Altiris™ Barcode Solution from Symantec™ 6.7 SP1 Release Notes

Article:DOC1856

Created: 2009-07-10

Updated: 2009-07-10

Article URL http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC1856

Article Type
Documentation

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Description

Build number 6.7.9500

Altiris Barcode Solution integrates information directly into the Notification Server Database via a barcode device, so that data input errors, accounting irregularities, and redundancies are virtually eliminated. Any conflicts are reported and can be resolved easily.

By leveraging barcode technology, Barcode Solution gives you a simpler, more accurate way of gathering and verifying information in the field. For example, inventory that is used at a specific location is visible to the warehouse, which can be used to prepare replacements or place orders. This gives a more accurate picture of stock availability, saving hours in time.

Assets that cannot be automatically discovered through network connections can be easily tracked within the enterprise application. Asset data can be downloaded to a barcode device, taken to the asset location, and verified. New asset data can also be collected while in the field. All data is synchronized with Altiris CMDB Solution.

Key features of Barcode Solution 6.7 include:

Wireless operation and synchronization for the barcode device.
Conflict resolution on the Notification Server with the ability to view and resolve conflicts by batch or individual resource.
Delta synchronization that only uploads and downloads changed or new data, significantly reducing time and bandwidth use.
Licensing enhancements include an option to release licenses not in immediate use. Barcode Solution now uses Barcode Solution licenses instead of Altiris Asset Management licenses, reducing cost.

For more information about the features that were included with Barcode Solution 6.7 see article 37810, Altiris Barcode Solution 6.7 Release Notes.

This document contains the following topics:

New features
Installation and upgrade
Fixed Issues
Things to know
Known Issues
Where to get more information

New features

The new features of this are as follows:

Audit history

When a new or a changed resource is uploaded and is verified (if required), a record of the user that made the modification is stored in the History tab of the Resource Manager.

Extended memory (SD card) support

You can now use removable memory (SD card) to increase the data storage on your handheld devices.You can either install the entire application on the memoryy card or just use the card as storage for data. Note that the handheld is required to authenticate with the server when an SD card with existing data is inserted. Therefore, a license is assigned to the handheld device when it authenticates with the server, not when the Barcoder application is installed on the handheld.

Performance Enhancements

There have been many significant performance enhancements, including enhancements to Synchronization, made in Barcode Solution 6.7 SP1.

Windows Mobile 6.1

Barcode Solution 6.7 SP1 adds support for handheld devices that are running Windows Mobile 6.1.

Installation and upgrade

Barcode Solution 6.7 SP1 directly installs over Barcode Solution 6.7, 6.5, 6.6 SP1 and SP2. You do not need to uninstall Barcode Solution 6.5 or 6.7 before installing Barcode Solution 6.7 SP1. Barcode 6.7 SP1 installs on top of Hotfix KB 43358. If Hot fix KB 43358 is not installed, the installer displays an error and exits.

Prerequisites

Altiris Notification Server 6.0 SP3 KB 27859 (see knowledgebase article 27859).
Altiris Asset Management Solution 6.5
For a full list of supported hardware, operating systems and Microsoft ActiveSync, see the Altiris Barcode Solution 6.7 Product Guide.

Where to download

You can download many released versions of Altiris products from http://www.altiris.com/Download.aspx. You can also install Altiris Solutions directly from the Solution Center in the Altiris Console. You can download beta versions of Altiris products from http://beta.altiris.com.

How license consumption works with Barcode 6.7 SP1

The licenses are consumed per device. For example when a device authenticates with the server, it is checked whether the device is already licensed. If the device is licensed then the same license is used and the last used date & user is updated. If the device is not already licensed, then it is checked whether there are more licenses available. If there are more licenses available, then a new license is assigned. If there are no available licenses, then the license count exceeded message is shown.

For SD card usage, as long as the device is licensed, then using SD card does not consume any additional licenses. It uses the same license that the device is assigned. However, authentication is required to validate that the user has permissions to view the data on the SD card (for example. access on the profile).

Handheld licenses stay assigned to the device indefinitely. In order to release handheld license (for example the device is retired and a new device is now used), then you can delete the license from the License View screen. It may take up to 30 minutes for the licenses to be reclaimed.

Installation and Upgrade issues

The following issues are known issues related to installing and upgrading this product.

