Software Management Solution 7.0 Release Notes

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Question
What do I need to know about Altiris™ Software Management Solution 7.0?

Answer

Altiris™ Software Management Solution 7.0 from Symantec

Release Notes

Introduction

Where to get more information

New terminology

Features in this release

Installation and upgrade

Known issues in this release

Introduction

Software Management Solution provides intelligent and bandwidth-sensitive distribution and management of software from a central Web console. It significantly reduces desktop visits and lets you easily support your mobile work force.

Software Management Solution also lets users directly download and install approved software or request other software.

Software Management Solution integrates with the Software Catalog and the Software Library that are part of the Symantec Management Platform. By leveraging this information, Software Management Solution ensures that the correct software gets installed, remains installed, and runs without interference from other software. This integration lets your administrators focus on delivering the correct software instead of redefining the packages, command lines, and so on, for each delivery.

Software Management Solution combines the functionality of earlier versions of Software Delivery Solution and Application Management Solution. It also supports the software virtualization technology that was available in Software Virtualization Solution.

Software Management Solution is part of the following suites:

• Altiris™ Client Management Suite from Symantec
  For release notes, see Knowledge Base article 40929.
• Altiris™ Server Management Suite from Symantec
  For release notes, see Knowledge Base article 45893.

Update: Localized documentation for this product is now available for French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese.

To install localized documentation, open the Symantec Installation Manager, click Check for Updates and select the language documentation package that you want to install.

To view localized documentation, do one of the following:

• Set your browser to a supported language, open the Symantec Management Console, and from the Help menu click Context or Documentation Library.
• Go to C:\Program Files\Altiris\Documentation\Web\language\product

Additional releases are available for this version of Software Management Solution. For more information, see the following knowledge base articles:

• 46575, Software Management Solution 7.0 SP1 MR1 Release Notes.
• 49988, Software Management Solution 7.0 SP1 MR1 Release Notes.
• 49265, Software Management Solution 7.0 SP2 Release Notes.

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Where to get more information

The product installation includes the following documentation:

Document	Description	Location
User’s Guide	Information about how to use this product, including detailed technical information and instructions for performing common tasks. This information is available in PDF format.	The Documentation Library, which is available in the Symantec Management Console on the Help menu. The Documentation Web site, which is available at the following URL:  http://www.altiris.com/Support/Documentation.aspx The Product Support page, which is available at the following URL: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/all_products.jsp When you open your product’s support page, look for the Documentation link on the right side of the page.
Help	Information about how to use this product. This information is the same as in the User’s Guide. Help is available at the solution level and at the suite level. This information is available in HTML help format.	The Documentation Library, which is available in the Symantec Management Console on the Help menu. Context-sensitive help is available for most screens in the Symantec Management Console. You can open context-sensitive help in the following ways: The F1 key The Context command, which is available in the Symantec Management Console on the Help menu.

For more information, you can use the following resources:

Resource	Description	Location
Symantec Management Platform Release Notes	Information about new features and important issues in the Symantec Management Platform. This information is available as an article in the Knowledge Base.	https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=45141&p=1 You can also search for the product name under Release Notes.
Installing the Symantec Management Platform products	Information about using Symantec Installation Manager to install the Symantec Management Platform products. This information is available as an article in the Knowledge Base.	https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=45732&p=1
Altiris 7 Planning and Implementation Guide	Information about capacity recommendations, design models, scenarios, test results, and optimization best practices to consider when planning or customizing an Altiris 7 Infrastructure for your organization. This information is available as an article in the Knowledge Base.	https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=45803&p=1
Knowledge Base	Articles, incidents, and issues about this product.	http://kb.altiris.com/
Symantec Connect(formerly Altiris Juice)	An online magazine that contains best practices, tips, tricks, and articles for users of this product.	http://www.symantec.com/connect/endpoint-management-virtualization
Online Forums	Forums for users of this product.	http://forums.altiris.com/

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New terminology

The following terms are used in Software Management Solution. Some terms may have been used in different ways in earlier products.

