Enterprise User Manual

Chapter 5

Working with Clients

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Clients are computers on which the Enterprise Client application is installed. As soon as the Enterprise Client application is installed, it automatically starts to collect hardware and software data from its host. When the first collection is complete, the Client application creates its own subdirectory in the Offline Area specified in the Client settings, and copies the data to the subdirectory. Enterprise uses the subdirectories created in the Offline Area to identify the PCs it can manage and to add them to the Site to which the Offline Area is assigned.

For more information on specifying the Offline Area used by Clients, see "Controlling Client Behavior".

Enterprise provides two methods of adding Clients to the Console:

The Offline Scanner

is controlled by the Scheduler. By default, the scanner checks Offline Areas for new Client subdirectories every two minutes. When it finds a new subdirectory in an Offline Area, it adds the Client to the Site and saves its software and hardware data to the Site database. The Offline Scanner is automatically enabled when you create a new Site using the default settings of the Site Creation Wizard. You can also activate it when you create a new Site using the Wizard's custom settings, or by clicking Offline Scanner Options in the Site Management folder. For more information on using the Offline Scanner, see "Detecting Clients".

The Find Clients Operation

provides the ability to make a single check for new Clients. Because it runs only once, and does not save Clients' inventory data to the Site database, it enables you to quickly add new Clients to a Site and does not require you to continuously use Scheduler resources to run the Offline Scanner.

The Find Clients Operation

Unlike the Offline Scanner, which automatically checks all Offline Areas associated with a Site for new Clients, the Find Clients operation can be customized to search one specific area. Therefore, before using the operation, ensure that it is configured correctly.

To search for new Clients:

1. In the Client Deployment & Maintenance folder, right-click the Find Clients operation, and choose Customize from the shortcut menu. The Customize dialog is displayed.
2. Select the Autopopulate/Scan tab.
3. Ensure the Enable offline scan check box is selected.
4. By default, the operation is configured to search all Offline Areas associated with the Site. To restrict the search to a specific Offline Area, select its entry in the Offline area list.

   For information on how to view the Offline Areas associated with a Site, see "Viewing and Managing Offline Areas".

5. Ensure the Enable online scan check box is deselected.

   For information on Online Clients, see Chapter 17, "Online Clients".

6. Click the OK button to save the changes and close the dialog.
7. Click the Find Clients operation to check for new Clients and add them to the Site database.

A message is displayed to show the operation's progress. When it has finished, the operation displays any new Clients in the Event Viewer window. Check the list and close the viewer.

Viewing Clients in the Console

All Clients registered with a Site are listed in the Site's Clients folder. To display your Clients, expand the Clients folder and select All Clients. The Clients and selected Properties are listed in the Clients View on the right of the Console.

You can change the widths of a column by selecting the column divider and dragging it to a new position. You can also change the order in which the columns are displayed by selecting the column heading and dragging it to a new position.

Right-click a Client to add, modify and view the Client data.

Client Details

When you add a Client to a Site using the Offline Scanner, or when you run an inventory operation, Enterprise saves the Client's inventory information to the Site database. You can view the inventory information held in the database at any time by right-clicking a Client in the Client list and selecting Hardware Details or Software Details.

You can also view selected hardware and software details for Clients using reports. For more information, see Chapter 12, "Reports and Database Views".

Client Properties

Client Properties contain information about the inventory operations that have been performed on Clients. For example, you can use them to check when the Client application last collected data from its host, when a Client's inventory was last saved to the database, and the location from which the data was collected.

Properties can also contain custom data entered by Console users or collected from user prompts. To display the properties of a Client, right-click its entry in the Clients View and choose Properties from the menu. The Client Properties dialog is displayed.

Client Properties are divided into two sections:

System properties

are standard items of information that Enterprise automatically collects when you perform hardware and software inventory operations on Clients. You cannot edit these properties. System properties include the following data:

Property	Description
$HWCAPTURE	The date on which the latest hardware inventory data was collected by the Client.
$HWDATE	The date on which the Client's hardware inventory was last saved to the Site database.
$OFFLINEAREA	The Offline Area used by the Client (Offline Clients only).
$OFFLINEID	The Offline Area directory in which the Client saves its inventory data (Offline Clients only).
$SWCAPTURE	The Offline Area directory in which the Client saves its software inventory data (Offline Clients only).
$SWDATE	The date on which the Client's software inventory was last saved to the Site database.
$USERPROMPTCAPTURE	The date on which the latest user prompt information was entered.

