Create a Zero-impact Package to Test Deployments & Schedules

Purpose:

You wish to deploy a package with zero-impact* to target computers within your organization. Some of the reasons for doing so include:

You are new to PDQ Deploy or new to creating your own package and would like a zero-impact deployment to serve as guidance for creating other packages.
Ensure PDQ Deploy or PDQ Deploy and PDQ Inventory (e.g. Link To in Schedule targets) are set up correctly to deploy packages.
Test deployment functionality within your organization.
You have experienced an error deploying another package and would like to determine if the error is caused by PDQ Deploy settings or the package.

Requirements:

Requires PDQ Deploy Enterprise. If you are operating in Free mode, you can place the “dir” command in a .bat file and use an Install step to run the .bat file against your targets.

^{*Zero impact means there is no appreciable bandwidth used during deployment of the package and that the package itself has no impact on the target machine(s).}

Resolution:

Create and deploy the package, and then, optionally, attach a test schedule.

Create the Package:

To create a zero-impact package, perform the following:

1. Click on New Package in the toolbar or Ctrl+N or File > New Package.

2. In Package Properties, Name the package something reasonable. All other settings can be left as-is.

3. Delete the default step, “Step 1” (highlight and Delete or highlight and hit the Delete key on your Keyboard).

4. Click on New Step > Command.

5. Name the step something appropriate.

6. In the Details tab in the Command window, add the following command

dir

7. Save the Deployment.

You can now deploy this throughout your organization to test whether your general deployments would be successful.

Deploy the Package:

You can deploy the package once to a select number of machines to test whether you are able to deploy to those machines. To do so,

1. Right-click the deployment and select Deploy Once (or select the deployment and Ctrl+D).

2. In the Deploy Once window, either add targets manually or click on Choose Targets and select the method of target selection (Active Directory is recommended).

3. Select the targets as appropriate, click OK then click on the Deploy Now button to begin the deployment.

4. You will see the status of the deployment in the deployment window. After a short period of time, the package will return with a successful deployment (or failure).

Beginning deployment:

Deployment complete:

Correct any errors as necessary and repeat.

Create and Attach a Test Schedule:

1. Click on New Schedule in the toolbar or right-click the All Schedules icon and select New Schedule or select File > New Schedule.

2. In the Schedule window, name the schedule something meaningful. In the Triggers tab, select Once. Change the time to 5 minutes from the current Windows time or a time in the future that will allow you to observe the schedule running.

3. Click on the Targets tab. Select targets using the same method as Step 2 above in Deploy The Package.

NOTE: If you wish to test the functionality between PDQ Deploy and PDQ Inventory, you can choose the Link To option when selecting targets. Choose, PDQ Inventory Collection, and select the appropriate collection you wish to deploy to.

4. Click OK to save the schedule.

5. Right click the test package and select Attach Schedule.

6. In the Select Schedules window, choose the Test Schedule create above.

7. Click OK.

8. Observe the scheduled deployment by clicking on All Deployments in the navigation tree. Correct any errors and attempt again.