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Enterprise User Manual

Chapter 3

Managing Sites

PC-Duo Enterprise collects information about managed PCs into one or more Sites. When you create a Site using the Site Creation Wizard, it is automatically added to the PC-Duo Enterprise folder in the Console Tree. You can create multiple Site windows and work with them simultaneously in the Console, enabling easy multi-Site management from your desktop. Sites can be shared between multiple Consoles and Schedulers.

To open a Site, double-click its entry in the Tree.

Working with Multiple Sites

The Site concept enables you to break a large installation into a number of smaller Site databases. You can have as many Sites as you want, providing the total number of Clients does not exceed your Enterprise license.

Larger Sites

A large installation can be divided into Sites on a geographical basis, an organizational basis, or any other criteria. A Site can be used to represent all the PCs in a building, all the PCs in a department, or all the PCs in an organization. A common practice is to associate Sites with network domains.

Displaying Site Details

You can view a Site's database location and license details using the Network Site Details dialog.

To display the Site Details, click Database and Licensing in the Site Management folder.

The Network Site Details dialog displays the Site's name, database location, the licenses used by the Site, maximum license usage for your installation and number of remaining licenses. When you have finished viewing the details, click the Close button.

Offline Areas

Offline Areas are shared directories that are used to transfer data from and relay instructions to Offline Clients. This enables Console users to access data and manage Clients even when they are not available across the network. So, for example, when you run an inventory operation from a Console or Scheduler, the operation collects data from the Client directories in the Offline Area rather than directly from the Client PCs themselves. Enterprise automatically creates an Offline Area when you create a new Site; you can also add additional Offline Areas to a Site to distribute the work of collecting Client data across your network.

Offline Areas are best located on intermediate file servers. This enables you to work with Clients when one or more Consoles are unavailable, and minimizes network traffic in organizations with multiple connected networks because you can set up a local Offline Area for each LAN that contains Enterprise Clients. However, for testing and evaluation purposes, you can locate the Offline Area on a PC where the Console application is installed. The only requirements are that you can define the network path to an Offline Area, and that all Consoles, Schedulers and Client PCs can connect to the Offline Area.

Viewing and Managing Offline Areas

The Offline Area Manager enables you to view and manage the Offline Areas associated with a Site. It displays details of the Offline Areas and Clients assigned to each Offline Area. Use it to perform housekeeping tasks, such as deleting unused directories and obsolete metering data, and to view and reassign Clients.

To open the Offline Area Manager:
  1. Right-click the Offline Areas folder in the Console Tree and choose the Manage Offline Area option.
  2. In the Analyze Site Offline Areas dialog, choose the analysis options you want to use. Select:

    Include unused directories to identify Client directories that are no longer in use.

    Include metering data to quantify old software metering data stored in the Offline Areas. To view only obsolete metering data, enter a value in the Only include metering data older than field.

  3. Click the OK button to continue. Enterprise analyzes the directories in the Site's Offline Areas and displays the results in the Offline Area Manager.

Using the Offline Area Manager

The Offline Area Manager displays the details of all the Offline Areas currently assigned to the Site. The window is divided into three sections:

The Offline Areas List

This list contains the details of all Offline Areas in the currently selected Site. In addition, it lists the number of directories in the Offline Areas and the number of Clients that are registered with the Site database as using the Area. The list also indicates whether the settings in the Offline Area's Client kits match the installation's default settings. If you selected the options in the Analyze Site Offline Areas dialog the list specifies whether each Offline Area contains obsolete data or unused directories.

To display the directories in an Offline Area, select an entry in the list.

To manage an Offline Area, right-click its entry and choose an option in the menu.

The Directories List

When the Client application first runs on a PC, it automatically creates a subdirectory in the Offline Area specified in its Client settings file, and saves the PC's data to that subdirectory. Enterprise uses the presence of these subdirectories to identify new Clients. The Directories list displays the details of the directories in the currently selected Offline Area.

The Directory list displays the following information for each subdirectory in the selected Offline Area:

To work with the directories, right-click an entry and choose an option in menu.

To move a Client directory to another Offline Area, select the directory in the list and drop it on the new entry in the Offline Areas list.

Site Summary

The Site summary provides an overview of the directories and Offline Areas in the current Site. If you selected the Analysis options in the Analyze Site Offline Areas dialog, it also summarizes the space taken by obsolete data and unused directories.

Configuring the Client Kit

When you create an Offline Area as part of a new Site, or add an Offline Area to an existing Site, Enterprise includes a pre-configured Client kit in its /Kit subdirectory by default. This contains the Client application and the configuration settings that the system uses when you add new Clients to the Offline Area. The Configure Client Kit dialog enables you to view and edit the kit settings of an Offline Area.

You can also specify the default settings that are used to create new Client Kits, by selecting the Configure Client Kit operation in the Management folder.
To configure the Client kit of an Offline Area:
  1. In the Offline Area Manager, right-click the Offline Area and choose Configure client kit. The Configure Client Kit dialog is displayed.
  2. In the Configure Client Kit dialog, edit the settings you want to change.
    For more information on individual Client Kit settings, see the online help.
  3. Click the OK button to save your changes and close the dialog. The changes are saved to the Client Kit and will be applied when you create new Clients that use the Offline Area.
    For information on installing Clients, see Chapter 4, "Installing the Client Application".

