When scheduling jobs in Deployment Server, certain jobs will not run

When scheduling jobs in the Deployment Server console, the job will not run. Sample jobs that are included with Deployment Server run but the user-created jobs do not.

Cause

When the job is created, a command is processed to insert a record into a task table. A trigger in that table fires to create a record in the task table and then the task table has a trigger that is supposed to insert a record into the event_condition table if none is found. This last step is what is not occurring. This can be a result of a SQL setting "Nested Triggers".

Resolution

Ensure that SQL server is configure to allow nested triggers. This setting can be found in SQL Enterprise manager by right clicking on the server node and choosing properties. On the Server Settings tab, there is a checkmark that reads "Allow triggers to be fired which fire other triggers (nested triggers)."
Once nested triggers are allowed, the job(s) in question will need to be re-created and should run when scheduled.

KNOWN ISSUE: NS 7.0 Altiris Agents are unable to get Client Configuration Policy updates after CMDB 7.0 solution is installed.

Article ID: 48612

Altiris Agents are unable to get Client Configuration Policy updates.

Multiple errors in Agent log file from when an Update Configuration is requested:

Process: aexnsagent.exe (1540)
Thread ID: 1628
Module: aexnsagent.exe
Source: ConfigServer
Description: RequestPolicies failed: Invalid XML response from URL http://<SERVERNAME>/Altiris/NS/Agent/GetClientPolicies.aspx (-2147467259)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Process: aexnsagent.exe (1912)
Thread ID: 2016
Module: aexnsagent.exe
Source: ConfigServer
Description: RequestPolicies failed: HTTP error: (-2147209951)

---

Environment

Symantec Management Platform 7.0.5201 (7.0 SP2)
Software Management Solution 7.01291 (7.0)

CMDB Solution 7.0

---

Cause

New policies created after installing CMDB Solution 7.0 do not have a closing policy tag - </policy> - when added to the client policy as delivered from the server to the client.

---

Resolution

If you are experiencing this issue, please contact support and reference KB48690.

This issue has been forwarded to development.

How to manually retrieve the Client Policy for a computer using a browser in NS7

In NS 7, the Altiris Agent uses an HTTP POST call to retrieve the Client Policy, but there are times when it's necessary to retrieve it manually when troubleshooting Policy issues.  How can this be done?

---

Answer

In a web browser, the following URL can be used to retrieve the client config for a computer.  In NS7, Client Policies are requested compressed by default, but this can be turned off:

1. Replace "localhost" with the server name if not being loaded on the NS.
2. Change compress="0" to compress="1" to use compression (the file will be displayed in binary in certain browsers, or downloaded in others).
3. Change the guid to the resource guid for the computer.

'>http://localhost/Altiris/NS/Agent/GetClientPolicies.aspx?xml=<request configVersion="2" compress="0"><resources><resource required="true" host="true" guid="{7074B73F-B143-4CB6-B44B-A6D38AA6733D}"/></resources></request>

Ref : KB article click here

How soon after Microsoft releases a bulletin will the new PMImport.cab file be released?

 

The PMImport.cab file with English support should be available within 24 hours of "Patch Tuesday".  The PMImport.cab file with non-English support should be released within 48 hours.

KB21895

Task Server 7.0 Agent does not install on site servers

After selecting a site server to have the task service installed it stays in the pending installation.  After checking the run status of the task server package install it has a status code of 0.

Cause

This is most likely caused by a missing prerequisite.  Ensure that you have at least the following items for the Task Server install

.NET 2.0
Windows 2000 sp4
IIS

Windows 7 and Rdeploy (My story…)

What did I do….

I installed my Windows 7 in a virtual environment …Just a next, next, finish setup.
I then then run sysprep (c:\windows\systems32\sysprep). I chose OOBE with the Generalize option.
I did not create a sysprep.XML to continue…(I was still downloading the WAIK to create an XML).

So after the sysprep was finished my PC was shutdown. I took an image using Ghost and one with Rdeploy.

It will take about 10 min (in my virtual setup).

When I boot the PC it will return an error like this.

When I start my WINPE again and I run bcdedit then my drive looks like this:

I now run these commands in a script in the WIN PE environment (same as Ghost and Rdeploy):

BCDEDIT /set {bootmgr} device partition:c:
BCDEDIT /set {default} device partition:d:
BCDEDIT /set {default} osdevice partition:d:

Running these command will fix the error you get. Making the image boot again.

Automating the completion of the Contact Information page in Symantec Installation Manager

Complete the following steps to create a config.xml file that contains the contact information and to populate the Contact Information page with this data when Symantec Installation Manager runs:

1. Use the following XML to create a config.xml file that contains your data:
   <?xml version="1.0"?>
   <simConfig xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
          <downloadConfig>
                 <tradeComplianceConfig>
                       <!--The personal information required for trade compliance (required for tradeComplianceConfig)-->
                          <personalInformation>
                              <organization>company Name</organization>
                              <firstName>first name</firstName>
                              <lastName>last name</lastName>
                              <email>email address</email>
                              <address1>company address</address1>
                              <address2 />
                              <country>country</country>
                              <city>city</city>
                              <stateProvince>state or province</stateProvince>
                              <zipCode>zip code</zipCode>
                              <phone>phone number</phone>
                          </personalInformation>
                 </tradeComplianceConfig>
          </downloadConfig>
   </simConfig>
2. Copy the config.xml file to each Notification Server.
3. Launch Symantec Installation Manager with the following command line:

SymantecInstallationManager.exe /configfile <filepath> where <filepath> is the path to the config.xml file that you created.

When Symantec Installation Manager runs, it automatically populates the Contact Information page with the data you entered in the config.xml file.

NS6.0 Common problems for very large environments

 

Applies To

• Application Metering Solution 6.1
• Asset Control and Contract Management Solution 6.1, 6.2
• Inventory Solution for Windows 6.1
• Notification Server 6.0
• Patch Management Solution for Windows

Recovery Solution

• Default configuration of the RS database is configured to grow in 1MB increments.  Database can easily grow to 50+ GB.  All environments can safely change the growth rate to 10% of prior DB size.  Because the database file growth occurred in very tiny increments, the disk will be heavily fragmented.  Use traditional disk defragmentation tools to defrag the database (after temporarily stopping the SQL service). 
• New RS implementations should strongly consider increasing the allocated database file size to 30GB.  This minimizes the file fragmentation issue, and avoids a performance hit that occurs each time the database file size is automatically increased.  Rule of thumb for RS database size is 2-5% of the space used to store the backed-up files.  Smaller environments will be closer to the 5% end of the range.  Large environments will be closer to 2%.

Patch Management

• New PMimport.cab releases cause a large temporary spike of Inventory Rule retrieval and uploading of new scanning data. This load spike can overwhelm IIS to the point that the NS console is unavailable for 4–8 hours.

