the package source directory for each application.
To use a common share point, the files for each application must be located in
a subdirectory of the directory that will be defined as the package source
directory. For this example, all packages will be located under a Package
directory that is also shared as "Package."
For Solitaire, the files will be located in the Solitaire directory, with the
following structure:
Package\App1\Solitaire
For FreeCell, the files will be located in the FreeCell directory, with the
following structure:
Package\App2\FreeCell
NOTE: Defining the App1 and App2 directories as subdirectories of the Package
directory keeps Systems Management Server from combining the source
directories for both applications into the same compressed package.
2. Use the Systems Management Server Administrator program to create a Systems
Management Server Sharing package for each application. To do this, perform
the following steps:
For Solitaire
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a. Define the package source directory as \\<server>\Package\App1.
b. Define the common share that each application will use: SMS_APPS.
c. Create a program item with the following attributes for the Solitaire
package:
Description: Shared Solitaire
Command Line: Solitiaire\Sol.exe
Registry Name: solitaire
Configuration Command Line: <optional; not needed for Solitaire>
NOTE: You can customize the values defined for the Description, Registry
Name, and Configuration Command Line parameters, but you must manually
type the correct Command Line parameter for the Solitaire directory before
the executable file can be run.
d. Select the desired option for Drive Mode. For this example, select
Requires Specific Drive Letter and type "P:" for the network drive that
the client will use to connect to the SMS_APPS share on a Systems
Management Server distribution server.
For FreeCell
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a. Define the package source directory as \\<server>\Package\App2.
b. Define the common share that each application will use: SMS_APPS.
c. Create a program item with the following attributes for the FreeCell
package:
Description: Shared Freecell
Command Line: Freecell\Freecell.exe
Registry Name: freecell
Configuration Command Line: <optional, not needed for Freecell>
d. Select the desired option for Drive Mode, making certain to use the same
option that was chosen for the other package. Select Requires Specific
Drive Letter and type "P:".
3. Use a separate Share Package On Server job for both the Solitaire and
FreeCell packages to deliver the shared applications. This creates the
following directory structure on each Systems Management Server distribution
server defined in the jobs:
Sms_apps\Freecell
Sms_apps\Solitaire
4. Define one or more Systems Management Server program groups that includes the
program items created with each package.
After the Systems Management Server client's desktop has been updated with the
new icons for the shared applications, starting one of the applications maps the
network drive P: to the Sms_apps share and runs the application from the
appropriate subdirectory. The other application will also use the same drive
when it is run, thus reducing the number of network drives consumed by these
applications.
NOTE: It is important to consider that a package cannot be updated by Systems
Management Server if the drive or share is in use at the time Systems Management
Server attempts to update it. Therefore, use caution when using the steps
outlined above to configure multiple packages to use the same share.
For example, if you needed to apply an update to Solitaire and there were users
currently playing FreeCell, the update to Solitaire could not occur without
first disconnecting all users from the Sms_apps share.
WARNING: If a Remove Package From Server job is sent to remove one of the
packages defined below the existing common share, all of the packages below the
existing share will be removed. Therefore, if you need to remove a single
package from a distribution server, it is recommended that you manually perform
this procedure.
Additional query words: prodsms PDF
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Keywords : kbusage kbPGC smspgc
Technology : kbSMSSearch kbSMS120
Version : winnt:1.2
Issue type : kbhowto
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