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Idea for deployment dependency ordering by using deadlines RRS feed

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    Hi all,

    I see a number of posts on how to handle package dependencies with package deployment. SCE doesn't support this, so there are workarounds by creating custom packages, etc.

    One thing that seems to work is to set the package to be deployed first with a deadline in the past and the package to be deployed second with no deadline. In my tests, clients always install all the packages with past deadlines first and then move onto packages with no or future deadlines second. I am using this to deploy Office first and then the AVG client with its Outlook plug-in after Office is installed.

    This only handles before-after dependencies but seems to work for me. Can anyone confirm that Windows Update indeed will install all past-deadline packages before any future deadline packages? Maybe the ordering I am seeing on the clients is just a fluke.

    Thanks,

    Tim Miller Dyck
    Peaceworks Computer Consulting, Waterloo, Ontario

    Saturday, April 24, 2010 1:32 AM

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    Hello Tim,

    Thanks for sharing the information.

    If the client contacts the server after the update deadline has passed, it will try to install the update as soon as possible. WSUS administrators can set update deadlines to a date in the past in order to have clients install the update immediately.

    If the deadline has not passed, the client will download the update and install it the next time an install occurs. For example, if the client downloads an update with a deadline of 6:00 A.M., and the scheduled installation time is 3:00 A.M., the update will be installed at 3:00 A.M. Likewise, if a user starts an install before a (downloaded) update's deadline, the update will be installed.

    For more information, please reade the following article:

    Client Behavior with Update Deadlines
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc708585(WS.10).aspx

    Yog Li - MSFT
    Monday, April 26, 2010 10:01 AM