  Patch Management 6.2 supports the ability to move the Inventory Rule Web service to a separate application pool. This technique isolates the rest of the Notification Server from the load spike that was overwhelming standard agent and console communications. See article 25655 for implementation instructions.

• Patch Inventory Rule scanning is too frequent. Avoid using intervals less than the default of 4 hours in production environments. 

Application Metering

• Enabling monitoring of start and stop events for .exe files can overwhelm the server with event traffic. This is not recommended for any customer, but particularly painful for large environments. 
  The newest version of Application Metering includes some batch upload capabilities that may resolve this concern.
• Disable the "All Applications" Monitor Policy as it will enable all the clients to send summary data for every .EXE.

Inventory Solution

• Using the default of running all Inventory scanning on all computers at the same time each day or week will temporarily flood the NS queues until all NSEs have been processed. To alleviate, break-up inventory scanning into multiple collections which run on different days or utilize aexruncontrol.exe to randomize the scan times.
  For implementation details, see article 32175, "How to scale Inventory Solution in very large environments."

Asset Management

• Client facing Notification Servers with 10,000 plus nodes do not respond quickly (on a consistent basis) due to the inevitable spikes in agent communication and data uploading. The real time interaction for Asset Management functions involves lots of data entry. To avoid console performance delays, implement a secondary Notification Server and forward the inventory to the dedicated Reporting/AMS server.

Notification Server

• Collection update intervals are too frequent. The Notification Server and SQL will spend too much processing time rebuilding collections which could be better spent replying to agent requests, processing NSEs, and rendering the Notification Server console. 
  To avoid problems, stagger the delta and collection update schedules, and increase to 4+ hours.
• Agent check-in intervals are too frequent. Agent configuration request processing is usually the highest source of load on the Notification Server. Agent policies (Tasks) aren't frequently modified due to change control procedures (in very large environments). Checking in too frequently results in the agents retrieving no new configuration data. The Notification Server must still review all enabled policies that apply to the agent.
  To avoid problems, increase the Altiris Agent check-in interval to a more reasonable setting such as 4–6 hours.
• Report rendering hurts server performance. By default, the display row count is remembered for all future reports. Customers will frequently set the display row count to "All", which is fine for some smaller reports, but will cause 50,000 rows to returned for others.
  To avoid performance problems, update a SQL stored procedure (article 22542) This will reset the display row count before running each report.
• Resource Data History tab: In large environments (10,000 plus nodes), the query behind the History tab within the Resource Manager can cause severe CPU/Memory and SQL utilization spikes. 
  To avoid the issue, implement a reporting Notification Server (forward the inventory to it), and avoid viewing the Resource History data on the client facing Notification Server.
• Improving IIS and Notification Server response times by disabling debug mode: This is a common configuration that can (and should) be safely disabled on any Notification Server. High traffic environments with multiple Notification Server console users are the most heavily impacted. Follow the instructions as provided in article 33499.

DMC and DCM with SMP7 SP2 (or NS 7 SP2)

Please DO NOT apply the upgrade when using Dell Management Console or Dell Client Manager.
A new version of DMC 1.1 will be available around september that will work with SMP7 SP2 (or NS7 SP2).

New Releases

As Symantec is releasing more and more components I will try to summerize them each month.

New in July 2009:

1. SMP70.SP2 Hotfix1: performnace and bugfixes
2. Connector Solution 7.0: New in SMP7.0, NO more vendor conector solutions provided like HP Openview, SMS connector etc.
3. Workflow 7.0: New in NS7.0 and base for ServiceDesk 7.0 (target end august 2009)

Forecast (no commitments):

• Service Desk : end august 2009
• CMS SP1 : september 2009

Symantec Management Platform 7.0 SP2 Hotfix 1 Release Notes

After aplying the SP2 upgrade you should return to the SIM to apply the hotfix update.

This is described in article KB48033

Symantec™ Management Platform 7.0 SP2 Release Notes

The FULL release notes of SP2 are to be found in this following KB 46035.
Click Here to read all about the following upgrades:

• Core NS7
• Sofware Management framework (with Data Provider)
• Event Console
• Task Server
• Network Discovery
• Credential Manager

A BIG Performance improvement is noticed after applying this upgrade.

Upgrade / Install for Notification Server NS7 Sp2 via Symantec Installation Manager

There is no option to install SP2 for Notification Server via installing updates. It needs to be done through the "Install new products" option.
Example:- Start the the Symantec Installation Manager. This will update Symantec Installation Manager to update as well as the product listing.- Select install new products. SP2 will not display if you just select to install updates.- Choose to Filter on Platform- Install the Symantec Management Platform SP2 and Symantec Management Platform SP2 Hotfix 1- Review the selections and hit next to continue.- Follow the prompts to continue the installation.

What to know more on Workflow?

Check out this site as it a very good consolidated site for Workflow: http://www.workflowswat.com/

Is there a way to skip the install readiness checks during the install?

Yes.  Of course skipping the pre-req checks can result in undefined behavior of the product.  But there may be a case, for example, where the CPU speed does not meet the minimum specs even though you have multiple processors.

To disable the check for SIM prerequisites:
Add the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\AIM to the registry.
Create a DWord called IgnoreInstallPrerequisites and set the value to 1.
To enable the Next button if any of the install Readiness checks fail:
Add the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\AIM\InstallReadinessCheck\ to the registry. Create a DWord called EnableNextbutton and set the value to 1.

All known GUIDs from the Class table

https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=24352&p=1

Nice article if you are troubleshooting GUID’s

Resolving the Certificate Revocation List (CRL) lookup performance issue

The symptoms of the Certificate Revocation List (CRL) lookup performance issue on the Symantec Management Platform computer are:

• Windows services on the Platform computer sometimes fail during startup.
• Some Symantec Management Console pages take a very long time to load.

---

Environment

This problem typically happens if the Symantec Management Platform computer is not connected to the internet, or is unable to resolve the Microsoft CRL server address. However, the problem may also arise if the Symantec Management Platform computer goes offline for an extended period. The computer will start exhibiting these performance issues after being offline for 15 days, as the CRL data is cached for 15 days.

---

Cause

This problem is caused by the Certificate Revocation List (CRL) lookup.  
If the Symantec Management Platform computer does not have internet access, the .NET runtime cannot access the Microsoft Certificate Revocation List servers to verify the Authenticode assembly. Although none of the applications that comprise the Symantec Management Platform make use of Authenticode assembly signing evidence, the standard Microsoft assemblies that are included with the .NET framework are all Authenticode signed. When the computer has no internet connection, .NET will try for up to 15 seconds to access the CRL before timing out as a failure.
This delay can lead to Windows services failing during startup, as some services take a long time to start and may time out. This delay also causes some Symantec Management Console pages to take a very long time to load.

