NetVault 13.2 - Administration Guide

NOTE: //<server>/<share name>To reduce the time it takes to browse the package store for automatic upgrades, locate the shared folder in a minimal directory hierarchy.

Verify that the path is accessible to the NetVault Server and all target machines where you want to install the packages.

NOTE: On the Windows-based server, if the server IP address is used to configure a local package store (for example, \\10.11.12.3\PkgStore), the user credentials are not validated when the package store is added or updated. If you specify invalid credentials, no errors are reported. However, the deployment task fails if the authentication fails and the packages cannot be retrieved from the store. Therefore, Quest recommends that you use the server name when configuring the path to a local store (for example, \\WinServer1\PkgStore).

User Name

Specify a user account that can be used to access the CIFS share using one of the following formats:

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•

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Password

Specify the password for the user account.

Click Add to add the store, and then click OK.

Modifying a package store

You can update the UNC path or user credentials for an existing package store.

To modify a package store:

In the Navigation pane, click Guided Configuration, and then on the NetVault Configuration Wizard page, click Install Software/Add Clients.

On the Machines to Be Added as Clients page, click Install Software.

Click Manage Stores, and in the package store list, select the applicable package store.

Under the package details section, type new values for the options that you want to change.

For more information about the options, see Configuring a package store.

Click Update, and in the confirmation dialog box, click OK.


	NOTE: When you edit a package store, it affects the existing deployment tasks that use the package store.

Performing push installations

You can deploy the NetVault Client and plug-ins to multiple machines by creating a deployment task from the WebUI to push the packages to the specified machines. You can use this method for both new and upgrade installations. After the packages are successfully installed on the machines, the new clients are automatically added to the NetVault Server.

To perform push installations:

In the Navigation pane, click Guided Configuration, and then on the NetVault Configuration Wizard page, click Install Software/Add Clients.

On the Machines to Be Added as Clients page, click Install Software.

To select a software package, next to Software, click the add icon (+).

In the Select Packages for Deployment window, select the installation packages that you want to use:

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For NetVault Client packages, expand Select core packages, and then select the appropriate package.


	NOTE: Be sure to select the package that corresponds to the operating system installed on the target machines. You can deploy to only one type of operating system at a time; for example, to all Windows target machines or to all Linux target machines.

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For NetVault plug-in packages, expand Select plug-in packages, and then select the appropriate “.npk” binary file that you want to use.

Click Apply.

On the Machines to Be Added as Clients page, next to Machines, click the add (+) drop-down list, and select a method for adding the deployment targets.

In the Add Machines window, on the Machine Details tab, enter the following details based on your method selection.

Method

Description

By FQDN or IP

To manually add the deployment targets, select this method.

On the Machine Details tab, provide the following details:

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FQDN/IP Address: Specify the FQDN or IP address of the client.

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User Name: Specify a user account that can be used to log in to the machine.

The user name must be specified in the following format:

— or —

— or —

•

Password: Specify the password for the user account.

Optionally, if you want NetVault to remember the password for this user name, select Save Credential.

NOTE: Saved credentials are visible only to the user who saved them. They are not available to any other users.

Click Next.

NOTE: When configuring the User Name option, note the following:

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If the remote machine is a member of an Active Directory Domain, use a Domain Account that is in the local Administrators group of the machine.

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If the remote Windows machine is in a workgroup, use the built-in Administrator account (<NETBIOS name>\<user name>).

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If the remote machine is Linux-based, a Domain Account or local user with sudo privileges can perform a push installation.

If the built-in Administrator is disabled, you can use the following steps to enable the account and set a credentials for it:

Start a command prompt with administrative privileges.

To enable the built-in Administrator account, type the following command:

net user administrator /active:yes

Press Enter.

To open the Local Security Policy editor, run secpol.msc.

Navigate to Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options.

Ensure that the User Account Control: Use Admin Approval Mode setting is disabled for the built-in Administrator account.

Set a password for the built-in Administrator account, and restart the machine.

