Installing program to server

bigwat

Posts: 38   +0
There is a specific software that i would like to install to the Server ans to let it run on all the computers on the network. So,instead of installing it on each computer (time consuming) i need a way to install it on the server and let it run on each other computer.
 
Copy software to a folder on the server
Share the folder over the network
Map the folder as a drive on the workstations
Run the software on the workstations.

This is pretty basic networking.

The software has to be set up so that it can be shared in that way. In most cases you will probably have to install the software on the hard drive and share just the data files over the network. The application has to have that capability.
 
Most applications these days have registry hooks that have to be inserted during installation and simply copying the folder will not work. If that's the case with this application then another option for you (if you really don't want to install it on all the machines) is to set up an application server and provide access to it via Terminal Services.

Is this a corporate environment where you already have access to Windows Server and some Terminal Server licenses? If so simply perform the install in the server application install mode and then it should be properly accessible to anyone who uses a remote session on that server.

If this is not a corporate environment and you don't have licenses for Server or TS then you could probably just set up a machine for Remote Desktop (limiting you to only 1 user at a time) and install the application there. Have people RDP in as needed to that one machine to use the application and save the data out from this app to some accessible space.

Otherwise you may just have to take the time to perform the installation (if you have enough licenses.) One thing I do when I purchase new software is copy the installation media to my file server so that I can perform simultaneous installs on multiple machines without having to track down my media. Perhaps this will save enough time for you.
 
This is a common wish list question and shown in Figure 1.0 below. The problems however are not so simple.

The problems for concurrent access are described in this wiki
Client systems A,B,C can easily step on the changes from one another.
Even *IF* the application attempts to control access with flock(), that is only good for controlling multiple uses of that same application on ONE host, not all hosts.

Figure 2.0 is the typical DMBS solution where one host has the DMBS server and all clients A,B,C access the server (S) directly and the server program is the sole access to the file(s).
sharedfilemgmt.jpg


Without a DMBS server, say shared files on NFS or a Windows Sever, we get back to Figure 1.0 and still need concurrency control.

CIFS is a design to handle that, but the client program needs to be coded so as to implement the CIFS locking.
(unless specifically stated, do not assume any program has network sharing implemented!)
 
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