---

Resolution

To resolve this problem, we recommend that you disable CRL lookups if the Symantec Management Platform computer is offline, or is likely to be offline for an extended period of time. You can re-enable CRL lookups later, if necessary.

Disabling CRL lookups

To disable CRL lookups on the Symantec Management Platform computer, you need to edit the machine.config file on the computer, as follows:

1. Open the machine.config file in a text editor.
   The machine.config file is located at %runtime install path%\Config\machine.config, where the runtime install path is usually C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\.
2. Add the following XML element to the machine.config file:
   <configuration>
      <runtime>
   <generatePublisherEvidence enabled="false"/>
      </runtime>
   </configuration>
3. Save the machine.config file.

Re-enabling CRL lookups

If the Symantec Management Platform computer is later given internet access, you may need to re-enable CRL lookups. The Symantec Management Platform does not detect when access to the CRL server is restored, so will not make any changes to the machine.config file automatically. You only need to reverse the change to the machine.config file if applications or .NET security policies that require publisher evidence are installed on the computer. This is not common.
To re-enable CRL lookups manually, do the following:

1. Open the machine.config file in a text editor.
2. Delete the following XML element from the machine.config file:
   <generatePublisherEvidence enabled="false"/ >
   Ensure that you delete only this line from the machine.config file. Do not delete any other XML elements (such as the surrounding <configuration> and <runtime> elements), as they could be required for other customized options specified in the file.
3. Save the machine.config file.

Disabling CRL lookups for individual applications

In some circumstances you may not want to disable CRL lookups computer-wide, but need to disable them for individual applications. To disable CRL lookups for a particular application, open the appropriate application .config file (the naming convention is application name.config), and add the required XML element as specified for the machine.config file. If the necessary .config file does not exist for the application, you can create it.

The same applies to web.config files for web applications.

Note

When you install the Symantec Management Platform, the Install Readiness Check now includes a check for CRL access. If the computer does not have the necessary access, the check recommends that you disable CRL lookups for all .NET applications on the computer. You can do this automatically by accepting the "Fix" prompt displayed in the Symantec Installation Manager.

For more information, refer to the following KB article: About the Install Readiness Check for Certificate Revocation List access.

Best Practice references for Symantec Management Platform 7.0 (Article ID: 47816)

Planning and Documentation Symantec Management Platform 7.0 SP1 Release Notes  KB45229 Symantec Management Platform Support Matrix  KB46349 Symantec Management Platform Capacity Planning  KB45597 Planning & Design Considerations for Hierarchy & Site Management  KB47298     Installation and Migration Altiris 7 Planning & Implementation Guide  KB45803 Symantec Management Platform 7.0 Installation Guide  KB47819 Upgrading to Symantec Management Platform 7.0 on a different computer  KB45569     Backup and Recovery Backing up the Notification Server database  KB25600 Restoring Notification Server from a backup or upgrading it to new hardware  KB45606     Performance Tuning Creating a SQL maintenance plan to optimize database performance  KB40488 Understanding the /3GB and /USERVA switches, and Free System Page Table Entries  KB25079 How to create a Performance Monitor counter set for Altiris support  KB32258 Common Performance Monitor counter thresholds  KB45425     Troubleshooting What information should I collect when troubleshooting Symantec Installation Manager 7.0?  KB43175

Support for SQL 2005 SP3 for NS6

Notification Server 6.0 SP3 R10 now supports SQL 2005 SP3.

Currently Deployment Solution 6.9 SP1 MP1 (and earlier) and Notification Server 7.0 and 7.0 sp1 are not supported on SQL 2005 SP3.
Support for SQL 2005 SP3 is planned for a future release.

How to allow Deployment Console access without granting access to SQL Server.

 

Is it possible to provide users with access the the Deployment Server Windows Console without granting access to SQL Server?

---

Answer

The Deployment Server Windows Console can be configured to use encrypted credentials to access SQL Server. These credentials will not be available to the windows user and can only be used by the console. This is the most secure way to provide access to the console.
1. If you have not already done so, create a SQL-only account on SQL Server.
2. Make that account a member of the DBO role of the Deployment (eXpress) Database.
3. On your Deployment Server, open the “Altiris Deployment Server” control panel applet.
a. Click “Options…”
b. Select the “Authentication” tab.
c. Enable the option to “Use SQL Server account authentication”
d. Type in the SQL-only account user name and password.
e. Click “OK” to close the Options dialog.
f. Click “OK” to close the applet.
4. On your Deployment Server, click Start > Run, type “regedit”, and click OK.
5. In the registry editor, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris eXpress\Options
6. Double-click on the registry value “SqlPassword”.
7. Copy the content of that registry value into the clipboard.
8. Open Notepad.
9. Enter the following into Notepad, replacing **USER** and **PASSWORD** with the user name of your SQL-only account and the value you copied into your clipboard.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris eXpress\Options]
"SqlUsername"="**USER**"
"SqlPassword"="**PASSWORD**"
"UseSql"=dword:00000001
10. Save the file as “DS_Auth.reg”
11. Import “DS_Auth.reg” onto every computer that the Deployment Windows Console is installed to.

Windows 7 Release Candidate Announcement

On April 30th, the RC became available to MSDN subscribers and TechNet Plus subscribers.

On Tuesday, May 5 (PST), the RC will be available to everyone via our Customer Preview Program. As with the Beta, the Windows 7 RC Customer Preview Program is a broad public program that offers the RC free to anyone who wants to download it. It will be available at least through June 30, 2009, with no limits on the number of downloads or product keys available.

So you don’t need rush to make sure you get your copy. When you’re ready to download the RC, it’ll be waiting for you.

Notification Server 6.0 SP3 R10 Release Notes

Rollup 10 (R10) for Notification Server 6.0 is a rollup of fixes to the core product since the release of Service Pack 3. It includes R1 (KB22690), R2 (KB23784), R3 (KB25133), R4 (KB27859), R5 (KB31946), R6 (KB34317), R7 (KB35803),  R8 (KB39159), and R9 (KB39160)

Fixes and enhancements:

• Software Delivery Tasks that are set to run only at the scheduled time do not run after a deferral window
• Altiris Agent Support for Vista SP2
  
• Support for SQL 2005 SP3
  

Is Internet Explorer 8.0 supported with Notification Server?

Internet Explorer 8.0 is not supported at this time with NS 6 or 7.

However, as IE 8 offers an IE 7 compatibility mode, you may be able to use IE 8 with Notification Server 6.0 by putting the hostname of your NS into the Intranet Sites Security Zone.

Sites in the Intranet Zone are rendered in IE 7 compatibility view by default in IE 8. You can also click the compatibility view icon, located to the right of the address bar, to force IE 8 to render a given site in IE 7 mode.