User properties

are user-specified items of information held about the Client. You can collect user properties using the Get User Data operation, or enter and update the properties directly using the Client Properties dialog.

To define a user property for the selected Client:

1. Click the User tab to display the user properties list, and click Add. The Property dialog is displayed.
2. In the Property dialog:
   1. Enter the property Name and its Value.
   2. If you want to prevent the property from being overwritten by the Get User Data operation, select Locked property.
   3. Click the OK button. The property is displayed in the Client Properties list.
3. Click the OK button in the Client Properties dialog to save your changes and close the dialog.

To edit a user property, select the property in the user properties list, click the Edit button and update the Property dialog.

To delete a user property, select the property in the list and click Delete.

Performing Operations on Clients

Most operations, such as Update Hardware Inventory and Distribute Software, are performed on specific Clients. To select the Clients for an operation, click the operation in the Console, and choose the Clients in the Select Clients dialog.

To perform the operation on all Clients in the Site, select the Clients tab, and click All Clients.

To perform the Operation on specified Clients:

1. In the Clients tab, click the Select Clients option.
2. Select the check box of each Client.

To perform the Operation on Client Groups:

1. In the Clients tab, click the Select Clients option.
2. Select the tab that contains the group you want to work with.
3. Select the check box of each Group.

To perform the Operation on Clients within a Group:

1. In the Clients tab, click the Select Clients option.
2. Select the tab that contains the group you want to work with. For example, to select Clients from an Offline Area group, select the Offline Area tab.
3. Select the Group Name.
4. Select the Clients in the Member Clients list.

You can select any combination of Clients and Groups. If a Client is a member of more than one selected Group, the operation is performed on the Client only once.

Groups

Groups are collections of Clients. They aid Site management by enabling you to organize and view Clients that have related attributes, and by enabling you to select multiple Clients with one click when you perform operations.

Enterprise supports two types of group:

• Dynamic Groups contain Clients whose attributes meet SQL-based criteria. Because the criteria are evaluated against the Site database each time the Group is used, they enable you to create self-maintaining groups.
• Fixed Groups contain Clients that have been manually selected by Console users. They can contain any combination of Clients, but they can only be updated manually.

The Groups Folders

When you create a Site, Enterprise adds the following sections in the Console's Clients folder:

All Clients

The All Clients section is a Dynamic Group that contains all the Clients found in all the Offline Areas assigned to the Site. If the Offline Scanner is enabled, new Clients are automatically added to this folder when they first save their data to an Offline Area. If the Offline Scanner is not running, you can detect new Clients by running the Find Clients operation.

Custom Groups

Custom Groups are user-configurable collections of Clients. When you create a Site, Enterprise automatically adds a selection of useful Dynamic Groups to this section. You can customize these pre-defined Groups for your own use, or you can create your own groups to suit the requirements of your installation. For example, you can create a Dynamic Group to identify all PCs which have the hardware and software required by a specific application.

Offline Areas

Offline Areas are shared directories used to collect data from and relay instructions to Client computers. When you create a new Enterprise Site, the Site Creation Wizard automatically creates an Offline Area for it. In addition, Console users can add more Offline Areas to a Site to manage workloads and help reduce network traffic across distributed networks.

The Offline Areas section of the Clients folder contains a non-editable Dynamic Group for each Offline Area currently assigned to the selected Site. Each Group contains all the Clients that use that Offline Area. To view the Clients registered to an Offline Area, expand the Offline Areas folder and select the appropriate Group in the Tree.

Active Directory

Active Directory enables organizations using Windows 2000, XP and 2003 to centrally manage and store information on network resources, and to manage and control the applications installed on networked computers.

If you have Active Directory installed on your network, and have customized your hardware inventory operations to collect Active Directory data, Enterprise automatically creates a non-editable Dynamic Group for each Active Directory unit that contains one or more Client PCs. To view the Clients in an Active Directory Group, expand the Active Directory folder and select the Group in the Tree.