If the remote Windows machine is in a workgroup, you can also use a local account with administrative privileges. However, to use a local administrator account, disable the User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode setting. For security reasons, disabling this setting is not recommended; using the built-in Administrator account is the recommended approach.

From Active Directory

To select machines from an Active Directory Domain, select this method.

On the AD Details tab, provide the following details:

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AD Server Address: Type the host name or IP address of the Active Directory Server.

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User Name: Specify a Domain Account that is in the local Administrators group of all target Windows machines.

When pushing to Linux machines, the Domain account must have the sudo privilege in place on all Linux-based target machines.

The user name must be specified in the following format:

— or —

•

Password: Specify the password for the user account.

Optionally, if you want NetVault to remember the password for this user name, select Save Credential.

NOTE: Saved credentials are visible only to the user who saved them. They are not available to any other users.

Click Connect.

In the list of Active Directory Objects, select the target machines, and then click Next.

From a file

To import the target list from a file, select this method.

In the Add machines from file dialog box, click Select a file. After selecting the file in the browse window, click OK to upload the file.

For more information about the file format, see File format for specifying deployment targets.

For each of the following tabs, to configure the applicable parameters, enter the details listed under Description.


	NOTE: The Installation Settings, Client Settings, and Firewall Settings are only effective when a machine is being added as a client for the first time. If a machine is already added to the server, these settings are not used for that machine.

Tab

Description

Installation Settings

On the Installation Settings tab, provide the following details:

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Machine Name: Provide a NetVault name for the machine.

The NetVault machine name can contain a maximum of 63 characters. If the machine name is longer than 63 characters, the NetVault Service may fail to start. The NetVault machine names can include uppercase letters (A–Z), lowercase letters (a–z), numbers (0–9), hyphens (“-”), underscores (“_”), and periods (“.”). For more information about NetVault names, see the Quest NetVault Installation Guide.

If you leave the field blank, NetVault uses the host name.

If multiple clients are selected from an Active Directory Domain, the label changes to Machine Name Prefix. The machine name that you provide is used as the base name, and NetVault adds “_n” to the base name while assigning client names. For example, if the Machine Name is “WinClient,” the clients are assigned the names WinClient_1, WinClient_2, … WinClient_n. If you leave the field blank, NetVault uses the host names.

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Machine Password: Provide a password for the NetVault machine.

The machine password can contain a maximum of 100 characters. It cannot contain the following characters:

\ and spaces.

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Installation Folder: Specify the installation path.

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Installation Language: Select the language for your NetVault installation.

Click Next.

Client Settings

On the Client Settings tab, provide the following details:

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Client Description: Type a descriptive text for the client.

Client description can help you determine the location of the client or the role of the machine.

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Client Group: To add the client to one or more client groups, select the corresponding check boxes.

The client groups that are configured to contain all clients are selected by default. You cannot change these selections.

Click Next.

Firewall Settings

If the client resides on a network that is outside the firewall, select the Client is Outside Firewall check box on the Firewall Settings tab, and provide the TCP/IP port specifications. For more information, see About firewall settings.

To save the client details, click OK.

If you are performing an upgrade installation on any client, select the Allow existing NetVault client installations to be upgraded check box.

Before submitting the task, do the following:

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Click Verify to ensure connectivity to the clients. If any errors are reported, click Edit, and modify the applicable installation parameters.

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If you want to assign a user-defined task name, type the name in the Task Name box.

To submit the task, click Install Software / Add Clients.

You can monitor the progress and status of the task from the Deployment Task Status page. For more information, see Monitoring deployment tasks.


	NOTE: The installer generates a log file in the system temporary directory. (The TEMP environment variable for system account determines the location of this directory; this path is typically set to %windir%\Temp.) The log file is named as follows: netvault_{GUID}_install.log, where {GUID} is unique for each installation occurrence (for example, netvault_274bffb2-a3c1-457e-7f5e-221bf60a7689_install.log).