Among Niagara provisioning job steps, the Install Software step (InstallBySpecStep) installs a versioned software file to the target JACE host(s), from the Supervisor’s software database (files under its !sw folder). It is available in the New Job Step menu when adding a step in either the Niagara Network Job Builder or Niagara Network Prototype View.

If using a remote Workbench PC to connect to the Supervisor station, and you copy/drag a (local) software file into the jobs step list pane from the Nav tree, the service automatically checks to see if that software file/version already exists on the Supervisor. If not, it is immediately downloaded to (and registered with) the Supervisor, in the background.

If adding this step in the job creation view using the (add) button, an Install Software dialog appears (Figure 45), in which you select the software module or .dist file to install.

Select an item by expanding to see its version, then click that software file, then OK (Figure 46).

Note that when you drag a software item from the service’s Software container, and more than one version (file) for that item is in the Supervisor’s software database, a popup dialog prompts you to select the version (Figure 47).

Once added, the Install Software step appears in the job steps list pane. If the software has dependencies on module that are not yet installed on a particular JACE host, and those modules are in the Supervisor’s software registry, those modules will be automatically included in the processing of that host (station), in order to satisfy dependencies.

It is your (provisioning user’s) responsibility to ensure that platform dependencies of the software are met by the JACE hosts running the target stations. For example, it is permissible to have a job with an install software step that includes stations running on different platform types, say JACE-545s and JACE-403s. However, if a step installs a distribution file specific to a JACE-403, note that the dependency check will fail on the JACE-545s, and no software will be installed on them.

When the job executes, install software steps are combined with other software install steps, copy file steps, and upgrade out-of-date-software steps to run more efficiently.

A slightly different step (InstallStep) is created when you copy/drag a “backup .dist” file into the Job Steps List pane—a backup .dist is not a “versioned” install (nor is it a FileCopyStep).