Term	Definition
Deliverable software	A software resource that contains at least one package, or one command line, or both.
Managed software package	A package that is sourced from the Software Library.
Managed software resource	A software resource whose packages are sourced from the Software Library.
Package	The files and instructions that you download to and install on client computers. A package can consist of a single file or of a folder and all its contents including subfolders. A package file can be any of the following: - An installation executable, such as an MSI, EXE, or RPM - A utility script or other program - A non-executable file, such as a Microsoft Word template - Any additional files that should be installed with the package file. For example, a package can consist of a Microsoft Word installation file along with corporate-standard template files.
Product	A version-specific representation of an application and any of its updates or service packs. For example, Norton Internet Security 2008.
Service pack	A collection or roll up of the updates and fixes that bring a software release to a known state. A service pack does not represent a complete instance of the software. It must be installed on a computer that already contains the software release.
Software release	A full version of the software. Installation of a software release results in a complete and operational instance of the software.
Software resource	The meta data that describes a specific instance of a software application. For example, Norton Internet Security 2008 - English.
Software update	A small number of changes that improve or fix a software release. A software update does not represent a complete instance of the software. It must be installed on a computer that already contains the software release.
Unique identifier	Identifies a software resource by combining information such as the software’s company, product name, version, language code, and architecture type.
Unmanaged package	A package that is not sourced from the Software Library.
Unmanaged software resource	A software resource whose packages are not sourced from the Software Library. For example, the packages of an unmanaged software resource might be on an unsecured network share or a local hard drive.

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Features in this Release

This release contains the following features:

Integrated platform support

Software Management Solution supports packages for the Windows, UNIX, Linux, and Mac operating systems. With few exceptions, all the functions in Software Management Solution work the same for all platforms. For example, you use the same method to create a delivery task for a Windows, UNIX, Linux, or Mac OS package.

Features that are not supported on UNIX, Linux, or Mac computers

Feature	Description
All SVS-related functionality	Examples of SVS functionality that is not supported are as follows: The ability to virtualize software during installation, which is controlled by the option Install this policy’s software into a virtual software layer. This option appears on the first page of the Managed Software Delivery wizard and in a Managed Software Delivery policy, on the Policy Settings tab. The ability to install software into a virtual layer on a client computer. The ability to manage a virtual layer on a client computer with a Software Virtualization task, a Quick Delivery task, or a Managed Software Delivery policy.
Software Portal	The Software Portal is supported on Mac computers but not UNIX or Linux computers.
The following Managed Software Delivery options: Run from the server if bandwidth is above Download and run locally if bandwidth is above Allow multicasting for package delivery	These options appear in the following places: In the Managed Delivery Settings, on the Download tab In a Managed Software Delivery policy, on the Software tab, in the Advanced options
The following Managed Delivery options: All options in the Run As section All options in the User run conditions section	These options appear in the following places: In the Managed Delivery Settings, on the Run tab In a Managed Software Delivery policy, on the Software tab, in the Advanced options
The following Managed Delivery options: Allow user to turn on policy from the Altiris Agent User must turn on from Altiris Agent Prompt user when this policy is available	These options appear in the following places: In the Managed Delivery Settings, on the Run tab In a Managed Software Delivery policy, on the Policy Settings tab
Software Portal agent	The Software Management Solution Plug-in for UNIX, Linux, and Mac provides support for the Software Portal on Mac computers. You do not need to install the Software Portal agent on Mac computers.

Integration with Software Management Framework

In Software Management Solution, Quick Delivery and Managed Software Delivery leverage the software resource information that is in the Software Catalog and Software Library. When you create a task or policy, you select a software resource to deliver. Any information about the software that the task or the policy needs is available from the software resource.

Agents and plug-ins required by Software Management Solution

Software Management Solution requires the following agents and plug-ins:

• Altiris Agent
• Software Management Framework agent
  Manages all the software delivery functions in Software Management Solution. It is installed on the client computers along with the Altiris Agent.
• Software Management Solution agent for Windows
  Helps to provide support for software delivery, software management, and software virtualization on Windows computers.
• Software Management Solution plug-in for UNIX, Linux, and Mac
  Provides the ability to deliver software and manage software on non-Windows computers. It also provides support for the Software Portal on Mac computers.
• Software Portal agent
  Enables the Software Portal Web application on Windows-based client computers. It configures the URL that the users use to access the Software Portal.
• Application Management agent
  Manages the policies and the tasks that perform Windows Installer repairs or source path updates on Windows computers.
• Software Virtualization agent
  Lets you use software virtualization to manage Windows-based software on client computers.

Support for hierarchy and replication

Software Management Solution supports hierarchy and replication. These features let you create tasks and policies at the top-level Notification Server computer and replicate them to child-level Notification Server computers. Software Management Solution supports full and differential replication. Differential replication replicates only those items that changed since the last replication.

