Why is it so difficult to deploy your own email client? Why not make it like the Zenworks agent deployable from ZENworks. It would be even cooler if you could check for updated clients like you can the zenworks agent.
by: Matthew D. | over a year ago | Other
Comments
It can do that from the server, but the issue is that the clients have to have admin privileges to be able to do the install. Which in this day and age, no one should do. You can use tools like Bundle Commander (Setup Commander) to help you create GW client packages you can deploy through ZEN.
But you are right, if they resolved the admin user issue for the installs from the server then you can use the auto client update solution that has been around for years.
I would rather it be deployable from ZENworks and not the Server. That way I can target OU/Groups, or a single machine. It would also allow me to get more granular such as assigning it to user groups. Now I can do this with a bundle and that how I normally do it, but the pure convenience of this would make this product that much better.
Also I would settle for an MSI installer install of a batch file!
We have been using Zenworks to deploy GW for years, it was hell to do at the start but we have it down easy now. let me know if you want the basic instructions. And it would be nice to have an msi but its easily doable via setupip.
Hello Paul,
it would be nice if you'll write instructions for it!
Thanks.
Michal
Hello Paul,
I use Zenworks to deploy GroupWise as well, but what I failed at explaining thoroughly is to make it deployable like the Agent is, through the configuration page in Zenworks is what I am trying to get at. Instead of doing a bundle. Go to configuration page check for new GW client (like checking for available system updates) and download it and deploy from that page.
Ok, sorry I misunderstood. We need to deploy as a bundle as we do a lot of custom stuff so for us being a bundle is not a downside in anyway. certainly an MSI would always make life even easier.
Completely agree it's 2018! why am I still using batch file to do an install.
Well, there *is* a groupwise.msi. Just that it is unfortunately not a "real" msi, but it's more like a batch file converted to a .msi, and as such has countless issues MSI was originally developed to overcome.
To install the groupwise client, we have a Setup.exe, an Install.bat, a Groupwise.msi, and finally a setupip, each of which has it's own set of issues.
Of course this is a result of many many years and versions since Groupwise exists, but it is *really* about time to start the whole installer from scratch. With every version it gets more of an unmanageable (and obviously unmanaged) mess. Useless huge .net versions shipping on and off, outdated VC runtimes being installed multiple times within the same setup run, now with 18.1 170MB of KeyView viewers being included twice in the client directory for no reason whatsoever, a MSI install that only works when it's explicitly started elevated (even as admin), otherwise breaks with registration errors and leave an incomplete install behind...