Sustainable automated software deployment practices
Dan R. Herrick, John B. Tyndall · 2013
Many organizations follow the same error-prone, time-consuming, and redundant procedures to install software manually, whether as part of a master image or on individual computers. Usually this involves visiting a system, executing some sort of interface, selecting a subset of modules or configuring certain options, and waiting for the installer to complete. There is another way: automated software deployment, which affords greater efficiency, consistency, and ultimately, service. This paper discusses the organization and detailed implementation of automating software installations and updates using silent and unattended methods, with various levels of administrative intervention, from help desk to systems administrator. We also describe different approaches to creating such an environment for both "mass" devices (e.g., public computer lab systems) and individual devices (e.g., faculty/staff desktop systems).