Once you have generated the SMS package which is necessary for Silverlight, you will next need to distribute it through the creation of a job. There are a number of things that this job may include, and one is the collection of computers that will get the SMS package which is needed for Silverlight.
This will be designated within SMS as being the collection. Each computer inside the collection will get the advertisement for the job once the assignment has been made. Another thing that is needed is the schedule that is necessary for operating the package. The third that that will be needed is the advertisement package, which has to be sent to the computer of all the users.
To generate and process a job for SMS package distribution, there are a number of steps that will need to be followed:
a. Within the "SMS Administrator Console," inside the left area, you will want to expand "Site Database."
b. You will next need to "Right-click Advertisements," then point to "New," and then press Advertisement.
c. Inside the "Advertisement Properties" dialog box, you will want to pick values for these fields: Name, Comment, Package, Program, and Collection. The "Name" is the name for the job. The "Comment" is used to define the package, but filling out this field is not mandatory.
The "Package" refers to the package for Silverlight which was generated when you created the SMS package. The "Collection" offers the name you need for collections for which you wish to deploy the Silverlight package.
d. The next thing you will need to do is press the "Schedule" tab, and then pick the times and dates for which you need the program to run. Should you wish to force the installation of the package in a mandatory manner, you will need to pick the time and date which is necessary for installation. This should be done within "mandatory assignments."
e. After you have done this, you will next need to press the "Advanced Client" menu, and then press "When a distribution point is available locally." Once this is done, you will next need to press "Run Program from a Distribution Point," and then under "When no distribution point is available locally," pick "Download Program from a remote distribution point."
Once the job has been activated, you have the option of looking at it by pressing "Advertised Programs," which is under the "Windows Control Panel." The job may also generate an error log, which will look like (lesmswarp.mif), which can be found within the WindowsTemp folder.
You can search for this file by using *.mif to look for it. To truly make use of Silverlight, it is important to fully understand the installation process which is associated with it.
The Silverlight Installation Process
At the time and date which has been scheduled, SMS will transmit the package to the computers which have been specified. Once the computers identify the available package, the installation will start. The Silverlight installation process will go through a number of different steps.
It will first carry out a Pre-requisite check, make certain that another version isn’t already installed, uninstall any older versions that may be present, and then install the product. During the actual installation of the product, the Silverlight registry keys will need to be written, and files will need to be created within %ProgramFiles%Microsoft Silverlight.
Once you’ve successfully installed and deployed Silverlight, it will next be necessary to support and maintain it. For example, the browser settings can be maintained via Group Policy. Additionally, it will also be necessary to frequently update Silverlight, and troubleshoot any issues which might occur.
Maintaining Silverlight Settings Via Group Policy
If you make use of Active Directories for the administration of computers for your network, Group Policy will offer you a detailed collection of settings which can be used to maintain Silverlight once it has been deployed on the computers of your users. You may utilize the Administrative Template settings for the establishment and the policies which are lock registry based.
Group Policy
Group Policy can be thought of as a group of settings which are utilized to manage or specify the configurations for a collection of users within the Active Directory environment.
The Group Policy allows you to define the Silverlight configuration, as well as the other system and software configurations as part of the GPOs, or Group Policy objects. The GPOs themselves will be linked to the containers for the Active Directory, and this may include domains, organization entities, or sites.
They give you the ability to handle both Silverlight and additional system configurations for numerous users who are connected to the domain. You can also make use of the Administrative Template settings in order to properly handle Silverlight.
Administrative Template policy settings which are registry based may be used within Group Policy to manage the Silverlight software on computers which run with Windows Vista, Windows XP SP 2, and Windows Server 2003.
The Automatic Update Policy feature for Silverlight may be set based on each user or each machine. Should the administrator use the "per machine" setting, then the per user setting will be overridden.
It is recommended that you to maintain Silverlight through use of the Administrative Template settings which are present within the Group Policy. The reason for this is because the settings will always be written to the secure per machine key that is inside the registry.
The users may not alter the settings through the use of the Silverlight UI, and they may also not alter the registry key for the per user update mode. Another thing that you will want to consider are policy settings for Silverlight which are registry based. The automatic update system is not dependent on either the Windows Update or even Microsoft Update. There are three automated modes that Silverlight can use for updates, and these are:
1) Auto Updates – The Auto Update will immediately download, install, and detect the needed updates. This is the standard setting once the install is complete. The client may try to request the files from Microsoft to decide whether a new version of Silverlight is available. Should a new version be available, it will immediately be downloaded and installed, and it won’t be necessary for the user to do anything.
2) No Updates – With this configuration, no automatic checks will be made for Silverlight updates. This option will typically be utilized in enterprise level environments if you are making use of SMS, as well as other enterprise level SMS tools.
3) Prompted Updates – Will be responsible for notifying you whenever an update is available, and will request your permission to download and install the update. It will make use of the identical detection location as well as schedule the Auto Updates uses.
Those who wish to use the Silverlight updating tool will need to have access to five domains, which are microsoft.com, slupdate.dlservice.microsoft.come, rs.update.microsoft.com, silverlight.dlservice.microsoft.com, go.microsoft.com. The settings that you establish will be made available via either an ADMX file or an ADM file.
It is possible to alter the policy settings for Silverlight which are connected to the individual computers, so this gives you a great deal of control over how the policy settings are distributed.
