Symantec Management Platform (Notification Server)

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  • 1.  Duplicate GUID Problem

    Posted Mar 29, 2012 06:29 AM

    Hey all

    This is an odd one, but I really need a resolution so thinking caps on!

    Background / Environment:

    I work in an environment with multiple domains and users are given hard disks for the domains they're authorised to work on. Most of the time this means users are given multiple disks. To cut down on the amount of laptops required users swap the disks and network cable to work on the various domains (some of you may see where I'm heading with this!).

    The Problem:

    From what I've read, the Altiris Agent GUID is built from "Name.Domain", "FQDN", and "UniqueID" where "UniqueID" is generated for each NIC using the internal algorithm (https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/how-do-i-find-duplicate-guids). Apparently if any of these keys exists in the database then that is the GUID the Agent is assigned. And here's my problem! Users with a disk on DomainA and a disk on DomainB will use the same laptop for both and therefore the NIC is the same. So both disks get the same GUID. Since they are never 'online' at the same time we can't reset the GUID, the hostname in Altiris just keeps swapping between the two. Obviously this makes the machines pretty unmanageable!

    Has anyone had a similar problem before and (more importantly!) found a solution? Is there a way of changing how Altiris assigns the GUIDs (a TOTAL long shot but I thought I'd ask!)?

    Any help you be appreciated.

    Thanks, 

    Ollie



  • 2.  RE: Duplicate GUID Problem

    Trusted Advisor
    Posted Oct 24, 2013 01:17 PM

    I know that this post is really old but I wanted to comment to say that we're experiencing the same thing.  There are a couple of ways around this issue (as I'm sure you've figured out by now).

    1.  Delete the build computer's object in the SMP after you've built the disk and before it's placed in the target laptop.

    OR

    2.  Run AexAgentUtil.exe /ResetGuid on the target laptop after the drive has been placed in the target laptop.

    The "harddrive factory" concept works well for us for our use case but it's tougher from an administrative perspective on the back end.



  • 3.  RE: Duplicate GUID Problem

    Trusted Advisor
    Posted Oct 24, 2013 01:53 PM

    We're using the filter, task, and policy that can be found here to fix our issues automatically:

    http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH142625