Problem Using Mcafee for 3rd party software deployment

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Good afternoon all,

Wonder if anyone that is familiar with Mcafee products can assist me here...

We currently have need for a short-mid-term deployment solution. Right now i am managing our Mcafee products (among many others!) and feel that there are two tools in our existing arsenal that could do the job. To detail:-

1. Mcafee Endpoint Encryption Manager

EEPC Manager does seem to offer the facility to install a .exe, but not an msi which is required here. Has anyone managed this?

2. Mcafee ePO (prefered method)

This is the frustrating one. Mcafee appear to sell this as a plus for ePO, but do not actually support it. I go to check the software in and am greeted with options for .zip, .dat and .exe files. I now have the .msi zipped but when i hit "import" i get "Package missing required pkgcatalog.z file". I have tried to view an existing one for an already installed Mcafee product (VSE 8.7) to see what it cointains, but no joy. Have any of you guys managed to use ePO for 3rd party software deployment?


This issue is driving me MAD! I have looked everywhere for info but to no avail, so i thought i would see if anyone here had experience in this area?

Let me know if further details will help.

Thanks in advance,

Dave

 

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Hi would love to help but can't make sense of what you're trying to achieve. Please, re-phrase or possibly state what exactly you're trying to achieve before the issues.

At work I currently use Mcaffee endpoint encryption sofware to encrypt all our laptops and so far it works seemlessly.

 

Hi Onoski - thanks for the reply.

I had i feeling that i maybe wasnt phrasing the question very well, typing it just as i left the office after a very busy day!

Let me try to explain a little more clearly...

At present, we do not have many tools capable of remotely installing software to machines in the field, often connected over a slow link. From what i can gather, both of the Mcafee products i mentioned can perform this task. So far, i am able to make EEPC Manager place the file into a specific location, but not trigger the install. When i go into EEPC Manager>System>File Groups>(relevant folder)>(relevant object), i can set the advanced properties to a variety of options to affect the behaviour. There are options for executables (which i did try) but not for .msi. In short, i want to use either EEPC or ePO to push the .msi to the machine and then install it. To note, these are non-mcafee products, to be pushed out via Mcafee.

Am i making any more sense now?

As an aside, we have been using EEPC (and formerly Safeboot) for some time now and i have to say, save for my current frustration and a few niggles, i really like it.

Thanks again,

Dave

 

Dave

Your request is a little odd, to say the least. EPO is the management tool used to deploy, upgrade and manage McAfee products (and McAfee products only) in an enterprise. I think you are barking up the wrong tree entirely - it might be theoretically possible (though I very much doubt it) but will it take you ridiculous amounts of time trying to get it to work - if it works at all, you won't ever be supported by McAfee (and may indeed invalidate any current support agreements you may have with them as you're using your EPO install for a purpose it was certainly never intended) and there's no way you could ever control any software you did manage to push out properly.

You are much better off looking at 'proper' software deployment, even if it is just via batch files and/or group policy rather than a full-blown software deployment utility like SMS

As a man who has been responsible for EPO installation & management in more places than I care to count, I've never seen it used in a manner even close to the one you're suggesting!