End-User Installation & Update Experience

When you promote a new software package, it is made available to end users. You let end users know where to access the installers, and they install the software on their local machine. New on-demand delivery packages are installed via either a drag-to-install from the portal or by accessing your the package’s update site. If you update an existing package, users receive notification that an update is available, and they can accept the update.

The sections below describe the end-user experience during a new software installation, a drag-to-install on-demand delivery package installation, and a software update.

Note: You can silently push installations to users’ desktops. See Silent Installation and SMS Integration for more information.

Installing a New Software Package

When you promote a new package, installers are created based on your settings in the access policy associated with the package. If you chose to use the portal, a link to the installer is provided on the portal automatically. You can direct your end users to the appropriate portal page, either the group’s page or the home page. In the following image, SDC detects the user’s operating system as Windows. Click Download for Windows to download the package for Windows or expand the package to select an installer for a different operating system.

Note: The web-install flow is not available beginning in SDC 2017. To enable this option, switch to the legacy portal.

Package installers available to end users on the group portal page

Note: If you choose to distribute via a network-based installer or a bundled installer, you can access the path to the files on the package’s Timeline tab, Live page by selecting the installer, and clicking to copy the URL to the installer file to the clipboard. The path is also available from the Package Details section in the web portal. Double click the installer from the Timeline tab to access the path in the portal. After users receive the installer file, they run it to install the software.

Regardless of the method of installation, either web or from an installer file, the installation process looks the same.

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End user installing new package

Installing an On-Demand Delivery Package

On-demand delivery packages do not have installers for download. Eclipse users either drag to install from the portal page or add an update site in Eclipse for installation. The administrator can enable/disable the drag-to-install option for the package. If drag-to-install is enabled, the portal includes an icon the user drags to their Eclipse system to install the package.

Note: Eclipse’s Drag-to-Install feature needs to know how to contact your company’s SDC delivery hub in order to install the on-demand package. See Setting up Drag-To-Install for On-Demand Packages for setup information.

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Drag-to-install enabled and update site path for adding to Eclipse

If drag-to-install is disabled, or as an alternative to that method, users can add the update site listed on the portal to their Eclipse install.

For more information on installing an on-demand package, see Adding an On-Demand Package to an Eclipse Installation

Accepting Updates to an Existing Package

After promoting a package, you might find reason to make a change to the package, such as including updates to software. When you make a change to an existing package, you commit and promote the package just as you do a new one. Users who have already installed the package receive a pop-up message indicating that an update is available. The message is not immediate, however. A job running in the background checks at a specified interval for updates that need to be pushed out. The default interval is determined by a security policy setting, which can be overridden by the user preference setting found by selecting Window>Preferences from the menu, expanding Install/Update, and selecting Automatic Updates.

Users can also check for updates from the Help menu at any time. The options to apply later and to review the update details, as shown below, are based on the security policy configuration.

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Pop-up notification that updates are available

If you enable the ability for users to review updates in the security policy, users can view the details of what the update includes, and select the updates to apply. From this window, users can also choose to lock to a snapshot version and apply local software updates. Access the Available Updates window at any time by selecting Help>Check for Updates from the menu, or click Review on the Updates Available popup.

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Available Updates window

When users click the Apply Updates link from the popup, or the Apply button in the Available Updates window, the update begins and displays the status. When updates are complete, users can click either the Restart Now or Later link.

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Update status and completion notifications

Note: Just as end users are notified of package updates, SDC administrators are notified when an update is available for the Admin Console. Admin Console updates become available when the SDC delivery hub software is updated. Clicking the Update Now link triggers the Admin Console installer.

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Admin Console update notification

Installing Local Software

If your security policy allows end-user installation of software, end users can install software from either a Secure Marketplace catalog, specified external update sites, or any site, depending on your security setting. In their software package, they can select Help>Install from Catalog or Install from Site. If end-user software installation is not enabled in the security policy, these menu items do not appear.

Admins add third-party software to end-user Secure Marketplace catalogs, which simplifies end-user access to approved add-on software. If Secure Marketplace catalog access is allowed by the security policy, choosing Install from Catalog from the Help menu opens the catalog. See Creating a Marketplace Catalog for more information.

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Secure Marketplace catalog

If end-user software installation from external sites is allowed in the security policy, users can select Install from Site from the Help menu to install software from an update site. If your security policy allows installation from only selected sites and a user supplies an unapproved site URL, a pop-up message indicates the URL is unapproved.