Symantec SOFTWARE MANAGER 8.0 - REFERENCE FOR WISE PACKAGE STUDIO V1.0 Reference

Brand: Symantec

Model: SOFTWARE MANAGER 8.0 - REFERENCE FOR WISE PACKAGE STUDIO V1.0

Category: Software

Type: Reference

This manual is also suitable for

WINDOWS INSTALLER EDITOR 8.0

Software Manager Reference

Software Manager Reference 2

Software Manager

The software described in this book is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terms of the

agreement.

Documentation version 8.0

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http://www.symantec.com

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The Technical Support group also creates content for our online Knowledge Base. The

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Symantec’s maintenance offerings include the following:

z A range of support options that give you the flexibility to select the right amount of

service for any size organization

z Telephone and Web-based support that provides rapid response and up-to-the-

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z Advanced features, including Account Management Services

For information about Symantec’s Maintenance Programs, you can visit our Web site at

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Contacting Technical Support

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Before contacting Technical Support, make sure you have satisfied the system

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computer on which the problem occurred, in case it is necessary to replicate the

problem.

When you contact Technical Support, please have the following information available:

z Product release level

z Hardware information

z Available memory, disk space, and NIC information

z Operating system

z Version and patch level

z Network topology

z Router, gateway, and IP address information

z Problem description:

 Error messages and log files

 Troubleshooting that was performed before contacting Symantec

 Recent software configuration changes and network changes

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Licensing and registration

If your Symantec product requires registration or a license key, access our technical

support Web page at the following URL:

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Customer service

Customer service information is available at the following URL:

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Customer Service is available to assist with the following types of issues:

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z Product registration updates, such as address or name changes

z General product information (features, language availability, local dealers)

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contact the maintenance agreement administration team for your region as follows:

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investment in Symantec products and to develop your knowledge, expertise, and global

insight, which enable you to manage your business risks proactively.

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Asia-Pacific and Japan [email protected]

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Symantec Early

Warning Solutions

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comprehensive threat analysis, and countermeasures to prevent

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Managed Security

Services

These services remove the burden of managing and monitoring

security devices and events, ensuring rapid response to real

threats.

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To access more information about Enterprise services, please visit our Web site at the

following URL:

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Select your country or language from the site index.

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Services

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Consulting Services offer a variety of prepackaged and

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Educational

Services

Educational Services provide a full array of technical training,

security education, security certification, and awareness

communication programs.

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Contents

Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 1: Introduction to Software Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

About Software Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Packages in Software Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Package Management with Software Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Starting Software Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Opening and Closing Software Manager Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

About the Software Manager Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Customizing the Software Manager Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Filtering the Package Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Refreshing the Software Manager Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Icons in Software Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Resource Icons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Conflict Icons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Relationship Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

About the Software Manager Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Multiple Software Manager Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Software Manager in a Multi-user Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Sharing the Software Manager Database With Corporate Developers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

About Applications and Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Setting Software Manager Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

About Package Meta Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Defining Custom Meta Data Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Defining a Custom Meta Data Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Scheduling Software Manager Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Wise Software Repository Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Product Documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Chapter 2: Importing Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

About Importing Packages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

How to Get Packages Into the Software Manager Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

About Formatted Text Strings in Registry Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Package Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Import Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

About Patch and Transform Import. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Importing From the Share Point Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

About .QUE Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Importing a Windows Installer File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Importing a WiseScript or SMS Installer File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Importing a Merge Module File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Importing a Transform File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Importing a Windows Installer Patch File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Importing an InstallShield Developer Executable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Importing a Microsoft Hotfix File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Importing a Virtual Software Package File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Importing a Device Driver File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Importing a Group Policy Object File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

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Importing an SOE Snapshot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Importing a Wise Package Definition File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Importing Multiple Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Performing a Universal Import Without Converting or Repackaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

About the Auto Import Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Package Subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Subscribing to Packages in Another Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Refreshing Package Subscriptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Breaking Links to Subscribed Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Chapter 3: Managing Packages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

