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Spektion Sensor SCCM/MECM Packaging and Deployment Walkthrough
Learn how to install the Spektion Sensor with Config Manager
Before setting up an SCCM/MECM deployment of the Spektion sensor, you should place the Spektion Sensor MSI given to you by your account representative on your SCCM/MECM software SMB share so it can be accessed by Config Manager.
Setting up a Device Collection
We recommend creating a Device Collection in SCCM/MECM so that only devices you specifically target receive the Spektion Sensor, rather than it being available for all workstations or all servers. Name it something memorable like “Spektion Deployment Group” for ease of reference.
Creating the application
Navigate to the Software Library > Applications and right click Create Application.
Reference the Spektion Sensor MSI you copied in Step 1 on your Config Manager SMB share to import and click Next
Important! You will need to append your assigned token in the Installation Program field as TOKEN=YourTokenHere in addition to SCCM/MECM’s installation defaults. It should look like this example:
Accept the remaining defaults to import Spektion Sensor into your SCCM/MECM application library.
Deployment to endpoints
We now need to Deploy the software from SCCM/MECM to your targeted endpoints. Right-click the Spektion Sensor and click Deploy.
Select the drop-down on the left and select Device Collections instead of the default value of User Collections, and then select the Spektion device collection you created in Step 2, and then click OK and then Next.
Specify the distribution point for your SCCM/MECM install. If there are no defaults, click Add and select the primary distribution point and click Next.
If the Spektion Sensor is a mandatory audit or regulatory component for your organization, we recommend setting the Purpose to Required which will enforce the presence of Spektion on selected endpoint group via SCCM/MECM and prevent its removal outside of SCCM/MECM; otherwise simply click Next.
You should verify what your corporate deployment windows are, if applicable. If you are not required to follow a specific window, to expedite deployment, select the As soon as possible radio button and click Next.
Accept the defaults here unless specified otherwise by your corporate deployment policy and click Next.
Also accept the defaults here unless otherwise specified by your corporate deployment policy and click Next.
You have now completed the SCCM/MECM deployment task! Click Close.
As noted earlier, SCCM/MECM is not a real time deployment tool - however, if you go to the Spektion Device Collection you created in Step 2 and select Download Computer Policy and then Wake Up, clients may get an update to their SCCM/MECM clients nearly-immediately.
Spektion will appear in Software Center on SCCM/MECM-enabled endpoints when the local Configuration Manager client refreshes and will start downloading shortly thereafter!
Verifying your installation
In addition to the Spektion MSI returning a successful return to SCCM/MECM, you may also independently verify the installation via the two core Spektion services: Spektion and SpektionSvc services.
Spektion Auto-Updater Service and SCCM/MECM
Spektion normally deploys the Spektion Auto-Updater Service with standard installs, however to avoid an edge case of a conflict with SCCM/MECM attempting to revert Spektion to an earlier version if Spektion updates itself, the Spektion MSI will detect if it is being deployed via SCCM/MECM and automatically disable the Spektion Auto-Update Service. Enterprise customers using SCCM/MECM should manage updates via deployments of newer versions of Spektion via SCCM/MECM
Upgrading Spektion Sensor using SCCM/MECM
The Spektion Sensor MSI keeps the internal package ID consistent between Spektion versions, which allows SCCM/MECM to in-place upgrade the Spektion Sensor on endpoints.
First, you should disable all existing active Spektion Sensor deployments in SCCM/MECM for previous versions. Please verify this in the "Deployments" tab in Software Library.
Deployments should be set to "Disable" for any previous version.
Once you have disabled all previous deployments of Spektion Sensor, you should mirror the same deployment values that you used for the previous version, making sure to appropriately name the Spektion Sensor in the Name field to avoid confusion in the Software Library and apply your TOKEN value in the Installation Program field.
Once you've imported the latest version of Spektion Sensor into your SCCM/MECM library, follow your deployment steps you utilized in the previous Spektion Sensor deployment and SCCM/MECM will automatically upgrade-in-place the version of Spektion on your selected endpoint collection! In addition, any devices in your selected SCCM/MECM Device Collection that did not receive the previous version of Spektion Sensor that you included in this deployment will receive this as a fresh install - the previous version is not required to ensure all devices receive the same version.
Conclusion
Spektion offers significant flexibility for enterprise-tier deployments! Please get in touch with a Spektion account representative if you have any questions on Spektion deployment options.