We have AD Security Group discovery method running in our SMS and I would like to try and send out software to members of a given group. How difficult is it and how does it differ from deploying a package to a machine based collection?
It's not difficult at all, it's exactly the same process you'd use to target a computer group.
So lets say I want to send out MS Visio 2003 to the MAD\Sales Force team. Does SMS only look for a member of that group logged in user regardless of what machine they are at? What if a user logs into multiple PCs while the advertisement is running, will it install multiple times? When setting the program, do I select install only when user logs in?
SMS will advertise the software to the user. As such, whatever machine the user logs in at will receive the distribution.
Unless you specify otherwise, it will install multiple times. As for the install only when user logs in setting, this needs to be checked otherwise it won't install.
Previously when I've wanted a one-time only user based installation, I've setup the distribution to throw a flag into a folder on a network location specific to the user. I've then scripted to check for this flag prior to install. If the flag already exists - i.e. it's been installed once already, the distribution is scripted to terminate without installing.
Where possible, it is best practice to target to a computer group - particularly when there's licensing involved, but it can be done to a user group.
