HP SoftPaq Download Manager and HP System Software Manager - A Powerful Combination

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HP SoftPaq Download Manager and HP

System Software Manager – A Powerful

Combination

Technical white paper

Table of contents

Executive summary ............................................................................................................................... 2

Overview of HP SDM and HP SSM ........................................................................................................ 2

Use Case for SDM/SSM ................................................................................................................... 2

How SDM and SSM work together..................................................................................................... 3

Setup and Usage Process Overview ................................................................................................... 4

General Requirements and Setup ....................................................................................................... 4

Supported Client PCs and SoftPaqs .................................................................................................... 4

Downloading and Installing HP SDM and SSM .................................................................................... 4

Setting up and using HP SoftPaq Download Manager .............................................................................. 5

Option 1: Using HP SoftPaq Download Manager to find updates for current model ................................. 5

Option 2: Using HP SoftPaq Download Manager to download SoftPaqs for multiple platforms. ................ 6

Setting up HP SSM (Admin) ................................................................................................................ 14

Setting up HP SSM (Clients) ................................................................................................................ 15

Maintenance Process ......................................................................................................................... 15

Adding and Removing SoftPaqs ....................................................................................................... 15

Advanced usage of HP SSM ............................................................................................................... 16

Running SSM from Removable Media ............................................................................................... 16

Updating the SSM DB and CVAs via command line ........................................................................... 16

Other SSM Configuration Options ................................................................................................... 16

Multiple File Stores ......................................................................................................................... 16

Other HP Solutions ............................................................................................................................. 17

References ........................................................................................................................................ 17

For more information .......................................................................................................................... 17

Summary of content (17 pages)

PAGE 1
HP SoftPaq Download Manager and HP System Software Manager – A Powerful Combination Technical white paper Table of contents Executive summary............................................................................................................................... 2 Overview of HP SDM and HP SSM ........................................................................................................ 2 Use Case for SDM/SSM ..................................................................................
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Executive summary Keeping PCs in a business up to date with the latest software and hardware updates presents a number of problems, including time, bandwidth, and logistical issues. HP offers two tools, HP SoftPaq Download Manager (SDM) and HP System Software Manager (SSM) that can be used in conjunction to help streamline the update process, reducing IT costs and improving the TCO for your HP PCs.
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How SDM and SSM work together Internet SDM 1. HP SDM is used to download the desired softpaqs for the target machines. ` 2. The downloaded softpaqs are placed into a shared folder. sp15402 SSM 3. SSM connects to the file store, determines which softpaqs apply to the system, downloads and install them.
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Setup and Usage Process Overview 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Download and install HP SDM. Setup SDM configuration for the models of machines you want to update. Download desired SoftPaqs. Run SSM in admin mode to prepare the download directory for SSM usage. Repeat 2 and 3 for any additional file shares that you may want to create and use. Manually share the file share, if necessary. Setup SSM on the client machines to run at predetermined times or run SSM manually.
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Setting up and using HP SoftPaq Download Manager Option 1: Using HP SoftPaq Download Manager to find updates for current model 1. Launch SoftPaq Download Manager 2. When prompted, select Show software for this model only. (NOTE: If wanting to automatically install the updates on the current system, you can use the Check software updates for this model option. If the goal is to download SoftPaqs to install on similar systems as the current platform than use the Show software for this model only option.) 3.
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5. After selecting the desired SoftPaqs, the following options are available in the Downloaded SoftPaqs window: Download Only, Download and Unpack or Download and Install. a. Download Only – This option will download all selected SoftPaqs to the Download Folder (SSM Filestore) location found on the “Download” tab under Configuration Options. b.
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3. Prior to downloading any SoftPaqs, set your preferences in the Configuration Options window accessed from the Tools menu (Tools -> Configuration Options). Tip: Once all of the selections have been made, you can save the configuration file for future usage and backup purposes. This will preserve the download directory, download structure, OS and language settings, and the products you selected. To save it, go to File -> Save Product Configuration.
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 Unpack o Unpack Directory – this field allows the user to change the location of where they want the SoftPaqs unpacked to once they are downloaded. o Unpack Folder Options  Legacy Behavior – This option will unpack all selected SoftPaqs in the Download Directory established on the Download tab (above). Unpack directory field will be locked.  Separate by SoftPaq IDs – This option will unpack all selected SoftPaqs in the folder designated in the Unpack Directory.
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Example of Separate by SoftPaq IDs option: Example of Separate by SoftPaq Names option: 9
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 OS Filter o Select from the list the operating systems that are running on the network. Note that not all OSes listed are supported by SSM. The list of OSes supported by SSM is included in the SSM User’s Guide, which is included in the SSM SoftPaq.
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 Language Filter o Select the desired languages of the operating systems on your network.  Columns o Controls which fields are displayed in the “Available SoftPaqs” window.
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4. Once all of the Configuration Options have been set, select the respective platforms in the Product Catalog window and click “Find Available SoftPaqs” to display a list of available SoftPaqs for your selected systems. a. NOTE: For common driver support across multiple notebook platforms, select the HP Business Notebooks Common Products catalog. 5. Select the desired SoftPaqs from the Available SoftPaqs window.
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6. After selecting the desired SoftPaqs, the following options are available in the Downloaded SoftPaqs window: Download Only or Download and Unpack. a. Download Only – This option will download all selected SoftPaqs according to the settings established in the Download tab in the Configuration Options dialog. Default is Single Folder set to “C:\SoftPaqDownloadDirectory”. b.
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c. Install SoftPaq: Provides capability to install (silently) the SoftPaq directly from within SDM. d. Copy SoftPaq to Directory: Provides capability to copy the SoftPaq (EXE), CVA and HTML files to a designated folder other than Download folder. Setting up HP SSM (Admin) SSM admin mode setup is run in order to accept the license agreement, configure user options and to build a database (called Update Information Database or UID) of SoftPaq information from the CVAs.
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Setting up HP SSM (Clients) In client mode, SSM uses the information in the UID database to query for applicable SoftPaqs. If no database is present, SSM will dynamically create a temporary database on the client by reading each CVA in the file store over the network. Hence, for optimal performance make sure the SSM database is present in the file store and is up-to-date.
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Advanced usage of HP SSM Running SSM from Removable Media SSM can be run directly from removable media, such as a USB memory stick or portable hard drive. The setup process is similar to setting up SSM for use across the network, except that the SSM file store is copied to a USB drive instead of being shared across the network. SSM is then run directly from the USB drive. This can be useful for updating machines not attached to a network or for machines with special considerations.
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Other HP Solutions For needs that outgrow SDM and SSM, HP offers a variety of solutions. Visit http://www.hp.com/go/clientmanagement for more details. References HP Client Catalog for SCCM  http://h20331.www2.hp.com/Hpsub/cache/561194-0-0-225-121.html HP Client Management Interface  www.hp.com/go/hpcmi Microsoft .NET Framework  http://www.microsoft.com/net/ Description of the Windows XP Corporate Deployment tools and documentation  http://support.microsoft.