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Using the Altiris Installation and Configuration Manager 

Aug 28, 2006 06:24 PM

This article documents the use of the new Altiris Installation and Configuration Manager (AICM) wizard. AICM is now used to install many of the Altiris solutions where the Notification Server has not already been installed.

Altiris products (suites or solutions) provide IT lifecycle automation solutions designed to help IT organizations manage, secure, and support all IT assets, which promotes effective service delivery. All of these products rely on the Notification Server infrastructure for underlying support. There are two ways to install Altiris products:

  1. If Notification Server is already installed, use the Solution Center to install products:
    1. In the Altiris Console, click the Configuration tab.
    2. In the left pane, click Upgrade/Install Additional Solutions.
    3. In the right pane, click the product you want to install.
    Follow the steps in the wizard to install the product.
  2. If Notification Server is not installed, the first step is to select and set up a server with the required hardware and software (see Notification Server Requirements). Then, you can install the product and Notification Server (see Installing the Product).

Notification Server Requirements

Start by selecting an appropriate Windows* server on which to install Notification Server. If you are evaluating a product, you only need a server in a lab environment with the minimum requirements and a few client computers (some suites and solutions do not even require any clients). This lets you run through the installation and get a feel for performing basic tasks. As you prepare to roll out to a production environment, you can increase RAM, increase disk space for the Notification Database, or upgrade your server depending on the number of managed computers, the particular solutions run, and the number of solutions run.

Minimum Hardware Requirements

Operating system    Windows Server 2003 (Standard or Enterprise) with SP1, Windows 2000 Server with SP4, or Windows 2000 Advanced Server with SP4
ProcessorPentium* III 800 MHz or faster
RAM512 MB (1 GB recommended for increased speed)
Hard drive5 GB (20 GB recommended)
File systemNTFS partition

After selecting a server, make sure that the required software is installed on the server.

Minimum Software Requirements

Database    Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or Microsoft SQL Server 2000 SP3
Web server    Microsoft IIS 5.0
ServicesMicrosoft .NET 1.1 Framework (with ASP .NET) and Microsoft Data Access Components 2.8 (MDAC)
BrowserMicrosoft Internet Explorer 6.0

Installing the Product

There are two main steps involved in installing the product:
  1. Downloading and extracting the installer files.
  2. Downloading and installing the product and Notification Server.

To download and extract the installer files

  1. Go to the Altiris Web site download page and select the product you want to install.
  2. Work your way through the wizard until you get to the page where you can download the product installer.
  3. Download the product installer package and run it.
  4. Specify a location for the installer files and click Extract & Execute App.

    The installer (Altiris Installation and Configuration Manager) will start and walk you through the installation of the product. If you choose the Extract Only option, you can start the installer by running Setup.exe from the folder to which the files were extracted.

Figure 1

Click to view.

To install the product and Notification Server


Note
If at any point during the installation you need to quit, you can do so by clicking the Cancel button. Later, when you restart the install program, you will have the option to restore the data you entered.
  1. Start the installer program if it is not already running.

    When you extracted the installer files, if you selected Extract & Execute App, the installer is already running. If you selected Extract Only, you can start the installer by running Setup.exe in the file extraction location (by default, the location is C:\Program Files\Altiris\Setup Files\AICM\product name\Data\Downloads).

  2. Note
    If Notification Server is already installed and you run the install program, the Altiris Console will open to the Solution Center.
  3. Choose a product download option.
  4. Figure 2

    Click to view.

    • Download and install on the computer
      You will be prompted for information needed for the installation and configuration of the product and Notification Server. At the same time, the needed files are being downloaded in the background. You can see the download progress at the bottom of the page.

    Figure 3

    Click to view.

    • Download only
      This option can be used to copy the setup files to another computer for installation, possibly a computer without an Internet connection.

    Figure 4

    Click to view.

    To install the product on a different computer, copy all of the setup files onto a CD or the computer on which you want to run the installation. The setup files are located in the location specified when you extracted the installer files (by default, C:\Program Files\Altiris\Setup Files\AICM\product name\Data\Downloads).

    When you are ready to install the product, run Setup.exe again and continue with the installation.

    Figure 5

    Click to view.

