Contents
Overview 1
Determining Current Software Distribution
Strategy 2
Determining Software Distribution and
Management Needs 7
Evaluating Software Distribution and
Management Options 10
Selecting Software Distribution and
Management Options 17
Lab A: Meeting Organizational Software
Requirements 24
Review 32

Module 3: Designing a
Software Distribution
and Management
Strategy

Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to
change without notice. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products,
domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious,

appropriate to include in a Change and Configuration Management (CCM)
design.
After completing this module, students will be able to:

Determine how the organization currently manages software distribution.

Determine how the organization must manage software distribution.

Evaluate possible software distribution options.

Select the appropriate options to meet their business needs.

Materials and Preparation
This section provides the materials and preparation tasks that you need to teach
this module.
Required Materials
To teach this module, you need the following materials:

Microsoft
®
PowerPoint
®
file 2410a_03.ppt

Module 3, “Designing a Software Distribution and Management Strategy”

Trainer Materials compact disc

Preparation Tasks
To prepare for this module:

Module Strategy
Use the following strategy to present this module:

Determining Current Software Distribution Strategy
In this section, students learn how to gather the information required for an
analysis of the current software distribution and management environment.
In addition, students learn how to determine the organization’s current
methods, and technologies used for software deployment and management.
Take the following actions:
• Establish that the management of software distribution must be treated
as a process, from initial packaging through to final removal of
packages. As with all processes, it must be managed as a continuous
series of activities.
• The best way to collect information is to treat it as an update of a
software management information base, rather than to generate a new
report on current software management methods. Clearly, this would
require some prior planning on how the information base is implemented
and managed.

Determining Software Distribution and Management Needs
In this section, students learn how to identify the limitations and
disadvantages of current technologies, and how to identify the
organization’s future requirements. In addition, students learn how the
various CCM technologies can benefit the organization and how these
technologies can be mapped onto the organization’s requirements for
software distribution and management.

Evaluating Software Distribution and Management Options
In this section, students identify four different software deployment
technologies available for the distribution and management of software in

directory service.

Basic experience or knowledge of Group Policy.

Basic experience or knowledge of SMS.

The knowledge and skills necessary to define and implement a software
distribution and management plan.

The lab has three scenarios, each of which is based on a company requiring
facilities for software distribution and management. In this lab, students will
review each scenario and determine organizational requirements. They will then
use information from the module to make a number of design decisions
concerning the software distribution and management plan. Students will also
be asked to explain how they arrived at those decisions.
To conduct this lab:

Read through the lab carefully, paying close attention to the instructions and
to the details of the scenario.

Divide the class into groups of two or more students.

Present the lab and make sure that students understand the instructions and
the purpose of the lab.

Explain each of the scenarios and highlight any key information.

Remind students to consider the relative merits of SMS and IntelliMirror
regarding software distribution and management, and to think about the
suitability of each option to the scenarios.

TRAINER USE
******************************
As the administrator or designer of your network, you will provide a plan for
distributing and managing the software on client computers.
The technologies available to deploy and manage software can reduce an
organization’s total cost of ownership (TCO) and can streamline the desktop
delivery and configuration of application packages.
This module examines how to identify current software distribution and
management methods and determine future software management needs. You
will evaluate four different software distribution technologies to determine
whether they address the organizational needs and which ones are appropriate
to include in your Change and Configuration Management (CCM) design.
After completing this module, you will be able to:

Determine how the organization currently manages software distribution.

Define a strategy based on how the organization needs to manage software
distribution.

Evaluate possible software distribution options.

Select the appropriate options to meet your business needs.

Topic Objective
To provide an overview of
the module topics and
objectives.
Lead-in
In this module, you will learn
the principles of evaluating

In addition, you will learn how to determine the organization’s current methods,
and you will learn about technologies used for software deployment and
management.
Topic Objective
To identify the steps
required to determine the
organization’s current
software management
environment.
Lead-in
It is important to determine
your existing environment to
identify where and how
different software
management technologies
can help your organization.
Module 3: Designing a Software Distribution and Management Strategy 3 Determining Current Software Management Process

Packaging—Preparing an Application for Installation

Distribution—Replicating Package Files to Distribution
Points

Targeting—Specifying Which Client Computers Will
Receive the Package

Installation—Getting the Package onto the Client

running or ready-to-run state. After a specific user or computer receives the
targeting information and package details, installation must occur to
complete the deployment.

Removal—removing old applications
Removal is the process of how the organization removes installed
applications from client computers. At some point, your users will no longer
require certain software, and you must know how to remove it.

Topic Objective
To define the stages of the
software management
process.
Lead-in
Each organization has its
own approach, but any
approach involves standard
stages.
4 Module 3: Designing a Software Distribution and Management Strategy Collecting Software Management Information

Collection Techniques

Questionnaires

Interviews

Brainstorming sessions

management.
Lead-in
To create a software
management strategy, you
must determine which
methods the organization
currently uses for software
distribution.
Module 3: Designing a Software Distribution and Management Strategy 5 Identifying Current Software Environment

Identifying Currently Used Software

Mandatory software

Optional software

Function-based software

Identifying the User Base

Locations of users

Numbers of users

Identifying Who Manages the Software

*****************************

Topic Objective
To explain how to define the
organization’s current
software management
environment.
Lead-in
To create a software
distribution and
management strategy, you
must gather information
about the existing software
environment.
6 Module 3: Designing a Software Distribution and Management Strategy Identifying the User Base
To implement a targeting strategy, you must identify the characteristics of the
user base to which you will distribute software.
To help develop your plan, identify the following:

Where users are located
You must identify the location of the users to whom you will distribute
software, particularly those who are in remote locations across slow wide
area network (WAN) links.

The number of users to whom you provide software
It is important to determine the number of people to whom you are
distributing software, identifying where the needs are greatest, and planning
and allocating the extra resources required to service the users. These
resources may include network bandwidth, administration staff, and

Needs
PREPARATION
PREPARATION
1
1
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION
2
2
TARGETING
TARGETING
3
3
INSTALLATION
INSTALLATION
4
4
REMOVAL
REMOVAL
5
5

*****************************
ILLEGAL FOR NON
-
TRAINER USE
******************************
It is vitally important that you understand the organization’s requirements for
the distribution and management of software to its users.
From these business needs you will be able to identify the drawbacks and


Topic Objective
To identify the
organization’s requirements
for software distribution and
management.
Lead-in
You must understand the
organization’s goals for the
provision of software
distribution and
management.
8 Module 3: Designing a Software Distribution and Management Strategy Distribution
Distribution information includes:

Where your software is distributed from.

How users know that the software is available to install.

How much bandwidth is available for software distribution.

Whether you want to distribute from multiple locations.

Targeting
Targeting information includes:

Which users currently receive which applications.


Which software must be deployed to computers rather than to users.

Whether any departments have specific software needs.

How you handle failed software installations and upgrades.

Module 3: Designing a Software Distribution and Management Strategy 9 Removal
Removal information includes:

Who removes the installed applications.

Where the applications are removed from.

Whether software removal is mandatory or optional.

How to remove applications when the uninstall process fails.

How to prevent users from uninstalling mandatory or required software.

Whether you want removal to be optional or mandatory. For more information about the appropriate information to gather on your
change and configuration management needs, see Deployment Planning
Worksheets in the Change and Configuration Management Deployment Guide,
Appendix A, on the Web page on the Student Materials compact disc.

appropriate they are for your CCM infrastructure design.
Topic Objective
To identify the available
software distribution and
management options.
Lead-in
You need to be aware of the
different methods for
distributing and managing
software in Windows 2000.