DOCUMENT:Q173995  30-JUL-2001  [sms]
TITLE   :SMS: How to Configure Multiple Shared Apps to Use a Single Share
PRODUCT :Microsoft Systems Management Server
PROD/VER:winnt:1.2
OPER/SYS:
KEYWORDS:kbusage kbPGC smspgc

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Systems Management Server version 1.2 
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SUMMARY
=======

In some situations, you may want to have multiple shared network applications
using the same share or drive letter on the client workstation. Although you can
easily accomplish this with a single Sharing package, the process becomes more
complex when multiple packages are involved.

The Microsoft Office 4.x sharing package that is created by using the Package
Definition Files (PDFs) supplied with Systems Management Server gives a good
example of how to set up a single Sharing package to run multiple applications.
This article concentrates on how you can configure multiple Sharing packages
delivered by Program Group Control (PGC) to use the same network share or drive
letter.

MORE INFORMATION
================

As an example, this article will configure two applications, Solitaire and
FreeCell, as separate Systems Management Server Sharing packages that will both
use the same network share. To do this, perform the following steps:

1. Prepare the package source directory for each application.

   To use a common share point, the files for each application must be located in
   a subdirectory of the directory that will be defined as the package source
   directory. For this example, all packages will be located under a Package
   directory that is also shared as "Package."

   For Solitaire, the files will be located in the Solitaire directory, with the
   following structure:

   Package\App1\Solitaire

   For FreeCell, the files will be located in the FreeCell directory, with the
   following structure:

   Package\App2\FreeCell

   NOTE: Defining the App1 and App2 directories as subdirectories of the Package
   directory keeps Systems Management Server from combining the source
   directories for both applications into the same compressed package.

2. Use the Systems Management Server Administrator program to create a Systems
   Management Server Sharing package for each application. To do this, perform
   the following steps:

For Solitaire
-------------

   a. Define the package source directory as \\<server>\Package\App1.

   b. Define the common share that each application will use: SMS_APPS.

   c. Create a program item with the following attributes for the Solitaire
      package:

   Description: Shared Solitaire
   Command Line: Solitiaire\Sol.exe
   Registry Name: solitaire
   Configuration Command Line: <optional; not needed for Solitaire>

      NOTE: You can customize the values defined for the Description, Registry
      Name, and Configuration Command Line parameters, but you must manually
      type the correct Command Line parameter for the Solitaire directory before
      the executable file can be run.

   d. Select the desired option for Drive Mode. For this example, select
      Requires Specific Drive Letter and type "P:" for the network drive that
      the client will use to connect to the SMS_APPS share on a Systems
      Management Server distribution server.

For FreeCell
------------

   a. Define the package source directory as \\<server>\Package\App2.

   b. Define the common share that each application will use: SMS_APPS.

   c. Create a program item with the following attributes for the FreeCell
      package:

   Description: Shared Freecell
   Command Line: Freecell\Freecell.exe
   Registry Name: freecell
   Configuration Command Line: <optional, not needed for Freecell>

   d. Select the desired option for Drive Mode, making certain to use the same
      option that was chosen for the other package. Select Requires Specific
      Drive Letter and type "P:".

3. Use a separate Share Package On Server job for both the Solitaire and
   FreeCell packages to deliver the shared applications. This creates the
   following directory structure on each Systems Management Server distribution
   server defined in the jobs:

   Sms_apps\Freecell
   Sms_apps\Solitaire

4. Define one or more Systems Management Server program groups that includes the
   program items created with each package.

After the Systems Management Server client's desktop has been updated with the
new icons for the shared applications, starting one of the applications maps the
network drive P: to the Sms_apps share and runs the application from the
appropriate subdirectory. The other application will also use the same drive
when it is run, thus reducing the number of network drives consumed by these
applications.

NOTE: It is important to consider that a package cannot be updated by Systems
Management Server if the drive or share is in use at the time Systems Management
Server attempts to update it. Therefore, use caution when using the steps
outlined above to configure multiple packages to use the same share.

For example, if you needed to apply an update to Solitaire and there were users
currently playing FreeCell, the update to Solitaire could not occur without
first disconnecting all users from the Sms_apps share.

WARNING: If a Remove Package From Server job is sent to remove one of the
packages defined below the existing common share, all of the packages below the
existing share will be removed. Therefore, if you need to remove a single
package from a distribution server, it is recommended that you manually perform
this procedure.

Additional query words: prodsms PDF

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Keywords          : kbusage kbPGC smspgc 
Technology        : kbSMSSearch kbSMS120
Version           : winnt:1.2
Issue type        : kbhowto

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