Creating Silent Installation

[Burl]

I have a few questions about the Silent Installation.

Should the Silent installation be completed from the server or from a client workstation?

Is the environmental variable PRGFILES for the install folder location created by Avast! during the install?

Do  you have any suggestions or recommendations about the  parameter settings (Silent mode vs. Very silent mode, and No reboot vs. Ask for reboot).  Which selections are best?

Thanks for all your help, you have been great,
Burl

[Vlk]

Are you asking about silent installation of avast Server Edition (we're in the ServerEd. forum) - to be installed on servers - or Professional Edition, to be installated on workstations?

Vlk

[Burl]

I guess it would be the Professional edition to be installed on the workstations.  If that is the case, how does Avast! 4 Server edition protect the networkl from viruses being introduced at the workstation level?

[Vlk]

Of course, the Server Edition only takes care of the server itself. I mean, it installs only on servers, and handles only the stuff that goes through the server (files, e-mails etc).

To protect individual computers on the network (at workstation level) you need to have the software deployed on all these machines - but not the Server Edition (which is designed only for servers) but the regular, workstation-based, "Professional Edition".

The upcoming 'Network Edition' will greatly simplify the deployment task, and will also provide efficient means of [remote] administration but until it's ready you can stick with the 'Server Edition + N Professional Editions' scenario.

Anyway, to answer your questions:
you'd install avast Professional on one of your machines, and then let it generate the Silent Installation package that you will in turn run on all of the remaining machines. PRGFILES refers to the system 'Program Files' directory (whatever its name is - please note that the names of these directories are localized). As about the settings, it's really up to you - I don't know if you want the process (the gauges) be visible on the screen or not (silent  x  very-silent) or if you want the installer to automatically initiate system reboot after completing the installation or not (if you opt not to reboot, the installation will not be complete till the next time the user reboots)...

Hope this helps,
Vlk

[Burl]

Thanks for your answers.  As for the individual computers on the network, your pricing for the SBS Edition of Avast! is based on the number of clients.  Besides the server product, does the SBS Edition come with a license to install the Proffesional edition on a set number of clients?

[Vlk]

Unfortunately the answer is no.
SBS license (or Server Edition license) only applies to the SBS itself, not the workstations... Just like the SBS license doesn't give you the right, e.g., to install N WindowsXP's...


Sorry,
Vlk

[Burl]

I am sorry to drag this out, but why is there pricing levels based upon the number of clients for your SBS Server product, if it just covers the server and doesn't provide any direct services or features at the client level?

I fully understand that I don't get to install XP as part of Microsoft's licensing for SBS but the clients do get benefits from the resources on the server like Outlook, faxing, and other shared services.

[Vlk]

That's becuase of Exchange and ISA, mainly.
These are normally licensed per mailbox/user (at least AV software for them is).

OTOH  normal avast Server Edition (not SBS) is licensed per server (not per user), but Exchange or ISA Server Edition is not...

I'd say you will find the same model used by other AV vendors, we're no exception...


Vlk