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Article: Q173995
Product(s): Microsoft Systems Management Server
Version(s): winnt:1.2
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbusage kbPGC smspgc
Last Modified: 30-JUL-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Systems Management Server version 1.2 
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SUMMARY
=======

In some situations, you may want to have multiple shared network applications
using the same share or drive letter on the client workstation. Although you can
easily accomplish this with a single Sharing package, the process becomes more
complex when multiple packages are involved.

The Microsoft Office 4.x sharing package that is created by using the Package
Definition Files (PDFs) supplied with Systems Management Server gives a good
example of how to set up a single Sharing package to run multiple applications.
This article concentrates on how you can configure multiple Sharing packages
delivered by Program Group Control (PGC) to use the same network share or drive
letter.

MORE INFORMATION
================

As an example, this article will configure two applications, Solitaire and
FreeCell, as separate Systems Management Server Sharing packages that will both
use the same network share. To do this, perform the following steps:

1. Prepare the package source directory for each application.

  To use a common share point, the files for each application must be located in
  a subdirectory of the directory that will be defined as the package source
  directory. For this example, all packages will be located under a Package
  directory that is also shared as "Package."

  For Solitaire, the files will be located in the Solitaire directory, with the
  following structure:

  Package\App1\Solitaire

  For FreeCell, the files will be located in the FreeCell directory, with the
  following structure:

  Package\App2\FreeCell

  NOTE: Defining the App1 and App2 directories as subdirectories of the Package
  directory keeps Systems Management Server from combining the source
  directories for both applications into the same compressed package.

2. Use the Systems Management Server Administrator program to create a Systems
  Management Server Sharing package for each application. To do this, perform
  the following steps:

For Solitaire
-------------

  a. Define the package source directory as \\<server>\Package\App1.

  b. Define the common share that each application will use: SMS_APPS.

  c. Create a program item with the following attributes for the Solitaire
     package:

  Description: Shared Solitaire
  Command Line: Solitiaire\Sol.exe
  Registry Name: solitaire
  Configuration Command Line: <optional; not needed for Solitaire>

     NOTE: You can customize the values defined for the Description, Registry
     Name, and Configuration Command Line parameters, but you must manually
     type the correct Command Line parameter for the Solitaire directory before
     the executable file can be run.

  d. Select the desired option for Drive Mode. For this example, select
     Requires Specific Drive Letter and type "P:" for the network drive that
     the client will use to connect to the SMS_APPS share on a Systems
     Management Server distribution server.

For FreeCell
------------

  a. Define the package source directory as \\<server>\Package\App2.

  b. Define the common share that each application will use: SMS_APPS.

  c. Create a program item with the following attributes for the FreeCell
     package:

  Description: Shared Freecell
  Command Line: Freecell\Freecell.exe
  Registry Name: freecell
  Configuration Command Line: <optional, not needed for Freecell>

  d. Select the desired option for Drive Mode, making certain to use the same
     option that was chosen for the other package. Select Requires Specific
     Drive Letter and type "P:".

3. Use a separate Share Package On Server job for both the Solitaire and
  FreeCell packages to deliver the shared applications. This creates the
  following directory structure on each Systems Management Server distribution
  server defined in the jobs:

  Sms_apps\Freecell
  Sms_apps\Solitaire

4. Define one or more Systems Management Server program groups that includes the
  program items created with each package.

After the Systems Management Server client's desktop has been updated with the
new icons for the shared applications, starting one of the applications maps the
network drive P: to the Sms_apps share and runs the application from the
appropriate subdirectory. The other application will also use the same drive
when it is run, thus reducing the number of network drives consumed by these
applications.

NOTE: It is important to consider that a package cannot be updated by Systems
Management Server if the drive or share is in use at the time Systems Management
Server attempts to update it. Therefore, use caution when using the steps
outlined above to configure multiple packages to use the same share.

For example, if you needed to apply an update to Solitaire and there were users
currently playing FreeCell, the update to Solitaire could not occur without
first disconnecting all users from the Sms_apps share.

WARNING: If a Remove Package From Server job is sent to remove one of the
packages defined below the existing common share, all of the packages below the
existing share will be removed. Therefore, if you need to remove a single
package from a distribution server, it is recommended that you manually perform
this procedure.

Additional query words: prodsms PDF

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Keywords          : kbusage kbPGC smspgc 
Technology        : kbSMSSearch kbSMS120
Version           : winnt:1.2
Issue type        : kbhowto

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Q173995: SMS: How to Configure Multiple Shared Apps to Use a Single Share