[wpkg-users] Periodical wpkg script execution from wprg client

[Kevin Keane]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: wpkg-users-bounces at lists.wpkg.org [mailto:wpkg-users-
> bounces at lists.wpkg.org] On Behalf Of ????? ??????????
> Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 6:07 AM
> To: wpkg-users at lists.wpkg.org
> Subject: Re: [wpkg-users] Periodical wpkg script execution from wprg
> client
> 
> On Среда 24 марта 2010 16:01:01 Kevin Keane wrote:
> > If you have a Windows domain, you could use SHUTDOWN.EXE to
> automatically
> >  reboot all computers at some point in the middle of the night. If
> your
> >  computers have Wake on LAN, you could even automatically shut all of
> them
> >  down at 10 PM, and use WoL to wake them up (and run WPKG) much later
> in
> >  the morning.
> >
> > Be aware that this will be a somewhat painful experience for users
> the
> >  first time round; you may want to let them know in advance.
> Otherwise,
> >  they may leave some information unsaved and find that they lost it
> in the
> >  morning.
> 
> 	There are very top-ranking coleagues, that do not turn off their
> computers.
> For example, my director. My rank is too small to tell him, what he
> should do.
> Usually, such users says me that they do not need any updates.
> 	I am to deply applications and application updates quietly and
> transparent to
> users.

I understand where you are coming from. Dealing with users, high-ranking users in particular, sometimes can be tricky. Sometimes it may help to explain to them that just as a car needs to go to the shop for maintenance, a computer does, too. But you are right, political concerns can be a problem.

I don't know your situation, of course, but sometimes it may actually help for you to think of the situation differently. Your managers didn't hire you just to do a job. They actually hired you because a problem needs to be solved. Think of yourself as a "lawyer" part of whose job is to tell the manager "hey, to solve this problem, I need you to do X, Y and Z" rather than a mechanic who just has to get wpkg to work.
 
That said, having such a strategy of "automatic reboot every night" may actually help you deal with that issue. You will have the issue of disruption anyway if one of the "quietly deploying apps" requires a reboot. By scheduling a reboot every night, you make this predictable and hide it at a time when he is asleep.

What people hate about rebooting etc. is primarily that they don't have control. People will happily spend an hour playing solitaire but get upset about a five-minute reboot.