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Best way to run once

Scott Griggs

November 12, 2018 22:52

For deployments running on a nightly basis, is there an easy way to install once and skip thereafter. For example, if I want to copy an office standard .ini file and don't want to overwrite future user customizations, what's the best way? To solve this I've been using PDQ to run custom powershell scripts with marker files, but seems like there should be a way to do this natively in PDQ.

Comments

2 comments

Chris James
November 13, 2018 16:32

The option on a schedule to Stop Deploying to targets once they succeed is what you're looking for.

0
Mike Pullen
November 19, 2018 19:20
I'm aware of the "Stop Deploying once they succeed" option, but it is a bit obtuse: it's not obvious whether an installation on a specific machine has succeeded without digging deeper than works for me.

I prefer running a bit of batch before and after the install to check for and/or create a marker file.

For example, for AutoCAD: my "first step" is a batch command:
```
if exist c:\_tstools\SDOB-AutoCAD2019.ok (exit 1)
```
The key for this to work is to set, on the Options tab for this step, "Stop Deployment with Success" as the Error Mode.

Then I run the installation step. Normal success/failure conditions here.

Then I run a final step:
```
IF NOT EXIST C:\_tstools ( mkdir c:\_tstools)
echo $(DateTime) > c:\_tstools\SDOB-AutoCAD2019.ok
```
Normal (default) conditions and options on the second and third steps.

The first step checks for existence of the marker file. If it exists-- this deployment stops, with "success". If the marker file isn't there yet, the installer runs, then if it succeeds, the marker file is placed in the local machine's "c:_tstools" folder (which is created if not already there).

A "perk" of this process is, if I want/need to redeploy a package on a machine, I just delete the marker file for that package. If I have an update to a package (say, a new AutoCAD version I've packaged)-- I can just change the name of the marker file (in both the first and last steps), and the update will run and leave it's new marker file...

Mike
0