How can I remove .NET 3.5 SP1 and / or .NET 2.0 SP2 and reinstall .NET 3.5?

Please first make a complete backup of the Notification Server before proceeding with the below steps.
If you have only installed .NET 3.5 and .NET 2.0 SP2, use the following steps:

1. Uninstall .NET 2.0 SP2 from Add or Remove Programs

If you have installed .NET 3.5 SP1 (which includes .NET 2.0 SP2 and .NET 3.0 SP2), use the following steps:

1. Uninstall .NET 3.5 SP1 from Add or Remove Programs
2. Uninstall .NET 3.0 SP2
3. Uninstall .NET 2.0 SP2
4. Reinstall .NET 3.5

After you have reinstalled .NET 3.5 (which includes .NET 2.0 SP1 and .NET 3.0 SP1) please make sure that the Default Web Site in IIS is set to use .NET 2.0.

After the re-installation IIS will prohibit .NET 2.0 usage by default and will result in the following errors:

Log File Name: a.log
Priority: 2
Date: 4/7/2009 11:52:19 AM
Tick Count: 1868671
Host Name: *********
Process: AtrsHost (1528)
Thread ID: 4
Module: AtrsHost.exe
Source: Altiris.TaskManagement.ClientTask.*
Description: System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.
   at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()
   at Altiris.ClientTask.Server.ClientTaskServer.RegisterTaskServer(TaskServerGroupGuid serverGuid, Guid serverSecret)

Log File Name: Agent.log
Priority: 1
Date: 4/7/2009 4:30:02 PM
Tick Count: 6996453
Host Name: ********
Process: aexnsagent.exe (1152)
Thread ID: 1180
Module: aexnsagent.exe
Source: ConfigServer
Description: RequestPolicies failed: HTTP error: 404 Not Found (-2147209951)

Allow .NET 2.0 usage in the IIS Web Extensions and reload the console.

Which thin client modles from HP/Neoware qualify as a free managed node?

HP models starting with the characters t5, gt7, vc4, and the 2533t and 6720t models qualify as a free managed node and do not require any Deployment Server licensing. 

Neoware thin clients are not support as free nodes. There are some legacy models of Neoware thin clients that DS will recognize as free.

Dell Client Manager Table

Hope this helps

Component	DMC	DCM Standard	DCM Plus	DCM Suite
Altiris Agent Linux, Unix and Mac	X		X	X
Altiris Inventory for Network Devices	X			X
Altiris Monitor Solution for Servers	X
Altiris Patch Management for Dell Servers	X
Symantec Management Platform 7	X
Altiris Event Console	X	X	X	X
Altiris Pluggable Protocol Architecture	X	X	X	X
Altiris Network Discovery	X	X	X	X
Altiris Real Time Console Infrastructure		X	X	X
Out Of Band Management		X	X	X
Power Scheme task		X	X	X
Altiris Software Management			X	X
Altiris Inventory			X	X
Altiris Deployment Solution 7			X	X
Altiris Patch Management For Linux				X
Altiris Patch Management For Windows				X
PC AnyWhere				X
Altiris Real Time System Manager				X

Nice juice (now Connect) Articles

 

Migrating from Inventory Solution 6.x to 7.0
http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/migrating-inventory-solution-6x-70

Best Practices for Configuring an Intel vPro Capable System within Out of Band Management 7.0
http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/best-practices-configuring-intel-vpro-capable-system-within-out-band-management-70

Running Inventory to Capture All Information, Including Details File Inventory, Using a Task Server Job
http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/running-inventory-capture-all-information-including-details-file-inventory-using-task-serve

Remote Configuration Certificate Best Practices in Out of Band Management 7 for Intel vPro Systems
http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/remote-configuration-certificate-best-practices-out-band-management-7-intel-vpro-systems

DS 6.9 SP1 and SQL Express 2005SP2

To be able to install DS6.9SP1 you need a SQL Server.
For testing, demo only we can use the SQL Express edition. I used SQL Express 2005SP2.
Just installed out of the box with SP2.
Before you start installing the DS you need to enable the TCP IP protocol using the Server Configuration Manager

Second you need to enable the SQL Browser service

Then you need to start the SQL Browser Service

Either reboot the server or restart the SQL Server Service. See above, just right click and restart.
Now you are able the run the DS Setup

 

First steps with DS7.0

As soon as you install the Deployment Agent you also install an automation partition on the C: drive. (C:\Boot)

Client actions (prepare)

Create a directory called Sysprep on the source machine. (c:\sysprep) copy the Support\tools\deploy.cab file from your WindowsXPinstallation disk or service pack to the
c:\sysprep\deploy.cab file on the source computer.

Using VMWare please use the E1000 Nic see KB40812 and use IDE not SCSI (using SCSI the C:\ will not be detected)

Notification server actions

Before starting to create the capture Task you need to enter your license key for windows under Settings, Deployment and Migration, OS Licenses.
No create the task to get the image.

KB's including the Outlook Junk Mail for 2003 and 2007 will now be added to the PMImport

Beginning April 2009 the Outlook Junk email kb's for Office 2003 and 2007 will be included in the 4th week PMImports.

This is for Patch Management Solution for Windows 6.2 SP1

Symantec Managefusion 2009 wrap up

http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/tv/archive/2009/03/12/brian-madden-tv-episode-5-symantec-managefusion-2009-wrap-up.aspx

PXE will not bind to port 4011 on a Windows 2008 server that is running the Microsoft DHCP server service

Problem/Symptoms

PXE will not bind to port 4011 on a Windows 2008 server that is running the Microsoft DHCP server service

Steps to reproduce:

1. Install Windows 2008 Server and install the DHCP server service.
2. Install Deployment Solution 6.9 SP1.
3. PXE boot a client. PXE will not work.

---

Environment

Windows 2008 Server with DHCP server service installed and running
Deployment Solution 6.9 build 355

---

Resolution

Symantec is investigating this issue and will update this article when there is more information.

To work around this issue, change the PXE configuration from the default "auto-detect Microsoft DHCP" to "3rd party DHCP" and configure DHCP option 60 to "PXEClient".

VMWare ESX3 SQL Performance Documentation

A very nice document can be found Here

Updates on NS7

There used to be a notification and a process that checked every day for updates on the suite.

In NS7 this is no longer the case. You should run the SIM and do a check update.

So to start:
I installed my NS7 on the 10^th of March 20, 2009 and there is a :
1) Critical Update on the NS Language pack
2) HF1 on Network Discovery
3) HF1 on Inventory for Network Devices
4) HF1 on Symantec Management Platform SP1
5) SP1 on Power Scheme Task
6) HF1 on Pluggable Protocol Architecture SP1

New items:

Data Loss prevention Integration Component
Fujitsu Siemens Deskview (several)
ASDK 2.0

ManageFusion 09 Keynote

Want to see the keynote?

