MailStore Client Deployment

A MailStore Server installation includes the MailStore Client as a Windows Installer package (MSI) that can be installed on client machines using software distribution. You can either find the MSI package via the link on your desktop Install MailStore Client on other Computers or in the Setup-<version> folder of your MailStore Server installation folder.

This article describes the distribution and configuration of MailStore Client through Active Directory group policies.

Installation

To distribute the MailStore MailStore Client via Active Directory you have to copy its MSI package to a share on your server that is accessible to all domain users. After the distribution has been set up the MailStore MailStore Client will be installed automatically upon the next user login. This process is transparent to users and needs no interaction on their behalf.

Set up the software distribution as follows:

• Open the Group Policy Management Console on your domain controller.
• Right-click on the administrative folder Group Policy Objects
• Select New and create a new group policy object called MailStore Client Deployment.

  

• Right-click on the new GPO and select Edit....
• Expand User Configuration > Policies > Software Settings.
• Right-click on Software installation.
• Select New and Package....
• Select the above mentioned MSI package. Please note that the path for the file must be entered in UNC notation (e.g. \\Server\Setup\MailStoreSetup...) and that domain users need to have read-access to this share.
• In the following dialog window, select Advanced and click OK.

  

• On the next screen, please set the options on the Deployment tab as shown below:

  

• Click on OK to confirm all settings.
• The group policy should look similar to the one shown below:

  

• Close the group policy editor.

The group policy is now configured and can be linked to the corresponding user objects. Linking is done using organizational units (OU).

• Highlight the organizational unit (OU) which contains the desired user objects, right-click on the OU (Seattle in the example below) and select the option Link an Existing GPO....
• In the dialog window Select GPO, highlight MailStore Client Deployment and click on OK.

  

• Through the organizational unit the group policy is now linked to the user objects contained therein. It will become active the next time users log on to the Windows clients.

Please note: To avoid problems when installing software using group policies, the following settings should be applied via group policy for computer objects which represent the Windows clients of MailStore users:

• Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Scripts > Run logon scripts synchronously
• Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Logon > Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon

Updating

The MailStore Client MSI installs basically only a loader that actually loads the latest MailStore Client components from the MailStore Server. In case this loader needs to be updated itself, group policies can do the update automatically on the MailStore user computers. To edit an existing MailStore Client Deployment group policy so that an automatic update of the clients can be performed, please proceed as follows:

• Open the Group Policy Management Console on your domain controller.
• Navigate to the administrative folder Group Policy Objects.
• Right-click on the existing MailStore Client Deployment GPO and select Edit....
• Expand User Configuration > Policies > Software Settings.
• Right-click on Software installation.
• Select New and Package....
• Select the updated MailStore Client MSI package. Please note that the path for the file must be entered in UNC notation (e.g. \\Server\Setup\MailStoreSetup...) and that domain users need to have read-access to this share.
• In the following dialog window, select Advanced and click OK.

  

• On the next screen, please set the options on the Deployment tab as shown below:

  

• On the Upgrades tab, a list of upgradeable packages is shown. Select the option Required upgrade for existing packages.

  

• Click on OK to confirm all settings.
• The group policy should look similar to the one shown below:

  

The MailStore Client loader will be updated upon the next login of the users on their Windows workstations.

Configuration

If Mailstore Server is used within an Active Directory infrastructure, the MailStore Client and the MailStore Outlook Add-in can be configured using group policies. Settings that are configured through group policies supersede local settings and cannot be changed by users.

For this purpose, group policy templates are available as ADMX files (for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 or higher).

Installing the ADMX Template

Group policy templates can either be managed locally on an administrative workstation or centrally in the domain. Please refer to Microsoft Technet for further details.

Installation of the ADMX Templates in the Local Store

• Download the ADMX templates to your administrative workstation.
• Unzip the package to %systemroot%, retaining its folder structure.

Installation of the ADMX Templates in the Central Store

Please note: Use this method only, if you are already using a central store for group policies, else group policies stored in the local store are not accessible anymore.

• Download the ADMX templates to your domain controller.
• In the SYSVOL folder, unzip the package to domain\policies, retaining its folder structure (default: %systemroot%\sysvol\domain\policies).

To verify the installation and for further configuration, please proceed as follows:

• Open the Group Policy Management Console.
• Right-click on the administrative folder Group Policy Objects.
• Select New and create a new group policy object called MailStore Client Settings.
• Right-click on the new GPO and select Edit....
• Expand User Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates.
• If the templates have been installed correctly, an entry MailStore and sub-entries MailStore Client and MailStore Outlook-Add-in exist.

  

Configuring Policy Settings

• Open the Group Policy Management Console.
• Right-click on the administrative folder Group Policy Objects.
• Right-click on the existing group policy object called MailStore Client Settings and select Edit....
• Expand User Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > MailStore > MailStore Client.