Creating Offline Areas

The Offline Paths dialog enables you to also add, Offline Areas to the currently selected Site, and to edit and remove existing Offline Areas.

To create a new Offline Area:
  1. Right-click the Offline Areas folder in the Console Tree, and choose the Modify Offline Areas option from the menu.
  2. In the Offline Paths dialog, click the Add button. The Offline Path, Share and Client Kit dialog is displayed.
  3. Select Create new offline area.
  4. In the Location field, type the path of the Offline Area, or click Browse to search for it. Click the Create Directory button to create a new directory for the Offline Area.
    If the Offline Area is located on another PC, you must specify its location as a UNC path. To create a UNC path from the Browse for Folder dialog, select the location from My Network Places.
  5. In the Share field, type a name for the share.
  6. By default, Enterprise creates a user account, called LUCLIENT, to enable Clients, Consoles and Schedulers to access the Offline Area.

    If you want Clients to use another account to access the Offline Area, enter the Username and Password of the account in the Client section. If the account belongs to a domain, you must also enter its Domain name.

    If you want Consoles and Schedulers to use another account to access the Offline Area, enter the Username and Password of the account in the Console section. If the account belongs to a domain, you must also enter its Domain name.

  7. Select Copy Client Kit to copy the default Client Kit to the Offline Area.
    The Client Kit is used to install the Client application on the PCs you want to manage from the Enterprise Console. It contains the default settings that specify how the Clients work. When you copy the kit to the Offline Area, Enterprise automatically adds the Offline Area location and Client account details to the Client Kit so that new Clients can start working as soon as they are installed.
  8. Click the OK button to save your changes and close the dialog.

Changing Global Site Settings

If you create multiple Sites, you must define one of them as the Global Site. It stores the Package Distribution Definitions, which control and configure remote software installations made with the Distribute Software operation. When you add or edit the Package Definitions using the Package Definition Editor, these modifications are made to the data in the Global Site database.

When you create a new Site using the Site Creation Wizard's default options, it is automatically defined as the Global Site. You can also assign Global status to a Site when you create it using the Wizard's custom settings.

To change the Global Site:
  1. In the Enterprise Management folder, click Global Site. The Global Site dialog is displayed.
  2. In the Global site list, select the database you want to use as the Global Site.
  3. Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog.
    When you create a new Global Site, it contains only the standard definitions supplied with Enterprise. To copy changed definitions to a new Global Site, use the export and import options in the Package Definition Editor. For more information, see "Configuring Package Definitions".

Changing Logon Settings for the Site Databases

Consoles and Schedulers require a logon account to access Site databases that are held in Oracle, or SQL Server. A logon account is also required for password protected Access databases. You can specify the details of the logon account when you create a Site database with the Site Creation Wizard's custom Site options. You can also specify and change the logon account settings for a Site database from a Console.

To specify or change Database logon settings:
  1. Click Logon Information in the Enterprise Management folder. The Site Settings dialog is displayed.
  2. In the Site list, select the Site for which you want to change the logon account details, and enter the details of the new account in the Username, Password and Verify password fields.
  3. Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog. The new settings take effect the next time you start the Console.

Deleting Sites

When you delete a Site, it is removed from the list of available Sites in the Console, but the database files are not deleted. Deleting a Site on one Console does not affect other Consoles or Schedulers, which continue to use the Sites they are configured to access. If possible, Enterprise also removes the Data Source Name (DSN) associated with the Site database.

To delete a Site, right-click the Site in the Console Tree and choose Delete Site from the shortcut menu.

Configuring the Offline Scanner

The Offline Scanner enables you to automatically populate a Site with Offline Clients. It is usually activated using the Site Creation Wizard's Offline Scanner dialog.

After creating a Site, you can configure the Offline Scanner using the Offline Scanner Options dialog.

To configure the Offline Scanner:
  1. In the Console, click Offline Scanner Options in the Site Management folder.
  2. If you want Enterprise to automatically detect new Offline Clients, select the Enable offline scanning check box.
  3. In the Scanner Host list, select the Scheduler that will perform the Offline Scanning.
  4. Ensure the Scan interval is set. This value specifies the number of cycles the Scheduler makes before checking for new Clients. As the Scheduler checks the Offline Area every minute, the default value of 2 means the Offline Area is checked for new Clients every two minutes.
  5. In the Backoff time (seconds) field, enter the time that must elapse before the Offline Scanner acts on any new Client data it detects. This prevents the scanner from collecting new Client data before all the data is copied to the Offline Area. A delay of 120 seconds normally ensures all the data is copied before the Scanner publishes the data in the database.
  6. Click OK to save the changes.
    You can also populate a Site with Clients using the Find Clients operation.

