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Pre-Deploying ActiveX Controls for Secure Environments

Pre-Deploying ActiveX Controls for Secure Environments
 
If Windows 2000/XP end users cannot obtain write access to the Downloaded Program Files directory, the ActiveX controls used for Siebel applications must be pre-deployed. This task must be performed with the proper administrative privileges to install software on the machine, usually Power User or above.
 
Pre-deployment must be performed for every patch that is implemented within the Siebel environment. The Siebel HI framework allows side by side use, so that when upgraded controls are installed, older versions can co-exist with newer implementations (assuming there are separate web servers for each implementation. Other controls are backward compatible and are overwritten on upgrade. If the pre-deployment is performed via web page, the html script will need to be edited with the correct control names and class ID's as described in the section below. For the Command line script, the script remains identical for each patch. The cab file location may however change and is a command line argument to the script.
 
To pre-deploy ActiveX controls, there are two mechanisms available:
 
Option 1: Pre-deployment Script
 
A pre-deployment script is available that allows download of all Siebel ActiveX controls. It should be noted that this script will deploy all controls within the applets directory unless configured for only certain controls. It should also be noted that the applets directory for the correct build should be shared out to all clients that require download of the controls via the script mechanism. To run the script a command line argument of the source location on the network has to be given. For example:
 
Predeploy.cmd \\myserver\applets\
 
This script will register all s*.exe, s*.dll, ieop*.dll and s*.ocx files in the Windows\downloaded program files folder and should be tested prior to rollout to ensure that there will be no end user UI actions generated by running the script. Some other third party controls may be re-registered by this filter. To narrow the criteria down, the exact *.exe, *.dll, and *.ocx names may be substituted into the script.
 
The following text should be placed in a file named predeploy.cmd:
 
cls
 
FOR /F "delims=" %%i IN ('cd') DO SET CurrDir=%%i
REM @echo %CurrDir%
 
expand %1*.cab "%windir%\Downloaded Program Files"
 
del "%windir%\Downloaded Program Files"\*.class
 
cd %systemdrive%
cd "%windir%\Downloaded Program Files\"
 
@echo "to register dll's ocx's run regsvr32 <Full path of .ocx file>"
 
for  %%f  in  (s*.dll) do regsvr32 /s "%windir%\Downloaded Program Files\%%f"
for  %%g  in  (s*.ocx) do regsvr32 /s "%windir%\Downloaded Program Files\%%g"
for  %%i  in  (ieop*.dll) do regsvr32 /s "%windir%\Downloaded Program Files\%%i"
 
@echo " to register the com server executables, run "
 for  %%h  in  (s*.exe) do "%windir%\Downloaded Program Files\%%h" /RegServer
 
@echo
 
cd %CurrDir%
 
Option 2: Predeployment Web Page
 
A web page can be used to download each desired ActiveX control. When the Object tag for an ActiveX control is called from the web page, the control that is contained within the *.cab file will be downloaded in compressed form from a web server that is hosting the controls and expanded once downloaded onto the system into the Downloaded Program Files folder. The web page can be called from a SMS script using the following syntax:
 
Iexplore.exe http://mywebserver/predeploy.htm
 
The management/SMS script will need to stay at that page for a long enough time to allow download of the required ActiveX controls. A time period of 5 minutes should suffice for most networks. For large deployments it is recommended that this script is run in staggered timeslots as the traffic generated can cause network bandwidth issues.
 
To Predeploy ActiveX controls
 
Starting in Siebel version 7.7 customers can find the predeploy.htm already created:
 

  1. Navigate to the directory containing the predeploy.htm file. You can use any version of the file, which is installed in multiple locations:

 

    • On the Siebel Web Server Extension (SWSE) machine, predeploy.htm is located in the directory SWEAPP_ROOT\public\LANGUAGE directory, where SWEAPP_ROOT is the SWSE installation directory and LANGUAGE represents the language you are using (such as ENU).

 

    • On the Siebel Server machine, predeploy.htm is located in the directory SIEBSRVR_ROOT\webmaster, where SIEBSRVR_ROOT is the Siebel Server installation directory.

 

    • On Siebel Mobile Web Client machines, predeploy.htm is located in the directory SIEBEL_CLIENT_ROOT\public\LANGUAGE, where SIEBEL_CLIENT_ROOT is the Siebel client installation directory, and LANGUAGE represents the language you are using (such as ENU).

 

  1. Edit predeploy.htm to suit your requirements—that is, so it can be used to predeploy the ActiveX controls your users require. Then save the file. The file predeploy.htm contains comments about each file, to supplement the information in Table 12 on page 49. Use this information to help you determine what controls to predeploy.  

NOTE: You should have one object tag entry for each ActiveX control you are predeploying. Delete or comment out lines for any object tags you do not need (that is, those representing controls you are not predeploying). Text in the HTML file can be commented out using this notation: <!--CONTENT TO BE COMMENTED OUT-->.
 

  1. Remotely log into each client machine, and then open the HTML file in a supported version of Microsoft Internet Explorer. Wait until the message indicates that all the files have been downloaded, then close the browser and log off of the client machine.

 

  1. Repeat Step 3 for each applicable user