Creating An All Computers Group and Deploy Application Upgrades

From a completely fresh CCM instance with at least one computer checking into Central Management, this process will:

• Create a new group containing all the computers currently registered to Central Management.
• Create a new Deployment Plan with a single step, which will upgrade all Chocolatey-managed applications to the latest available versions.
• Start the Deployment Plan.

The process involves a couple of intermediary steps as well, since we’re using the raw REST API endpoints here (see below). We’re also assuming as part of this example that you’ve already Authenticated to the CCM API and have a $Session variable created as in that example.

1. Get All CCM-Managed Computers

$CcmServerHostname = 'chocoserver'
$params = @{
    Uri        = "https://$CCmServerHostname/api/services/app/Computers/GetAll"
    Method     = 'GET'
    WebSession = $Session
}
$ComputerList = Invoke-RestMethod @params

2. Create an All Computers Group

# Create group in CCM
$GroupName = 'All Clients'
$Params = @{
    Uri         = "https://$CcmServerHostname/api/services/app/Groups/CreateOrEdit"
    Method      = 'POST'
    WebSession  = $Session
    ContentType = 'application/json'
    Body        = @{
        name        = $GroupName
        description = 'All CCM client machines'
        groups      = @()
        computers   = @(
            $ComputerList.result | Select-Object -Property @{ Name = 'computerId'; Expression = { "$($_.id)" } }
        )
    } | ConvertTo-Json
}
$null = Invoke-RestMethod @params

# Retrieve created group information
$params = @{
    Uri        = "https://$CcmServerHostname/api/services/app/Groups/GetAll"
    Method     = "GET"
    WebSession = $Session
}
$Group = Invoke-RestMethod @params |
    Select-Object -ExpandProperty result |
    Where-Object Name -EQ $GroupName

3. Create a New Deployment Plan

$params = @{
    Uri         = "https://$CcmServerHostname/api/services/app/DeploymentPlans/CreateOrEdit"
    Method      = "POST"
    WebSession  = $Session
    ContentType = 'application/json'
    Body        = @{ name = "Upgrade Chocolatey-Managed Applications [$(Get-Date)]" } | ConvertTo-Json
}
$deployment = (Invoke-RestMethod @params).result

4. Add a Deployment Step

$params = @{
    Uri         = "https://$CcmServerHostname/api/services/app/DeploymentSteps/CreateOrEdit"
    Method      = "POST"
    WebSession  = $Session
    ContentType = 'application/json'
    Body        = @{
        deploymentPlanId               = $deployment.Id
        name                           = "Choco Upgrade All"
        validExitCodes                 = "0, 1605, 1614, 1641, 3010"
        executionTimeoutInSeconds      = 14400
        machineContactTimeoutInMinutes = "0"
        failOnError                    = $true
        requireSuccessOnAllComputers   = $false
        deploymentStepGroups           = @(
            @{ groupId = $Group.Id; groupName = $Group.Name }
        )
        # Syntax for basic Deployment Steps is "<ChocoCommand>|<PackageName>"
        script                         = "upgrade|all"
    } | ConvertTo-Json
}
$null = Invoke-RestMethod @params

5. Move Deployment Plan to Ready & Start the Deployment Plan

$params = @{
    Uri         = "https://$CcmServerHostname/api/services/app/DeploymentPlans/MoveToReady"
    Method      = "POST"
    WebSession  = $Session
    ContentType = 'application/json'
    Body        = @{ id = $deployment.Id } | ConvertTo-Json
}
$null = Invoke-RestMethod @params

$params = @{
    Uri         = "https://$CcmServerHostname/api/services/app/DeploymentPlans/Start"
    Method      = "POST"
    WebSession  = $Session
    ContentType = 'application/json'
    Body        = @{ id = $deployment.Id } | ConvertTo-Json
}
$null = Invoke-RestMethod @params

Create a Recurring Scheduled Task to run Recurring Deployment Plans

This example uses the concepts in the previous example and streamlines the process of creating a scheduled task on Windows to create a recurring Deployment Plan task. In this example, we set the trigger to run daily, but you could configure it to run as needed for your use case.

$recurringDeploymentScript = {
    # Fill in the CCM Server name as well as the Group ID that the Deployment Step will target
    $CcmServerHostname = 'chocoserver'
    $GroupId = 1

    # Authenticate to API
    # NOTE: This is an example only; it's never a great idea to store your credentials in a script or scheduled task.
    # Instead, store the credentials securely and retrieve them during the scheduled task script.
    $body = @{
        usernameOrEmailAddress = 'ccmadmin'
        password               = 'ch0c0R0cks'
    }

    $null = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://$CcmServerHostname/Account/Login" -Method POST -ContentType 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded' -Body $body -SessionVariable Session -ErrorAction Stop

    # Create New Deployment Plan
    $params = @{
        Uri         = "https://$CcmServerHostname/api/services/app/DeploymentPlans/CreateOrEdit"
        Method      = "POST"
        WebSession  = $Session
        ContentType = 'application/json'
        Body        = @{ name = "Upgrade Chocolatey-Managed Applications [$(Get-Date)]" } | ConvertTo-Json
    }
    $deployment = (Invoke-RestMethod @params).result

    # Add Deployment Step
    $params = @{
        Uri         = "https://$CcmServerHostname/api/services/app/DeploymentSteps/CreateOrEdit"
        Method      = "POST"
        WebSession  = $Session
        ContentType = 'application/json'
        Body        = @{
            deploymentPlanId               = $deployment.Id
            name                           = "Choco Upgrade All"
            validExitCodes                 = "0, 1605, 1614, 1641, 3010"
            executionTimeoutInSeconds      = 14400
            machineContactTimeoutInMinutes = "0"
            failOnError                    = $true
            requireSuccessOnAllComputers   = $false
            deploymentStepGroups           = @(
                @{ groupId = $GroupId }
            )
            script                         = "upgrade|all"
        } | ConvertTo-Json
    }
    $null = Invoke-RestMethod @params

    # Move Deployment Plan to Ready & Start the Deployment Plan
    $params = @{
        Uri         = "https://$CcmServerHostname/api/services/app/DeploymentPlans/MoveToReady"
        Method      = "POST"
        WebSession  = $Session
        ContentType = 'application/json'
        Body        = @{ id = $deployment.Id } | ConvertTo-Json
    }
    $null = Invoke-RestMethod @params

    $params = @{
        Uri         = "https://$CcmServerHostname/api/services/app/DeploymentPlans/Start"
        Method      = "POST"
        WebSession  = $Session
        ContentType = 'application/json'
        Body        = @{ id = $deployment.Id } | ConvertTo-Json
    }
    $null = Invoke-RestMethod @params
}

$argumentString = '-NoProfile -WindowStyle Hidden -Command "& {{ {0} }}"' -f $recurringDeploymentScript

$taskParams = @{
    Action      = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute 'powershell.exe' -Argument $argumentString
    # Fill in the requirements for the repeating scheduled task; here, it will trigger once a day @ 6 PM
    Trigger     = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Daily -At 6pm
    TaskName    = 'Repeat - Choco Update Deployment'
    Description = "Create and start a Chocolatey Central Management Deployment Plan which will trigger all computers in the group '$groupName' to update their Chocolatey-managed applications."
}

Register-ScheduledTask @taskParams