Day 1

http://www.symantec.com/about/playerdetail.jsp?cid=mf09_keynote1&sg=about&type=videos&lg=en&ct=us&fp=y

Day 2
(Virtual Workspace and Workspace Remote)
(Some workflow integration)
(Endpoint Protection and Mobile Security)

http://www.symantec.com/about/playerdetail.jsp?cid=mf09_keynote2&sg=about&type=videos&lg=en&ct=us&fp=y

Deployment Solution 6.9 SP1 will not install into NS 6.0 Console

Installation of the Deployment Solution tab in the NS 6.0 Console never completes.

In some instances the Event log will have the following in the Application Log;

     Error 1718. File FileName was rejected by digital signature policy.

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Environment

Deployment Solution 6.9 SP1, (6.9.355 & 6.9.365)

Notification Server 6.0 Console

Windows Server 2003 (all versions)

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Cause

Known issue in Windows Server 2003 (all versions) covered in Microsoft KnowledgeBase article #925336.

This problem occurs if the Windows Installer process has insufficient contiguous virtual memory to verify that the .msi package or the .msp package is correctly signed.

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Resolution

Hotfix is available from Microsoft at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925336

Where is Juice???

Juice has got a new look and feel….you want to know more for then click here

About installing the Altiris Agent

For information and a listing of the available installation parameters for the Altiris Agent Installatio Program, see Altiris Knowledgebase article 27958 or click here.

For information on the Login Script installation process, see Altiris Knowledgebase article 28226 or click here.

For information on the Active Directory Policies installation process, see Altiris Knowledgebase article
27956 or click here.

Detailed Agent logging

Whenever you want more details to be logged to the NS agent log file you can add a registry key at the following location :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Event Logging\LogFile

Add Severity as DWORD

The following values are used:
Error = 1, Warning = 2, Informational = 4, Trace = 8, Verbose = 16

So if you enable all the value is 31, if you enable Err, War, Inf then the value is 7

Maxfiles and MaxSize as DWORD will limit size and files

Hotfix for Sequential Tasks

A hotfix has been developed and tested to resolve this issue.  The hotfix can be found here.  The hotfix upgrades the Task Synchronization Agent and updates the collection assigned to the Task Synchronization Agent Upgrade Task to incorporate the version change.

NOTE!  If you've previously installed a version of the hot fix prior to 2/18/2009 you will need to uninstall the previous version of the hot fix from Add/Remove Programs before reapplying with this newer version.

To apply the hotfix, simply run the attached EXE on the Notification Server (located in the right-hand pane).  Note that processing will be paused during the application of the hotfix.  It is recommended to either log directly on the Notification Server or use the /console switch if using Remote Desktop.

To finish the fix, use the Task Synchronization Agent Upgrade policy to roll out the new version of the Task Synchronization Agent.

1. In the Altiris Console, browse to View > Solutions > Software Delivery > browse through Configuration > Task Synchronization Agent.
2. Right-click on the Task Synchronization Agent Upgrade task and choose Enable (if not so already).
3. If an upgrade has occurred previously, please set a schedule to roll out the new Agent as the option for Run as Soon as the Computer is Notified only ever runs once, regardless of changes in version.

Remote Altiris Agent Diagnostics for NS7

This new tool (see below) is now supporting the NS7 Agent.

GREAT tool, a must have as an Altiris Admin

Bandwidth throttling and speed tests, how does it work?

• Bandwidth throttling configuration
  • Bandwidth throttling options
  • Throttling rules
• How the throttling process work
  • The Altiris Agent
  • Speed testing triggers
  • Speed testing operations
  • Throttling when icmp is turned off
• Speed testing parameters
• Registry keys
• Additional information

Bandwidth Throttling configuration:

Bandwidth throttling is configured on the NS Web admin console at 'Configuration > Altiris Agent > Altiris Agent Configuration' each of the four agent tasks, on the General tab under the Bandwidth/Throttling settings section.

Bandwidth throttling options:

1. Never throttle.
2. Enable throttling when connection speed is below <dropdown box>:
   • 500 bytes/sec
   • 1 KB/sec
   • 2 KB/sec
   • 4 KB/sec
   • 10 KB/sec
   • 20 KB/sec
   • 50 KB/sec (default)
   • 100 KB/sec
   • 256 KB/sec
   • 512 KB/sec
   • 1 MB/sec
3. Throttle regardless of connection speed.
4. Use the server’s time for throttling settings (none configured by default).

Once bandwidth throttling has been configured, and the throttling configurations have been passed to the Altiris Agent machines, the Altiris Agent uses ICMP (ping) packets to perform the network connection speed tests. This is detailed below in the section Speed Testing Parameters. The returned speed test value is cached for a period of 6 hours.

When there is a scheduled package download task, the Altiris Agent either retrieves the cached connection speed value or it will initiate a new network speed test, and the results will be cached for 6 hours. Once the 6-hour cache expires, the Altiris Agent will request another speed test profile once an advertisement execution or package download begins (see Speed Testing Triggers and Speed Testing Operations below).

Throttling Rules:

When the Altiris Agent is asked to throttle, there are two throttling rules that can be configured:

1. Relative throttling—This is a user defined percentage of available bandwidth, and it is measure in 0–100 percent.
2. Absolute throttling—This is a user defined maximum allowed throughput when throttling is enabled; it is measured in bytes per second.

How the throttling process works:

The Altiris Agent:

1. Sets wait times and buffer sizes that most closely meet the target download speed of the configured relative or absolute throttle rule before starting the package download.
2. Requests a segment of data from the source.
3. Receives the data and then waits a specified period of time.
4. Monitors the download and adjusts to meet the configured throughput.
5. Requires no additional speed testing.

Speed Testing Triggers:

When the Altiris Agent is instructed to perform a speed test by its configuration policy there are four triggers that can initiate the speed test:

1. Each Software Delivery task can have a 'Download and run…' option (Advanced tab and 'Download and Execute Options') which determines the location of the file for execution, whether from a server or locally, depending on the available speed.
2. In the Altiris Agent configuration there is an option Default minimum connection speed to run SWD Packages to test minimum throughput before execution.
3. In the Altiris Agent configuration there is the same Download and run… option as in the Software Delivery Task, but when applied via the Altiris Agent configuration, it is a global setting which then applies to all tasks.
4. In the Altiris Agent configuration there is download throttling when the download occurs. This method has two modes of operation: Relative throttling which is a percent of available bandwidth, and Absolute throttling which is simply a value for the throughput allowed.

Speed test operations:

Speed Tests are Directed Against Servers in the Following Manner:

1. Items 1, 3, and 4 above in Speed Testing Triggers (only with Relative throttling) are tests against the download location.
2. Item 2 above in Speed Testing Triggers is against the Notification Server, or any Item where the Altiris Agent cannot determine another server to test against will be evaluated against the Notification Server.
3. Item 4 (with Absolute throttling) does not need a speed test.