About Managing Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Revision Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Choosing to Use Revision Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Adding Packages to Revision Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Checking Packages Out of Revision Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Checking Packages Back Into Revision Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Undoing Check Outs from Revision Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Removing Packages from Revision Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Package Revision History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Comparing Versions of a Package. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Viewing a Version of a Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Retrieving a Version of a Package. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Viewing Comments for a Version of a Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Reverting to a Previous Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Revision Control Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Package Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Creating Package Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Selecting Superseding Packages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Adding Applications and Packages to Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Editing Package Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Setting Group Deployment Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Viewing and Editing Package Attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Viewing Resource Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Windows Installer Table Queries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Creating a Table Query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Viewing the Results of a Table Query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Example Table Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Software Manager Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Generating a Software Manager Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Using the Report Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Removing Excluded Files From Packages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Merge Modules Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Adding Merge Modules to .MSI or .WSI Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Removing Merge Modules From .MSI or .WSI Packages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Replacing a Merge Module in an .MSI or .WSI Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Moving a Package to Another Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Deleting a Package. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Compiling Multiple Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Changing the Package Status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Chapter 4: Preparing Packages for Deployment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

About Preparing Packages for Deployment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Process for Deploying a Single Package. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

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Process for Deploying a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

About Package Definition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Creating a Package Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Editing or Viewing a Wise Package Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Setting Exclusions in Package Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

About Package Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Creating and Editing Package Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Viewing Package Relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

How Package Relationships Affect Group Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Impact and Risk Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Assessing a Package’s Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Assessing and Mitigating the Risk of Failing to Update Isolated Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Detecting Conflicts for Impact and Risk Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

About SVS Enabled Packages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Creating an SVS Enabled Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Package Distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Group Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Distributing a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Chapter 5: Software Manager Database Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

About Software Manager Database Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Changing the Server Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Deleting a Server Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Restructuring the Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Rebuilding the Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

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Chapter 1

Introduction to Software Manager

This chapter includes the following topics:

z About Software Manager on page 9

z Starting Software Manager on page 12

z About the Software Manager Window on page 13

z Icons in Software Manager on page 16

z About the Software Manager Database on page 19

z About Applications and Packages on page 22

z Setting Software Manager Preferences on page 24

z About Package Meta Data on page 25

z Scheduling Software Manager Tasks on page 28

z Wise Software Repository Automation on page 30

z Product Documentation on page 30

About Software Manager

Software Manager provides the interface for working with packages in the Software

Manager database, which contains information about all the software packages used by

your organization. Storing all your package information in a central location lets you

better manage packages during their lifecycle stages—from integration, testing, and

deployment through retirement.

Use Software Manager to import and organize packages and their resource information

in the Software Manager database, to obtain information about packages and their

resources, to set the status of packages, and to prepare a package or group of packages

for deployment. Corporate developers can use Software Manager as a centralized point

for managing all resources used by applications that they develop.

Software Manager is a tool in the Professional Edition of Wise Package Studio.

See Introduction to Wise Package Studio in the Wise Package Studio Help.

Note

With Enterprise Management Server, Software Manager menu commands that you do

not have permission to use are unavailable. Functional security for Software Manager is

set in the Wise Package Studio Security Setup.

See Setting Software Manager and ConflictManager Security in the Wise Package Studio

Help.

Packages in Software Manager

In Software Manager, a package consists of any combination of the following:

Software Manager Reference 10

Introduction to Software Manager

z Meta data. This is the is minimum amount of information that constitutes a package.

z The resources associated with each package’s installation.

z The installation file.

z A command line for running the installation when it is installed.

z Additional files that should be deployed with the installation (example: an

informational text file).

The last three items above represent package definition information.

Adding Packages to the Software Manager Database

For packages to be managed, they must be in the Software Manager database. To get

packages into the database, you can do any of the following:

z Add the package’s meta data in Windows Installer Editor.

z Import the package’s definition from Workbench.

z Import the package and its resources in Software Manager.

See How to Get Packages Into the Software Manager Database on page 32 and Package

Import on page 34.

