How to Use Application Supersedence in Configuration Manager

 

Updated: May 14, 2015

Applies To: System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1

Application management in Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager allows you to upgrade or replace existing applications by using a supersedence relationship. When you supersede an application, you can specify a new deployment type to replace the deployment type of the superseded application and also configure whether to upgrade or uninstall the superseded application before the superseding application is installed.

When you supersede an application, this applies to all future deployments and Application Catalog requests. This will not affect the existing installations of the application.

Important

When the option to uninstall the superseded deployment type is selected, a deployment type cannot be superseded by a deployment type that was deployed to a different collection type. For example, a deployment type that was deployed to a device collection cannot be superseded by a deployment type that was deployed to a user collection if the option to uninstall the superseded deployment type is selected.

Decide whether to upgrade or replace an application

You specify whether to replace or upgrade an app in the Specify Supersedence Relationship dialog box of the application properties dialog box. The type of supersedence depends on whether you check the Uninstall option in this dialog box:

  • If you want to update to a newer version of the same application (with the same application ID), do not check Uninstall.

  • If you want to change to a different application (with a different application ID), check Uninstall. You will need to remove the superseded version of the application.

Superseding dependent applications

The method you use for updating dependent applications by using a supersedence relationship differ between System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager and Configuration Manager SP2

In these examples, master application refers to the app you are deploying that contains the dependencies.

For System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager

If you want to replace a dependent application with a new dependent application, you must follow these steps:

Note

Configuration Manager does not support using supersedence relationships to supersede the original dependent application.

  1. Create the new dependent application

  2. Remove the original dependent application

During the time that two dependencies exist (before you remove the original dependent application), new installations of the master application will install the new dependent application. Existing installations keep the original dependent application.

After you remove the original dependent application, all devices will update to the new dependent application.

For System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2

In Configuration Manager SP2, you can create a supersedence relationship that updates the dependent application to a new version.

  1. Ensure that the new dependent application and the original dependent application are in the same dependency group of the master application.

  2. Create a supersedence relationship that supersedes the original dependent application with the new dependent application.

During new installations of the master application, the new dependent application will be installed. Existing installations of the master application will update with the new dependent application.

The end result is that all deployments of the master application will use the new dependent application.

Further considerations

  • You can specify multiple supersedence relationships for dependent applications. The highest dependent application in the supersedence chain gets installed.

  • Dependent applications must be deployed to the device where the master application is installed, or the dependent application will not be installed.

  • For new installations of the master application, when you have multiple dependencies, the dependency order determines which version of the dependent application gets installed.

To specify a supersedence relationship

  1. In the Configuration Manager console, click Software Library.

  2. In the Software Library workspace, expand Application Management, click Applications, and then click the application that will supersede another application.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Properties group, click Properties to open the <Application Name> Properties dialog box.

  4. On the Supersedence tab of the <Application Name> Properties dialog box, click Add.

  5. In the Specify Supersedence Relationship dialog box, click Browse.

  6. In the Choose Application dialog box, select the application that you want to supersede and then click OK.

  7. In the Specify Supersedence Relationship dialog box, select the deployment type that will replace the deployment type of the superseded application.

    Note

    By default, the new deployment type will not uninstall the deployment type of the superseded application. This scenario is commonly used when you want to deploy an upgrade to an existing application. Select Uninstall to remove the existing deployment type before the new deployment type is installed. If you decide to upgrade an application, make sure that you test this in a lab environment first.

  8. Click OK to close the Specify Supersedence Relationship dialog box.

  9. Click OK to close the <Application Name> Properties dialog box.

To display applications that supersede the current application

  1. In the Configuration Manager console, click Software Library.

  2. In the Software Library workspace, expand Application Management, click Applications, and then click the application that you want.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Properties group, click Properties to open the <Application Name> Properties dialog box.

  4. On the References tab of the <Application Name> Properties dialog box, select Applications that supersede this application from the Relationship type drop-down list.

  5. Review the list of applications that supersede the selected application, then click OK to close the <Application Name> Properties dialog box.