ITMS Administrator Group

Hello,

I am facing issue where 2 different AMS assets details are merged and combined into one resource.

Here is the scenario. Our Service Delivery team migrates the physical server into virtual server (P2V).

The steps are:

1. Disable Agent service on the physical server.
2. Move the physical server to virtual server. Virtual host is completely isolated.
3. Shut down the physical box
4. Delete 'Server' entry on the child NS server.
5. Perform the command “AeXAgentUtil.exe /resetGuid” in the virtual server (as admin).
6. Enable network communication. The new virtual server gets a new Guid and sends basic inventory.
7. Verify the new guid is created.
8. Change asset status of physical box to 'disposed' on parent NS in AMS and rename its name to _OLD.

Until now everything works.

There is a disposed old asset in AMS on parent NS.

There is a new virtual resource on child NS.

The new VM server has new guid, new serial number and the same name.

The desired behaviour is the new VM server is replicated up to parent NS, so in the end I have 2 AMS assets:

• Server_OLD with old guid, old SN and old inventory AMS details for references
• New VM server with new guid , new SN and the same domain name

In fact , the actual behaviour is very unwanted.

Once virtual server is replicated within hierarchy, the _OLD resource is deleted and merged with new resource.

In the end I have one mixed-up asset, new guid and basic inventory but old serial number , old physical box details in AMS.

Following http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH210362 kb article I found the resource was merged by the Merge Duplicate Resources task.

I have run the following report. Notification Server Management > Server > Resource Reports > Merged Resources

So the question is :

What exactly does the Merge Duplicate Resources task do ? How do I control it ?

How do I attack the problem ? How to prevent from merging automatically resources having different serial number, different guids but the same name ? How to keep old asset details ?

Many thanks.

Thanks,

Tomasz

About Merging Process, Altiris Agent Resource Keys and Resource Creation in SMP 7.xIf you go to Jobs and Tasks > System Jobs and Tasks > Service and Asset Management > CMDB > Duplicate Computer Merge you can choose one of the following "Merge Keys":

• System Number
• Serial Number
• Barcode

You can exclude filters too.

Or you can use the more generic "Resource Marge Rule", select a Resource Type of "Computer" to choose between:

• Resource Name
• System Number
• Serial Number
• Barcode
• Resource GUID
• Computer Name/Domain

Edit: More info here:

"About Merging Process, Altiris Agent Resource Keys and Resource Creation in SMP 7.x"

...2. On server side resource merging is performed based on keys: “name.domain”, “fqdn”, “uniqueid” and “macaddress”. So if one of the keys is corresponding to the resource existing on NS, such resources are considered the same.
Keys “uniqueid” are generated based on “Computer UUID”+”Base Board Serial Number”+”MAC address”.
Keys “macaddress” are not generated by SMA. Most probably some plug-ins could generate them.

As a result, for example, if you change the MAC and leave the name or change the name and leave the MAC, such resources will match. In order to “show” the resource as a totally new one, need to ensure that there are no identical keys of types listed in point 2....

http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO61173

Andy,

Thanks for reply.

Please let me read it back over to you.

It does not matter the virtual server has different MAC, Serial number, and GUID.

In the physical to virtual migration process (P2V),  there is no way to keep the old physical box AMS details because the virtualized server has the same name and the same FQDN,  therefore such resource is considered the same.

Also we have no influence over how Merge Duplicate Resources task works.

Is my understanding correct ?

Tomasz

‘Duplicate Computer Merge’ task removes duplicate entries of Computers that have identical values for any of the below data classes [only] based on the selection using ‘Merge key’ option when scheduled.
* System Number
* Serial Number
* Barcode
Hence, if Computers have identical name but different values for the above data classes, they are retained as different entities with successful run of the task.

‘Resource Merge Rule’ task removes duplicate entries for the selected ‘Resource Type’ based on the selected ‘Merge Key’ option.