Default software delivery settings

Software Management settings control the behavior of the software-related policies and tasks. The default settings let administrators create policies and tasks without having to enter the details that they are not familiar with. Instead, a more experienced administrator can configure the default settings that apply to all the policies and tasks that are created. When necessary, the administrator who runs the specific policies and tasks can change the settings.

The different types of software delivery policies and tasks obtain their defaults from the following settings:

• Managed Software Delivery policies
  All new Managed Software Delivery policies inherit the default settings that are defined in the Managed Delivery Settings.
• Tasks for Quick Delivery, Package Delivery, Source Path Update, Software Virtualization, and Windows Installer Repair
  Some of the task settings are predefined. Other settings for these tasks are obtained from the Task Management settings or the Altiris Agent settings. You can override the settings for specific tasks.

Managed Software Delivery

Managed Software Delivery simplifies advanced software deliveries by letting you deliver software as a unit, which can include multiple software resources as well as dependencies. For example, you can create a single Managed Software Delivery policy that installs an application and its associated patches and service packs. Managed Software Delivery can also run any task at any stage of the delivery. For example, it can run a task that performs a restart or runs a script.

Managed Software Delivery replaces traditional software delivery, sequential software delivery, and the software state compliance aspects of application management. Software delivery policies in 6.x focused on single package delivery. They did not measure whether the software was already installed or what state the software was in. Software delivery policies in 6.x did not easily let you reschedule delivery once it was completed without making package changes on the server side. Use Managed Software Delivery to perform the following actions:

• Software delivery
  In its simplest form, Managed Software Delivery can deliver a single software resource with its associated package and command line on a defined schedule.
• Recurring software delivery
  You can set the Managed Software Delivery schedule to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.
• Client-side detection and remediation of software
  Managed Software Delivery installs the software to a specific known state on the client computer. On a recurring basis, Managed Software Delivery can perform a compliance check to verify that the state is maintained. If the state of the software is out of compliance, Managed Software Delivery performs a remediation to restore the correct state.
• Client-side detection of software dependencies
  Managed Software Delivery checks for the dependencies of a software resource that it delivers. When a managed computer does not contain the dependency software, Managed Software Delivery can install the missing dependency.
• Client-side detection of supersedence associations
  When you create a Managed Software Delivery policy for a software resource that supersedes other software, you can set supersedence options. These options determine whether Managed Software Delivery replaces the superseded software.
• Sequential delivery of a group of software and tasks
  You can deliver multiple software resources and tasks with a single Managed Software Delivery policy. When Managed Software Delivery evaluates compliance for a group of software, only the software that is out of compliance is downloaded and installed. You can add any client tasks to the execution queue to perform custom operations before, during, or after the software remediation process.
• Installation into a virtual software layer
  (Windows only) Managed Software Delivery lets you install Windows-based software into a virtual software layer on a managed computer. The Software Virtualization agent must be installed on the managed computer; otherwise, the software is installed normally.
  We recommend this method of virtualizing software because it eliminates the need to repackage the software to create a virtual software archive file (VSA). This method also preserves any installation logic that is in the installation file.

Quick Delivery

Quick Delivery lets you perform a quick delivery of a single software resource that runs with minimum configuration. You can use the task-based Quick Delivery method to specify the software to deliver, the action to perform, and the computers to deliver to.

Because the software resources and the delivery settings are predefined, Quick Delivery makes it easy for administrators and non-administrators to deliver software. For example, help desk personnel can easily deliver hotfixes because all they have to do is select the correct hotfix from the Software Catalog.

When you create a Quick Delivery task, it runs as soon as possible. No further scheduling is needed. However, after the initial instance of a Quick Delivery task runs, you can edit and rerun it.

Package Delivery

When all you need to do is quickly push out a package, use Package Delivery. This task-based delivery method lets you deliver any package regardless of whether it is associated with a software resource. Package Delivery replaces the Task Server plug-in that was introduced in a 6.x release to Software Delivery Solution. When you migrate a 6.x Task Server delivery task to Software Management Solution, it appears in the Package Delivery folder.

Maintenance window support

Software Management Solution supports the new maintenance window feature of Notification Server. In every policy and task, you can specify whether to respect the maintenance windows that are defined for computers in the target resource group. When a particular computer has no maintenance window defined, the policies and tasks run according to their defined schedule, regardless of their maintenance window setting.

