SMS: How to Configure Multiple Shared Applications to Use a Single Share

MORE INFORMATION

As an example, this article will configure two applications, Solitaire and FreeCell, as separate Systems Management Server Sharing packages that will both use the same network share. To do this, perform the following steps:

1. Prepare the package source directory for each application.
   
   To use a common share point, the files for each application must be located in a subdirectory of the directory that will be defined as the package source directory. For this example, all packages will be located under a Package directory that is also shared as "Package."
   
   For Solitaire, the files will be located in the Solitaire directory, with the following structure:

   Package\App1\Solitaire

   For FreeCell, the files will be located in the FreeCell directory, with the following structure:

   Package\App2\FreeCell

   NOTE: Defining the App1 and App2 directories as subdirectories of the Package directory keeps Systems Management Server from combining the source directories for both applications into the same compressed package.
2. Use the Systems Management Server Administrator program to create a Systems Management Server Sharing package for each application. To do this, perform the following steps:

   For Solitaire

   1. Define the package source directory as \\<server>\Package\App1.
   2. Define the common share that each application will use: SMS_APPS.
   3. Create a program item with the following attributes for the Solitaire package:

      Description: Shared Solitaire
      Command Line: Solitiaire\Sol.exe
      Registry Name: solitaire
      Configuration Command Line: <optional; not needed for Solitaire>

      NOTE: You can customize the values defined for the Description, Registry Name, and Configuration Command Line parameters, but you must manually type the correct Command Line parameter for the Solitaire directory before the executable file can be run.
   4. Select the desired option for Drive Mode. For this example, select Requires Specific Drive Letter and type "P:" for the network drive that the client will use to connect to the SMS_APPS share on a Systems Management Server distribution server.

   For FreeCell

   1. Define the package source directory as \\<server>\Package\App2.
   2. Define the common share that each application will use: SMS_APPS.
   3. Create a program item with the following attributes for the FreeCell package:

      Description: Shared Freecell
      Command Line: Freecell\Freecell.exe
      Registry Name: freecell
      Configuration Command Line: <optional, not needed for Freecell>

   4. Select the desired option for Drive Mode, making certain to use the same option that was chosen for the other package. Select Requires Specific Drive Letter and type "P:".
3. Use a separate Share Package On Server job for both the Solitaire and FreeCell packages to deliver the shared applications. This creates the following directory structure on each Systems Management Server distribution server defined in the jobs:

   Sms_apps\Freecell
   Sms_apps\Solitaire

4. Define one or more Systems Management Server program groups that includes the program items created with each package.

After the Systems Management Server client's desktop has been updated with the new icons for the shared applications, starting one of the applications maps the network drive P: to the Sms_apps share and runs the application from the appropriate subdirectory. The other application will also use the same drive when it is run, thus reducing the number of network drives consumed by these applications.

NOTE: It is important to consider that a package cannot be updated by Systems Management Server if the drive or share is in use at the time Systems Management Server attempts to update it. Therefore, use caution when using the steps outlined above to configure multiple packages to use the same share.

For example, if you needed to apply an update to Solitaire and there were users currently playing FreeCell, the update to Solitaire could not occur without first disconnecting all users from the Sms_apps share.

WARNING: If a Remove Package From Server job is sent to remove one of the packages defined below the existing common share, all of the packages below the existing share will be removed. Therefore, if you need to remove a single package from a distribution server, it is recommended that you manually perform this procedure.