Symantec Management Platform (Notification Server)

I am trying to figure out the correct filters and Org View to allow the Help Desk to work with new and existing workstations, but not servers.

So far, I've given them access to the canned Windows Workstation filter and used that same query to populate an Org View.  The problem is that they are not seeing new machines - machines created duing the imaging process using WinPe -- in other words, new minint-XXXXXXX machines.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

S.....

1. Create a new organizational view
2. In this new view, create two groups: Workstations and Servers
3. Create a query or report which lists all workstations and one which lists all servers
4. Create an automation policy which assigns all results of the workstation report to the Workstations group in the New View
5. Create an automation policy which assigns all results of the servers report to the Servers group in the New View
6. Create a report which gets a list of all computers that are not in the New View and e-mails it to you weekly (to catch any mistakes or gotchas)
7. Create a security role for the Help Desk
8. In Security Role Manager for this role, select View: Resources, then edit
9. Remove all access in the Default view to Assets > Network Resources > Computers
10. Grant access in the New View to only Workstations
11. Save your changes and test
12. Roll out to a single employee (removing any other roles he or she might have) as a pilot
13. Roll out to all Help Desk employees (removing any other roles they might have)

Hope this helps!

Thank you for the response.  I have done most of that.  I have given one test user access but the new minint-xxxxx machines are missing.  That's where the issue is.  I used the canned query for both the filter and the org group because I am not very good at SQL queries and I saw the pre-windows installation machines listed there.  I copied and pasted the query and I see some minint-xxxxxx machines, but not all of them.  I can prove this by logging in as myself - I'm an administrator, and I see them fine....  I thought I was seeing all of them (using my test user) until I tried to deploy a new machine using the imaging process.  The new machines weren't there.

Perhaps my query isn't right?  Unless I should be choosing something else?

Thanks again for the quick reply.

If some computers are missing, the query either excludes them because the data doesn't match or because the data hasn't been sent by the client.  What's different about the minint machines?  If they are reporting a server or embedded OS, they're going to be excluded.

Currently, there are 4 machines beginning with "minint-", which is listed as "Windows (TM) Code Name "Longhorn" Preinstallation Environment 6.0 Ultimate (Service Pack 1)".  This is the random hostname assigned when you boot from WinPE.  This is the first step in the imaging process.

As an admin, I am able to see all 4 of them.

As a test help desk person, I am not -- I see 3.

I can't find any difference between them.  How can I figure this out?

Thanks,

S.....

OK, so I found something interesting:

When I click in the right pane under policies, I see 2 additional policies with a red dot --  "All Managed Computers" and "Install SWV agents" for the machines that the Help Desk can see.  I don't know what this means, but I think it might have something to do with it.  I am not sure exactly what this is showing me -- is it policies assigned, policies which ran, policies which need to run....?

And so... if the problem, as you said, is that the machines haven't sent the data, than how am I seeing them in Altiris? What has to happen for Altiris to get the data and how can I still query all workstations, including these?

Thank you again,

S.....

Still looking for a solution, here.

Here's the copy of the query I used.  I don't understand it enough to adjust it, but it does leave me with some questions...

SELECT
   [vri1_Computer].[Guid] AS [_ResourceGuid]
FROM
   [vRM_Computer_Item] AS [vri1_Computer]
      INNER JOIN [Inv_AeX_AC_Identification] AS [dca2_AeX AC Identification]
         ON ([vri1_Computer].[Guid] = [dca2_AeX AC Identification].[_ResourceGuid])
      INNER JOIN [vComputerResource] AS [ajs3_vComputerResource]
         ON ([vri1_Computer].[Guid] = [ajs3_vComputerResource].[Guid])
WHERE
   (
      (
         ([vri1_Computer].[IsManaged] = 1)
         AND
         ([vri1_Computer].[ResourceItemDeleted] = 0)
         AND
         (
            ([dca2_AeX AC Identification].[OS Name] = N'Microsoft Windows 95')
            OR
            ([dca2_AeX AC Identification].[OS Name] = N'Microsoft Windows 98')
            OR
            ([dca2_AeX AC Identification].[OS Name] = N'Microsoft Windows ME')
            OR
            (
               ([dca2_AeX AC Identification].[OS Name] = N'Microsoft Windows NT')
               AND
               ([dca2_AeX AC Identification].[OS Type] = N'Workstation')
            )
            OR
            (
               ([dca2_AeX AC Identification].[OS Name] = N'Microsoft Windows 2000')
               AND
               ([dca2_AeX AC Identification].[OS Type] = N'Professional')
            )
            OR
            ([dca2_AeX AC Identification].[OS Name] LIKE N'Microsoft Windows XP%')
            OR
            ([dca2_AeX AC Identification].[OS Name] LIKE N'%Vista%')
            OR
            ([dca2_AeX AC Identification].[OS Name] LIKE N'%Windows 7%')
            OR
            ([dca2_AeX AC Identification].[OS Name] LIKE N'%Windows 8%')
            OR
            (LOWER([dca2_AeX AC Identification].[OS Name]) LIKE N'%preinstallation environment%')
         )
      )
   )
 

1.  Could these lines indicate that the query isn't identifying anything without an agent, including the WinPE boot disk?

 ([vri1_Computer].[IsManaged] = 1)
AND
([vri1_Computer].[ResourceItemDeleted] = 0)

I tried to change the ".[IsManaged]" to = 0 but this didn't help.

2.  How can I change the query to give me computer names, so I can at least know what I am looking at?

3.  Can someone write me a replacement query?  I need all workstations, no servers.  It needs to include WinPE machines.

Any help would be appreciated.....

S.....

What role is the Help Desk person using?  Does that role have access to all of the Default organizational view, including all computers (Assets > Network Resources > Computers)?

1. Managed computers are known to the NS, including preinstallation computers (since they are running a form of the agent called the PECTAgent).

2. You have a query for a filter.  Filters are used by the NS (not people), and the NS speaks in terms of GUIDs (not names or words), so it only returns GUIDs.  If you want this to be a report, create a new SQL report and change this section:
SELECT
   [vri1_Computer].[Guid] AS [_ResourceGuid]

To this:
SELECT
   [vri1_Computer].[Guid] AS [_ResourceGuid],
   [vri1_Computer].[Name]

3. Your query posted is a workstation query.  No servers should be included.