Automated client update would save many hours of effort (which translates
to big dollar savings) for us. A lot of time is required to prepare and
distribute new releases, which the customers must spend time installing.
I'd like to see it high on the list of features to be implemented. When
evaluating backup products, we gave automated client update a heavy weight
(some competetive products provide this feature, but fell down an variety
of server platforms).
Many sites are a long way from having any form of software distribution
package, and as Paul eluded to, even those that do may only support a small
subset of the ADSM client platforms. This form of distribution would also
requires us to license and install the distribution software as well as
ADSM on each machine - at additional work and cost.
As for "this much code into this particular client/server application",
ADSM is already geared for quickly and easily transferring files from the
server. A version check, and download of a new release would not likely
add a great deal more code to the client!
Chris Krusch Chris.Krusch AT ubc DOT ca
Computing Services (604)822-4215
The University of British Columbia
At 4:59 PM 7/27/95 -0400, Paul Zarnowski wrote:
>Jim, et al,
>
>While self-updating clients would be nice, I'm not sure how I feel about
>bundling this much code into this particular client/server application.
>This kind of feature would be useful not just for ADSM, but for any piece
>of client software that runs all over your organization. If IBM were to
>add this feature to ADSM, it would be useful to us, but it would be even
>more useful if it could support other applications in addition to the ADSM
>client software. I'm guessing this would be more than just a little bit
>tricky.
>
>Cornell is part of a "Mandarin Consortium" of universities, and Mandarin
>has this feature in it. It works rather nicely, but it only exists for
>a subset of the client platforms that we use ADSM on. We will probably
>go ahead and use it someday to distribute ADSM software for those
>platforms (Macintosh and Windows, primarily).
>
>I would think that there are probably other products available in the
>marketplace that do this sort of thing. If anyone knows of any, perhaps
>they could mention them here, for others to consider and evaluate.
>
>..Paul
>
>Paul Zarnowski Phone: 607/255-4757
>Cornell Information Technologies Fax: 607/255-6523
>Cornell University US Mail: 315 CCC, Ithaca, NY 14853-2601
Chris Krusch Email: Chris.Krusch AT ubc DOT ca
University Computing Services Phone: (604)822-4215
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