Validation of managed packages during delivery

When a package is delivered, a snapshot of the package is created on the client computer and is compared to the snapshot on the package server. If the snapshots do not match, it is possible that some kind of interception has occurred and corrupted the package. In that case, the package is re-downloaded. If the package is already on the client computer because of a recurring delivery or a delivery re-attempt, a package mismatch causes a re-download.

Accurate status reporting

When a Managed Software Delivery policy completes an action on a client computer, it performs a compliance check to evaluate the success of the execution. The compliance check uses the software resource’s unique identifier to determine whether that software is installed on a client computer. For Windows software, you can define a detection rule that contains additional information about the software and makes the detection process even more accurate. After the compliance check, the Managed Software Delivery policy reports the status information to Notification Server.

This method of determining a policy’s success is more accurate than using the package’s exit code. A package can return an exit code that indicates success when, in fact, the delivery was completed but the installation was not successful.

Separate schedules for package download and program execution

During a Managed Software Delivery, the package download occurs during the compliance check and the program execution occurs during the remediation. When you schedule a Managed Software Delivery policy, you can assign different schedules for compliance and remediation. For example, you can schedule the compliance status to be reported during the day and the remediation to occur only during a maintenance window. You can also set these options in the default settings for all Managed Software Delivery policies and you can change the default settings for specific managed deliveries.

User-based policies

Managed Software Delivery supports user-based policies by letting you specify users and user groups as policy targets. This feature lets you deliver software to any managed computer that a specific user logs on to. When the user logs on to a computer, the Altiris Agent refreshes any policy that targets that user. The policy runs on that computer according to the schedule that you defined for it.

Support of user-based policies is limited to the Windows and Mac client operating systems. UNIX and Linux-based client operating systems cannot support user-based policies because such policies require the use of interactive logons. Because Quick Delivery and Package Delivery are task-based, they do not support user-based distribution.

Offline execution of software deliveries

In a Managed Software Delivery policy, you can set different schedules for the compliance check and the remediation (in this case, installation). The separate schedules allow for the offline execution of the Managed Software Delivery.

During a Managed Software Delivery, the package download occurs during the compliance check and the program execution occurs during the remediation. When you schedule a Managed Software Delivery policy, you define the schedule for the compliance check and then select an option to schedule the remediation. To schedule an offline execution, you select the option to perform the remediation during the next maintenance window.

The ability to schedule the package download and the program execution separately also conserves bandwidth. If the computer does not have the appropriate configuration for the software or if the software is already installed, the package is not downloaded.

Uninstallation of software that is superseded by delivered software

Managed Software Delivery can use the supersedence associations that are defined for software resources to install software that replaces other software. A supersedence association is one in which one software resource replaces another software resource.

When you create a Managed Software Delivery policy for a software resource that has a supersedence association with other software, a message notifies you. If the selected software supersedes other software, you can uninstall the superseded software from the client computer before the selected software is installed. If other software supersedes the selected software, you can create the policy for the superseding software instead and ensure that you distribute only the current version of the software.

Package download directly to an alternate package location

A software delivery task or policy can download a package to an alternate location on the client computer instead of the directory structure in which Software Management Solution stores the packages. This feature is new only for Windows packages. The UNIX, Linux, and Mac software deliveries already behave this way.

Management of virtual software layers

You can use software virtualization to facilitate the management of most Windows-based software on managed computers. Software virtualization lets you avoid conflicts between applications and quickly restore a broken application to its original installed state.

Software Management Solution lets you perform the following virtualization actions:

• Virtualize applications during a Managed Software Delivery installation.
• Install a virtual software archive (VSA) file to a managed computer and create a new virtual software layer. It also lets you manage any virtual software layer regardless of how the layer was created. Each action requires a separate task, including the installation.
• Manage the existing virtual layers on the client computers.
  You can include a command line in the delivery policy or task to manage the layer. You can also manage the virtual layer later with a Quick Delivery task, a Managed Software Delivery policy, or a Software Virtualization task to manage the virtual software layer. A Managed Software Delivery policy can manage multiple virtual applications. For example, you can create a policy that installs the latest version of an application into a virtual layer and then deactivates the previous version.

The ability to manage virtual layers with these Software Management Solution tasks and policies replaces the ability to manage virtual software layers through the Resource Manager.

Software Portal

The Software Portal has been redesigned and enhanced.

