What is the 2014 way to centrally deploy agents

Question

I'm getting requests from 'the Field' to make my agent deployment 'easier' but I'm at a loss as to how.

Right now, I provide a user Interface to install and configure the agents.

To deploy the agents, I relied on older Windows technologies, here are the steps I use:

1. Start dependent services via remote SCM
2. Copy the agent.MSI via the File Administrative shares
3. Configure the agent's settings via remote registry calls
4. Use WMI to remotely silently run the agent.msi
5. Use the Administrative shares to move the agent.msi to the program folder (for uninstalling later)

To allow all these steps to happen, I need: 1. the firewall to configured correctly 2. the 'installing' user has to have admin access to the remote computer 3. Remote File Admin shares have to be turned on. 4. (I turn on WMI and Remote Registry remotely)

This deployment system was built back in the 2003 days.

Is there some better way now? Maybe a deployment library I can use?

thank you.

Answer 1

The best you can do here is to create a properly behaving .MSI that supports silent installation. It is then up to your user communities to plan their own deployments using the tools of their choice such as SCCM. Much more detail is required in order to give exact suggestions.