Can I deploy an application using OpenLDAP on Linux server to Windows client? - linux

Is it possible to deploy installers (for example Chrome browser .exe file) to install on Windows client computers across all office buildings using OpenLDAP? The OpenLDAP is installed on CentOS 8. If it is not possible can Active Directory Help Me?

Why would you use a directory service to store binary files? This might be possible but it's a terrible idea.
Active Directory is a broad suite of tools. AD Domain Services is basically the OpenLDAP equivalent https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/699.active-directory-domain-services-ad-ds-overview.aspx and doesn't do what you want
AD GP (Group Policy) allows you to push software https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/group-policy/use-group-policy-to-install-software but if you're only using it to push a Chrome installer, it's overkill to set it all up. It does work though!
You can also use SCCM (oh I guess it's called MECM now, haven't touched it in a hot minute).

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IIS Test Server From Existing IIS Server with Joomla

I am in a situation where the current web server is a production environment and there is no development environment. It is running Joomla on an IIS Web Server and is an Intranet site with all of the security, IP restrictions, Certificates, and whatever else required to run an enterprise level Intranet site.
I am wondering what I can do to set up a development environment to work within (preferably using some type of version control).
I have full reign over the IIS server, and I have had a co-worker set up a VM clone of the current system to work with, however the security is making it difficult to work with and set up.
I would like to not use Visual Studio as I don't believe I have a license for it; however I can get it if need be. I would like to stick with Notepad++ if at all possible.
Thank you.
If you're wanting to literally take the site content out and be able to edit and work without any of the security restrictions of the production environment, there's a couple of ways you could do it. However, it's going to depend on what DB the system is running with.
Joomla, regardless of what web platform it is running on, is coded in PHP, so you don't have to worry about getting visual studio. You can use Notepad++ as normal.
Option 1 - IIS Clone
If you can take a SQL backup of the database, you build a from-scratch box with IIS. You'd need to add the PHP drivers to IIS to do this. Go to Microsoft's site for more info:
PHP for IIS
Option 2 - Apache Port
You can make an Apache box using WAMP to run, if you're using a Windows machine. PHP is PHP, on any platform, so it should work without modification.
The tricky bit will be the database, depending on your situation. If the database is MySQL, you can import your database backup and be good to go, after changing the config files for the Joomla site.
If the site used MSSQL, it's a little trickier. You'll need to install an MSSQL PHP plugin to get this medthod to work. There's plenty of instructions online on how to do this, it's a case of finding the right one for your implementation.

Chrome Native Messaging Host Access Rights

I am porting my NPAPI based plugin to Native messaging host for Chrome.
I can connect to it successfully and also run the host application.
But the host application (win32 GUI App) uses many win32 API's like CreateFile to update itself and other utilities from server.
The host app is installed in Program Files folder through an installer process (setup.exe). So since the host application runs on current user rights ( I may be wrong on this) the host might not have some rights (like in my case CreateFile) in the program files folder.
Through NPAPI it used to work as the executable i guess runs under System Rights (I may be wrong on this too).
So basically is there any way I can achieve this. I know this might be a security concern Chrome is trying to solve through Native Host, but I need to do this as otherwise some executable will not be updated from server.
Also the native host application requires some more files to be downloaded from server ( which i could not be placed in the installer).
Moreover, the source code to update the executables and download extra utilities is cross platform so I don't to change that, otherwise I might need to rewrite a lot of code.
So any suggestions to get around this situation ?
Is there some way we can get elevated permissions for the native host application through UAC or something. I don't mind if user is prompted for a UAC dialog.
Or are there any other alternative besides Native Messaging ? NaCl won't suffice either I guess.
Note : GetLastError() reutrns ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED during CreateFile.
Regards,
LazyCoder7.

Setup Project - Allow multiple installation of the same Windows Service

I have a question regarding to Setup Projects in .Net (c# language, Framework 4.0):
I made a setup project for a Windows Service, on the installation wizard, the user must input the name of the Windows Service as it would be installed. The setup program also creates a shortcut to the Uninstall program in case the user wants to remove that Windows Service.
The question is: how to let the user run the same setup program several times specifing different service name?
This behaviour could be required because the windows service is a socket consumer that connects to a server and retrieves data; to take advantage of the server capabilities the user could install the same windows service multiple times pointing to a different port on the server, to perform the data retrieving task much faster. The service is the same, the user just modify the port on the configuration file of the service, so that's why it's not logical to create a new version of the installer each time.
Any clue or suggestion would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
This can be done by using an multiple instances installation. The general approach is:
create a transform for each instance you want available to the user
use a custom EXE bootstrapper which applies a new transform to your MSI package each time a new instance is installed
The transform should change at least the PackageCode, ProductCode and UpgradeCode.
This is not supported by Visual Studio setup projects. So either you do it manually or use a commercial setup authoring tool which supports multiple instances.

Create/configure New repository in remote mercurial server on IIS

Are there any tools avaliable to create and configure (Add new users, Change authorization settings ) mercurial repository hosted in IIS server ?
Currently I want to remotely log in to the server and need to create new repository and configure it manually.
I would take a look at Kallithea. That is a like a hgweb on steriods :) It has user management with authentication against LDAP (so you can use Active Directory), repository management, browsing, etc.
You ask about IIS and I know that it can run Python WSGI applications. Kallithea is based on Pylons and while it's described a difficult, you can run Pylons on IIS if you want.
I would probably install Apache instead or simply use the small web server that comes with Kallithea (depending on the load you expect).

Advice Needed: Deploying application to IIS - Can this be fully automated?

I am seeking advice: Ideally, I would like to give an Administrator (of the web server) one file (.exe, .msi, .bat, whatever you suggest), so that when they execute the package, it will setup my application (contains .aspx, .xap silverlight, web service .svc, etc.) on IIS. This will include and certainly not be limited to such things in the IIS Manager, like creating a virtual directory, path, default document, security, and all of the IIS settings one finds via inetmgr and properties. I would also maybe like to run a .bat file (not sure if this correct), but to check for certain settings and pinging other servers for status.
Many years ago, I used to automate everything and used concepts like .bat files - got the job done and it was amazing what I could do. Fast forward a couple of years now and am approaching the automation process again. I wanted to know if there is anything new out there.
Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated!
It's quite a bit of a learning curve but yes, WiX / InstallShield / MSI can do this. I've done installers for n-Tier / SOA systems including single tenant SaaS where you could run the application layer installer dozens of times creating new instances running on different host headers or ports pointed to different data layers and different configuration settings. You could then do the same for the WebUI pointing to which ever application layer you want.
Basically whether it's instaling .NET, setting up vDir / AppPools / WebSites / Extensions, reading and writing XML config files, executing SQL scripts, creating services and so on it can all be done... if you take the time to learn it all. Deployment Engineering is a bigger domain then it first appears to be.
As for .BAT, that's bad form. First you work to leverage native capabilities before writing custom actions. Then when you do have to write one, you design it to be declarative and transactional ( install, uninstall, rollback, commit ). WiX has a really nice framework called DTF that allows you to encapsulate C# classes as if they were C++ from MSI's perspective and provides a nice interop library needed to talk to MSI during the install.
Visual Studio has a Web Setup Package project you can use for this.

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