IT Management Suite

Hello,

I'm hoping for a bit of expertise.  We have about 90 locations globally with about 13k clients.  In our "Manage", "Computers" we are seeing MANY machines that are "managed = '1'" that have not checked in for a very long time.  After a bit of research these are machines that have been removed from production.  I was hoping the purge would change the manage flag from 1 to 0.  After speaking with a Symantec Engineer, purge will not do this.  The fact that they are still showing up as managed is due to the fact that the client was not removed prior to the machine being removed from production.  I understand the only other option to remove these is to delete the resources from the console.  We can delete the resources, but we will lose all history for these devices which is undesirable.  Has anyone else run into this scenario.  With 90 locations globally, we will NEVER be able to have the local IT remove the client from the machine before decomissioning the device so our number of "managed" machines will continue to grow. 

Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep the historical data yet change the "managed" bit from 1 to 0 based upon a client date that is older than 'x' days?

Thanks!

Purging Maintenance should do this, by setting radio button on "Retire the computers. All data will remain in the database. But these computers will no longer be managed by Notification server"  on purging maintenance page. Also you can set retired status manually using CMDB Functions. For example open Manage -> All resources, select resource and using righ-click -> CMDB Functions -> Set Asset Status -> Retired.

Thanks,

AN

Thanks for the response.  In the conversation I had with another Symantec Engineer, I was told the purge would NOT do this.  Interesting.  We now have over 20K machines showing up under all computers.  If I change "Managed" to 1, it comes back with about 18k and our licensing shows just over 12k which is the more accurate number.  If what you are saying is accurate, something is not working as it should.  I like your answer better than the last engineer I spoke with, but now I'm baffled as to why these machines are not falling off the "managed" list.  Any thoughts?

OK I tried to set a machine to "retired" and the machine is still showing up in Manage, Computers as "managed".  This is causing confusion among the IT folks at the sites.  Any further insight would be appreciated.

Sorry, but I understood you incorrectly first time and another Engineer was right about that Purging Maintenance can't change IsManaged status from 1 to 0. Actually Purging Maintenance can retire only computers with "managed 1" and that have not checked in for a N time.

Computers with agent installed have "IsManaged = 1"

Computers without agent (uninstalled, discovered, imported,etc) have "Is Managed = 0"

Could you please clarify the current situation on your envirment. Do you still have computers with "Is Managed = 1" wihich are not using anymore and  you want to purge them, but leave the history? In this case  "Retire the computers. All data will remain in the database. But these computers will no longer be managed by Notification server" purging option could help. Also please clarify about:

If I change "Managed" to 1, it comes back with about 18k and our licensing shows just over 12k which is the more accurate number. 

Thanks,

AN

Hello AN,

The issue I am seeing is that the computers are showing up as retired but when I am in the console and go to "Manage" then "Computers" and use the filtering option to return managed = 1 the console returns almost 18k machines stating that the extra 6k machines are still managed though they have been marked as retired and seemingly removed from the vcomputer table.

Does that make sense?

Thanks for the help!

Hi jms97!

If computer has record in database that Altiris Agent is installed, then it will be as managed computer.

Please check this link about similar case:

• https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/managecomputersall-computers-retired-computers
• http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH214058

It is not a SQL filter.  I am in the console and selecting "Manage" then selecting "Computers".  Our IT support personnel in our locations globally are getting confused because they are still seeing these machines that have been "retired" or "purged" as "managed" in the "manage, computers" area of the console.

Could you please check computer list using sql query, instaead of console. For example how many computers you have in sql table vComputer?

I have checked the SQL and it is fine, i am mostly concerned with how it is reported in manage, computers as that is what the NON symantec administrators are using...they are looking only using that and are seeing many more managed computers than they should.....because they never get changed to unmanged.

If you're using a Enhanced Console View, there is a "Add Filter Criteria", which can be modified.

For example:

• I have 1 PC with retired state and 1 PC is active. I've set custom filter criteria to exclude computer, which has "retired" status and now it shows only Active client PC.