Using Microsoft SMS to Install Reflection

  • 7021631
  • 01-Mar-2000
  • 01-Apr-2018

Environment

Reflection Windows-based Products version 14.x
Microsoft Systems Management Server version 2003
Microsoft Systems Management Server version 2.0 service pack 1 or higher
Microsoft Systems Management Server version 1.2

Situation

This technical note describes how to use Microsoft's Systems Management Server to deploy Reflection.

Note the following:

  • This note is intended for use by system administrators who are experienced in working with Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS). If you are not familiar with SMS, please consult your system administrator before using it to deploy Reflection. Or, for more information on using SMS, see the Microsoft SMS Administrator's Guide.
  • This technical note addresses customization of the Reflection installation process. To customize the actual copy of Reflection you want to distribute over your network, use the Reflection Customization Manager utility that comes with the Reflection CD.
  • Support for the following Windows operating systems has been discontinued. Beginning with Reflection 11.x, Reflection no longer supports the Windows 9x operating system. Beginning with Reflection version 13.0, Reflection no longer supports the Microsoft NT operating system.

Resolution

Reflection and the Microsoft Windows Installer

Reflection uses the Microsoft Windows Installer technology for product installation. The Windows Installer (Msiexec.exe) uses the information contained within an installer package (*.msi) file to install an application.

Reflection 11.0 or higher requires Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) version 2.0. You must upgrade all Windows 2000 and NT machines to MSI 2.0 before installing Reflection. (Note: For information on platforms supported by Reflection, see bullet three above.)

During installation, if MSI 2.0 is not detected on your machine, you will be prompted to install the MSI service. After installing the service, you must restart Windows and restart the Reflection installation.

By default, Windows Installer 2.0 is included in Windows XP and Windows 2000 Service Pack 3. If your users are not running Windows XP or Windows 2000 SP3, you must create and distribute two installation packages, one to install or upgrade MSI 2.0, and one to install Reflection.

Optionally, you can install or upgrade to Windows Installer 3.0. Reflection does not require Windows Installer 3.0 to install, patch, or run; however, this version of the MSI installer does support better patch management, including the ability to remove patches.

Installing Reflection with SMS

To install Reflection with SMS, follow the steps listed below. For more information on customizing Reflection with the Customization Manager utility, consult your Reflection product documentation. For more information on working with SMS, consult your Microsoft product documentation.

  1. From the Reflection CD or image, run Install.exe to do an administrative installation to your SMS site server. This will serve as the administrative installation point for deployment.
  2. The Product Definition file (*.sms) is created "on the fly" at the time of the administrative installation and can be found at the root folder at the administrative installation point. As an example, if you are installing Reflection Suite for X using SMS version 3.0 or SMS 2003, the file "Sx110ilc.sms" is created at the root folder. Reflection 11.x or higher does not provide support for SMS version 2.0.
  3. Create a package for the Windows Installer files for Windows 2000 machines. The data source is located at the administrative installation point:
\MSI\WinNT\InstmsiW.exe
  1. If you want to customize Reflection for your environment, use the Reflection Deployment Manager utility to configure Reflection and create a Windows Installer transform (.MST) file.

For more information about using the Reflection Customization Manager to customize Reflection, refer to the Reflection Customization Manager help or see the section titled "Phase 2 - Customizing Reflection" in the Preparing to Deploy Reflection Guide, https://www.attachmate.com/docs/reflection/14.1/deploy.pdf.

  1. Create the Reflection installation package using the Reflection PDFs or SMSs. If you are using SMS 2003, you can also use the MSI file for your Reflection product.

If you used the Reflection Customization Manager utility to create a Windows Installer transform (.MST) file, you can add the file to the program in the Reflection installation package in SMS by editing the Command line on the Properties tab. For example, on the Properties tab of the Typical Installation Program, the command line would read:

"msiexec /i reflect.msi TRANSFORMS="MyTransform.mst"

where <Reflect.msi> is the name of the .MSI file for your product and MyTransform.mst is the name of the transform file you created.

  1. Advertise the installation packages to your users. Be sure to advertise the Windows Installer package to your users before you advertise the Reflection installation package.

Additional Information

Legacy KB ID

This document was originally published as Attachmate Technical Note 1444.