netOctopus' FileScripter utility allows administrators to create an Apple Installer compatible installer script that can be deployed using the Installer Scripts command. This method, however, may not be as efficient as installing software from a file server. The reason for this is because the netOctopus Administrator console only opens a small buffer for each package distribution. The speed of the software installation using the Installer Scripts command will be limited by this buffer size. In addition to this, each file has to be transferred from the Administrator console machine to each Agent machine. File servers are typically optimized with better network capabilities for serving files. This may not be true for the machine on which you have installed the netOctopus Administrator console. For these reasons, a software installation from a file server may proceed faster than one from the netOctopus Administrator console. This document outlines how administrators may perform a software installation to OS 8.1 and higher Agents from a network volume on a file server using Installer Observer PPC. The latest version of this application can be downloaded from http://pubweb.nwu.edu/~zps869/io.html. Installer Observer PPC 3.0.3 can be downloaded from here.

1. Launch Installer Observer PPC.

2. In the Options window select Entire Hard Drive from the pull-down Folder Set menu. Choose Scan all levels of these folders. Below this check to see that your startup disk is listed. If you are planning to install your software on a different volume than your startup volume click the Add button to add this other volume.

   

3. Click the Save Conditions button. In the Save window select a filename and location for the conditions file. It is recommended that you accept the default location of Desktop and default filename of Saved System State.

4. Quit Installer Observer PPC. This is because any installers will require that you shut down all other running applications before the installation can proceed.

5. Install your application.

6. After you are finished installing your application, relaunch Installer Observer PPC.

7. Click the Examine Changes button.

8. In the Open window select the conditions file that was taken before installing your application. If you accepted the defaults, this should be the file Saved System State on your Desktop. A progress bar will appear stating "Comparing folder with state saved at <date>, <time>" as the current state of your volume(s) is compared to the saved state. An Observation window will then appear describing the changes made to your system during the course of installing your application.

9. From the File menu, select Observations and then Save Observations as Text. It is best to accept the default filename of Saved System Changes Text and the default location of Desktop. Print out this file to get a listing of changes to your volume(s) during the installation of your application. Remember to close this file before continuing. You can also use this information to repackage your application using Mindivision's InstallerVise. For more information please refer to the how-to document on How to distribute software, on the Macintosh, using netOctopus and a third party installer package.

10. From the File menu, select Packages and then Create Packages from Observations.

11. In the Create Installation Package window, go through the list of files to confirm that they appear on the list of changes created in step 9. Also remove any files that may have changed as a normal part of the operation of the Mac OS and obviously have no relation to your software installation. Remember to also remove the Saved System Changes file that was created in step 3. For example, the Internet Explorer Preference file obviously would have nothing to do with an installation of Adobe Photoshop. Remove files from the package by highlighting them and then clicking the Remove button.

    

12. When you are done removing extraneous files, click the Build button to create an Observer Installer PPC package.

13. In the Save window select a destination and filename for your package. It is recommended you accept the default path of Desktop but rename the filename after the software package that you installed.

14. Place the following files on a shared network volume: the Installer Observer PPC application, the package you just created, and an AppleScript to trigger the automatic installation of that package. An example of this script is provided here. You will need to customize it to your particular environment.

15. Highlight the Agent machines that you want to deploy your software package on and select Execute AppleScript from the Commands menu. Drop the appropriate AppleScript for the selected Agent machines into the Execute AppleScript window and then click OK. It is recommended that you separate your Agents into different installation groups depending on the version of the Mac OS installed on the Agent machines. This is because each version of the Mac OS (which has a corresponding different version of AppleScript) will require a different AppleScript to mount the network volume where the Installer Observer PPC application and software package are located. This is explained in the note below.

Note: The provided AppleScripts allow you connect to a network volume using either Appletalk file sharing or Appleshare IP. There are two different scripts provided, depending on the version of the Mac OS on the Agent machines. This is due to issues with the mount command in the versions of AppleScript included with the various releases of the Mac OS.

You can use the first script for Agent machines with OS 9.0 and above with either Appleshare IP or Appletalk file sharing. You will need to customize this script depending on which protocol you want to use to distribute your software package. In OS 8.6, however, there is a problem with AppleScript 1.3.7 that prevents the mount command from properly mounting a network volume that requires a user name and password over Appleshare IP. For this reason, you can still use the first script but with Appletalk only. On OS 8.5.1 (AppleScript 1.3.4) and below, the mount command does not support the user name and password arguments. Besides this, mounting a network volume over Appleshare IP exhibits unreliable performance. Both these issues can be resolved by using an alternate script. This second script mounts a volume over Appletalk file sharing without specifying a user name and password. Because of this you will have to grant guest read access to the network volume where the package is stored if you plan on deploying software to OS 8.5.1 and older Macs. It is recommended that you use this second script for all of your Agent machines running OS 8.5.1 and lower.

AT=Appletalk File Sharing
IP=Appleshare IP