Note! Speed testing does not mean packets go on the wire every time one of these decision points is reached. Review the speed test details below under Speed Testing Parameters. Whether it is for a package download or an advertisement execution, the speed testing process is the same.

Speed testing begins with the FQDN name for the server being targeted based on the codebase and the speed is discovered and set; the NetBIOS name is not tested but it set to the same speed. If the FQDN test fails then the NetBIOS name is tested, and the speed is discovered and set.

Bandwidth Throttling when ICMP is turned off:

There are several throttle settings and parameters that need to be understood when ICMP traffic is disabled on the network. Activation of throttling by the Altiris Agent is based on the following options:

1. Throttle regardless of connection speed, or
2. Enable throttling when connection speed is below <dropdown box>.

If ICMP traffic is disabled on the network, the option Throttle regardless of connection speed should be selected. If the option Enable throttling when connection speed is below… is selected when ICMP traffic has been disabled, by default throttling is set to 1 KB/sec because the connection speed cannot be verified.

So, threshold settings that are 1 KB/sec or above are always throttled, and the setting of 500 bytes/sec is never throttled.

The configurable values for throttling threshold are:

• 500 bytes/sec
• 1 KB/sec
• 2 KB/sec
• 4 KB/sec
• 10 KB/sec
• 20 KB/sec
• 50 KB/sec (default)
• 100 KB/sec
• 256 KB/sec
• 512 KB/sec
• 1 MB/sec

Once the throttling options are selected then the throttling limits come into effect. Again, these limits are:

1. Relative throttling — This is a user defined percentage of available bandwidth, and it is measure in 0–100 percent.
2. Absolute throttling — This is a user defined maximum allowed throughput when throttling is enabled; it is measured in bytes per second.

When ICMP traffic is disabled on the network there is no need to initiate speed testing and Absolute throttling is the better choice. The bandwidth limit is already known and the Altiris Agent will throttle to that limit. If Relative throttling is selected, it will still act as an absolute limit as defaults to the option of 1 KB/sec.

Since network throughput is so critical, different Altiris Agent collections should be created based on network throughput. Altiris Agent machines can then be customized based on customized connectivity configurations.

Speed Testing Parameters:

Speed testing is a result of the Altiris Agent pinging the FQDN name for a server being targeted based on the defined codebase, and the speed is discovered and cached; the NetBIOS name is not tested but it set to the same speed. If the FQDN test fails then the NetBIOS name is tested, and the speed is discovered and set.

If the codebase request is to a server that has not been profiled for a connection speed before then a speed test is initiated.

Packets used: Five 1-byte packets and then thirty 400-byte packets. (Note: Older operating systems will only use five 400-byte packets.)

Registry keys:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Communications\MaxServersToCheck (default 6, valid range is 1–100).</I">

            Description: Maximum numbers of servers to check

Values: If over 100 or under 0 then is set to 100; a value of 0 is set to 6

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Communications\ IP Expiry (mins) (default 360, valid range is 1–10,080)</I">

Description: Number of minutes before connectivity to a Host is retested

Values: If over 10,080 or under 0 then is set to10080; a value of 0 is set to 1.
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Communications\SPEED Expiry(mins) (default 360) 

Additional information

See AKB #39368 for additional information on Speed Testing.

NS7 RC2 Getting started

To start with the RC2 please download the Symantec Instalation Manager from the beta portal and the product Listing that goes with the RC2. The sources then will be downloaded as required.

When you start playing with the new RC2 downloaded from the BETA site then don't forget to enable the  "Altiris Agent for Windows - Upgrade" policy to get started, otherwise you are working with an old agent on the NS SERVER only, the agents get deployed ok. (This is because the agent is installed during the base install during the setup)

If you have installed Inventory Solution with Application Metering Solution then the Inventory Solution Pug in is enabled by default. (this is new). The "Application Metering Plug-in for Windows Install" if selected in the Enable Management Features screen during install is NOT enabled by default.

Get the Software Discovery policy enabled on a suitable time is working on VMWare (mine is turned off during night).. The policy runs on Sun and Wed at 02H00 AM...This policy is responsable to populate the Add/Remove Program Table that is used in the Installed software Report.

A full inventory is enabled by default and will run at 18H00 every Monday

(Updated) Remote Altiris Agent Diagnostics

“Remote Altiris Agent Diagnostics” allows you to connect into a remotely Altiris Agent managed machine to view all the configurations and troubleshoot without having to RDP into the machine to look at the Agent UI.

Many times a user is already logged onto the machine and so you cannot run any Altiris processes to move the agent along or troubleshoot. This application allows you to remotely run Configuration Requests, send Basic Inventory, Run a SWD program, stop and start the Altiris service, delete the Patch IAD file, view NSI files, delete Inventory files and randomization registry keys (a way to force cleanbeforerun and run now), change Logging settings, as well as run a command line remotely so you can run things like “AexPatchUtil.exe /Xa” to start the patch cycle.

You can see all the settings that the Agent UI does locally, except remotely – SWD, Patch, Agent Details, etc. It also has a Log Viewer and you can filter the log entries.

Download the attached application here. Just enter the DNS name of the remote machine and hit enter.

You need to run the executable locally on a x86 Windows OS, use an admin account on the remote client (can use 'Run As'), and the remote registry service needs to be started on host and remote machine. In order to use the Update Config Request, Send Basic Inventory, and Run Program you need the NS Agent installed locally.

Note: This is tool is not supported by Altiris Support. If you have problems or comments please use this KB to send feedback.

Updates:
Ver. 1.0.14 - Add the ability to except command line. Now you can run "Remote Altiris Agent Diagnostics.exe" ComputerName for this utility to automatically launch and connect to the ComputerName. Usage can be to add right-click menu to the NS Console.
Ver. 1.0.15 - Added "Resend Package Status" and "Refresh Packages" functionality to the Tools menu for Package Servers.
Ver. 1.0.15 - Changed "Remote Execution" to pull options from an INI file for easy distribution and repetition. Example INI in attached zip file.
Ver. 1.0.16 - Added "Reboot Required" and "Patch Cycle In Progress" date to the Software Uupdates tab.
Ver. 1.0.17 - Software Update fixes
Ver. 1.0.18 - Added Task Manager functionality - list and end remote processes
Ver. 1.0.19 - Added Package Server tab
Ver. 1.0.20 - Fix bug in SWD "Package ID" value and Task Manager "Memory" column sort fix
Ver. 1.1.1 - Added ability to connect to remote machine managed by the NS 7 Altiris Agent and not just NS 6 Agent.

