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Safely Disabling Deployment Solution 6.9 and Plug-ins?

  • 1.  Safely Disabling Deployment Solution 6.9 and Plug-ins?

    Posted Feb 21, 2012 08:43 AM

    We are currently performing a migration from Altiris Deployment Solution 6.9 in favor of SCCM 2007. Is there a safe and efficient way to disable the deployment solution plug-in (aclient) and corresponding policies so as to enable the migration without "hacking and slashing" the Altiris deployment environment? I would like to retain the current structure and components of Altiris in case we come across unforeseen issues with the migration.

    Thanks.



  • 2.  RE: Safely Disabling Deployment Solution 6.9 and Plug-ins?

    Posted Feb 21, 2012 08:51 AM

    If I were in your shoes I would simply run a job on each system to uninstall the aclient, it can be done with a simple batch job, Altiris script job, or manually of course from a command line. Is there a reason this wouldn't work for your environment?

    Shannon DuBey CNA, MCP, A+

    CMS/SMS 6.x - 7.1

    Patch Management & Inventory Expert



  • 3.  RE: Safely Disabling Deployment Solution 6.9 and Plug-ins?

    Posted Feb 21, 2012 09:03 AM

    I agree with Sdubey.  You could disable the Dagent/Aclient service on the clients in the event you thought you might move back to DS.  But if not, I would simply do an uninstall of the agent using the -remove -silent switches. 



  • 4.  RE: Safely Disabling Deployment Solution 6.9 and Plug-ins?

    Posted Feb 21, 2012 09:40 AM

    Thanks for your quick feedback.

    DaveDurkee wrote, "You could disable the Dagent/Aclient service on the clients in the event you thought you might move back to DS."

    If this was the preferred method--keeping our foot in the Altiris Deployment door so-to-speak--what is the most efficient way of disabling the DAgent/AClient and corresponding policies?

    Thanks.



  • 5.  RE: Safely Disabling Deployment Solution 6.9 and Plug-ins?

    Posted Feb 21, 2012 10:16 AM

    I would just stop the Altiris services and set them to disabled.



  • 6.  RE: Safely Disabling Deployment Solution 6.9 and Plug-ins?

    Posted Feb 21, 2012 10:25 AM

    Would you recommend disabling these services through Group Policy? Thanks.



  • 7.  RE: Safely Disabling Deployment Solution 6.9 and Plug-ins?

    Posted Feb 21, 2012 10:27 AM

    Sure, or I'm pretty sure Altiris itself could handle this.

    Why not just turn off your DS?  Or why not use SCCM to disable services, once it's functional on a new client that already runs Altiris?



  • 8.  RE: Safely Disabling Deployment Solution 6.9 and Plug-ins?

    Posted Feb 21, 2012 10:38 AM

    Would we have to perform any cleanup on the NS/DS side of things to disable any active policies?



  • 9.  RE: Safely Disabling Deployment Solution 6.9 and Plug-ins?

    Posted Feb 22, 2012 03:59 AM

    For DS I wouldn't bother doing anything, it shouldn't interfere with SCCM any more than it interferes with NS. I've been in lots of places where DS is used to upgrade NS agents from 6 to 7, for example. The AClient/DAgent don't really have policies as such. If you want to disable the agent without removing it then Group Policy is a good option.

    If you do have NS you could maybe "pause NS activities" although events will build up on the clients until the Altiris Agent is removed. Otherwise you could just disable all agent, inventory and software delivery polices on the NS.



  • 10.  RE: Safely Disabling Deployment Solution 6.9 and Plug-ins?

    Posted Feb 22, 2012 10:34 AM

    Yes, we have an NS. Ideally, I want to suspend all active deployment policies and suspend the AClient and DAgent so that way I do not have to uninstall it nor remove any policies on the NS/DS side of things. More or less this is like an insurance policy whereby if something occurs in SCCM where we have to revert back to use Altiris, we have only suspended the DS activity instead of removing policies and agents. This would make it easier to revert back to Altiris.

    It sounds like disabling the agents using GPO seems to be a pretty easy and safe solution. Any disagreement? So, when it comes to suspending (e.g., disabling) policies on the NS/DS side of things, is there a quick and efficient way of doing this?

    Thanks again for everyone's feedback.



  • 11.  RE: Safely Disabling Deployment Solution 6.9 and Plug-ins?

    Posted Feb 22, 2012 07:03 PM

    GPO is fine.  You could also use the AClient, if you have it, then turn off the DS or remove access to it.  The AClient isn't going to run any sort of recurring process like an NS Agent might, so this is a pretty safe method and allows you to maintain control during the in between phase, where the NS Agent is off but SCCM is not there yet.

    Alternatively, my favorite method is to use SCCM to disable it, since that confirms SCCM is on the client and functional.  If you need to re-enable later, you can use GPO Logonscripts, psexec, or RAAD.