1. Collector Installation with Updater

NEXThink V4 introduces a new and very convenient way to install Collector and manage Collector updates in installations with a large number of monitored computers. The solution is called NEXThink V4 Updater and it is the recommended way to install and update Collector in your NEXThink V4 system.

Updater is a small Windows service that detects whether Collector is installed in a single computer or not. If Collector is indeed installed, Updater can then detect if Collector is up-to-date or if there is a new version of Collector available. Updater works in collaboration with Engine to know if a Collector is outdated and, if this is the case, to download and install the most recent version of Collector from a centralized location. The installation options for Collector and the configuration parameters of Updater are therefore stored in the Engine configuration file. Go to the chapter on Engine Updater configuration for details on how to set this options.

The installation of Updater is very flexible. There are different possibilities to install Updater in your end-user computers and you may combine them as you like. Depending on your particular needs, you may want to take one of the following approaches:

1. Individual installation: you install Updater into a single machine at a time, providing the configuration parameters of Updater (Engine IP address and listening port number for Updater) to the setup program.

2. Manual deployment: instead of having to provide the configuration parameters of Updater at every installation, you may want to generate a setup program holding pre-set configuration parameters with the help of NEXThink V4 Updater Installer tool. Then, you distribute the generated setup program to the end-user computers and execute it by whatever means you prefer (for instance, using a remote execution program such as psexec).

3. Deployment with external tools: you can also use your preferred deployment tool to distribute and install Updater in your set of end-user computers.

No matter what option you chose, if you installed Updater in a client computer with the correct configuration parameters, you are now able to control the installation of Collector in that computer from Finder. Finder not only lets you install Collector, but it also interacts with Engine and Updater to let you see the Collector update status on every machine. With the help of Finder, you will be able to manage the Collector deployment process and follow it step by step. For more information about this and other uses of Finder, go to the section Working with Finder.

1.1. Installation of Updater in a Single Computer

For installing Updater in a single machine, a setup program in the form of an MSI package is provided. You can get the MSI package of Updater from the Engine Downloads page of Console. This package can work both in interactive or silent modes. In interactive mode, you set the configuration parameters of Updater as you are asked to do so by the setup program. Alternatively, you can install the Updater silently by providing the configuration parameters in the command line.

1.1.1. Install Updater in Interactive Mode

1. After getting the setup program of Updater from the Engine Downloads page, execute it in your client computer by double-clicking on the MSI file (its name is NEXThink_Updater.msi). The welcome screen of the setup program is displayed, including Updater version information. Click on Next.

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2. Set the IP address or DNS server name of Engine and the TCP port where it listens for Updater requests. Remember that these values must match the values that you set in the configuration of Engine.

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3. The setup program now asks you to confirm your settings or go back to review them and, possibly, modify them.

4. Once you are sure about the settings, click on Install to start the actual installation process.

5. After a few seconds, the setup is completed and Updater is successfully installed. Click Finish to end the installation.

1.1.2. Install Updater in Silent Mode

You can install Updater silently using the command line. You use the standard Windows Installer command line program msiexec.exe for that purpose. In silent mode, instead of supplying the Updater configuration parameters interactively, you specify them as properites within the same command that launches msiexec.exe. The public properties of Updater are:

• UPD_IP: property holding Engine IP address or DNS name.

• UPD_PORT: property holding the port number where Engine is listenting for Updater requests.

• UPD_HTTPS: this property is optional and it should not be normally changed. When set to 1, Updater uses the secure protocol HTTPS to communicate with Engine. When set to 0, Updater uses HTTP instead. By default, this property is set to 1.

In order to install Updater silently:

1. Open a Windows command line by pressing Windows key + R in your keyboard and then type cmd followed by [ENTER].

2. A command line interface window opens. Type the following command on it:

   •     msiexec.exe /qn /i NEXThink_Updater.msi UPD_IP=192.168.0.133 UPD_PORT=8888

3. Updater installs without giving any notification to the user.

1.2. Deployment of Updater using NEXThink Updater Installer

For installations with a large number of end-user computers, specifying configuration settings for Updater in every machine can be tedious and error prone. NEXThink Updater Installer lets you create a silent setup program with the settings that you choose embedded on it.

