Altiris Managed delivery with tasks problem

[Migration User]

Hi, I'm trying to do a managed delivery for an application and I need to add some pre/post tasks when the remediation occurs for the app. The policy runs a check every hour during a scheduled window, my problem is that eventhough the computer is compliant it will still run the pre/post tasks I added to the dependency tasks of the software... any ideas how to stop running these tasks when the computer is already compliant?

[Migration User]

Can you upload a screenshot of the policy so that we can see what you're working with here as far as the pre- and post- structure as well as the software dependencies?

[Migration User]

So here i have a process(itunes, QT, ipodservice, etc) kill script to avoid the installer on failing, same script runs after installing the program since some procceses will autostart under the system/administrator account...

 

If the computer has an old version then it'll  execute everything fine but since i have the policy check every hour during a scheduled window, itunes is detected and doesnt try to reinstall(as intended) but the task to kill the proceses run no matter if the machine is compliant... I tried to add the kill tasks under the depency tasks but i get the same result. I'm not sure if there's a way to setup rules for script tasks as we have for software... any workarounds? thanks

[Migration User]

You need to add it under Dependency Tasks.  Currently the task says, "Kill the apps, then check for iTunes, if it isn't found, install everything it needs, then with iTunes now being installed, kill all apps."

Put it underneath by clicking 'Dependency Tasks' and clicking 'Add > Task' so that it reads:

 iTunes
.....Dependency Tasks
.........Pre-task App Kills
.........Mobile Device
.........Apple Application Support
.........Bonjour
.........QuickTime
.........Post-task App Kills

[Migration User]

yes i tried that but it does the same thing...

[Migration User]

The detection rule for iTunes must be invalid, since dependency tasks only occur if iTunes is not found.  (That's because the behavior of the product is such that you could uninstall Bonjour and Apple Application Support and QuickTime, but if the iTunes registry were still present, Altiris would see it as validly installed because of the detection rule based on the registry key.)

It seems to me that iTunes (and all the subcomponents like QuickTime) are running every single time, which is why the tasks are still running every single time.  Does the Altiris GUI for the policy show iTunes installing whenever the detection check occurs?  Does the Windows application log show the .msi's running when the detection check occurs?

[Migration User]

On the client agent GUI i see the detection rules detect all the itunes components and doesn't try to download and execute them(no msiexec processes either) but only the kill tasks run...

[Migration User]

Can you upload a screenshot of the policy from within the agent GUI?  Wondering about all the task columns for the iTunes policy.

[Migration User]

I placed the kill task under the dependency tasks like you suggested:

I can't seem to resize this image but if you save it and open it you can see the "Last Status" column where it shows the status of the detection rules and execution

[Migration User]

Looks like we're doing it wrong:

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH138537

What if you follow the process in that KB?

[Migration User]

The dependencies are only for software so I can't add a script task(doesn't even show them on the list).... either way the task runs if it's in or out of the dependencies tasks for the software I want to deliver...

[Migration User]

You either need to create a .vbs wrapper for the software resource, so that when it installs any of these it kills all of the component .exe's, or you need to create a fake software resource that includes a .vbs or .bat file that kills all the component .exe's ('Kill iTunes and dependencies' software resource) that is listed as a dependency.

[Migration User]

A windo is poping up and I am getting this message. How do I solv it.

SYMANTEC TAMPER PROTECTION ALERT

Target:  C:\Program Files\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\Smc.exe
Event Info:  Allocation Memory
Action Taken:  Logged
Actor Process:  C:\Program Files\CA\SharedComponents\PPRT\bin\ITMRTSVC.exe (PID 1512)
Time:  Thursday, August 04, 2011  5:49:36 PM

[Mistral]

Why not create a Software Component with the "Kill Apple Tasks" commands as install command line, the iTunes detection rule and add this instead of the task?

... ok when i think about this, it will work for the pre task, but not for the post task as it will always be compliant after remediation. But you only want to kill before installing itunes?

[Migration User]

Ideally I would want to kill the tasks before and after the installation so it doesnt fail installing it and doesnt leave any apple services running as the system account in the background. I can accomplish this by scheduling client jobs but I would give up the detection rules I have by using a managed delivery. I think I'm just going to let the policy run at startup or user logon time once instead or checking every hour killing the procecesses and annoying the users. It would be nice to have a rule detection for single tasks though instead of creating a fake software component to run a script. Thanks everyone for your help!