Ver. 1.1.2 - Fix bug in End Process function on Task Manager
Ver. 1.1.3 - Added ability to Enable or Disable Bandwidth throttling on Tools tab
- Added ability to Hide Superseded Software Updates
- Added ability to double-click Source Location path to open in browser or explorer on Package Server and SWD tabs
- Added Download History and Source Location info on Package Server tab
Ver. 1.1.4 - Decreased the Package Server tab load time
Ver. 1.1.5 - Added "Hide Disabled" checkbox to Package Server tab

Please add yourself as a subscriber so you receive notifications when this tool has been updated.

Here are some screenshots:

How to prevent duplicate ResourceGuids from being forwarded to Reporting Notification Servers?

You have implemented our Duplicate Guid Diagnostic toolset on your Forwarding Notification Servers, however, you have noticed that your Reporting NS's are suffering from this scenario too.  How can this be prevented?

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Answer

In order to prevent duplicate ResourceGuids from being forwarded to a Reporting NS, you should exclude our "Possible Duplicate Guids" collections from your Inventory Forwarding collection.

If a Reporting NS already has a duplicate ResourceGuid issue, then make sure you delete them after implementing the above step, so that only unique ResourceGuids will exist on a Reporting NS.

Shared Guid Diagnostics Guide (aka Duplicate Guid Kit)

What is a shared agent guid, and how can I correct the problem?

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Answer

Definition

A Shared Altiris Agent Guid is a configuration problem that causes mismatched inventory data, and prevents accurate management and event-message storage of managed computers by the Altiris Notification Server.  The Altiris Agent Guid is the primary mechanism by which the Altiris Notification Server uniquely identifies each resource record in the NS database.  In this situation, we are concerned with computer resource records.  There are several potential causes of shared guids.  They all originate from circumvention of the normal agent deployment process, or external changes to the agent's configuration.  The end result is that two or more managed computers each claim to be the sole owner of the Agent Guid (which is supposed to be globally unique). 

Known causes

OS Imaging:  By default, the Notification Server will generate a new Guid upon the first request from a brand new Altiris Agent.  The Altiris Agent then stores its assigned Guid in the registry for Windows, and on the file-system for the Linux, Unix and Macintosh platforms.  Shared Guids can be caused by imaging a workstation that already has an Altiris Agent installed.  Each restored copy of the workstation will have the same assigned Guid.  This issue exists in all imaging solutions, with the exception of Deployment Server (DS) version 6.5 or better.  The best solution is to schedule the Altiris Agent to install immediately after restoring an image  (This can be done as a DS job).  An alternate solution is to always remember to delete the guid from the workstation prior to imaging (error prone).

Software Packaging: This cause is less likely to occur, but simple software repackaging tools will include the Altiris Agent's registry or file location of the guid as part of the software package.  Activity by the Altiris Agent can fool the packaging tool into thinking that the Guid belongs to the package.  Deploying the bad software package overwrites the good guid with the one from the capture station.  To avoid this problem, don't install the Altiris Agent on the workstation used for snapshoting the original software installation job.

Resolution

The purpose of this document is to demonstrate how to use the Notification Server’s shared GUID diagnostics kit to successfully identify and remove computers within the Notification Server database. The attached MS Word document contains screenshots for additional clarity (it is now considered out-of-date, and is merely provided for historical reference).

Installation

You can install the diagnostics kit by following the steps below. This utility contains several collections, a report, a package to remove the shared guids, and platform specific tasks. These items are all created in a Shared Guid Diagnostics v6.04 folder that is created by the import.

Note: Altiris NS Agent version 1508 or later is required for this to work.

1. Download the xml file attached to this article and save it to a location on  the Notification Server
2. Find a location to install this utility. For this example we will create a folder called “Diagnostics” within the Tasks folder.
3. Highlight the folder that you created. Right-click and choose Import.
4. You will be prompted to choose the file to import. Choose the Shared Guid Diagnostics v6.05.xml file.
5. Once the file has been imported into the Notification Server database, you should see the following structure:

 

1. Enable each applicable Reset Guid Task.  It's only neccessary to enable the task for platforms that exist in your environment.

Possible Duplicate Guids

• These collections will query the Notification Server database for all computers that have reported a change in their GUID in the past seven days. Computers in this collection are used by the associated task to reset the Guid on the client computers.
  Note: After fixing shared GUIDs in the database, there is a possibility that some computers will still show up here. This collection is checking to see if the computer record has been changed in the last seven days, not if it has been fixed. To retrieve an accurate report, use the GUIDs Shared between 2 or more computers report or view the Machines that have run the Reset Guid Task collection.

Machines that have run the Reset Guid Task.

• This collection will display any computers that have run a reset guid task, giving you a report of the machines that have completed the fix.  Keep in mind that this report can not be 100% accurate due to the problem that is being addressed by the reset guid tasks.

GUIDs Shared between 2 or more computers.

• Analyzes computers that have been sharing the same GUID, this is recognized when frequent name changes are occuring on a specific NS computer record. Once the duplicate GUID has been cleaned up, you will see the results in this report.  This report doesn't distinguish by platform, and will also include un-managed computer records.  By design, collections can not include unmanaged computers. 

Reset Guid Tasks

• These packages are responsible for running the appropriate task on the computers that are sharing the guid.  On the Windows platform, it will use a built-in utility to strip out the Altiris Agent's guid from the registry.  There are multiple places that the guid can be stored, depending upon if the DS Aclient is also present, and or older versions of the Altiris Agent have ever been used.
  • For the Windows platform, the following command is used:  AeXAgentUtil.exe /resetguid
  • For Unix, Linux, and Macintosh computers, the file containing the guid is deleted, and the Altiris Agent is restarted as a background process.  The agent restart is neccessary to flush the GUID from memory.
• A new Guid is created by the Notification Server after the Altiris Agent sends the computer name and domain to the Notification Server. For each shared guid, one of the computers will retain ownership of the computer resource record, the remaining computers will be assigned new guids (and thus new NS computer resource records).

Permissions

By default, when this package in imported, the owner of the folder and items will be null. The administrative role will have access to this utility, but if permissions are to be set, you should set the ownership by doing the following:

1. Right-click on the main folder
2. Choose Properties
3. Choose the Security Tab
4. Choose the Take Ownership button.

Uninstall
To completely remove the Duplicate Diagnostic utility from your system, you should follow the steps below. Delete the following objects through the NS console (right-click > Delete).
1. Reset Guid tasks (3).
2. Possible Shared Guid collections (3)
3. Machines that have run the Reset Guid task collection
4. Guids shared between 2 or more computers report
5. The Reset Guid Agent Package.  (You must first delete each "program" by clicking the delete button on the Programs tab of the package).

