[wpkg-users] Deploying System in Real-Time

Wed Jun 1 17:33:22 CEST 2011

$host = $this->Host->get($id, false);
$hostName = $host['Host']['name'];
$cmd = BASE_PATH."PSTools\PsExec.exe \\\\".$hostName." -accepteula -s -h -d cscript ".BASE_PATH."Script\wpkg.js /synchronize /quiet /nonotify /noUpgradeBeforeRemove /noremove /force 2>&1";
$info = shell_exec($cmd);

It takes some time getting used to CakePHP, but it's enormously helpful to have that button there. BASE_PATH is just a define in the WPKG_constants file I added so when it came time to switch the location it just takes one line. What's important about this is your web server needs to run as a user which has administrator rights to the machines you're pushing to, otherwise psexec.exe won't work. This is a bit of a security hole, but I also locked down WPKGExpress with LDAP authentication so we felt okay with it. The only other option is to pass a username and password to psexec in plain text - and if you do that, anybody on that machine can just open the task manager and see what command is running, giving them access to an administrator account.

Trey Terrell - Forestry Computing Helpdesk

From: Dave Goodbourn [mailto:dave.goodbourn at u-fx.co.uk]
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:46 AM
To: Terrell, Trey
Cc: wpkg-users at lists.wpkg.org
Subject: Re: [wpkg-users] Deploying System in Real-Time

After a little investigation this morning, turns out that my VLC setup wasn't verifying correctly. After a quick tweak all seems to be fine now, thanks.

Trey - how are you executing the psexec from WPKGExpress? Are you using the php exec/shell_exec commands? This sounds like the perfect idea for what I'm looking at. I was going to write a simple small desktop app to execute the psexec command on all/select workstations but building it as part of WPKGExpress would be far nicer!

Cheers for your help guys,
D.
On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 11:59 PM, Terrell, Trey <Trey.Terrell at oregonstate.edu<mailto:Trey.Terrell at oregonstate.edu>> wrote:
Our Deployment Method:

I've rewritten parts of WPKGExpress to include a "push" button which sends the psexec command as an administrator account from the web server to the given computer. I don't use the client, as I don't want to manage uninstalls or force reinstallations of software. It's more just a quick deployment method for me. There's a bunch of other fancy stuff - package-specific logs and such so I don't have to ever mess with XML or .log files, WPKGExpress just parses everything for me. As someone noted after me, for package notification I rewrote part of my wpkg.js to automatically launch wpkgmessage in the console session (using psexec -i - haven't found a better way yet) to notify them of which packages are currently being installed. It works quite nicely so far.

Trey Terrell - Forestry Computing Helpdesk

From: wpkg-users-bounces at lists.wpkg.org<mailto:wpkg-users-bounces at lists.wpkg.org> [mailto:wpkg-users-bounces at lists.wpkg.org<mailto:wpkg-users-bounces at lists.wpkg.org>] On Behalf Of Dave Goodbourn
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2011 2:30 PM
To: Peter Gough
Cc: wpkg-users at lists.wpkg.org<mailto:wpkg-users at lists.wpkg.org>
Subject: Re: [wpkg-users] Deploying System in Real-Time

Hi all,

I'm not at work at the moment, but a bit more info for you. The client is a Win 7 x64 and I'm testing the commands from an XP SP3 x86. I'm running with an administrators account.

Another thing I've noticed is that if I run the cscript locally it works just great, but if I just start the service it can sometimes again fail to update the wpkg.xml file. I'm going to try a different software installation as I'm not 100% sure the VLC script I'm testing with works 100% correctly. I'll do some more testing tomorrow when I'm back in work and try and narrow down where I'm going wrong!!!

BTW, how does everyone else deploy software with WPKG? Push or Pull?

Cheers,
D.
On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 9:54 PM, Peter Gough <pmgough at gmail.com<mailto:pmgough at gmail.com>> wrote:
That's also the way I read it.

Can you check that the account you're using for the updates has
permissions (RWXD) to write the file in %windir%\system32.

On 01/06/2011, at 6:07 AM, Rainer Meier <r.meier at wpkg.org<mailto:r.meier at wpkg.org>> wrote:

> Hi Kevin,
>
> On 31.05.2011 20:05, k.ijssel at eqaz.nl<mailto:k.ijssel at eqaz.nl> wrote:
>> Did you gave the file 777 rights?
>>
>> Else it can't be edited..
>
> I think he's not talking about server-side XML (wpkg.js does not update any of
> them unless you have a script/package which just copies it from local to a
> share). So I was assuming that he refers to the local wpkg.xml file - which
> would also explain why he's seeing the same updates on each run.
>
> Moreover I don't think he's using Linux/Samba server; but I am not sure as he
> did not specify it.
>
> br,
> Rainer
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--

Dave Goodbourn

IT Manager

[http://images.u-fx.co.uk/ufx_logo.jpg]

uFX (a division of uMedia)

UK: 2nd & 3rd Floors - 32 Rathbone Place - London - W1T 1JJ

BE: Avenue Louise 113, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

GENERAL           +44 20 7268 0068

FAX                    +44 20 7268 0068
dave at u-fx.co.uk<mailto:dave at u-fx.co.uk>

www.u-fx.be<http://www.u-fx.be>

[http://images.u-fx.co.uk/ufx_strap]

Confidentiality notice<http://www.umedia.eu/medias/CONFIDENTIALITY20NOTICE.pdf>

Company legal information<http://www.umedia.eu/medias/Company_legal_information.pdf>

--

Dave Goodbourn

IT Manager

[http://images.u-fx.co.uk/ufx_logo.jpg]

uFX (a division of uMedia)

UK: 2nd & 3rd Floors - 32 Rathbone Place - London - W1T 1JJ

BE: Avenue Louise 113, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

GENERAL           +44 20 7268 0068

FAX                    +44 20 7268 0068
dave at u-fx.co.uk<mailto:dave at u-fx.co.uk>

www.u-fx.be<http://www.u-fx.be>

[http://images.u-fx.co.uk/ufx_strap]

Confidentiality notice<http://www.umedia.eu/medias/CONFIDENTIALITY20NOTICE.pdf>

Company legal information<http://www.umedia.eu/medias/Company_legal_information.pdf>

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