Installation and Technical Issues

[LuisCisneros]

Hello,

I’m new to the forums and I need assistance with a small issue I have. I’m an administrator with tens of computers using the Sage MAS 500 program, version 7.2. I can remote connect to each one and run the update as if on my computer, but I would have to click the ‘Next’ buttons and the ‘Finish’ button every time I will run the update on another computer which adds time to wait in-between prompts.  I understand installers such as InstallShield can, by command-line parameters, run as a silent installation.

Some executables files have a help file listing the command-line parameters and their functions by typing ‘/?’. The Sage update, unfortunately, does not have command-line functions.  So, with all that said, is there a way to do an unattended or a silent installation of the Sage update? I am open to suggestions and thank you for your time.

[Ralph]

Hello and welcome to the forum.   My suggestion for you... two words... TERMINAL SERVER. 

It makes maintaining a MAS 500 installation much easier.  I realize implementing a Terminal Server can be expensive and therefore may not be financially feasible for you, especially if ease of software managent would be your only reason for having it.  But just in case you're not already aware of this, one of the major benefits of using a Terminal Server is that it alleviates the exact situation you're experiencing.  Part of the beauty of Terminal Server is that when it's time to update software, it's one-and-done.

As for avoiding the 'Next' and 'Finish' buttons that you're asking about, I'm not aware of any way to do that.

[marklinder]

I'll 2nd what Ralph said.  We have 75 users in 4 locations (including China).  We have 3 terminal servers.  When upgrade time comes, it is a simple matter of updating the 3 local TS machines here at corporate vs updating 75 workstations.

[jnoll]

You can create an MSI package out of the installer to do a complete silent installation including prompts on all of the questions. These get recorded into the MSI package.

[LuisCisneros]

To everyone who submitted a reply to my questions, thank you. I appreciate those who made time to read my thread and even more time to make a response. The suggestions are both intriguing and promising.

[oyama]

Yes, that would be the right solution. Microsoft and Wikipedia both have examples.

Terminal server would only be easier if you have one or two. But once you have hundreds of Sage clients then you have dozens of terminal servers too. 

[Ralph]

Oyama, I'm a little confused by your reply.  Are you saying that Terminal Server would only be easier if he has "one or two" users?   And that hundreds of Sage clients would require dozens of Terminal Servers?

Based on what I've read, Terminal Servers scale quite nicely.   We max out at about 20 concurrent users, but we never even come close to tapping out our Dual 1GHz Xeon, 4GB, Gig-E, PowerEdge 1900 Terminal Server.  CPU usage is usually less than 5%, and RAM usage is usually about 50%.  I wouldn't even be concerned about horsepower if we doubled our user count.

If Sage ever comes out with a 64-bit client ( or I ever get over my aversion to WoW64 ), and I can then use a 64-bit version of Windows and therefore remove the 4GB RAM limit, I would expect that even 100 users on a single Terminal Server would not be a problem if needed.

[oyama]

I meant having only one or two terminal servers would be perfectly fine. But, if somebody has a hundreds of users than it requires more and more servers. And then we are back at the original problem that each server has to be done one by one.

It would be just way easier for a network or system admin to roll out the, (already tested!), upgrades with a login script.

I know my example might have been a little extreme, but there must be way bigger MAS500 users than my company.  It takes about 1 hour to go walk around all the computers in all the buildings on all the floors and do the upgrades on 25 local users and a terminal server. 

[oyama]

Oh, I almost forgot. English is my second language. So, what you read is not necessary the same what I thought. 

[LuisCisneros]

Hi everyone,

I have researched and experimented with Jnoll's suggestion and the MSI was able to update the MAS 500. To create the MSI package, we used the Veritas Discovery application which takes before and after snapshots (of the update in this case) and compares the differences of files in directories and additions made to the registry between the before and after. Thanks, Jnoll and thanks to everyone who took the time to answer my question.