Deployment Solution

Is there a way to run a VBScript or Batch file that will trigger the Deployment Solution to run an install job against a computer?

The scenario is this :

I have set up a "All Software" job with multiple tasks in it which deploys all the standard site licensed software to a machine.

1. machine comes in through the door
2. machine is unpacked and set up on the desk
3. technician visits to configure the IP number, set the machine name and add the computer to the domain
4. on reboot a startup script installs the aclient to the machine

At this point I would ideally like the technician to simply double-click a script and have that pull the "All Software" job to run against that machine and then they can walk away.

At the moment the only way to achieve this is using the DSWeb console on the machine which needs the Active X control installed 3 times in order to work and due to IE7 being a bit naff this can take about 10 minutes to get to the console. Then the technician has to delve into the structure and find the machine, then assign the task and tell it to run. It would be much nicer if they could double-click a script to make the job run.

An alternative option would be to write a web page that just has a single button they could click to run the "All Software" job on the current machine.

I would appreciate thoughts on this

P.S. We have a fixed IP network and no possibility of DHCP in the near future

I'm sure you can do this with PXE to automatically deploy to new machines but i havent messed with that in a long while. We have the same kind of setup here where pc's come in and one of the first things the PC tech will do is run a "New PC Setup" job that contains about 40 other jobs to load all the standard software.

You could load a remote console on another machine and use DS security to keep them out of the jobs you don't want them to run and the DS server itself. They can simply use that machine or RDP into it to deploy the job. I personally don't like the web client because i think it's too slow. At our company i didnt want to install the remote console on 5 different tech's machines so I loaded it on a VM machine and published it through Citrix.

Not that there isnt one, but i don't know of a way to send a command to the DS from the client side and trigger a job.

I think what you are really looking for is to use NS.  You should be able to deploy software automatically using NS.  Unfortunately, to use DS the way you are looking for, you would need to utilize DHCP w/PXE for the initial setup (create an Initial Deployment Task) and then configure the machine for a static IP when the jobs are complete.

We use Initial deployment here and love it.  You boot to the network.  If the machine has never been in Altiris before, it will allow you to deploy the image, software, config, etc.

I know you said DHCP isn't possible, but you may look into it, even if it is just a pool of 10-20 addresses just for the sake of doing initial deployment and quickly changing it to static when the deployment is complete.  If you keep the pool small, I would recommend keeping the lease time low as well or you will run out of IP's pretty quickly. 

Thanks for the ideas folks, I was going to look into the option of having the Deployment Console setup up on technicians desktop machines so they could remote into it using RDP - that is probably going to be the best way for now.

I have been struggling to get Notification Server to work - it seems to have a very clunky fron end and isn't particularly user friendly, but I will have a read of the manual again and see how I get on.

DHCP is not possible for the foreseable future as our network team have too much other work to do, despite my argument that to leverage the power of DS we need DHCP, it always falls on deaf ears.

We also have an NS corporate wide. It's superior when it comes to reporting, and deployment is a little better from the respect you get bandwidth throttling. But, you don't get the instant deployment like you do with the DS unless you add other components like Task Server. The GUI interface is better with the DS but a symantec employee told me they are working to develop a 32 bit console similar to the DS for a future release.

Using  aexsch.exe you can create a batch file that will schedule ds jobs

Import.exe and axSched.exe command line options

https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=32576&p=1

You could use the Deployment Server ASDK to schedule a task from a remote client.
The only problem is that you would have to include a username and password to authenticate against the ASDK, but you could use C# or convert the VBS to an encrypted VBE or EXE to hide that username and password.
You could also use the initial Deplyoment Feature of DS. Just set up the task in DS as you normally would, test it and then use it in the initial deplyoment.
If you have further question please send me an eMail.