Assigning Schedulers to a Site

In Enterprise, the Job Scheduler can run as a background application or as a Service. You can use both modes within a Site, but an individual PC can use only one mode at a time, and each Scheduler can run against only one Site.

If you use multiple Sites, you must assign at least one Scheduler to each Site. When you create a new Site database, or move an existing Site database, you must reconfigure Schedulers to include the changes.

To assign a Scheduler to a Site Database:
  1. If the Scheduler is running as a Service, click Configure Scheduler in the Console. If the Scheduler is running as a background application, double-click the Scheduler icon in the System Tray of the Windows Taskbar. The WinScheduler Properties dialog is displayed.
  2. Click the Stop button to suspend the Scheduler.
  3. Select the new Site database from the Database site list.
  4. Click the Start button to check and save the new settings.
  5. Click the OK button to run the Scheduler as a background application, or click the Run Service button to run the Scheduler as a Service.

Maintaining Microsoft Access Databases

Microsoft Access databases are limited to 1GB of disk space. Enterprise reports errors as soon as an Access Site database reaches this limit and an update fails. You can reduce the size of an Access database by compacting it from within the application, or by using the Windows Control Panel.

To compact an Access Database:
  1. Close all Consoles or Schedulers.
  2. In the Windows Control Panel, double-click the 32-bit ODBC Data Sources icon.
  3. In the ODBC Data Source Administrator dialog, select the System DSN tab.
  4. In the System Data Sources list, select the DSN of the database, then click the Configure button. The ODBC Microsoft Access Setup dialog is displayed.
  5. Click the Compact button. You should compact from your Access database, and then compact to the same database, or to a new, temporary database file and use it to replace the original uncompacted file.
  6. After compacting the database, close the dialogs and the Control Panel window, and check the size of the database. You can then resume working with Enterprise.

Site Database Tables

All Site databases contain the following tables:

ASSETS

Contains user-defined assets specified using the Maintain Asset Data operation.

ASSETTYPES

Specifies the definitions that control the data that can be specified for each type of asset recorded in the Assets table.

GROUPID

Holds Group identifiers and Group membership for Fixed Groups.

GROUPS

Holds the names and identifiers of all Enterprise Groups. It also holds the SQL expressions that define Dynamic Groups.

HOSTS

Lists the names and capabilities of all Schedulers.

HWMAIN

The hardware inventory summary.

The full Hardware Inventory results are stored in the tables whose name begin with HW.
LG_ALLNODES

A temporary table that contains expanded Groups. It is cleared every time a policy analysis is performed

LG_CLIENT

Holds the names of Clients and Groups belonging to each Package Policy.

LG_FILTER

Contains the SQL statements that are used to generate the Compliance views in the Package Policy Manager.

LG_GROUP

Holds the names of package policies defined by users.

LG_PACKAGE

Contains the names of the applications associated with each package policy, and the rules controlling their use.

LG_RESULTS

Holds the results of the last compliance analysis.

NETJOBEVT

Job Event Logs - contains the event logs of completed Jobs.

NETJOBLOG

Job Logs - Contains the status and change event data (such as network errors) generated by Jobs.

NETJOBS

Contains the Scheduling, Logging and other information that enable an operation to be executed by a specified Scheduler.

NETOPER

Stores the operations available at the Site.

NODEPROP

Node Properties - stores data associated with each Client, including all user prompted information. Each record contains the Client name, the property name (For example, $DEPARTMENT) and the property value.

NODES

Stores the names of Clients and key items of Client data.

PACKAGES

Contains the details of applications that can be identified by the Update Software Inventory operations.

PKGRPTDB

The Software Inventory Results. Each record contains the Client name, the location of the application, and the date it was found.

PKGTYPES

Software Inventory application types - holds the various application categories, such as SPREADSHEET.

RESRCES

Resources - holds the Client PC Resource (disks and share) definitions. It records each combination of Client and associated resources. Resource records include encrypted access information and other characteristics.

SITEPROP

Site Properties - Stores the details of the Site database.

SWDISTDB

Software Distribution Package Definitions - defines software packages that are available for distribution. The table is maintained by the Package Definition Editor.

SWDJOBS

Software Distribution Jobs - records the details of scheduled, active and completed distribution Jobs.

SWDJOBPKGS

Software Distribution Job Packages - records all software packages submitted by any Distribution Job.

SWDSTATUS

Contains the status logs of Soft-ware Distribution Jobs. It records an entry for each step of each package on each Client in a Job.

SWMDETAIL

Software Metering Details - contains the collated software usage data collected from Clients.

SWMSUMMARY

Software Metering Summary - contains the amalgamated software usage data from Clients. This data is used in various reports, such as the Software Total Users by Day report.

UNRECAPPS

Unrecognized Applications - lists unrecognized applications found on each Client.

VENDORS

Lists the Vendors supplying third-party software.

Fields with names that begin with FK are foreign keys to the OBJECTID field in the specified table. For example, FKNODES fields are linked to the OBJECTID field in the NODES table.

These binary links offer improved performance over the text-based links such as those based on the NODENAME field.

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