FirefoxADM

Hi,

Just thought I'd advertise my blog and all sorts.

Basically, FirefoxADM is my attempt at fixing a major maybe-unseen issue with Firefox, which is, controlling it in a major rollout over hundreds or thousands of desktops.  Anyway, I see this loads and loads of times as an issue connected to articles about Firefox within organisations...

This is aimed at people who use Active Directory and Windows and would really like to be able to set all the settings within Firefox using group policies.

Its a bit long and verbose, as I plan to use it as a kind of teaching tool even if my idea is rubbished and doesn't fly!

Anyway, comments appreciated:

http://spaces.msn.com/members/in-cider/

Cider,

This is a terrific idea and I'll check it out!

I'm a network consultant and I use every opportunity I can to use group policy to manage users desktops.

A while back I searched for tools to help create my own .ADM files and I came up empty handed so I gave up.  Can you point me towards any reference material you used to learn how to create this?

Also, are you aware of an .MSI package to do an administrative install of Firefox?

As much of a fan I am of MS I have really started to depend on Firefox to keep computers safe and clean.  I really hope that MS can come up with a new version of IE that improves workstation security like the improvements they have made in server security with Windows Server 2003!!!

Braveness23

Perhaps this MozillaZine thread will be of use:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=138033

Hopefully there will be something more official by version 1.1 - which is needed for it to appeal more for corporate network admins.

sbc wrote:

Perhaps this MozillaZine thread will be of use:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=138033

Hopefully there will be something more official by version 1.1 - which is needed for it to appeal more for corporate network admins.

Its an interesting thread (albeit I shuddered when I saw people having problems when they deployed an MSI that was written on the day Firefox was released!  Great Quality Control!).

To be honest, I didn't really consider the MSI issue too strongly because its not the difficult problem.  Deploying Firefox is pretty easy.  You could even do it with a simple ZAP file.  What FirefoxADM is about is the "next step":  controlling it once its deployed (for example, you saw it in that thread when people are creating whole new MSIs because a proxy is different, etc etc).

I think I'll sit on it until after christmas and then maybe give it a new push or try a different direction...

Firstly, I apologise for bumping my own thread!

I've been pushing on with this since new year.  I've got this a far distance in the direction I would like it to go.

So far, you can set a few options for Firefox in the same way you can with IE in Group Policy.  It then processes all the firefox profiles and properly updates the preference file for Firefox.  In terms of infrastructure, its already pretty powerful and pretty easily extensible and gives people who want to roll out Firefox across an enterprise via Group Policy similar functionality to what you get with IE (well, don't do that yet!  It still deep in the development/testing stages).

Anyway, its an attempt to fill that gap in Firefox which I keep seeing on sites which (quite rightly) say Firefox is not ready for enterprise (and indeed, as C9 Regular Bruce Morgan of the IE team said "In other areas, like GP support and corporate deployment/management, Firefox isn't even in the race yet.")

Comments and the like appreciated...

http://spaces.msn.com/members/in-cider


(yeah, its scarely verbose - I am doing this as much as a teaching tool if nothing comes of it...)

(Bruce, comments especially appreciated!)

Looks like MSI is in the works, and hopefully part of 1.1
http://gemal.dk/blog/2005/01/07/provide_firefox_msi_package_checkin/

It was a WONTFIX for Seamonkey (i.e. Mozilla Suite), although that bug (52052) has been reopened. MSI may be disliked by some developers (probably because it is a Microsoft technology), but it is essential for wider deployment in companies (via Active Directory).

Yeah, I saw that just before New Year on that previous thread you posted.

It'd be nice to bring all these technologies together for system administrators - an MSI to deploy, a way of using GPO to then customise settings (be that FirefoxADM or something else) and an IEAK equivilant for other types of deployment (FFDeploy is a good shot in that direction (http://firefox.dbltree.com/)).

Frankly, I'm not very interested in the whole politics side of Firefox vs IE, just interested in getting a good solution done for us put-upon admins!