[wpkg-users] WPKG for remote / offline clients (who are never local)

[Marco]

Okay, this makes it a bit more clear to me.

I will try to give my ideas ...

I would use a "custom script" which does the copy. If you are flexible
on the server side, use "rsync", which does it in a secure and reliable
way. This is "straight forward".

If security is not an issue, another easy way would be to use
"bittorrentsync", which could have some advantages depending on your
needs. This is really a good tool for syncing directories, even with
huge amounts of data. It uses checksums to make sure the files are
correct. This would do the sync always in the background independent of
a "custom script".

With one of these your first two issues should be done.

Your point 3 is already solved in the wpkg client. It is anyway started
as a service on system startup.

There are already some mechanisms in wpkg.js that help you:
1. revisions of wpkg-packages
If you first sync all the "install packages" and only if they are all
copied over correctly, you sync the wpkg-package-xml files, which have
new revision information for all the packages you want to update. If the
"install package" sync failes, the wpkg.js will not do any updates,
because the wpkg-package-xml files have the revisions of the already
installed software.
Or more sophisticated, if you have an wpkg-package-xml-file per
software, you can sync the software-install-package and afterwards the
corresponding wpkg-package-xml-file

Example:
first copy the "flash-install.msi" and afterwards copy the
"flash-install.xml"
wpkg.js will only try to install flash-install.msi, if the revision in
"flash-install.xml" has increased.

2. If a install/upgrade failes, it is tried again on next start.
Even if a installer is missing or not synced completely or whatever
happens, wpkg.js will try to install it again.
Nothing to do here. WPKG takes care. Worst case would be, if a xml is
not okay. It happens on my side, that a broken xml broke the wpkg-database.

Your point number 3 is the easiest for me, because I did this already :-)
I use the "execute after" where I run a program that transfers all the
logs to the server. I use putty and scp.
But mentioning bittorrentsync brought me to the idea to use this for
writing back the logs, too.

Hope some of my ideas help you in the development of your solution.

Greetings ...
 Marco


On 04.08.2014 17:33, Dave Evans wrote:
> On 04/08/2014 16:01, Marco wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I am new to the list, thus it might be a stupid question.
>>
>> On which level do you develop your solution:
>>
>> New WPKG Windows Client ?
>> A "execute before" script/program in the WPKG client ?
>> A "Custom script" in the WPKG client (off-line mode)?
>> Changes in wpkg.js ?
> others (Heiko & Rainer) have suggested that it might be not be a good
> idea, or at least there are things to be careful of before you do it.
> the work I've done so far has been to create a separate script probably
> .js (like wpkg.js) or PowerShell.
> Like I said, I would expect to have a local copy of the wpkg folder, and
> run from that
> the clever part is how you keep it up to date.
> I'm not clever enough to do a re-write of any of the existing code :-)
> 
> Dave
>>
>> Greetings ...
>>   Marco
>>
>>
>> On 04.08.2014 15:53, Dave Evans wrote:
>>> we have a number of users with laptops who work out of the office most
>>> of the time (i.e. they come into the office 1 or 2 times a year).
>>> others are remote desktops which never come to the office
>>>
>>> what I want is for the client to:
>>>
>>>    * connect to a central server somewhere (could be via VPN or a
>>>      restricted server on the internet)
>>>    * download any new or changed files in the background (like Windows
>>>      Updates)
>>>    * execute wpkg (possibly next boot to avoid killing running
>>>      applications whilst we update them)
>>>    * (optionally) send the log file back up to the central server
>>>
>>>
>>> I initially thought that off-line / laptop mode was for this, but on
>>> reading further I realise it's to stop the clients trying to access the
>>> server when they can't, useful, but no help here.
>>> I looked around to see if there was anything that anyone had already
>>> done to help in this scenario - but I can't find anything helpful.
>>> So I've started to code a solution, I'm getting on well, but there's a
>>> lot of work to do, and I thought it was about time I checked with the
>>> mailing list in case someone else knows something that will already
>>> do this.
>>> It may be that it's obvious, but just called something my brain won't
>>> think of (so I'll never find it using search)
>>>
>>> I've considered using offline files to make the remote folder structure
>>> available locally, but I've no way of ensuring that things will be
>>> updated locally in the correct order to make them execute right.
>>> My current idea is to run wpkg at boot as normal, then as the last task
>>> download any new/changed files using BITS (the part of Windows Updates
>>> which does the trickle download of new patches) then these new versions
>>> should get installed next boot.
>>>
>>> Does anyone know of anything that will do what I'm after already?
>>> and if not
>>> Would anyone else be interested in using this when I get it ready?
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Dave
>>>
>>>
>>>
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