Developing an automated software deployment program through Samba or Active Directory

Question

I'm a web developer that needs to build a piece of software for my local office of about 20-30 Windows computers. It needs to automatically and silently run software updates and deployments on all computers.

The Windows computers run on a local network. I'm not sure where to start putting my hands on with something like this... I'm an experienced programmer, just need the right direction on what to read.

I know each Windows client has a Samba server, and also we're using Active Directory, but I'm not sure how that works.

How would I go about starting developing this? I'm sure there's Windows APIs for samba file transfers, but I also need to know about documentation on silently installing the .exe or whatever, and also I need APIs to know the applications running on the client to understand if they need to be updated.

Where's all these APIs?

Answer 1

Have a look at wpkg.org. It's license is GPL. It runs on Samba in an Active Directory. See also their feature overview.

I mentioned Samba only because you also did so. Though your exact words read: 'I know each Windows client has a Samba server [....] though I'm not sure how that works.'

In case you meant that each Windows client has access to a Samba server, my answer may be contributing to help you.

In case you thought your Windows clients are running Samba themselves, this is impossible (but my answer may help to clarify a few things nevertheless).

Here's why:

• Samba is an implementation of the Microsoft SMB stack of networking protocols for Unix-oid operating systems.
• SMB is what all Windows computers use natively.

Answer 2

why exactly you want do develop this application there is a Microsoft product responsible for this thing . it is called SUS server