Deployment Solution

Deployment Solution 6.x only allows you to auto-upgrade very similar versions. It does not support upgrading an AClient straight from 6.1 or 6.5 to 6.9 SP2. I have found a reliable way to upgrade an AClient from any version to any version. This process can even be used to downgrade an AClient to a previous version. During the upgrade process, you can also push a new AClient configuration.

If you are unsure if your AClients are the same version and have the correct settings, you can use this process to standardize all of your clients. This can be helpful if you are experiencing one of the following:

1. AClients appear offline even though they are online.
2. AClients appear online even though they are offline.
3. Scheduled jobs do not run on clients, or they run after a delay.
4. When the server starts, it takes a long time for agents to connect.

If you are experiencing any of these issues, you can use this document in conjunction with Altiris KB 4214.

This can be used to change outdated settings or point the agent to a new server during the upgrade process. If you are upgrading agents and pointing them to a new server, follow these steps on the old server. In this article I make reference to your "old" and "new" servers. If you are doing an in-place upgrade, your "old" and "new" servers are the same server.

Here is how to upgrade and configure any version of AClient:

1. Create a folder in your eXpress share of the old server named AgentUpgrade.
2. Copy the new aclient.exe to the AgentUpgrade folder.
   1. Go to the eXpress share of your new server.
   2. Go to the Agents\AClient folder.
   3. Find the file named altiris-aclient-6.9.###.X86.exe (where ### is the highest number listed).
   4. Copy altiris-aclient-6.9.###.X86.exe to the AgentUpgrade folder on the old server.
   5. Rename altiris-aclient-6.9.###.X86.exe on the old server to aclient.exe.
3. Create a settings.reg file containing the new configuration settings in the AgentUpgrade folder.
   1. Install the new AClient on a client computer (or use a computer that already has it installed).
   2. Configure the AClient settings to what you want for your standard.
      1. Make sure the Address/Hostname setting points to your new server.
      2. Make sure the Refresh connection after idle setting is disabled.
      3. If you are upgrading your AClients to 6.9 SP3, you can configure the keep-alive feature as explained in KB 48987. You will need to enable this feature if your AClients are losing connection to the server (AClient tray icon is blue, but console show the computer as gray or vice versa.) Generally, you will want to configure the keep-alive interval to the highest value that works.
      4. Make sure the Forward Wake-On-LAN packets setting is disabled.
      5. Make sure the Forward Deployment Server discovery multicast packets setting is disabled.
   3. Open the registry editor.
      1. Click Start > Run...
      2. Type "regedit" and click enter.
   4. Navigate to the registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Altiris"
   5. Right-click the "Client Service" key and choose Export.
   6. Save the exported registry file as settings.reg.
   7. Copy settings.reg to the AutoUpgrade folder in the eXpress share of your old server.
4. Create an upgrade.vbs file containing the upgrade script in the AgentUpgrade folder.
   1. Go to the AgentUpgrade folder in the eXpress share of your old server.
   2. Create an empty file named upgrade.vbs containing the following:

      On Error Resume Next
      Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
      'objReg is used to read the registry
      Set objReg=GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\default:StdRegProv")
      'objFSO is used to rename, move, and delete files Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
      Set objWMIService =
      GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\cimv2")
      'colListOfServices is used to start and stop the AClient service Set colListOfServices = objWMIService.ExecQuery ("Select * from Win32_Service Where Name = 'AClient'") 'sh is used to run commands Set sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") 'Get the Directory where AClient is located objReg.GetStringValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "SOFTWARE\Altiris\Client Service","InstallDir",strInstallDir
      If objFSO.FolderExists(strInstallDir) Then
          'If the AClient folder exists, do the AClient upgrade
          'Rename aclient.exe to aclient.old
          objFSO.DeleteFile(strInstallDir + "aclient.old")
          objFSO.MoveFile strInstallDir + "aclient.exe", strInstallDir + "aclient.old"
          'Replace the old aclient.exe with the new one
          objFSO.MoveFile ".\aclient.exe", strInstallDir + "aclient.exe"
          'Stop the AClient service
          For Each objService in colListOfServices
              objService.StopService()
          Next
          'Wait for five seconds
          WSCript.Sleep 5000
          'Apply the AClient configuration
          sh.Run "reg import .\settings.reg",0,True
          'Start the AClient service
          For Each objService in colListOfServices
              objService.StartService()
          Next
          'Delete all temporary files
          objFSO.DeleteFile(strInstallDir + "aclient.old")
          objFSO.DeleteFile("aclient.exe")
          objFSO.DeleteFile("settings.reg")
          objFSO.DeleteFile("start.bat")
          objFSO.DeleteFile("upgrade.vbs")
          'Report success
          Wscript.Quit 0
      Else
          'If the AClient folder doesn't exist, do nothing
          Wscript.Echo "AClient Folder does not exist."
          'If the AClient folder doesn't exist, report failure
          Wscript.Quit 1
      End If

   3. Save and close the file.
      Note: to understand what the script is doing, read the comments on the lines beginning with "'".
5. Create a start.bat file to call the upgrade script in the AgentUpgrade folder.
   1. Go to the AgentUpgrade folder in the eXpress share of your old server.
   2. Create an empty file named start.bat containing the following:

      REM go to the directory this batch file is in
      cd %~dp0
      REM call upgrade.vbs
      wscript upgrade.vbs

   3. Save and close the file.
      Note: to understand what the script is doing, read the comments on the lines beginning with "REM".
      At this point, your AgentUpgrade folder should look like this:
      
6. Create a job to upgrade AClient.
   1. Open the Deployment Console on your old server.
   2. Create a new job named "Agent Upgrade".
   3. Add a Distribute Software task to the job.
      1. For the Name setting, enter .\AgentUpgrade\start.bat
      2. Enable the option Copy all directory files.
      3. Click Finish.
      4. When prompted to continue, choose Yes.
          
      

When you are ready to upgrade your AClients, schedule the job to the All Computers group of your old server. It is recommended that you schedule the job to execute in batches, for example 10 computers every 3 minutes. The batch size and frequency that works best for you will be dependent on your environment. If you are unsure, start with a longer time between batches and reduce it as you determine.