Package Management with Software Manager

Once packages are in the Software Manager database, you can do the following:

Create and Manage Package Groups

A package group consists of a subset of the packages in the Software Manager

database. You can use groups to:

z Organize your packages, which lets you filter the displays and some of the reports in

Software Manager and ConflictManager.

z Deploy multiple related packages at once.

z Install packages that you would not otherwise be able to repackage and deploy

because they are of unknown format, or because they require a command line to

run.

See Package Groups on page 87.

Edit Package Information

Use Software Manager to maintain the packages in the Software Manager database.

z Change the package status so you can determine whether a package can be

deployed to end users.

z Edit package information. Example: You can rename the application or package, or

change the reference to the source file paths.

z Enter or edit user-defined package meta data.

z Delete a package from the Software Manager database.

See Viewing and Editing Package Attributes on page 93 and Changing the Package

Status on page 108.

Software Manager Reference 11

Introduction to Software Manager

View Package Resources

z Use the panes in Software Manager to drill down to the resources (examples: files,

registry keys, merge modules, shortcuts, and so on) that are used by each package.

See About the Software Manager Window on page 13 and Viewing Resource

Properties on page 94.

z Use the reports to obtain information about file, registry, and merge module

resources in the Software Manager database.

See Software Manager Reports on page 98.

z Use a table query to query the package data of Windows Installer packages.

See Windows Installer Table Queries on page 95.

If an .MSI contains a merge module, the resources that appear under the Merge

Modules folder also appear in the corresponding folders elsewhere in the package.

(Example, if an .MSI contains a merge module that has .DLL files in the system32 folder,

these files will appear in the system32 folder under the package’s Merge Modules folder

and Files/Directories folder.) If a .WSI contains a merge module, the Merge Modules

folder and some of its subfolders appear, but none of the merge module’s resources

appear.

Files that you add when you define a package do not appear in Software Manager.

Update Packages

z Use the Merge Module Wizard to perform operations on .MSI or .WSI packages that

add, remove, or replace merge modules.

See Merge Modules Wizard on page 102.

z Use the Multi-Package Compile Wizard to compile and update a set of packages.

See Compiling Multiple Packages on page 107.

Prepare Packages for Deployment

z Use a Wise package definition to define what is needed to install a package. This lets

you use group distribution to prepare the package for deployment.

See About Package Definition on page 114.

z Use package relationships to define which packages depend on other packages.

During group distribution, package relationships determine the packages that are

installed and the order in their installation.

See About Package Relationships on page 120.

z Use impact and risk assessment to identify problems that might occur as a result of

installing a hotfix or patch.

See Impact and Risk Assessment on page 125.

z Use the SVS Enabled Package option to create a package that installs the package

as a layer if the Software Virtualization Agent is present. If the Software

Virtualization Agent is not present, the package is installed normally.

See About SVS Enabled Packages on page 128.

z Use Package Distribution to share or distribute a single package from Workbench or

from Software Manager.

See Package Distribution on page 129.

Software Manager Reference 12

Introduction to Software Manager

z Use Group Distribution to deploy multiple related packages at once, enforcing

package dependencies and installation order, and defining command lines that run

the package installations.

See Group Distribution on page 130.

Starting Software Manager

In Wise Package Studio, do one of the following:

z On the Projects tab, click the Run link to the right of the task or tool associated with

Software Manager.

z On the Tools tab, double-click Software Manager.

Software Manager opens.

Which Database is Opened?

The first time you start Software Manager, it opens the database that you connected to

during installation. Thereafter, Software Manager opens the database most recently

used by either Software Manager or ConflictManager. With Enterprise Management

Server, multiple databases might open.

When you start Software Manager from a task that specifies the database in its

command-line options, the specified database is opened.

See also:

Opening and Closing Software Manager Databases

About the Software Manager Window on page 13

Opening and Closing Software Manager Databases

¾ Enterprise Management Server only.

You can open multiple Software Manager databases simultaneously. This lets you browse

multiple databases in Software Manager and ConflictManager, and work in a second

database without closing the first one.