Working with Custom Groups

Only Groups in the Custom Groups folder are editable. You can add groups to this folder, and modify or delete existing Groups.

When you create a Group, you must choose whether its membership will be Fixed or Dynamic. If you choose a Fixed Group, you must add Clients to it manually. If you choose a Dynamic Group, you can use any combination of the attributes held in the Site database to select the Group members.

To create a Fixed Group:

1. Right-click the Custom Groups folder, and choose Add Group from the shortcut menu. The Add Group dialog is displayed.
2. Select the Fixed custom group option, and enter a Group name and a Comment.
3. Click the OK button to close the dialog. The new Group is added to the Clients folder with a Fixed Group icon. You can now add Clients to your Fixed Group.

   The Group is added to the Custom Groups folder.

4. To add Clients to the Group:
   1. Right-click the Group, and choose Add Clients from the shortcut menu. The Select Clients dialog is displayed.
   2. In the Select Clients dialog, select the Clients you want to add to the Group and click the OK button.

To remove Clients from a Fixed Group:

1. Click the Group to list its Clients in the Clients View.
2. Select the Client you want to remove, right-click and choose Delete from Group from the shortcut menu.

   To rename a Group, right-click its entry in the Tree and choose Modify Group from the shortcut menu. The Modify Group dialog is displayed enabling you to change the Group name and Comment.

To create a Dynamic Group:

1. Right-click the Custom Groups folder and choose Add Group from the shortcut menu.
2. In the Add Group dialog, enter a Group name and a Comment.
3. Select the Dynamic custom group option.
4. In the Filter expression field, type a SQL expression to select the Clients for this Group. Alternatively, click the SQLWizard button to build the filter expression using the Enterprise natural language interface.
5. Click the OK button to close the dialog. The new Group is added to the Clients folder with a Dynamic Group icon. Select the group in the Custom Groups folder to view the Clients that match your selection criteria.

To change the Group definition:

1. Right-click the Group and choose Modify Group from the shortcut menu. The Modify Group dialog is displayed.
2. Edit the Filter expression (or use the SQLWizard), and click the OK button.

   You cannot convert a Fixed Group to a Dynamic Group, and vice versa.

Using SQLWizard

SQLWizard enables you to create database queries using a natural language interface. You can use it to create SQL definitions for Dynamic Groups from the Add Group and Modify Group dialogs and to control the data displayed in a database view. You can also open the Wizard from the Database Viewer and use it to select the contents of the database views.

The SQLWizard contains two main areas:

• The Query Builder area at the top of the window is used to construct your query.
• The Preview area at the bottom of the window shows the data that will be selected by the query or the SQL code generated by the wizard.

To build a SQL Query:

1. By default, the wizard selects data that matches all the conditions specified in the query. If you want to change the type of query, click all and choose a new Comparison Operator.

   For example, to create an expression that lists all PCs belonging to the SALES department or the MARKETING department, choose any. To create an expression that lists all PCs except those belonging to the SALES and MARKETING departments, choose none.

2. Click < Click here to add new condition >. SQLWizard creates a default query.

3. In the default query, click the Field Selector, and select the database field you want to search from the drop-down list. For example, to create a query that uses CPU speed as the Client selection criterion, choose CPU, Speed (in MHz).

   The Condition Selector displays the default search for the field you selected.

4. The Condition Selector contains the tests that can be used to select entries in the field. To change the search, select the Condition Selector and select a condition from the list.
5. Select the Condition Value field at the end of the condition, and enter the test value. For example, to identify all PCs with CPUs that run at 400 MHz or faster, select greater than or equal to in the Condition Selector list, and enter a Condition value of 400.

   In text fields, you can use the * and % characters as wildcards.

6. To add another condition to the query, repeat steps 2 through 5. To delete a condition from the query, click the Condition Identifier and choose Delete Current Row from the menu.

   You can remove a condition from the query by deselecting the check box at the left of the line.

   When you have specified all the conditions for your query, click the Preview button to list the database entries that will be selected by your query. Click the SQL Statement tab to display the SQL expression corresponding to your query.