Issue

You must manually update the Upload Verification checkbox after upgrade

After upgrade from Barcode Solution 6.6 to 6.7 SP1, the administrator must update the Upload Verification checkbox in the Available Functions tab of the Synchronization Profiles page, because the Global Verification checkbox from 6.6 cannot be carried forward to the new profile setting automatically, and thus must be updated manually.

Managed computers may be caught in an upgrade loop

After upgrading a server from Barcode Solution 6.6 to 6.7, you will be prompted to upgrade any related managed computers from version 6.6 to 6.7. The managed computers may then be caught in an upgrade loop. To work around this issue, do the following:

Close all instances of Internet Explorer.
Uninstall Symantec Altiris Barcode Manager from Windows Add/Remove Programs.
Open the folder c:\Windows\System32 and delete the file ABMSync32.dll.
Start Internet Explorer and type in the server URL and open one of the console scanning pages.
Click OK in the dialog asking you to upgrade Symantec Altiris Barcode Manager.
Follow with the installation steps. Click Finish when the installation is complete.

Fixed Issues in this Release

The following are previous issues that were fixed in this release.

Issue

The upload verification time-out issue has been resolved

User may get Request Timeout error when viewing Upload Verification, if there are 100s of batches with conflicting data.

The issue regarding the truncation of the RFID-read tag has been resolved

Scanning RFID EPC Gen2 tags will drop 4 characters in the beginning and append zeros to the end.

Warning message can be ignored

After installing Altiris Barcoder on PPC 2003 SE, the following message is displayed: "The program you have installed may not display properly because it was designed for a previous version of Windows Mobile software." Simply click OK to this message and the program will install and run normally on the device.

Canceling synchronization functions may return you to the Barcode device menu

After tapping Cancel for the "Upload Only" or "Synchronize" synchronization functions on the handheld, you may be immediately returned to the Barcode device menu in BMAppHost.exe. No data will be lost as a result of this exception, and the program may be restarted to return to normal operation.

Regional settings on the barcode device, Altiris web server and SQL server must be identical

For Synchronization and Batch Acceptance functionality to operate, the regional settings (Locale) on the handheld device, Altiris web server, and SQL Server database must match.

The Assign Barcode work flow does not work as expected

When using Assign Barcode work flow on a barcode device, focus is not automatically moved to the next field when scanning a barcode or serial number. You should scan the serial number into the Serial Number field, tap on the Barcode field to select it, scan the barcode into the Barcode field, then click Apply and tap on the Serial Number field again to repeat the work flow.

Cost Center Ownership and Ownership Details dataclasses cannot be synchronized with the barcode device

These dataclasses can only be viewed and edited from the Altiris Console.

Exceeding license count generates a failed login message

If you exceed the Barcode Solution license count due to the number of devices connecting, you will receive an error message stating "Login Failed, Please check your credentials", even if your credentials are correct. If you receive a login failed message when correct login information is provided, check the Altiris Log to determine if the cause was an exceeded license count.

The picker dialog may display incorrect type values

This behavior may occur after performing multiple synchronizations without restarting the barcode device application (Symantec Altiris Barcoder). Example: You select a location picker dialog and it displays a list of owners instead of locations. To work around this behavior, restart the application.

Known Issues in this Release

The following are known issues for this release:

Known Issue

"Error executing Command" message is shown while uploading if the user is uploading to a different server which does not have the same profile.

Upload always uses the profile against which data was downloaded. So if you have downloaded data from Profile A, modified something. And trying to do a sync again with Profile B. Then profile A data is uploaded first and after that Profile B data will be downloaded. In this case, if you switch to a server that does not have Profile A then this error message is shown.

Rapidly moving between text fields in the Receiving template on WM 6.0 and 6.1 devices can cause the text cursor to stay locked to a text field. If this occurs it is recommended to go back to the Menu and re-select Receiving again.

When using the Microvision ROV Bluetooth barcode scanner the user may experience connectivity issues.

This is because the Bluetooth driver is unable to locate and connect to the ROV scanner. It is recommended to disconnect and reconnect to the scanner by un-checking and re-checking the “Microvision – Rov” checkbox in the Barcoder Preferences Dialog. If the Status continues to report “N/A”, then a soft reset of the device should be performed to increase the amount of memory available to the Bluetooth driver.

