EAZ-FIX deployment whitepaper

Software:	EAZ-FIX
Feature:	Setup and deployment
Solution:	Deploy EAZ-FIX to thousands of PCs with customized program settings
Requirement:	Advanced Setup Configuration Wizard

Four Ways to Deploy EAZ-FIX

EAZ-FIX is designed with enterprise requirements in mind. To meet the demand of various scale enterprise clients, EAZ-FIX provides four deployment methods ranging from individual workstation setups to company wide network installations.

Default Setup: Install EAZ-FIX on individual workstations with the setup CD.
Network Setup: Install EAZ-FIX from a network share folder with pre-configured program settings, or use a network software deployment tool to distribute the software.
Script Setup or Unattended Setup: Push out EAZ-FIX with a client script which runs automatically when the client logs onto the network.
Deploy In System Image: Include EAZ-FIX program files in a disk image and roll it out within that disk image using an imaging utility such as Symantec’s Norton Ghost.

The deployment strategy discussed here supports both EAZ-FIX and Baseline Shield.

Default Setup

To install EAZ-FIX on individual workstations, follow these typical setup procedures:

Insert the setup CD; auto run menu will pop up.
Select SETUP from the autorun menu.
Select the default setup to continue.

Network Setup

If you need to setup EAZ-FIX on multiple PCs on a network, to eliminate the hassle of carrying a CD around to setup each PC, EAZ-FIX allows you to run the setup from a network share. Follow these general guidelines to install an EAZ-FIX over the network:

Copy the EAZ-FIX files from CD into a folder on your server and create a share for the folder.
Create an Advanced Setup Configuration File (SETU.CFG) with the Advanced Setup Configuration Wizard ( ASCW.EXE) utility provided in the support folder of the program CD. Copy the SETUP.CFG file into the folder with EAZ-FIX files created in step 1.

To Install EAZ-FIX on a workstation, access the shared folder from the workstation and run the setup.exe.
Select the ADVANCED setup option at the setup selection menu. Advanced setup will read in the setup parameters (such as product ID, password, protection type, program settings and installation directory) from the SETUP.CFG file that has been configured in step 2 above. At the end of the ADVANCED setup, user will be asked to restart the computer.
If you are using a network software deployment tool such as Microsoft SMS server, Novell ZENworks and etc to deploy software, please follow these guidelines:
a. Create a BEFORE snapshot of the system with the network software deployment tool.
b. Create a folder called EAZ on the root of the C drive and copy all of the EAZ-FIX program files into that folder.
c. Create the SETUP.CFG file as aforementioned in step 2.
d. Copy the SetAutoSetup.exe (which can also be found in the support folder of the program CD) into the EAZ folder and double click to run it. SetAutoSetup.exe will write some deployment settings into the system registry.
e. Run the network software deployment snapshot program again to create an AFTER snapshot and create the software deployment package.
f. Deploy the software package and reboot the client system.
The trick is to deploy the software is as if it is already installed rather than pushing out the program setup files. Once the system is rebooted, the SetAutoSetup.exe generated registry entries will trigger a hands-free silent install. And at the end, the SetAutoSetup.exe utility will completely
remove all the setup files involved.

Setup with Scripts (Unattended Setup)

For some network administrators who prefer to use client side scripts to deploy new applications to workstations, EAZ-FIX can also be easily integrated into their custom scripting install scenario. Follow these general guidelines to deploy EAZ-FIX within a network script:

Copy the EAZ-FIX files from CD into a folder on your server and create a share for the folder.
Create an Advanced Setup Configuration File (SETU.CFG) with the Advanced Setup Configuration Wizard ( ASCW.EXE) utility provided in the support folder of the program CD. Copy the SETUP.CFG file into the folder with EAZ-FIX files created in step 1.
To use a client side script to install EAZ-FIX when client logs on, include “setup.exe /s” within the setup script. Setup /s allows EAZ-FIX setup wizard to silently read in the setup parameter from the SETUP.CFG file configured in the step 2 above.

No user intervention is required during the setup. Setup will restart the computer automatically at the end.

Deploy EAZ-FIX In a System Image

EAZ-FIX can also be included in a system image for deployment, like that created by Norton Ghost or similar utility. However, due to EAZ-FIX security design, some of the EAZ-FIX features don’t not exist in “file” format. Instead, they exist as bits and bytes on the physical sectors of the hard drive. A normal Ghost approach to imaging a hard drive will not be able to include all EAZ-FIX components. Please follow these guidelines to prepare a hard disk for imaging:

Copy the EAZ-FIX files from CD into a folder on the hard disk that you will use to create an image. Rename the folder as EAZ.
Create an Advanced Setup Configuration File (SETU.CFG) with the Advanced Setup Configuration Wizard ( ASCW.EXE) utility provided in the support folder of the program CD. Copy the SETUP.CFG file into the folder with EAZ-FIX files created in step 1.
Copy the SetAutoSetup.exe utility, provided in the support folder of the program CD, into the EAZ folder and double click to run it. SetAutoSetup.exe will write some deployment settings into the system registry. SetAutoSetup.exe will not return any interface.
Reboot the system to a floppy disk or a bootable CD to create an image of this hard disk containing EAZ-FIX setup files. DO NOT reboot into the Windows after running SetAutoSetuo.exe which had created some registry entries to automatically start the EAZ-FIX program setup, rebooting into the Windows will kick off the EAZ-FIX auto-setup process.

This disk image contains the EAZ-FIX setup files rather than the actual EAZ-FIX program files. However, once the image is dumped onto a system, at the first startup, AutoSetup.exe generated registry entries will trigger the EAZ-FIX setup process. This process is silent and transparent to the users. Setup reads in the program parameters from the SETUP.CFG file configured in the previous step without any user interaction. At the end of the setup, AutoSetup.exe will automatically remove the EAZ-FIX setup files and restart the system.