7. Click the OK button to create the SQL query and close SQLWizard.

For example, to create a Dynamic Group that identifies all PCs with less than 128 MB RAM:

1 Right-click the Custom Groups folder in the Console and choose Add Group from the menu.

2. In the Add Groups dialog, enter a name for the Group, make sure the Dynamic custom group option is selected and click the SQLWizard button.
3. In SQLWizard leave the all option unchanged, select Click here to add a new condition, and select Core HW Details to display the source menu. In the menu, choose Memory, Total RAM.
4. Select is equal to and select is less than in the data selection menu. Select the blank line and enter 128.
5. Click the Preview button to display the database entries that will be selected by the query.
6. Click the OK button to add the SQL query to your Dynamic Group.
7. In the Add Group dialog, click the OK button to create the Group.

Selecting Fields for Display

When you use SQLWizard to create a SQL expression for a database view, you can choose the contents of the view by selecting the fields listed by your query.

To select data fields for display:

1. Click the Show Fields button. The Select Fields to Display dialog is displayed.
2. To add a field to the display, select its entry in the Available fields list, click Add and select a display option in the drop-down list. The field is added to the Displayed Fields list.
3. To change the order in which the contents of the field are displayed, click the row selector at the left of the field, and, holding the mouse button down, drag the field to its new position.
4. To use the field to control the sort order in which the data is displayed:
   1. Right-click on the entry in the Displayed Fields list and choose Sort result field from the shortcut menu. The field is displayed in the Sorted fields list.
   2. In the Sorted fields list, right-click on the Sorting type column of the field and choose a sort order from the shortcut menu.
5. If you want to remove a field from the list, right-click the field and choose Delete result field from the shortcut menu.
6. Click OK to save your changes and close the window.

   You can use the other options in the Add button menu to calculate totals and perform arithmetic operations on field values.

Saving and Opening Queries in SQLWizard

You can save queries created by SQLWizard to file. This enables you to base new queries on queries you have already created, and to specify the SQL statement you want to use when you create your own customized Views.

For more information on using SQL statement files in database views, see "Database Viewer Command Syntax".

To save a query:

1. Click the Save Query button to open the Save Query dialog.
2. If you want to save the SQL expression to a file, select the Save SQL to file check box, and enter a location and name for the file. Alternatively, click the File button to select the file location. By default, SQL files are saved with an extension of .SQL.
3. If you want to save your natural language query, select the Save reloadable query to file check box, and enter a location and name for the file. By default, query files are saved with an extension of .DBQ.
4. Click the OK button to save the expression, and close the dialog.

To load a previously saved natural language query into SQLWizard, click the Open Query button.

Importing and Exporting Groups

You can copy custom groups to other Sites using the import and export options in the Console. The group definitions are saved as text files with an extension of .GBF (Group Backup Files). They contain the filter expressions that define Dynamic Groups and list the members of Fixed Groups.

To export Group definitions to a file:

1. Right-click the Custom Groups folder and choose Export Groups from the shortcut menu. The Save As dialog is displayed.
2. In the Save As dialog, select the location in which you want to save the Group definitions, then enter a name for the file.
3. Click the Save button to export the Groups.

To import Group definitions into a Site:

1. Right-click the Custom Groups folder and choose Import Groups from the shortcut menu. The Open dialog is displayed.
2. In the Open dialog, select the Group Backup File you want to import.
3. Click the Open button to import the Groups. If the name of an imported Group matches the name of an existing Group at the target Site, Enterprise adds _[1] to the name of the imported Group.

Deleting Clients

Each Client in the installation counts towards your Enterprise license limit. When you no longer want to use Enterprise to manage a computer, such as when an obsolete PC is removed from your network, you can free its license by removing it and all the data associated with it from the Site database.

To delete Clients from a Site database:

1. Right-click the Clients folder, or the Custom Groups folder and choose Delete Clients from the shortcut menu. The Select Clients dialog is displayed.
2. In the Select Clients dialog, select the Clients you want to delete, and click the OK button.
3. A confirmation message is displayed asking if you want to delete the Clients from the Offline Area.

   If you want to delete the Client from the Site database and delete its subdirectory from the Offline Area, click Yes.

   If you want to delete the Client from the Site database without deleting its subdirectory, click No.

   To completely remove PCs that are still connected to your network, you must uninstall the Client application. Otherwise, the application will create a new subdirectory in the Offline Area when it is next scheduled to collect inventory data.

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