1. Connect to Console and go to Engine > Downloads

2. Download the complete NEXThink Collector archive: you get a zip file called collector-<version number>.zip.

3. Unzip the archive with your favorite decompression tool and extract NEXThink Updater Installer. This is the file NEXThink_Updater_Installer.exe that you will find under the installer directory once you unzip the archive.

4. Execute the NEXThink Updater installer and set the configuration values for the Engine IP address, Engine port for Updater and protocol (HTTPS or HTTP, as explained above).

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5. Specify additional options:

   • Hide from Add/Remove programs prevents end-users from uninstalling Updater.

   • Support Server Installations indicates whether the setup program should also install in server versions of Windows or not. Usually, you do not want to install Collector nor Updater in your servers.

   • Output Directory is the path where you want the setup program to be generated, that is, the executable that you will use to install Updater in your end-user computers.

   • Logs Directory specifies the location where the Updater installer will upload error messages in case of problems with the installation of Updater. We recommend that you specify a shared folder in your network for this field. All Updater installers will then report errors to the same location. (By default, the error log goes into the %TEMP% folder)

6. Click on Create and the program generates an executable file and a text file with the configuration parameters that you just entered in the location that you specified. This executable is able to install Updater in all the versions of Windows supported by Updater.

2. Collector Installation without Updater

2.1. Install Collector in Attended Mode

The Collector MSI package can be used for installing Collector in two modes: attended and unattended operations.

2.2. Attended Installation Mode

Attended operations displays a User Interface (UI) that lets the user choose the main Collector parameters and components to be installed. To start with, double-click on the NEXThink Collector MSI file (NEXThink_Collector.msi), the Welcome Screen is displayed.

The next window allows the user to enter the IP address or DNS name and port number of the Engine. You can also choose to install the Control Panel extension.

The next window allows to the installation.

After the MSI has successfully installed the Collector (and the Control Panel extension if selected), you may be prompted to reboot the computer if you are upgrading the Collector.

2.3. Unattended Installation Mode (quiet installation)

Unattended installation mode make use of the msiexec.exe on the command-line. msiexec.exe is an executable program that interprets packages and installs products, and it comes pre-installed with a Microsoft Windows operating system.

2.3.1. Using msiexec.exe with command-line parameters

Custom parameters are provided directly on the command-line. They are not saved from one installation to another when performing an upgrade for example. Passing parameters on the command-line is simply done by appending the appropriate public properties to the calling msiexec execution.

The mandatory parameters are:

• DRV_IP: this property must be set to the Engine IP address or DNS name.

• DRV_PORT: this property must be set to the Engine port number.

Here is an example of an unattended installation:

msiexec.exe /qn /i NEXThink_Collector.msi DRV_IP=192.168.0.133 DRV_PORT=999 CPL_INSTALL=1

For a comprehensive list of available options for the NEXThink Collector, see advanced/CollectorReferenceGuide.

NOTE: this is not the recommended method, since command-lines are prone to typos errors, instead, for a single installation, use the graphical installation method, and for larger deployment, we recommend to use the MSI Transform.

See also: Windows Installer (msiexec.exe) Command-Line options Reference.

3. Compatibility of Collector with other Software

Collector is a piece of software that runs in privileged (or kernel) mode. Programs that run at this level can access the memory and the hardware of the computer directly. A single error in a program of this kind may cause a complete system failure, ending execution with a Windows blue screen. Even if Collector has been carefully designed and thoroughly tested to avoid program errors, the interaction with other software working at the same level may also trigger a fault and, consequently, a blue screen. Please, keep your Windows drivers up to date in order to avoid this type of errors.

Please contact NEXThink Support in case of any problems.