Basic MSI Application Deployment
Deployment of an MSI as an Application pretty much does all the work for us. Before starting ensure the data source folder structures for the MSI's, collections and deployments are consistent and follow a documented procedure.
In this example, the SCOM Client Agent .msi will be deployed and it's been copied to the SMSSources folder on the ConfigMgr server.
Run up the ConfigMgr Console and browse to 'Software Library', 'Application Management' and 'Applications'
I suggest creating a folder structure to group vendor companies.
Right click and 'Create Application'.
Select 'Windows Installer (*.msi file)' if its not already listed.
Type the UNC path to the ConfigMgr Source folder containing the SCOM Agent MSI.
Review the 'Import Information' and Next.
Update any required fields, for SCOM the Installation program is updated to include Management Group and EULA.
Complete the wizard and thats pretty much it for importing an MSI as an Application.
Review the application by right clicking and 'Properties' once its imported, check Detection Methods and targeted OS etc. This is covered in greater detail here.
The application content will need to be copied to the Distribution Points (DP's), right click on the application and select 'Distribute Content'
Next on the 'General' tab
Click on the 'Add' drop down and either select 'DP' or hopefully 'DP Group'
Complete the 'Distribute Content Wizard'
Confirm that the content has been distributes to all the DP's by clicking on 'Content Status'
Or going directly to the 'Monitoring' tab, clicking on 'Distribution Status' and selecting or searching for the application.
Further details can be viewed by clicking on 'View Status'
Before deploying the application a warning. Confirm the targeted 'Collection' has the correct members. Too many times I've seen deployments to collections that are misconfigured with the admin not updating and refreshing the collection. The collection appears empty in the console, however, it contains thousands of clients or servers. Now would be a good time to check the collection.
I've tested the SCOM Agent previously, but still recommend deploying it to a test collection prior to mass deployments.
Do not deploy the SCOM Agent to any of the SCOM servers as it's not required and likely causes issues.
Click on 'Browse' for the collection and select a machine collection
Action; Install
Purpose: Required
Select a schedule that suits the situation, in this case the application will start to download and install once policy has updated.
Leave the default 'User Notification'.
Check the 'Software Installation'. As the SCOM Agent is required asap, the maintenance windows will be ignored.
Ignore the alerting and SCOM check boxes
Complete the 'Deploy Software Wizard', the SCOM agent will deploy once policy has updated.
For a quick view of how deployment is proceeding click on the 'Deployment' tab
Run the 'All application deployments (basic)' report for more details on the deployment