The Microvision ROV Scanner is not supported on the Dell Axim X50v Windows Mobile 2003 SE device

On very rare occasions a character may be seen on the toolbar near the Software Input Panel (SIP) button, it can be cleared by tapping on it and does not interfere with the Barcoder operation

The Microvision ROV Scanner is not supported on the Dell Axim X51 Windows Mobile 5 device

In Assign Barcode screen, direct scan focus can be gained by serial number and barcode field simultaneously, when you enter the state for the first time. After performing the first scan, the highlights are shown correctly.

The search page on the Handheld performs "starts with" matching for all text fields including Barcode, Serial Number and System Number. This differs from the search page on the Console which performs exact matching on all text fields.

Resource Details page may indicate a conflict highlight for data classes that contain a date fields (e.g. Identity) when there appears to be no difference in the values between batches when viewed via the console. This due to the Resource Edit Control not including the time value for date fields.

Resource Properties will not be updated when a resource has been modified by the Upload Verification Queue. However the Audit History accessed via Resource Manager is updated correctly.

Audit dataclass conflict can be ignored

The Resource Details page may indicate a value or conflict highlight for the hidden Audit dataclass (guid = 57beb323-f925-4689-872f-1bf3aa3f7632). Where the highlight is shown, it is for informational purposes only, and is visible as a single blue or red line on the General tab of a resource. This dataclass is used by the system for tracking purposes and need not be considered when resolving resource conflicts.

Do not tap a toolbar button to validate data on a barcode device

When tapping a toolbar button that navigates away from a form with data-validated fields, entering an invalid value in a field and clicking the toolbar button twice will still commit the requested action. Users should click elsewhere on the form to validate the data in the field first, before clicking a toolbar button.

Direct scan focus is lost when moving from the Serial Number field to the Barcode field.

Direct Scan focus may not be gained correctly under WM5 when using the "Assign Barcode" template on a barcode device. No other templates are affected. Direct scan focus is lost when moving from the Serial Number field to the Barcode field. You should tap away from the Barcode field then tap back on it to regain control focus and hence direct scan focus.

Barcode device user interface selector does not close automatically when scanning to populate fields

When using the barcode scan function to populate a field (Example: Location), the selector UI does not close. The scanned location will highlight but you must click OK to apply the selection. If the selector is not open, scanning will automatically populate the location as expected.

"Unknown Publisher" dialog must be accepted upon installation

When installing Barcoder, an "Unknown Publisher" dialog may be displayed for Microsoft SQL Mobile 2005.cab, Altiris Barcoder 6.7.cab and Symbol Managed Class Libraries.cab. This warning should be accepted to allow product installation to continue. The product will operate normally following installation of these components.

The Conflict Management and Upload Verification pages do not display resource names

Resource names are not currently displayed in the Resource Details page when viewing resources in a batch via the Conflict Management or Upload Verification pages. Conflicts between resource names will therefore not be shown. You can view resource names via the following methods:

Tasks > Barcode > Manage Changes > Conflict Management (the displayed resource name in the list is the resource name from the Notification Server).
Tasks > Barcode > Manage Changes > Upload Verification > Batch Details (the displayed resource name is the name from the selected batch).

Warning message appears when using custom controls

When using a Dell Axim X50v ROM image for Windows Mobile 2003 SE Version 4.21.1088 build 14260.2.0.5, you may encounter a warning dialog saying "Click OK to continue loading this page", when Barcoder renders a user interface that contains custom controls such as toolbar tabs or picker dialogs. You should update to the latest ROM image build for the X50v to correct this issue.

The Cancel button does not close the "Waiting for ActiveSync" dialog

When you click on "Install Handheld Application / Initiate Handheld Synchronization" and no barcode device is connected, a dialog appears saying "Waiting for ActiveSync…". To close this dialog, click on the "X" button on the top right corner of the window, as the Cancel button will not close the window in this case.

Cost items are not validated while editing a resource

Adding cost items under the "Accounting Information" tab while editing a resource does not perform a validation check. You must ensure that all information, including currency information, is provided. If the information is not provided, the error "Unable to Accept Batch" will appear while trying to accept the batch under Upload Verification.

Where to get more information

For more information, you can use the following resources:

Resource	Description	Location
Knowledge Base	Articles, incidents, and issues about this product.	http://kb.altiris.com/
Symantec Connect (formerly the Altiris Juice)	An online magazine that contains best practices, tips, tricks, and articles for users of this product.	http://www.symantec.com/connect/endpoint-management-virtualization
Online Forums	Forums for users of this product.	http://forums.altiris.com/

Legacy ID

48058