One database must always be open in Software Manager.

To open an additional database

1. If the database does not exist, create a new database in the Wise Repository

Manager. See Creating Software Manager Databases in the Wise Package Studio

Getting Started Guide.

2. Select File menu > Open Database.

The Select Data Source dialog box appears. This is a standard Windows ODBC

connection wizard, which lets you connect to a database through an ODBC data

source.

3. Connect to the database. If you need help, ask your database administrator.

The database’s contents are listed in the Applications/Packages pane.

4. To make a database active, click anywhere in its tree.

Software Manager Reference 13

Introduction to Software Manager

All Software Manager activities are performed within the active database.

To close a database

1. Select File menu > Close Database.

The Close Database dialog box appears.

2. Mark the check box next to the database or databases to close and click OK.

See also:

About the Software Manager Database on page 19

Multiple Software Manager Databases on page 19

About the Software Manager Window

When you start Software Manager, the main Software Manager window appears. Some

of the panes might be empty if no packages are in the Software Manager database.

Software Manager Window

Toolbar

Contains buttons for quick access to many Software Manager commands. It also

provides quick access to ConflictManager.

Database Pane

Displays summary information about the Software Manager database.

If multiple databases are open (Enterprise Management Server only), the information

refers to the active database, which is the one selected in the Applications/Packages

Applications/

Packages

pane

Groups

pane

Application/

Package

Summary pane

Database pane

Package Details pane

Toolbar

Software Manager Reference 14

Introduction to Software Manager

pane. This pane also displays information about the packages in the current database,

and shows the current filter criteria.

The Database pane initially appears immediately below the toolbar, but you can move or

hide it.

Groups Pane

Displays the package groups defined for each database. A package group consists of a

subset of the applications in the database. When a group is selected, the Applications/

Packages pane lists only the packages assigned to that group. This lets you reduce the

number of packages you view at one time.

See Creating Package Groups on page 88.

The Groups pane initially appears on the left side of the window below the Database

pane, but you can move or hide it.

Application/Package Summary

Displays different information depending on what is selected in the Applications/

Packages pane:

z When you select an application, this pane is named Application and it lists the

packages contained in that application.

z When you select a package, this pane is named Package and it displays a summary

of the package’s resources, information about when the package was imported and

changed, and package meta data. It also contains a Package Status drop-down

list, which you use to change the package’s status.

See Changing the Package Status on page 108.

If you are using Revision Control, revision control status and other revision control

information appears in the Application/Package Summary pane.

The Application/Package Summary pane initially appears on the right side of the window

below the Database pane, but you can move or hide it.

Applications/Packages Pane

Displays the applications and packages in the Software Manager database. Expand an

application to display its packages. Select a package to make it the active package.

(Enterprise Management Server only.) When multiple databases are open, select a

database in the Applications/Packages pane to make it the active database. All Software

Manager activities are performed within the active database.

For information on the icons that appear in this pane, see Icons in Software Manager on

page 16.

Package Details Pane

Displays the resources in the package selected in the Applications/Packages pane.

For information on the icons that appear in this pane, see Resource Icons on page 17.

If conflicts were detected for the active package in ConflictManager, the icons for these

conflicts are displayed as well.

See Conflict Icons on page 17.

Double-click an item in this pane to display the Properties dialog box.

Software Manager Reference 15

Introduction to Software Manager

See Viewing Resource Properties on page 94.

Customizing the Software Manager Workspace

z Hide or show the toolbar or one of the panes by selecting its name from the View

menu.

z Move, dock, and undock the panes as you would any Windows pane, by dragging

their title area.

The Applications/Packages pane and Package Details panes cannot be hidden or moved.

Filtering the Package Display

You can specify filter criteria to determine which packages appear in the Applications/

Packages pane. The filter criteria you specify remain the same for subsequent uses of

Software Manager.

To filter the package display

1. Select Packages menu > Filter.

The Filters dialog box appears.

