Hi guys,

I am pretty new to SMP so apologies if this is a common question...

I am just wondering what is the best practise to deploy a new version of any software.

Scenario:
E.g. upgrade of Symantec Endpoint Protection from 12.1.4112.4156 (ver4) to 12.1.5337.5000 (ver5)

I have several pilot groups, lets say
Group1, Group2, Group3, Group4 and the rest of the company

Currently, SEP 12.1.4 policy is targeting all computers

To make things easy, I thought I could use the version from registry key and
- set up ver4 detection rule to be version >= 12.1.4
- set up ver5 detection rule to be version >= 12.1.5

This means every time I deploy 12.1.5 to a machine that is part of a group getting 12.1.4, 12.1.4 will not be installed again, because the detection rule will still match.

Unfortunately, came across some issues as the actual build number is 12.1.5337.5000 and not 12.1.5.xxxx so my detection rule >= 12.1.5 will never install the newer version because 12.1.4112 is greater than 12.1.5. I will be playing with setting up the rule to be >= 12.1.5000 and see if this works or not.

Other solution I thought about was, every time I deploy SEP to new group, I will

- configure ver5 policy to target the new group
- configure ver4 policy to target all machines but the group

What I am after is simply the best practise as how to deploy a newer version of the software without risking it to be overwriten again with the old policy that is still targeting the rest of the machines.

If there is a built-in solution in NS, could you point me to the right direction as what to focus on?

Thanks

What product is this for? It's in the SEP forum but I suspect it should go to Altiris? If SEP, it has a built in Auto Upgrade feature, seehere:

Upgrade Endpoint Protection 12.1 clients using AutoUpgrade

I think you are trying to upgrade sep client through altiris

You can upgrade sep client using autoupgrade feature inbult sepm

Upgrade Endpoint Protection 12.1 clients using AutoUpgrade

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH96789.html

It seems this thread was moved to SEP forum accidentaly. I am pretty sure I created it in Altiris / SMP. If there is any admin around, could you please move it back?

Also, SEP was just an example of what I am dealing with right now. I will check the AutoUpgrade (hope it supports deploying to pilot groups, etc.). I was rather asking for the general approach to distribute new version of any software. Simply to make sure the new version on pilot computers is not overwritten by the old package that is still distributed to all machines within the company.

Thanks