Free Edition Automated software deployment is the auto-distribution of all packages in a working environment without zero to minimal manual intervention. Distributing software to all machines in a network can be a daunting task for IT Administrators, especially at large enterprises. With an ever-growing number of endpoints, it is becoming a real challenge to roll out software across organizations. Endpoint Central allows you to distribute software packages and automate software deployment in all the computers across your network across Windows, Mac and Linux from a central console using an automated deployment tool and without any user intervention.
Enterprise software deployment automation tools ensure that the distribution of all packages in a working environment are automated. The application comes with a feature-set that has the following advanced options to offer greater flexibility and control over the automated deployment process:
For deploying applications, you first need to create software packages, which can get tedious. Our automated software installation tool has over 10000 pre defined application templates, complete with install/uninstall switches which can be used to create packages instantly. This saves time, makes the software installation process faster, moreaccurate, and eventually helps in automated software deployment.
One of the most common task of an IT admin is deploying requested applications to users, for which a lot of help desk tickets are raised regularly. These tickets usually take up lot of time and resources to resolve. Using our self service portal you can strengthen your automatic software deployment process by empowering users to install applications on their own. All you need to do is publish most commonly requested applications to the self service portal and reduce the number of help desk tickets raised, all thanks to automated deployment.
One of the major reasons for software deployment failure is that the target computers don't meet the prerequisites. It can take up a lot of time to figure out the exact issue and then troubleshoot it accordingly. You can perform condition checks and apply configurations before installation with pre deployment activities, accelerating your enterprise software deployment process. It ensures that the target computers meet all the requirements and have all the configurations set up before you apply any deployment automation tools.
Post deployment activities help you ensure that the application is accessible to user, all the previous versions have been uninstalled, shortcuts have been set up and all the application specific configurations are applied. The post deployment activities empower your automatic software deployment process by allowing you to apply follow-up configurations, run custom scripts, change registry settings, create shortcuts, create/append path, and much more after installation. Learn more about software deployment methods and strategies.
All the software packages which are created using our automated software deployment tool are stored in a central Software Repository. Once saved, these packages can be reused multiple times for your enterprise software deployment process. There are two types of software repositories available: Network Share Repository and HTTP Repository. Network Share repository is used while deploying software packages to LAN agents and HTTP repository is required for deploying software packages to WAN agents.
Creating different packages for installing or uninstalling the same application can get tedious. Once you create a package, it can be used to perform both the operations for MSI, EXE, MSU, APPX and MSP applications.
Downloading the software packages and running the executables takes up a lot of processor's resources, which may lead to reduced performance while deployment and hence loss of productivity for employees. To prevent this, you can deploy software packages within a suitable time interval by configuring a deployment policy for an automated deployment. By leveraging these deployment automation tools, you can automate software installations on the desired day/date/time, within a preset time window. Scheduling software deployment via automated deployment tools at off-hours helps bring desired results in terms of cost as well as performance within your environment.
The application allows you to copy the necessary installables to the client computers before installing or uninstalling applications. This can be configured while setting up the deployment policy. It is optional and when selected will speed up the installation/uninstallation process.
Our automated software installation tool supports installing or uninstalling the application as a specific user. By default, all applications are installed as "System User", which the Endpoint Central agent has access to.
Software Deployment is the process of remotely installing software on multiple or all the computers within a network simultaneously, from a central location. The word "Software Deployment" is generally used in the context of a large network (more than 20 computers). An automated deployment using enterprise software deployment tools helps in distributing software without manual intervention saving time and effort.
Patch management and IT asset management modules of Endpoint Central usually work in tandem with software deployment feature, as they are responsible for software updates and have complete control and visibility over the software installed across your network.
All the above- mentioned activities can be taken care of manually or via automated software deployment tools. Doing it manually might be fine if you have a network of say, 15 computers, but anything beyond that becomes labor intensive, cost ineffective and is prone to redundancy. Even after having multiple technicians working on it manually, one cannot guarantee that all endpoints have the latest versions of software installed and configured. Hence, you need a centralized software deployment automation in place for all your software deployment needs. Automated software deployment also ensures minimal errors and more frequent deployments.
How to automate deployment using Endpoint Central?
The application allows automated deployment with the help of automatic package creation. You can automate software installation by adding over 10000 predefined software deployment templates to create a package and publish it to a specific user. The packages in these templates can be set to auto-update. So, whenever a new version of a template is available, it will be reflected in the Self Service Portal of the published users. To get started with automated deployment of software, navigate to Software Deployment > Settings > Auto-update Templates. Thus, by making use of the automated deployment tools, IT administrators and entire organisations can save resources.
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