2. To filter by package status, mark any combination of check boxes in the Package

Status to Display section.

3. To filter by whether the package is defined, mark check boxes in the Filter Based

on Package Definition section.

 Display Defined Packages

Displays packages that were defined in either Workbench or Software Manager.

 Display Undefined packages

Displays packages that do not have a package definition.

4. To filter the display by a meta data value, mark Filter based on Meta Data. Then

specify the following filter criteria:

 Name

Select a meta data field name to filter packages by. The drop-down list contains

meta data fields that are defined in the selected database.

 Operation

Select the operation to use when comparing the meta data value to the value

you enter below. The operations that are available depend on the data type of

the meta data field.

 Value

Specify the meta data value to match.

5. To filter by package type, mark any combination of check boxes in the Package

Type to Display section.

6. Click OK.

See also:

Changing the Package Status on page 108

About Package Meta Data on page 25

Software Manager Reference 16

Introduction to Software Manager

Refreshing the Software Manager Display

z Select File menu > Refresh.

This rereads the package data and redisplays package information. This can be useful if

packages have been added to the Software Manager database since you started this

Software Manager session.

Icons in Software Manager

The following icons appear in Software Manager to help you quickly identify items in the

database.

See also:

Icon Represents Appears in this pane

Software Manager database Applications/Packages

Group Groups

Application Applications/Packages,

Package Details

Windows Installer package (installation,

transform, patch, or Microsoft hotfix)

When you import an InstallShield®

Developer .EXE, it appears as a Windows

Installer package because an .MSI is

extracted from the .EXE.

Applications/Packages,

Package Details

Virtual software package (.WVP or .VSA)

created in Virtual Package Editor.

Applications/Packages,

Package Details

Wise package definition file (.WPF)

created in Workbench and imported.

Applications/Packages,

Package Details

WiseScript package Applications/Packages,

Package Details

Merge module package Applications/Packages,

Package Details

Any installation file imported using the

Universal Import option

Applications/Packages,

Package Details

SOE Snapshot Applications/Packages,

Package Details

Device driver package Applications/Packages,

Package Details

Group Policy Object package Applications/Packages,

Package Details

Software Manager Reference 17

Introduction to Software Manager

Conflict Icons on page 17

About the Software Manager Window on page 13

Resource Icons

The following icons appear in the Package Details pane in Software Manager. They

indicate the types of resources that are installed by a package.

The icons also appear in the Conflict List and Conflict Details panes in ConflictManager,

where they indicate resources that have conflicts.

See Resource Conflicts in the ConflictManager Help.

See also:

About the Software Manager Window on page 13

Conflict Icons

The following icons appear in the Conflict List and Conflict Details panes in

ConflictManager and in the Package Details pane in Software Manager to indicate the

type of conflict.

See Types of Conflicts in the ConflictManager Help.

Icon Resource Type

File or Windows Installer component.

Registry key or named value.

Modification to Autoexec.bat. Not applicable in Windows Installer packages.

Modification to Config.sys. Not applicable in Windows Installer packages.

ODBC data source or driver.

Windows NT service.

Device driver installed in Win.ini. Not applicable in Windows Installer

packages.

.INI file and entries.

Shortcut.

Change to the PATH variable. Not applicable in Windows Installer packages.

Software Manager Reference 18

Introduction to Software Manager

See also:

Icons in Software Manager on page 16

About the Software Manager Window on page 13

Relationship Icons

In Software Manager, the following icons appear on the Dependencies tab on the

Package Relationships dialog box. These icons represent:

z The dependency relationship, which is what should happen to the dependency

package if the dependent package is installed.

z The association relationship, which is what should happen to the dependent package

if the dependency package is installed.

See About Package Relationships on page 120.

Icon Conflict Type Represents

Warning Conflicts that are not critical but might require some

attention.

Error More serious conflicts that deserve careful inspection.

Information

z When multiple packages install a non-16-bit file

with identical file information to the same

directory or to different directories.

z When multiple packages set the same registry

key to the same value.

