This article presents a sample custom inventory script and custom report that displays the collected custom inventory data. This example looks for Access Database files with an extension of MDB. You can change the file type by changing MDB to the desired extension in the VB Script below where it says Extension='MDB'.
Create a new custom data class that will store the file information for each computer.
- Go to Settings>All Settings then Settings>Discovery and Inventory>Inventory Solution>Manage Custom Data Classes.
- Click New data class.
- Name the data class something appropriate and click OK.
- Click Add attribute.
- Name the attribute "Computer Name" and set Key to "No", and click OK.
- Add another attribute the same way named "File Location" and set Key to "No", and click OK.
- Check the "Allow multiple rows from a single computer resource." option
- Click Save Changes.
- Highlight the new data class name and click the hand icon above to get to properties. Copy the GUID for later use in the custom script task.
Create a Custom Inventory Script Task.
- Go to Manage > Jobs and Tasks.
- Browse the folder drop-down menu to where you would like to add a custom inventory script task.
- Right-click on the folder, then select New > Task.
- Select the Run Script task.
- Name the task appropriately.
- Select Script type: VBScript.
- Copy and paste the entire VBScript below into the large text box of the script task. Put the GUID copied above into the script (look for “This is the GUID for the custom data class”
- Save Changes
VB Script Example
'*********************************************************
' Custom inventory VBS script to scan for a specific file type by extension
'*********************************************************
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\cimv2")
Set wshShell = WScript.CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )
ComputerName = wshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings( "%COMPUTERNAME%" )
dim nse
set nse = WScript.CreateObject ("Altiris.AeXNSEvent")
' Please don't modify this GUID
nse.To = "{1592B913-72F3-4C36-91D2-D4EDA21D2F96}"
nse.Priority = 1
'*********************************************************
'This is the GUID for the custom data class
set objDCInstance = nse.AddDataClass ("{PUT CUSTOM DATA CLASS GUID HERE AND LEAVE BRACKETS}")
set objDataClass = nse.AddDataBlock (objDCInstance)
Set objCIMObj = objWMIService.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM CIM_DataFile where Extension='MDB'")
For each objInfo in objCIMObj
dim file_location
file_location = objInfo.Drive + objInfo.Path + objInfo.FileName + "." + objInfo.Extension
set objDataRow = objDataClass.AddRow
objDataRow.SetField 0, CStr(ComputerName)
objDataRow.SetField 1, file_location
Next
nse.Send
Test and Run the Custom Inventory Script task
NOTE: We recommend testing the script task prior to production runs to ensure there are no errors or pop-up windows.
- In the Advanced section of the task (click Advanced), enable the option to hide the command window.
- Leave the default Run As - Local System Account. (This uses the endpoint's local Windows System account, and this example assumes that account has rights to run a VB Script and to call WMI. You may need to provide alternate credentials)
- Click OK.
- Click on New Schedule, choose Now or specify a schedule time and repeat interval.
- Specify target computers to run the task on.
- To target a single computer click in the Quick add: box and search for the name of the computer, or use the Quick Run feature instead of New Schedule.
- To target a list of computers click on Add > Computers or Devices then manually select the desired computers and click > and OK.
- To target a computer filter (such as All Computers) click on Add > Target, click Add rule, choose exclude computers not in, and search the name of the filter in the final drop-down box; then click OK.
Create a Custom Report to view the data collected by the custom inventory
- Go to Reports > All Reports.
- Browse to a folder where you would like to add the custom report and right-click on the folder.
- Select New>Report > SQL Report.
- Give the report an appropriate name.
- Replace the text under Parameterized Query with the following query and then adapt it to use the custom data class table created in step 1-3 (the table will start with Inv_ followed by the custom data class name, with all spaces replaced with "_") You can also find the table name in the custom data class properties where the GUID was copied from.
- select * from Inv_<Custom_Data_Class_Name>
- Click Save Changes and then view the collected custom inventory data for each computer targeted for the inventory.
Please note that Symantec Support does not support custom scripting or reporting so modifications to the script and report must be made by the user.