If the above task is scheduled selecting ‘Resource Type’ as ‘Computer’ and ‘Merge Key’ option as ‘Resource Name’, Computers that have identical names will be merged into a single resource and it’s values are taken from the latest created resource based on time stamp. Missed entries are taken from the next resource in the merged list based on priority.

Here, ‘Computer’ Resource Type has the following ‘Merge key’ options.

* Resource Name
* System Number
* Serial Number
* Barcode
* Resource GUID
* Computer Name/Domain

Hence, based on the selected ‘Merge key’ option, the Computer Resources are merged.
Say for a scenario if ‘Serial Number’ is selected for merging Computers having identical names[only], they are not merged and are retained as different entries.

Similarly when manually merged two Computer Resources using the ‘Merge Resources’ option in Context Menu via ‘Management Configuration Items’. It gives options to select the Primary resource along with the Data Class values that can be retained. By default, the latest created Resource values are selected and the missing entries are picked from the other Resource.

Thanks,
Divya

Divya,

Thanks for reply.

I think you are talking about CMDB Solution

CMDB Solution

CMDB merge rules can be checked and changed in the Symantec Management Platform Console by clicking on the Manage button > Jobs and Tasks > CMDB > Duplicate Computer Merge, and Duplicate User Merge and Resource Merge Rule. Out of box, there are no merge rules enabled to run.

I am talking about Core System task.

The Core system performs a daily merge which is controlled by the Merge Duplicate Resources task. This can be viewed on the Symantec Management Platform server in the Windows Task Scheduler, and is set to run daily at 6:15 AM. If records were merged by this task, these can be viewed by running the report Merged Resources, found in the Symantec Management Platform Console by clicking on the Reports button > Notification Server Management > Server > Resource Reports > Merged Resources. Note: This report does not show resources manually merged or merged by a CMDB merge rule.

The question is how can I prevent from merging the old physical box AMS details with new virtual server  and have 2 assets in AMS ?

Tomasz

The core task ns.merge.dup.resources, was a solution that was released in 7.x to where it was supposed to assist with merging duplicate resources for clients that did not have the AMS solution installed.

That system tasked ended up destroying my asset data thus causing us to revert to the backup db shortly after upgrading.   The standard merge process is it will merge a resource based off matching 3 out of the 4 identifiers - UniqueID (agentGUID),  FQDN, MAC, and Name.DOMAIN.   The core task of ns.merge.dup.resources, will merge items based on any matching identifier listed above. 

The CMDB task Duplicate Computer Merge will only merge assets based off the ASSET merge key selected.  Meaning, if serial # is selected, then it will merge resources if the Asset Serial # (Inv_Serial_Number.serial number) matches the Hardware Inventory Serial # (CMS) Inv_HW_Computer_System.identifying #.   Or if there are 2 resources with identical asset serial #s (inv_serial_number.serial number) those resources will be merged

The CMDB Task Resource Merge - same as above but with the added feature of name.domain etc.

The answer to your problem would be to disable the system task NS.Merge.Duplicate.Resources.  That will ensure your 2 records are kept as seperate entities and not be merged based off the CMDB tasks. 

Hopefully this helps..

I have opened a case with Symantec. What I found is that disabling the task will not work either.

NS performs 'on the fly detection' for incoming NSE files, meaning if a computer sends in data with NSE that contains a duplicate key, it is merged instantly. The scheduled task is more for other resources that do not directly report data

One proposed workaround is change the old resource name, Send basic Inventory before shutting down the physical boxes. This way old physical box and VM machine would not have any common merge keys.

The other proposed workaround is to remove the mergekeys from DB used in stored procedures in my case FQDN and Domain. Name. The sql code would be:

delete from resourcetypemergekey

where resourcetypeguid in ('493435F7-3B17-4C4C-B07F-C23E7AB7781F','2C3CB3BB-FEE9-48DF-804F-90856198B600')

and keyName in ('fqdn','name.domain')

This is something which Symantec can not support, meaning the responsibility lies with me as the product is working as designed.

Thank you everyone for all the suggestions

Regards,

Tomasz