Because these are not true conflicts, they do not

appear in ConflictManager.

Icon Dependency relationship Association relationship

Required.

The dependency must precede the

dependent package during

installation.

None.

Required.

The dependency must precede the

dependent package during

installation.

Required.

The dependent package must be

installed with the dependency.

Required.

The dependency must precede the

dependent package during

installation.

Optional.

Installing the dependent package

with the dependency is optional.

Software Manager Reference 19

Introduction to Software Manager

About the Software Manager Database

The Software Manager database contains:

z All software packages used or created by an organization. Package resources might

be included also (examples: files, merge modules, registry keys).

z Merge modules used by an organization.

z Other resources used by an organization, such as device drivers and Group Policy

Objects.

z Snapshots of standard operating environments used by an organization, for use

during conflict resolution. Create these snapshots with SOE Snapshot.

You manage the data in the Software Manager database through Software Manager.

See also:

About the Wise Software Repository in the Wise Package Studio Help

Sharing the Software Manager Database With Corporate Developers on page 21

Multiple Software Manager Databases on page 19

Software Manager in a Multi-user Environment on page 20

Multiple Software Manager Databases

You might want to use multiple Software Manager databases in these instances:

z If you import a large number of applications for a large organization, you can use

multiple databases to reduce the database size.

z If you are repackaging for multiple operating systems, you can use a separate

database for each target operating system.

Optional.

Installing the dependency package

is optional. If it is installed, it must

precede the dependent package.

None.

Optional.

Installing the dependency package

is optional. If it is installed, it must

precede the dependent package.

Required.

The dependent package must be

installed with the dependency.

Optional.

Installing the dependency package

is optional. If it is installed, it must

precede the dependent package.

Optional.

Installing the dependent package

with the dependency is optional.

Supersedes.

The dependency replaces the

dependent package during

installation.

None.

Icon Dependency relationship Association relationship

Software Manager Reference 20

Introduction to Software Manager

z If your organization has multiple, decentralized departments, each using a different

set of packages, you can use a separate database for each department. This

concept is similar to using package groups, but on a larger scale.

Each database should reside on its own server. Running multiple databases on a single

server degrades performance. In addition, you cannot run the Wise scheduled tasks,

which import packages and refresh package subscriptions on a server-based installation,

on more than one database on a single computer.

For configuration recommendations, see Additional Wise Package Studio Configurations

in the Getting Started Guide.

(Enterprise Management Server only.) You can open multiple Software Manager

databases simultaneously. This lets you browse multiple databases in Software Manager

and ConflictManager, and work in a second database without closing the first one.

See Opening and Closing Software Manager Databases on page 12.

(Enterprise Management Server only.) You cannot perform conflict management

operations across databases. However, you can copy, or subscribe to, packages in

another database. Examples:

z Suppose a corporate-level repackaging team maintains a database of packages

used throughout the corporation, and regional teams maintain separate databases

of packages unique to their regions. A regional repackager can subscribe to the

corporate-level packages and resolve conflicts between the regional packages and

the subscribed corporate packages.

z When corporate developers, using a Software Manager database with Windows

Installer Editor, subscribe to packages in the database used by system

administrators in Wise Package Studio. This lets developers check the shared

resources in the applications they are building against applications that have been

deployed.

See also:

About the Software Manager Database on page 19

Package Subscription on page 74

Creating Software Manager Databases in the Getting Started Guide

Software Manager in a Multi-user Environment

Most organizations that use Software Manager work in a multi-user, team-based

environment. Software Manager accommodates a multi-user environment in several

ways:

z Users can run Software Manager and ConflictManager from their local computers or

in a client-server configuration, in which the full installation of Wise Package Studio

resides on a server and the client computers are configured to run the software from

the server.

z Multiple users can simultaneously access a single Software Manager database that is

stored on a shared server. In this situation:

 Multiple users can distribute to the share point directory.

 When a package is added to the Software Manager database, all Software

Manager users can view and work with it.

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