After you have created your packages and
programs, the next step is to create an advertisement. Remember, before
you configure an advertisement, you must have identified and created the
collections that you’ll advertise the programs to. Programs are always
advertised to collections—even if it’s a collection of one.
To create an advertisement, follow these steps:
1. | In
the SMS Administrator Console, navigate to the Advertisements folder,
right-click it, choose New from the context menu, and then choose
Advertisement to display the Advertisement Properties dialog box, as
shown in Figure 1.
| 2. | In
the General tab, begin by entering a descriptive name for the
advertisement. Enter a descriptive comment to add more detail. Select
the package and program to advertise from their respective list boxes.
Enter the collection name, or browse for it by clicking Browse. If the
collection has subcollections and you want to include them in the
advertisement, select the Include Members Of Subcollections check box.
| 3. | Select the Schedule tab, shown in Figure 2. Begin by selecting the start time and date for the advertisement. This setting represents the time
at which the program is advertised and made available for the client to
run. By default, the advertisement will be made available in all time
zones at the same time, meaning that if the advertisement start time is
3:00 in New York, it’s made available in New York at 3:00, in Chicago at
2:00, in London at 8:00, and so on. If you want the advertisement to be
made available at a specific hour in each time zone—for example, at
3:00 in New York, Chicago, and London, select the Greenwich Mean Time
check box.
| 4. | If
the advertisement will be available for only a specific period of time,
select the Advertisement Will Expire check box, select an expiration
date, and select Greenwich Mean Time if desired. The priority you
specify is a sending priority only and is used when the advertisement is
sent to a child site.
| 5. | You
can also assign a run time to the advertisement. To configure this
option, click New (the yellow star button) in the Mandatory Assignments
section of the Schedule tab to display the Assignment Schedule dialog
box, shown in Figure 3.
Here you can assign a mandatory time and date for the advertised
program to run. If the program is not run by this time and date, the
Advertised Programs Client Agent on the client will execute it.
| 6. | If you select Assign To The Following Schedule and click Schedule, the Schedule dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 4.
In this dialog box, you can specify exactly when you want to run the
advertised program. You can also set a recurrence interval for
advertisements such as monthly virus file updates.
| 7. | If
you select the Assign Immediately After This Event option in the
Assignment Schedule dialog box, you can choose to have the advertised
program execute as soon as possible—meaning as soon as the program
reaches the client and all program requirements (correct platform, user
logged on, administrator access, and so on) are met; at logoff—the next
time a user logs off the client; or at logon—the next time a user logs
on to the client.
| 8. | Click
OK to return to the Schedule tab. If you configure a mandatory
assignment, two additional options become available. Select the
Assignments Are Not Mandatory Over Slow Links check box to prevent a
potentially large program from running if the Advertised Programs Client
Agent discovers that the network is overutilized. Select the Allow
Users To Run The Program Independently Of Assignments check box if you
want to give the user the option of canceling a mandatory advertisement
when it’s scheduled to run or to reschedule when the advertisement runs.
| 9. | Select the Advanced Client tab, shown in Figure 5.
These options are available for use by Advanced Clients only and
determine how a program should run when a distribution point is or is
not available in the site the Advanced Client is roaming to.
In the When A Distribution Point Is Available Locally section the
default option is Run Program from Distribution Point. This means that
the program is executed from the distribution point. However, if the
computer loses its connection to the distribution point while the
program is running, the program will fail. Choose the Download Program
From Distribution Point option to ensure that the entire package is
downloaded to the client before the program is executed. If the
distribution point supports Background Intelligent Transfer Service
(BITS) and the computer becomes disconnected from the distribution point
before the files have been downloaded, the download will pick up where
it left off when the computer reestablishes a connection.
In the When No Distribution Point Is Available Locally section,
the default option is Do Not Run Program. By default, packages aren’t
run if the distribution point is not local. Since Advanced Clients can
roam to the boundaries of other SMS sites in the hierarchy, there might
not be a local distribution point available that has the package. If the
package is located on a distribution in the Advanced Client’s assigned
site, the distribution point is considered remote. Choose the Download
Program From A Remote Distribution Point option if this package needs to
be run on the client and the package is large or the network link to
the remote site is slow. Choose the Run Program From A Remote
Distribution Point option if the package needs to be run on the client
and the package is small or the network connection to the remote site is
fast and reliable.
| 10. | Click OK to create the advertisement.
Note If
you haven’t yet identified a distribution point for the package, you’ll
be notified of that fact when you click OK. Also, if you haven’t yet
enabled the Advertised Programs Client Agent for the clients, you’ll be
given the option to do so. |
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As
we’ve seen, you can specify a recurring schedule for your
advertisement. This setting can be useful for programs that need to be
executed on a regular basis. Let’s return to our virus update file
example. Suppose you’ve created a package that distributes a virus
update file once a month. On the 14th of every month, you obtain a virus
update file and replace the old file in the package source file
directory with the new file. You also configure the package to refresh
its distribution points once a month, say on the 15th. When
you create the advertisement, give it an assigned schedule. Set it to
run on the 16th, maybe at 11:00 P.M. Now all you have to do is remember
to update the source file directory once a month. The package and
advertisement process will take care of the rest. You
might also consider creating a package that executes the virus-scanning
program on the client. Again, you could assign a recurring
advertisement to run the virus scan at regular intervals. Here’s another
twist on this scenario: let’s say that you want the virus scan to run
immediately after the virus update file is installed. You’ve seen that
when you create a program, you have an advanced option to run another
program first. You would then create a program that executes the virus
scan but first copies the update file. Then create a recurring
advertisement that runs that program once a month at the appropriate
time. You can use recurring
advertisements to handle a variety of these kinds of events. Use them to
periodically synchronize the system time on your SMS clients with the
site server. Use them to perform disk maintenance tasks such as monthly
defragmentation or optimization routines. With a little creativity and
imagination, you can automate many such tasks and make your job as a
system administrator more productive. |
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