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Endpoint Management Community Blog

Showing posts tagged with Symantec Management Platform (Notification Server)
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Script Database Changes Using OSQL
CondorMan | 25 Jun 2008 | 0 comments

OSQL is a flexible command-line utility that allows you to run SQL Queries, Commands, and Stored Procedures from the command-line or through a Batch script.

In order to run OSQL, you can either run it on your SQL Server or copy OSQL.EXE and osql.rll to a location that a client machine can run them from.

The syntax for OSQL is:

usage: osql       [-U login id]     [-P password]
 [-S server]      [-H hostname]     [-E trusted connection]
 [-d use database name] [-l login timeout]   [-t query timeout]
 [-h headers]      [-s colseparator]   [-w columnwidth]
 [-a packetsize]    [-e echo input]    [-I Enable Quoted Identifiers]
 [-L list servers]   [-c cmdend]      [-D ODBC DSN name]
 [-q "cmdline query"]  [-Q "cmdline query" and exit]
 [-n remove numbering] [-m errorlevel]
 [-r msgs to stderr]  [-V...
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Notification Server 6.0 SP3 R8 is Out!
EMercado | 23 Jun 2008 | 0 comments

Altiris has released Notification Server 6.0 SP3 R8. It adds support for Vista SP1, XP SP3, and Windows Server 2008. Full details and download can be found here:

https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=39159&p=1

It has a new Altiris Agent version (6.0.0.2394) so you'll need update your clients.

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How Does Unix Basic Inventory Identify the 'Apache HTTP Server' Role
dougj | 20 Jun 2008 | 0 comments

In order for a Linux client to be setup as a package server, it must be identified as a package server candidate. One of the criteria is that the machine have a role of 'Apache HTTP Server'. The role is stored in the 'AeX AC Roles' data class and 'Inv_aex_ac_roles' table. How does the Agent for Unix on a client machine identify this role?

The client.conf file, found in /opt/altiris/notification/nsagent/etc/client.conf, contains a "ps_send_apache_role" entry in the [MachineID] section. This entry allows for three possible entries: 'always', 'auto' and 'never'.

If set to 'always', the role will be sent if Apache server is installed and detected on the client.

If set to 'auto', which is the default, the role will only be sent if the Apache server is actually running and properly configured. To be...

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RDP Console Mode in Vista
apascucci | 18 Jun 2008 | 1 comment

Using Terminal Services client to connect to the NS Server, we need to add the "/console" command line switch to prevent installation failures. No surprise there!

But I had some issues while with a customer (corrupt installation or strange behavior...), so I took a few minutes to make sure it wasn't 'my fault'.

I checked the server Terminal Services Manager Session ID, which should be 0 (zero) when connected in Console, and it wasn't!

Click to view.

Then I did

Start
Run
mstsc/?

and...
As I'm running Vista, the /console is /admin

Thanks MSFT,
Nice try to confuse me ;o)

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Domain Join Debug Log
CondorMan | 11 Mar 2009 | 0 comments

If you've ever had a domain join fail, you can understand how frustrating it can be to troubleshoot. There is a log file that will make it much easier to figure out what is wrong.

  • Open the file C:\WINDOWS\Debug\NetSetup.log.
  • Go to the very bottom of the file and find the last "NetpDoDomainJoin: status:"
  • If it is not 0x0, then the domain join failed and the code listed instead of 0x0 is the reason it failed.
  • Now, look at each previous line in the file until you come across the last line in the file that returned the same failure code as your Domain Join.
  • You have found the step of the domain join that failed and the reason it failed.
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Windows Error Codes
CondorMan | 18 Jun 2008 | 1 comment

Sometimes a Windows Executable, Script, or Command will fail with an error. What does that mean?

While there is no enforced set of error code meanings, most executables and all system commands follow a standard definition of error codes.

You can find out the meanings by viewing Microsoft's list of Windows Error Codes and their descriptions here.

You might want to add that link to your favorites.

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Service Control Command
CondorMan | 18 Jun 2008 | 0 comments

Have you ever wanted to start, stop, delete, create, or configure a service in your batch script? The "SC" command will allow you to do this and more.

Here are a few examples of how you can use this command:

Start a service sc start ServiceName
Stop a service sc stop ServiceName
Delete a service sc delete ServiceName
Create a service sc create ServiceName binPath="C:\Program Files\InstallDir\Service.exe" start=auto
Configure a service sc config ServiceName <options>

For more information about the settings you can make when creating and configuring services, go to a command prompt and type "sc create /?" and "sc config /?"...

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How to Control Altiris Agent Automated Rollouts
marcoads | 17 Jun 2008 | 1 comment

In any environment, it is an advantage to have the ability to control how many resources will be targeted during the automated push install of the Altiris Agent. In addition, old computer registrations, laptops that are off the network and other unavailable resources, might add unnecessary load. How would one deal with these problems?

Solution

In order to provide for these functions, a custom collection must be created for the Push install to utilize. This collection should be built up using the following SQL statements (not all will be applicable to everyone).

  #SELECT TOP x limits the total size of the collection
  SELECT TOP x Guid FROM vResource  
  #Unmanaged computers
  WHERE IsManaged=0
  AND ResourceTypeGuid LIKE '493435F7-3B17-4C4C-B07F-C23E7AB7781F'
  #Agent push has not been attempted and...
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COMPACT.EXE Search Parameters
CondorMan | 05 Jun 2008 | 1 comment

If your workstations are using the NTFS file system, you can use COMPACT.EXE that is included with Windows to compress files with a certain extension. For example, to compress all of the .CHM files (which are rarely used), use the command: COMPACT /C /S:C:\ *.CHM

Here is a list of all the available parameters:

COMPACT [/C | /U] [/S[:dir]] [/A] [/I] [/F] [/Q] [filename [...]]

/C Compresses the specified files. Directories will be marked so that files added afterward will be compressed.
/U Uncompresses the specified files. Directories will be marked so that files added afterward will not be compressed.
/S Performs the specified operation on files in the given directory and all subdirectories...
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Enable MSI Installer Logging
CondorMan | 05 Jun 2008 | 2 comments

I just learned that you can enable MSI logging so that if your installer fails with an error you can see where the MSI failed.

To enable MSI loggging:

  1. Open Regedit.
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer.
  3. Create a new Reg_SZ value named "Logging" with the value "voicewarmup".

While "voicewarmup" is easy to remember, it actually signifies all of the different options that you want to enable.

Here is the complete list of options:

...
v Verbose output
o Out-of-disk-space messages
i Status messages
c Initial UI parameters
e All error messages
w Non-fatal warnings
a Start up of actions
r
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