Version Notes

• 6.04 -> 6.05:  Updated the accuracy of the report to avoid false positives to match the upgraded collections.  Now both the report and the collections must have at least 3 name/domain changes in 7 days before being considering suspect.  This facilities the standard practice of changing the computer name and attaching to a domain.
  Corrected the software advertisement guids used in the "Computers that have run the Reset Guid task". 

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Troubleshooting

Problem: After running this tool, computers have been removed from my static collections

Answer: The attached report "Computers with Duplicate GUIDs and their old collection memberships.xml" can be used to help identify what collections were affected. Altiris Administrators will have to add the computers back to the collections they were removed from. Thank you to Altiris customer Vince Fanelli for creating this report.

Problem: My collection is not updating with any computers, and I know there are shared GUIDs in the database.

Answer: By default, the Collection will update on the automatic schedule for collections. You can change the time the update will happen by changing the “Automatic Collection Updating”.

Problem: My collection still shows a list of computers after the scheduled task has had time to run. Why are there still computers in the Possible Duplicate GUIDs collection?

Answer: This collection will report a list of computers that have changed their GUIDs in the last month. If the task has run successfully on these computers, then these computers should not update the GUID again. You will have to wait for a month before the computers will be removed from this collection. To accurately determine if there are any remaining computers that are reporting a duplicate, the report GUIDs shared between 2 or more computers should be used.

Problem:

I have run the Reset Guid task for all computers. Now the GUIDs shared between 2 or more computers report is showing a number of computers if the Number of days to report on is set to a high number like 100. Are there still sahred GUIDs in the database?

Answer:  No. This report will check the database for computers that have shared this GUID at some point in time (default setting is seven days). You will need to watch the results of this report to ensure there no new activity. You will see machines show up in this report if they report back to the Notification server with a GUID used by another computer. The computer will then take over the GUID and the next time the other computer checks in, it will repeat the process.

 

Links :

MS Word Doc: https://kb.altiris.com/utility/getfile.asp?rid=3577&aid=3848

Report : https://kb.altiris.com/utility/getfile.asp?rid=3589&aid=3848

Report : https://kb.altiris.com/utility/getfile.asp?rid=4914&aid=3848

Scripted OS install stops at a blinking cursor / blank screen

After assigning a scripted OS install job to a machine the client runs the prepare production partition part of the task then reboots to a blink cursor / blank screen

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Cause

There is a reboot required after setting up the partition for the scripted install task.  The machine is supposed to reboot back in to an automated environment and continue to copy down the files and start the install.  When it can not boot back in to a automation environment it boot to the empty production partition which has no boot information leaving the user viewing a blinking cursor / blank screen

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Resolution

Find out why the machine did not boot back to an automation environment.  This could be cause by any of the following.

• PXE/Network boot was not set as the top priority in the BIOS (only applicable if using pxe)
• The client connected to a rogue PXE server and was instruction to boot to production
• The automation media (boot CD/USB) was removed from the machine after rebooting

NS7: Inventory Installed Software Report

As I was playing a bit with NS7 (Or should I say Symantec Management Console) and Inventory I found a new report in the right click menu action of a resource called Installed Software on on the left side of the Resoucemanager.

First thing I did was deploying the Inventory Plug-in and I launched a task to get the inventory. When I then clicked the resource and opened the report it was empty (No result).

So i analyzed the report and it uses the Add/Remove Program information. But...other then Inventory Solution 6.X this information is now collected by the Software Management Framework Agent. This plug in is part of the core Agent.
Only...Software Discovery will run at 02H00...and then my VMWare is/was not running...So for those who are in a hurry on getting some information you need to change the Software Discovery Task schedule to run when you want.

After that this report is displaying some results.

Hardware Independent Imaging with DeployAnywhere

On the juice site I found this article on using DeployAnywhere

Some other (and same) information comes from the KB articles

How to use DeployAnywhere in Deployment Solution to replace the HAL, NIC driver, and mass storage drivers

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DeployAnywhere works by deleting the existing HAL.dll in a Windows* operating system and deploys a NIC driver and mass storage driver to rebuild the HAL.dll on the first reboot.

Requirements

• Deployment Solution 6.9 SP1
• Any image created with RapiDeploy, Ghost, or ImageX.
• Windows PE Automation Enviroment

Steps to complete

1. Create an image with RapiDeploy, Ghost, or ImageX.
2. Create a Distribute Image task and check Use DeployAnywhere hardware independent imaging in the Configuration section of the task.
3. Check Prepare Using Sysprep.
4. Assign the Image Task with DeployAnywhere settings.

How do I test if the driver database has drivers for a computer?

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1. Boot to Windows PE* 2.1 network enviroment.
2. Run these commands:
   cd F:\ghost
   ghDplyAw32.exe /target=c:\windows /ddb=F:\DriversDB /eval
3. This will return a failure or success. (If a failure is returned, it will say what driver is needed.)

Important:
The previous task only works if the SmeUtil.sys driver is in the
\Windows\System32\Drivers folder of WinPE. This driver is found in the Ghost folder in your Deployment Share. It can be added to the WinPE automation during the creation or editing process by right-clicking the Drivers folder and selecting Add File.
As an alternative, the SmeUtil.sys driver can be copied by adding the following command to your run script task:
Copy %ALTIRIS_SHARE%\Ghost\SmeUtil.sys %SystemRoot%\
System32\Drivers

NIC and mass storage drivers need to be added to the DeployAnywhere driver database.

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1. Open the Deployment Console.
2. Click Tools, and then DeployAnywhere Driver Managment.
3. Click on network for NIC drivers and mass storage tab for mass storage drivers, and click Add New Driver.
4. In the New Window Driver window browse to your drivers. In the friendly name box, type a name for the driver you are adding. Check the OS that this driver will be applicable for.

To enable Deploy Anywhere logging with Deployment Server do the following:

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• Open the applicable Distribute Disk Image job.
• Select 'Use DeployAnywhere hardware independent imaging'.  The 'Advanced' button will become active. (not grey)
• Click on the 'Advanced' button.  In the 'Additional Parameters' box add the '/capturesupportinfo=<path on DS to store the logs>' switch.  E.g. /target=c:\windows /ddb=\driversdb /capturesupportinfo=f:\temp.

When Deploy Anywhere is ran it will output all logs to the directory specified. 

What is the best way to change the IP address of the DS server?

You should check and change the IP address of the DS server in the following places:

• Change your aclient settings over to point to the new IP address (or the server's hostname if possible)
• Stop the Altiris eXpress Server, PXE Config Helper and PXE Manager services
• Change the IP information within these files in the eXpress share:
  • .\default.cfg
  • .\pxe\pxe.ini
  • .\pxe\pxemanager.ini
  • .\pxe\rpc.ini
• Start the Altiris eXpress Server, PXE Manager and PXE Config Helper services (Note the order of start up)
• Change each PXE / Bootworks configuration to point to the new IP address (lmhosts file)