• The user-facing portion of the Software Portal no longer requires the installation of Active-X controls. As a result, the Software Portal now supports the use of the Safari and Firefox browsers on Mac client computers.
• Users and their managers access the Software Portal on the client computers through an easy-to-use Web application.
• The Symantec Management Console contains an Administrator Portal in which the administrator manages the Software Portal and responds to requests.
• Administrators can add their organization’s name and logo to the view of the Software Portal that appears on the client computers.
• Administrators can publish software resources from the Software Library and Managed Software Delivery policies to the Software Portal. The software resources and Managed Software Delivery policies appear the same to the user but they deliver the software differently. When a user requests a software resource, a Quick Delivery task delivers the software. When a user requests a Managed Software Delivery policy, the policy delivers the software.
• When administrators publish software to the Software Portal, they can designate whether the software should appear on the “recommended” list for a given user or group of users. Only the software that is recommended for a specific user is displayed by default in that user's Software Portal.
• Users, their managers, and the administrator can all add comments to software requests at any time until the requests are closed.
• When users request unlisted software, they can enter the date that they require the software. Software is considered to be unlisted for a specific user when it does not appear in the Software Portal for that user.
• Users can cancel software requests that they create in the Software Portal at any time until the request is closed.
• Users can request only one application at a time. This prevents them from exceeding their limit of applications in one request. A Managed Software Delivery policy that contains dependencies or multiple tasks counts as one request.
• In the Software Portal, users can view status information regarding current and past software requests that they have made.
• Administrators can now defer taking action on some outstanding requests for a particular piece of software, while choosing to approve or deny other requests for the same software.
• A manager or administrator who places a request on hold or denies a request is required to enter a comment that explains the reason for the hold or denial. The comment is included in the email notification that the user receives. The user can also see the comment when they view the request in the Software Portal.

Repair of Windows Installer applications

You can proactively identify and repair broken applications on selected computers. However, you no longer have to use one policy for scans and a different policy for repairs.

You can create a Windows Installer Repair policy or task to scan for broken Windows Installer applications. If an application needs repair, the policy or task sends a repair command to the Windows Installer service to initiate self-repair. As in Application Management Solution 6.x, you can perform both quick repairs and full repairs.

Use a policy as your primary means to repair Windows Installer applications. A policy repairs the applications that are currently broken, and it can also repair any applications that break in the future. Use a task to repair a specific application.

Source Path Update

You can update the source paths of Windows Installer applications with resilient source paths. However, you no longer have to use one policy for scans and a different policy for source path updates.

You can create a Source Path Update policy or task to update the source paths to point to the package servers that you designate. If an application needs modification or repair, Windows Installer can access the needed installation file from one of these servers.

Use a policy as your primary means to update the source paths of Windows Installer applications. Use a task when you need to update the source path of a specific application immediately.

Application Management Agent

The Windows Installer Agent is now the Application Management Agent. A software resource for the Application Management Agent is created in the Software Catalog when Software Management Solution is installed. If the agent's default command lines do not meet your needs, you can edit the command lines of this software resource.

Reports

Software Management Solution contains all new reports. It also contains the reports that appeared in Software Delivery Solution 6.x. It does not contain any custom reports that were defined in 6.x.

The number of reports were reduced because of the following new features:

• The new report controls provide users with more flexibility to define filter conditions and format report results, enabling the same amount of data to be presented in far fewer reports.
• The new reports summarize the results across platforms, while also enabling administrators to filter based on platform.
• The new reports consolidate software delivery results regardless of the underlying technology used.

The new reports are as follows:

Report	Description
Software Delivery - Audit Summary	Summarizes the actions that were taken to create, delete, and modify software deliveries.
Software Delivery - Download Status	Displays the status of the software resource downloads that are associated with software delivery instances on individual computers. This report displays one "Download status" for each software delivery instance, even if that instance involves the download of multiple programs or tasks.
Software Delivery - Download Summary	Summarizes the aggregate status of the software resource downloads that are associated with all software delivery instances. This report displays one "Download status" for each software delivery instance, even if that instance involves the download of multiple individual software resources. Software deliveries that do not require a package download do not appear.
Software Delivery - Execution Attempts	Displays software delivery execution attempts by delivery method.
Software Delivery - Execution Failures	Displays the cause of failure for each program and task execution that failed.
Software Delivery - Execution Status	Displays the status of the program and task executions that are associated with software delivery instances on individual computers. This report displays one "Execution status" for each software delivery instance, even if that instance involves the execution of multiple programs or tasks.
Software Delivery - Execution Summary	Summarizes the aggregate status of the program and task executions that are associated with all software delivery instances. This report displays one "Execution status" for each software delivery instance, even if that instance involves the execution of multiple programs or tasks.
Software Delivery - Licensing Failures	Lists software delivery failures that resulted because a licensed Software Management Solution agent was not installed.
Software Delivery - Status (All Instances)	Summarizes the aggregate status of all software delivery instances. This report appears as a graphic on the Software Management Solution portal page.
Software Delivery - Summary (All Executions)	Summarizes the aggregate status of all software delivery instances. This report appears as a graphic on the Software Management Solution portal page.
Software Management Portal - Software Request Status	Lists the current status of each software request that was received through the Software Portal.
Software Management Portal - Software Request Summary	Summarizes the aggregate status of all the software requests that were received through the Software Portal.
Software Compliance Remediation Summary	Summarizes the number of remediation attempts per software delivery policy.
Software Compliance Status	Lists the compliance status of software that was installed on individual computers by Managed Software Delivery policies.
Software Compliance Summary	Summarizes the aggregate compliance status of software that was installed by Managed Software Delivery policies.
Software Resources - Broken Element Summary	Summarizes the number of unique computers on which the key path for a particular Windows Installer component or another file was found to be missing. The data is based on scans conducted during a specified date range.
Software Resources - Broken Elements	Lists the computers that had broken elements during a specified time range.
Software Resources - Current Broken Elements	Lists the Windows Installer key paths or other files that were found missing and that could not be remediated by the most recent evaluation of repair tasks or policies.
Software Resources - Inaccessible Source Paths	Lists computers that had software resources with inaccessible source paths during the most recent scan.
Virtualized Software Resources - Event Status	Lists details of the status of events for virtualized software resources.
Virtualized Software Resources - Event Summary	Summarizes events for virtualized software resources.

Wise Toolkit

Wise Toolkit consists of the following tools:

• Wise InstallTailor
• WiseScript for NS

The tools in Wise Toolkit have not changed. However, the way that you install and start the tools has changed as follows:

• When you install Software Management Solution, software resources for these tools are created in the Software Catalog. You can use any delivery method to install these tools. We recommend that you install these tools on an Administrator's desktop.
• On the computer where you installed WiseScript for NS, on the Start menu, click Programs > Altiris > WiseScript for NS.

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Installation and Upgrade

Prerequisites and System Requirements

Software Management Solution requires Symantec Management Platform 7.0 to be installed on the Notification Server computer. It can be installed on any server that is acceptable for the Symantec Management Platform.

Software Management Solution can manage the following client platforms:

• Windows XP SP2 or later x64/x86
• Windows 2000 Workstation SP4 + rollups
• Windows Vista RTM and SP1 (all editions)
• Mac OS X 10.3.9 (PPC), 10.4.x (Universal binary), 10.5.x (Universal binary)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 - x86, x64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 - x86, x64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 - x86, x64
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 - x86, x64

Software Management Solution can manage the following server platforms:

• Windows 2000 Server SP4 + rollups
• Windows Server 2003 (SP1/SP2/R2) x64/x86
• Windows Server 2008 x64/x86
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 - x86, x64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 - x86, x64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 - x86, x64
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 - x86, x64
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 - x86, x64
• Solaris 9 - Sparc
• Solaris 10 - x86, x64, Sparc
• VMware ESX Server 3.0.1, 3.0.2, 3.5
• Mac OS X Server 10.3.9 (PPC), 10.4.x (Universal binary), 10.5.x (Universal binary)

New Installation

The installation of Software Management Solution is managed through the Symantec Installation Manager.

For more information, see the Symantec Management Platform Installation Guide, which is available when you download the product. After you install the product, it is also available from the Windows Start menu, under Altiris > Symantec Installation Manager > Symantec Management Platform Installation Guide.

Upgrade Issues

Issue

Article ID

Data migration from 6.x If you upgrade to a different server, the package server settings do not migrate because the GUID of the server changes. After you migrate a software package, you can use the Assign to Software wizard to assign the package to a software resource. When you assign a package to a software resource, software associations are not populated. If a 6.x Sequential Software Delivery task has complex dependencies, the dependencies are not imported. When you migrate a 6.x Software Delivery task, its schedule options are not imported because the 7.0 scheduling logic is different. When you migrate a 6.x Software Delivery task, its Task availability option is imported as follows: If the 6.x Use server time option is checked, the Time zone in the 7.0 policy is set to Coordinate using UTC. If the 6.x Use server time option is not checked, the Time zone in the 7.0 policy is set to Use agent time.

