I've been tasked with installing the Splunk Universal Forwarder (splunkforwarder-6.2.2-255606-x64-release.msi) to a few hundred Server 2008-R2 machines. Normally, I'd just do this via a GPO (Computer Configuration > Policies > Software Settings > Software Installation > SplunkForwarder) but this one is different. I've spent two days scouring the web, looking for ways to deploy it, but I've come away with nothing but failures!
Sure, I could create a text file full of server names and then have some crazy script that does a for-loop and loops through all of them but, that doesn't scale well... It'll work for now, but what about months or years from now when more or new servers come online? Will anyone remember to adjust the script and run it? I don't particularly like MS' way of using GP to install software via the Software Installation section, but it beats following a more manual process.
Does anyone here know of a currently working deployment method? I even tried my old standby which is to deploy a one-time Scheduled Task to run something like: msiexec.exe /i "splunkforwarder-6.2.2-255606-x64-release.msi" AGREETOLICENSE=Yes /quiet. However, evidently, MS has deployed a patch to keep people from deploying scheduled tasks via GP that contain a domain user and password.
I've tried a startup PowerShell script, but that failed.... I'm currently trying to debug a startup CMD script. I'm running out of time and ideas so any help would be great.
... View more