Using the GPO Provisioning Tool for Agent Deployment (4218876)

The KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) Windows Agent GPO Provisioning Tool is a Windows-based tool used to deploy the KACE SMA agent to Windows computers.  The tool uses Active Directory and Group Policy to distribute the installation settings and perform the installation. This tool will create or modify a pre-existing GPO to install the KACE SMA Agent when a computer authenticates with Active Directory.

The first time a target computer refreshes Group Policy after completing this process, a new Group Policy client-side extension dll is registered on the computers applying this GPO, and then the next time that the computer refreshes Group Policy, Windows will trigger the newly registered client-side extension to install the SMA Windows Agent.

Note: There are multiple versions of the GPO tool and it will be necessary to choose the proper SMA version at the top of the downloads page before downloading the corresponding GPO Tool.

The tool is available here.

IMPORTANT: KACE GPO tool 1.0.122 applies for KACE SMA 8.0 and above. KACE GPO tool 1.0.117 applies for KACE SMA 7.2 and below.

For more information on this topic, please see the KACE-SMA Course 2 Installing the KACE SMA Agent-Web-based Training.

System Requirements:

• Windows XP: The Group Policy Console must be installed and enabled for your Windows operating system.
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21895

• Windows Vista and later: Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) enables IT administrators to remotely manage roles and features in Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 from a computer that is running Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/2202.remote-server-administration-tools-rsat-for-windows-client-and-windows-server-dsforum2wiki.aspx

• .NET Framework 3.5

• Windows Server 2003 or higher Active Directory Functional Level

• Distribution Share
  • NOTE: Make sure to use a share that everyone can access. For example, it's not suggested to place the .msi on the NETLOGON share as not every user can reach that share, and will cause your upgrade to fail in the future. This location should be a permanently accessible share. The installer is an MSI. To uninstall/upgrade software, MSI needs access to the installer. If it is not accessible, msiexec will not uninstall.

Install:

Install the KACE SMA Windows Agent GPO Provisioning Tool by launching the MSI.

Usage:

Launch the installed Tool from the Start Menu. The deployment wizard will lead you through steps to configure and apply a GPO for software deployment. Where possible, the wizard will attempt to use defaults that reduce the amount of configuration required.

Note: Only GPOs which you have permission to “edit” will be displayed in the tool.