What is the purpose of this information?
The deployment image is created by the system administrators for installing the application with the same installation configuration on multiple machines. The installation configuration includes the installation location, features, shortcuts, and so on. Once created, users will be able to double-click Setup_CONNECTIONClientx64_23.00.00.10.exe available in the deployment image to install the application with the set configuration without the need of any user interaction or internet connection for component downloads. The deployment image can be shared in the network as a UNC path or pushed using SMS/SCCM.
Advantages of Using a Deployment Image
Conceptually, the deployment image can be considered as a pre-configured offline installer. Following are the advantages of using a deployment image:
- Internet connection is not required.
- Separate pre-requisite pack or set of packages before installing product are not required.
- The installation location can be decided and set in deployment image. Once defined, the product will be installed at the same location on all the machines.
- The components to be installed are preselected at the time of creating deployment image. This results in all machines having exactly same set of installations.
- You can add custom packages with complete configuration (command-line parameters) that are executed at the end of product installation. This allows you to deploy more items along with the product on all the machines.
Contents of Deployment Image
The deployment image contains all the files that are packaged with the product as well as the downloadable files, including Companion Features and Applications. It may optionally contain external applications or packages that you add while creating the deployment image. The image does not analyze the system on which it is created. It simply saves all the components for installation. The deployment image also saves the installation configuration.
Before You Start
Using non-root drive:
If the installation drive set in the deployment image configuration settings is other than the root directory (usually c:\), make sure that the drive exists on the machine on which the application is to be installed.
These are the pre-requisites for creating a deployment image:
- Internet connection - Since the setup is running in/layoutmode an internet connection is required to download all installable components.
- Write access to the location where the deployment image will be created.
- Currently a minimum 110 MB disk space at the deployment image location for each image that will be created, this (plus additional space for custom packages if required).
Deployment Image Settings
The deployment settings are displayed when you run the setup in/layoutmode. Following deployment image settings are displayed in the CONNECTION Client Installation Wizard.
- 'Full UI Mode' - Displays all the installer windows when you install using the deployment image. 'Full UI Mode' is not recommended as full user interaction is needed to run the installation. This is only of value in an atypical situation where individual installations require different options.
- 'Passive UI Mode' - Installs the application in passive mode from the deployment image. In this mode, the installation wizard and the progress dialog are displayed but the installation takes place automatically. The installer takes the options selected while creating the deployment image and you cannot select any options in this mode. The user has full visibility of the installation process.
- 'No UI Mode' - Installs the application in silent mode and is for use with deployment tools as mentioned above, e.g. Microsoft SCCM. No dialogs will be displayed and successful completion of the installation will only be confirmed by reports back to those tools or local event log messages. If an error occurs during installation this may not be obvious to the machine user.
Deployment Image Location
Click the Change button next to the deployment image location path to open the Browse for folder dialog for selecting the location where you want to save the deployment image. This can be an existing location or a new folder can be created using the browse dialog. Typically, this will be in a network location. Create a new appropriately named sub-folder for each Deployment Image, e.g.:
- CONNECTIONClient_Standard
Create a Deployment Image
1. In the command line, go to the folder that contains the CONNECTION Client setup executable and run the executable with the /layout command.
2. The CONNECTION Client Installation Wizard opens.
3. (Optional) To change the application installation location, click the Browse button next to the Application Path. We recommend that you accept the default install location unless there is a particular reason not to: In the Browse For Folder dialog that opens, browse to the drive and folder you want to install the product in, then click OK.
4. Select the language version to be installed
5. [optional] Create application shortcut on Desktop
[Required] Accept the End User License Agreement
6. Click Next
7. Select the installation mode, 'Passive UI Mode' is the default that applies to most situations. Browse to and select the Deployment Image Location, creating a separate sub-folder for each deployment image
8. In the Features stage the only feature installed is the CONNECTION Client
9. Click Layout to create the deployment image. The usual installer dialog boxes will appear, and required (or potentially required) components will be downloaded
10. Click Finish to exit the CONNECTION Client Installation Wizard. The deployment image is created at the selected location.
The resulting files created will be similar to this:
*Please note: These files are included in the deployment image so that all required files are available on the local network during installation without the need for further online downloads speeding up the installation and avoiding repeated downloads of the same files.
12. Run Setup_CONNECTIONClientx64_xx.yy.zz.exe (exact version number) to install. This can be done:
a. Manually on the machine where the CONNECTION Client will be installed by browsing to the deployment image location
b. Using installation management software as mentioned above.
See also
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