When deploying custom software applications at the enterprise level it is almost always necessary to coordinate the release of maintenance updates with each customer’s IT department. This is sometimes required for QA and software validation, but most often it’s because the IT department holds the responsibility of pushing software updates out to the individual PCs.
For you, the software vendor, you need maintenance patches to be installed quickly, sometimes very quickly, to ensure optimal user experience. For them, the IT dept, your software maintenance patch is just another of many tasks in the work queue. It won’t help to plead with them how important your release is. They support all departments, and every department thinks their needs are greater than the other guys, so they’ve heard it all before. This leaves you, the software vendor, potentially way down on the IT task queue. Fortunately for you, AppLife Update provides the tools to keep your deployed applications maintained without relying on the IT guy.
What are those tools, you ask? Why it’s the AppLife Update solution, consisting of:
- Update Controller
This .Net control integrates into your application to manage discovery, download, and initiation of your maintenance updates. - Update Permissions Elevation Windows Service
This Windows Service deploys with your application and securely applies your updates under the privileges of the local system account. Using the service your application, running under a limited rights user, can still maintain your installation without administrative support.
**Initial deployment requires administrative privileges. - Update Engine
The update engine is downloaded by the Update Controller and performs the update on the deployed client. The update engine can execute the Windows Installer packages that you are already creating to update your software. In addition, it can do so much more. There are many built-in update actions to help you maintain your deployed software, and you can even write your own update actions in C# or Vb.Net
With these tools, and a day’s time, you can cast away those IT guy ties and take control of your application maintenance requirements, saving you and your customer time and money.