  5. Accept the license agreement.
  6. Figure 6

    Click to view.

  7. Specify a location where Notification Server will be installed. The location must be on the local computer and cannot be a network share or removable device.
  8. Figure 7

    Click to view.

  9. The installer checks if your computer meets the requirements for Notification Server. The results of the check are presented in a table on the page. The following table describes the possible results of each requirement check.
  10. Icon   Description
    img The requirement and any recommendations are met.
    img The requirement has been met and you can continue with the installation, but there are some recommendations to consider.
    img The requirement has not been met. You cannot continue with the installation until the requirement has been met.

    When there is an error or recommendation, click the associated text in the Help column for additional information.

    After making changes to your computer, you can recheck your system by clicking the Recheck Requirements button.

    Figure 8

    Click to view.

  11. You can evaluate a product free for 30 days or apply license files you have received from purchasing the product. The evaluation period begins when you download the product installer files (not when you install the product).
  12. Figure 9

    Click to view.

    Apply license files.

    1. Select Apply licenses and click Add.
    2. Select an option for entering the license information and provide the information.

    Figure 10

    Click to view.

    1. Click OK.
    2. Repeat this procedure if you need to apply additional licenses.
  13. Enter the user name (include the domain) and password that you want to use to access Notification Server. The user name must be a Windows user with local administrator rights to the Notification Server computer. Also, specify the user name and password to be used to install the Altiris Agent on the computers you want to manage.
  14. Figure 11

    Click to view.

  15. To configure the e-mailing of Notification Server events, provide the needed e-mail information. Enter the DNS name or IP address of your SMTP server. If the server requires authentication, enter a valid user name and password. Click Send Test Email to verify that Notification Server is sending e-mails to the correct address.

    If not, select Later. You can configure this at a later time through the Altiris Console.
  16. Figure 12

    Click to view.

  17. Specify the credentials to access Microsoft SQL Server and the Notification Database.

    Enter the name of the server running Microsoft SQL Server. You can install the Notification Database to a specific SQL Server instance by entering the server name and SQL instance. Example: SQL server name\SQL instance.
  18. Figure 13

    Click to view.

  19. Select the management features you want to enable.

    These features can also be enabled through the Altiris Console after the product is installed.
  20. Figure 14

    Click to view.

  21. Select the computers you want to manage.

    The install program lets you select up to 100 computers to manage. If you have additional computers, you can select them after the product is installed using the Altiris Agent rollout procedures.

    You can select entire domains, individual computers, or both. The Altiris Agent will be installed on these computers to let you manage them. If you cannot find a computer, you can manually specify it by entering its IP address or DNS name.
  22. Figure 15

    Click to view.

  23. Verify that the configuration summary is correct. If there is an error, go back and make the needed changes.
  24. Figure 16

    Click to view.

  25. When the installation completes, click Finish. If the installation is in progress, the Finish button is not available.

    After the installation completes, Notification Server and the selected product are installed.
  26. Figure 17

    Click to view.

    After Installation

    After the installation, the Altiris Console opens. The Altiris Console is a Web browser-based console for interacting with Notification Server and Altiris solutions. The console lets you perform tasks, schedule events, run reports, perform configuration, and more.

    For information on using the product or Notification Server, you can access documentation through the help icons in the Altiris Console. Theimgicon opens the documentation index page, which lists the available documents, including product guides, administrator guides, reference guides, help files, and release notes. Theimgicon displays context-sensitive help for the page currently displayed in the right pane.

    For additional information, you can go to the documentation page on the Altiris Web site or the Altiris Knowledgebase.

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Uploaded - Feb 25, 2020

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Comments

Dec 02, 2006 06:52 PM

Exactly; people don't want to have to download 650MB if they want to evaluate Inventory Solution, for example.

Nov 30, 2006 08:59 AM

It would be good if there was a way to use the AICM but override the validation process if the files have been downloaded already.

Sep 28, 2006 08:48 PM

The AICM is fantastic but can you run it locally?
If you already have the complete SolutionSam downloaded to a local storage point, the AICM will still try and source 650MB from the Web and it takes forever to complete.
Can you point the AICM to your locally stored software to speed this process up?

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