Upgrade Steps

The upgrade of Software Delivery Solution 6.x is managed through the Symantec Installation Manager when you upgrade a Notification Server 6.x computer. You can choose the solutions to upgrade during the Notification Server upgrade process.

For more information, see the Symantec Management Platform Installation Guide, which is available when you download the product. After you install the product, it is also available from the Windows Start menu, under Altiris > Symantec Installation Manager > Symantec Management Platform Installation Guide.

Data Migration from Version 6.x

You can migrate data from Software Delivery Solution 6.x and Software Virtualization Solution 6.x to Software Management Solution 7.0. Options for migrating data are available in the Symantec Installation Manager.

You cannot migrate the Application Management Solution 6.x policies that are now part of Software Management Solution 7.0. You must re-create the Windows Installer repair policies and the Source Path Update policies.

For more information, see Knowledge Base article 44969, Migration of 6.x Data to Symantec Management Platform 7.0.

Data that can be migrated from 6.x to Software Management Solution 7.0

6.x data that can be migrated	Resulting 7.0 data
Software Delivery Task Server Plug-in task	Package Delivery task
Sequential Software Delivery task	Managed Software Delivery policy that contains a Package Delivery task for each package that was in the 6.x task
The following types of tasks: Software Delivery task (Windows and non-Windows) Virtual Software task (Windows only)	Legacy Software Delivery policy
SVS Task Server Plug-in task	Software Virtualization task
Package and its programs You can migrate the following types of packages: Software Delivery package (Windows and non-Windows) Virtual Software package (Windows only)	Package and associated command lines A migrated package is not associated with a software resource or placed in the Software Library by default. Before you deliver a migrated package with Quick Delivery, Managed Software Delivery, or the Software Portal, associate the package with a software resource.

About the packages that are migrated from 6.x to Software Management Solution 7.0

When you migrate package data from 6.x, the location of a migrated package file depends on the location of the 6.x package as follows:

• Local drive
  The package is migrated to the same drive and location that it had on the 6.x Notification Server computer. If it is not possible to duplicate the location on the 7.0 computer, you can specify a new location.
• Shared network drive
  The package remains on that drive unless you take steps to source it from another location.

A migrated package is not associated with a software resource or placed in the Software Library by default. You can deliver the package with a Package Delivery task, which does not require a software resource. If you want to deliver a migrated package with Quick Delivery, Managed Software Delivery, or the Software Portal, associate the package with a software resource first. You might also want to place a migrated package in the Software Library.

For more information, see the topics about associating a package with a software resource and about adding an existing package to the Software Library in the Symantec Management Platform Help.

6.x features that are not included in Software Management Solution 7.0

• Baseline Inventory
  This feature, which was part of Application Management Solution, is now part of Inventory Solution.
• SVS Admin tool
  This tool was included in Software Virtualization Solution but is no longer packaged with this product.
• Virtual layer management through the Resource Manager
  The ability to manage virtual software layers through the Resource Manager is replaced by the ability to manage layers with a Quick Delivery task, a Managed Software Delivery policy, or a Software Virtualization task.
• Installation state management
  Managed Software Delivery replaces the state management functionality that was in Application Management Solution.
• Default notification policies
  The default notification policies that were in Software Delivery Solution 6.x are no longer applicable, due to changes in the underlying technology. However, you can create software delivery-related notification policies in 7.0.
• Delivery of software to handheld devices
• Application relationships
  The ability to link application inventory to specific software packages is replaced by the software resources in the Software Catalog. A software resource can contain the associations between the software (application), its package (installer), and the package’s command lines (programs).
• Application Inventory
  The ability to gather information about the applications that are installed on client computers is replaced by the Software Discovery policy in Software Management Framework.
• Software Migration tasks

How 6.x features compare to Software Management Solution 7.0

Software Management Solution 7.0 replaces the 6.x versions of Software Delivery Solution and Application Management as well as some features of Software Virtualization Solution 6.x. Software Management Solution contains most of the functionality of those solutions as well as many new features and functions.

For more information about how features in 6.x compare to features in Software Management Solution 7.0, see the Software Management Solution Help.

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Known Issues in this Release

The following issues are unresolved in this release. If an article ID is included, you can click the link for additional information.