  

• These settings supported by the current MailStore Client are available:
  • Authentication

    Sets the authentication method to either Standard Authentication or Windows Authentication. When the authentication method is set to Windows Authentication then the Server Name also must be set

  • Language

    Sets the display language of the MailStore Client. Select System language to have the MailStore Client use the language of a client's operating system.

  • Remember Password

    This setting stores a user's password, once entered, locally on the client, provided that the authentication method has been set to Standard Authentication as well.

  • Server Name

    If this parameter is provided, the MailStore Client always connects to this server. If the authentication method has also been set to Windows Authentication, the login to MailStore Server occurs directly without any user interaction (Single Sign On). If the MailStore Client access has been configured to a port different from the default (8460), this parameter has to be provided as Server Name:Port.

Applying Policy Settings

To apply these settings to users, the group policy has to be linked to the corresponding user objects. Linking is done using organizational units (OU).

• Highlight the organizational unit (OU) which contains the desired user objects, right-click on the OU (Seattle in the example below) and select the option Link an Existing GPO....
• In the dialog window Select GPO, highlight MailStore Client Settings and click on OK.

  

• Through the organizational unit the group policy is now linked to the user objects contained therein. The settings will become active the next time users log on to the Windows clients.

Updating

With group policies, the MailStore Client software on the user machines can be updated automatically. This becomes necessary if MailStore Server is updated because the server can only be accessed by clients with the same software version. To edit an existing MailStore deployment group policy so that an automatic update of the clients can be performed, please proceed as follows:

• Open the existing group policy MailStore Deployment. Create a new package and select the updated MailStore Client MSI file. In the following dialog window, select Advanced and click on OK. Please select the settings as shown below:

  

• In the Updates tab, click on Add and select the software to be updated. Choose the settings as shown below and click on OK and confirm by clicking on OK again.

  

• The group policy should look similar to the one in the following graphic:

  

MailStore Client will be updated the next time users log on to their Windows workstations.

To avoid complications when installing software using group policies, the following settings for the MailStore Deployment group policy should be adjusted as well:

• Activate Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/System/Scripts\Run logon scripts synchronously
• Activate Configuration/Administrative Templates/System/Logon\Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon

Configuration

Installation of Group Policy Template

Configuring MailStore Client

It is possible to set up the hostname or IP-Address of your MailStore Server and whether the MailStore Client should automatically login to your MailStore Server.

• Use Autologon to MailStore Server

  Enables or disables the AutoLogon function

• Server Name:

  In case AutoLogon is enabled, you should also tell the MailStore Client to which server it should connect. The format can either be the hostname or an IP-Address. If MailStore Server is listening on other that the default ports, it is required to add the port information to the hostname or IP-Address in the format :port.

Uninstalling

Group Policy distributed installations

Just like the distribution, the uninstalling of the software packages can be done using group policies. Please proceed as follows:

• Open the group policy management console of your Windows server.
• Expand the folder Group Policy Objects.
• Right-click on the group policy object which was created for the software distribution of MailStore and select Edit.
• Expand User Configuration | Software Settings | Software Installation
• Right-click on the packet to be uninstalled and select All Tasks -> Delete...

• In the following dialog window, select Software sofort von Benutzern und Computern deinstallieren and click OK.

• Close all open windows and exit the group policy editor.
• The software will be uninstalled the next time the user logs on to the server.

Manually or not via GPO distributed installations

For un-installing a MailStore Client application that was not deployed via Group policy, please follow the steps below:

• First determine the setup path and parameters. Therefore open the Registry Editor on one of the client PCs and search / open the following key:

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\MailStore Client_is1".

• Copy the key value "QuitUninstallString" (e.g. "C:\Program Files\deepinvent\MailStore Client\unins000.exe" /SILENT) to a new editor window and save the file as mailstore_uninst.bat.
• Paste the mailstore_uninst.bat file to the NETLOGON Share of your server
• Open the Group Policy Management console
• Create a new GPO and name it "MailStore Client Uninstall", then link it either to the domain or to the OUs that contain the user objects that have the MailStore Client installed.
• Right click the new GPO and choose "edit.."
• Expand the tree Computerconfiguration | Windows Settings | Scripts
• Right click "Startup" and choose Properties
• Click "Add..." and then "Browse..."
• Pick up the mailstore_uninst.bat from the NETLOGON-Share and choose "open"
• Save all settings and close the GPO Editor Windows
• Finally open a command prompt and enter "gpupdate /force" to update the group policy setting

During the next startup of a client machine the GPO will take affect and the MailStore Client will be un-installed unattended.

Now you can create a new GPO for deploying the new MailStore Client MSI. For further information please take a look at MailStore Client Deployment - Installation.

Without using Group Policies

Please refer to this Microsoft's TechNet article to find more information about the Windows installer and msiexec's command line parameters.