Known Issue	Article ID
Virtualizing Windows applications during a software delivery requires a specific version of the Software Virtualization Agent The Virtualize this software option in the Managed Software Delivery wizard can only be used with the version of the Software Virtualization Agent that is shipped with Software Management Solution or a later version. Earlier versions do not support this feature.
Virtualizing software during installation deactivates existing layers When you virtualize software during a Managed Software Delivery, and the software is installed into a layer on the client computer, any existing layers on that computer are deactivated. Those layers remain deactivated after the new installation finishes, and you must re-activate them manually.
Managed Software Delivery does not virtualize software whose installation file is in EXE format Managed Software Delivery does not virtualize an EXE package when you check the Install this policy’s software into a virtual software layer check box. The software is installed normally instead of in a layer.
You cannot execute Managed Software Delivery policies from the client side on non-Windows computers The client-side user interface (on the Altiris Agent) is not available on UNIX, Linux, or Mac computers. Therefore, you cannot execute Managed Software Delivery policies from those client computers. This issue occurs because those policies do not appear in the utility "aex-swdapm" on UNIX, Linux or Mac clients.
Some Managed Software Delivery settings do not work for non-Windows software Because the client-side user interface (on the Altiris Agent) is not available on UNIX, Linux, or Mac computers, the following Managed Software Delivery settings do not apply to UNIX, Linux, or Mac delivery policies: Power on if necessary (using Wake-On-LAN, Intel, AMT, ASF) Appears on the Managed Delivery Settings page, on the Schedule tab, under the Compliance section. Only perform check if…Computer is available at the exact scheduled time Appears on the Managed Delivery Settings page, on the Schedule tab, when you click the Advanced button. Upon success run Appears on the Managed Delivery Settings page, on the Run tab, under the Results-based actions section.
Launching a GUI application via Software Delivery on a Mac computer is not recommended To ensure the highest security, we recommend that you do not launch a GUI-based application through a Software Management or Inventory task. If the computer is at the login window, you may inadvertently provide root access to the computer through the application.
Reports are not sent from UNIX, Linux, or Mac computers Quick Delivery tasks for UNIX, Linux, or Mac do not send execution or status reports to the Symantec Management Console.
Cannot deliver SLES 9 RPM packages You cannot use Managed Software Delivery or Quick Delivery to install RPM packages that were created with RPM Package Manager 4.1.1 or earlier. For example, those used on SLES 9. Because those packages cannot be imported into the Software Catalog, they do not have software resources that you can deliver.
Solaris 10 zones are not supported A Solaris 10 global zone that has non-global zones installed is not supported. However, Solaris 10 that does not contain any non-global zones is supported.
The names and descriptions of the Software Delivery for UNIX and Mac exporters and importers appear in English only When you migrate Software Delivery data for UNIX and Mac, the names and descriptions of the exporters and importers that appear in the Exporter and Importer Configuration dialog boxes always appear in English and are never translated.
You cannot type a command line in a Package Delivery task A Package Delivery task can deliver a package that is not associated with a software resource and is not in the Software Library. Such packages do not have predefined command lines. However, because the Command Line box in a Package Delivery task is currently not editable, you cannot deliver a package that does not have a predefined command line.
Cannot use the default policy to uninstall the Software Management Solution plug-in for UNIX/Linux/Mac from Mac client computers The uninstall command line for Mac computers is incorrect in the policy "Software Management Solution Plug-in for UNIX/Linux/Mac Uninstall". Workaround: Create a new task to uninstall the plug-in, as follows: In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click Jobs and Tasks. In the left pane, under Jobs and Tasks, expand Jobs and Tasks > Samples > Notification Server. Right-click Notification Server, and click New > Job or Task. On the Create New Task page, in the left pane, click Run Script. In the right pane, replace the text "Run Script" with a title for this task. For example, "Uninstall the Software Management Solution Plug-in from Mac clients". In Script type, click UNIX Script. In the text box, type the following script text: aex-helper uninstall SMSAGENT Click OK. You can schedule this task to run on any Mac computer that contains the plug-in.
The Software Portal does not open properly on a computer that runs Windows Server 2003 or 2008 This problem occurs when the computer's browser security settings are set to High, which disables the Security Settings option for "Launching Programs and Files in an IFRAME". Because the Software Portal home page uses IFRAME, the page is not rendered properly. We cannot fix this issue because we cannot edit your browser security settings.
The Software Delivery History Web part displays an error When you add the Software Delivery History Web part to your My Portal page, it displays an error instead of data.

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