Other Operations

Command Launch Operations enable you to run third-party applications from the PC-Duo Enterprise Console. The WinScheduler Operation is an example of a Command Launch Operation; it launches PC-Duo Enterprise's own Windows Scheduler component.

Command Launch Operations allow you to specify the command line that is passed to the target application and the application's working directory. You can use the $NODE token to feed the currently-selected Node name to the external application, using its command line. This could become important, for example, in passing an alert message into a Helpdesk application.

Command Launch Operations are not restricted to processing single nodes. Nodes can be multi-selected or specified as a group, and PC-Duo Enterprise runs the operation against each PC.

Using Tokens in Command Launch Operations

You can use the following PC-Duo Enterprise tokens as parameters or arguments in the command line of a Command Launch Operation:


Token	Description
$DATE$	The current date, in the form 26-January-2002
$YYYY$	The current year in four digit format, e.g. 2002
$YY$	The current year in two digit format, e.g. 02
$MM$	The current month in two digits format e.g. 06
$MMM$	The abbreviated name of the current month e.g. Jun
$MONTH$	The full name of the current month, e.g. June
$DD$	The current day e.g. 26
$YYMMDD$	Today's date in yymmdd format, e.g. 000626
$YYMMDD(nn)$ $YY/MM/DD(nn)$ $YY-MM-DD(nn)$ $YYMMMDD(nn)$	Today's date in year, month, day format, plus or minus a specified number of days. For example, $YYMMMDD(12)$ would return 23JAN02 if today's date is 2002/01/11.
$DDMMYY$	Today's date in ddmmyy format, e.g. 260600
$DDMMYY(nn)$ $DD/MM/YY(nn)$ $DD-MM-YY(nn)$ $DDMMMYY(nn)$	Today's date in day, month, year format, plus or minus a specified number of days.
$MMDDYY$	Today's date in mmddyy format, e.g. 062600
$MMDDYY(nn)$ $MM/DD/YY(nn)$ $MM-DD-YY(nn)$ $MMMDDYY(nn)$	Today's date in month, day, year format, plus or minus a specified number of days.
$TIME$	The current time, e.g. 18:53
$HOUR$	The current hour, e.g. 18
$MINUTE$	The current minute, e.g. 53
$NODE	The Node or Client name
$NODE(n)	Passes the first n characters of the Node name. For example, $NODE(5) returns ACCOU when the name is ACCOUNTS1.
$IPADDRESS	The TCP/IP address (such as 90.0.0.40)
$DSNNAME	Name of the ODBC DSN for the current Site
$DSNUSER	Username, if any, associated with database-level logon
$DSNPWD	Password, if any, associated with database-level logon
$DSNACCESS	All of the above DSN information (as required), to identify the Site in the standard command format for the Database Viewer and SQL Wizard utilities
$MACADDRESS	Hardware network MAC address, where known only available after a Hardware Inventory (Publish) Operation has been performed
$SUBNETMASK	Hardware network subnet mask, where known. This token is available only after a Hardware Inventory (Publish) Operation has been performed
$SITE$	Returns the name of the current Site.

Integrated PC Remote Control

PC-Duo Enterprise offers tight integration with Vector's companion product, NetSupport PC-Duo. It is a sophisticated Remote Control package which enables you to access, interact with and control other PCs on local and remote networks.

As well as being able to view the user screens, you can interact with applications on users' PCs, and transfer files to and from the PC.

The PC-Duo Enterprise Console's Remote Control Operation can be configured to automatically launch the application you are using to control Client PCs. As this is a Command Launch Operation, you can customize it to include tokenized parameters in the command line.

For example, you could pass the name of the PC that is currently selected in the Console using the $NODE token.

The Browser Operation

PC-Duo Enterprise's Browser Operation enables you to manage files on one or more Clients at your Site, using an Explorer-style interface.

To edit or amend the files and directories on an offline Client PC, you must activate Scan on Demand mode before running the Browser Operation. Otherwise, you will be browsing a snapshot of a Client PC's drive/directory/file structure.

You can simultaneously launch multiple Browser windows by selecting a Group, or several individual Clients, and running the Browser Operation.

Working with Directories

Like the Windows Explorer application, directories are shown in the left pane of a Browser window.

To create a directory, right-click in the left pane of a Browser window and choose Create Directory from the shortcut menu.

To delete a directory, right-click on the directory you want to delete and choose the Delete Directory command.

To rename a directory, right-click on the appropriate directory and choose the Rename Directory menu command.

To generate Software Inventory Package Rules for an application from a Browser window, right-click on the relevant directory and choose Generate Package Rules.

To display any updated directories, right-click in this pane and choose Refresh.

Working with Files

Files are displayed in the right pane of a Browser window. Right-click on the file to display the shortcut menu and choose:

Edit to edit a text file or a log file. The file contents is displayed in a text editor such as Notepad.

Delete to delete the selected file. Alternatively, to select the file and press the Delete key.

Free Disk Space Scans

Use the Free Space Operation to check the free disk space on online Clients. Free space can be checked at any time using PC-Duo Enterprise's background access to the PC hard disk, and any PCs with less than the customer-defined threshold are recorded.

These PCs can be investigated using the PC-Duo Enterprise Browser and Software Inventory Operations. Loss of disk space is often attributed to multiple installations of a software package. PC-Duo Enterprise's Software Inventory application can show you where this happens, including pinpointing the installation area of each copy.

Performing Free Space Scans

The Free Space Operation enables you to perform disk space checks against Nodes at your Site. When you perform the operation, an event list is generated if any of the selected Nodes fail the free space threshold tests.

The Console or Scheduler makes a connection to the hard disk or server share, executes a standard free space check, and then compares the result with the threshold value. The threshold is taken from the operation's settings, which you can change by customizing the Free Space Operation (see below). This allows you to have a different threshold applying to each PC processed by a single Free Space scan.

A Free Space scan can be executed interactively from a Console or by running a scheduled job. For more information, see Chapter 5, "Working with Operations".

Customizing the Free Space Operation

The most common requirement for customization is to modify the free space thresholds, typically to find those PCs without enough disk space to accept a new piece of software.

The levels can be set in percentage terms as well as absolutes. It is easy to vary the free space threshold, enabling you to check for a specific amount of available space when planning a new application installation, as well as checking for space problems as a part of your regular preventative management strategy.

The Do not check read-only resources option prevents PC-Duo Enterprise checking CD drives and other read-only Resources. Note that the read-only status is determined by lookup from the Resources table in the Database. The default is for the Free Space Operation to check all Resources, including any that are read-only.

As well as the operation-specific Warning and Severe threshold levels, the Free Space Operation can use the values set in the Resource definitions. The Resource default level is treated as the Severe level.

Viewing Free Space Scan Events

Depending on the operation settings, the following Free Space Events can be generated for a disk:

The Events are displayed in the Event Viewer for an interactive Free Space scan, and in the Event Log for a Scheduled scan. The Event Viewer window's Free Space information can be printed, using the Print button in the toolbar, or using the File, Print command. The Client Log can also be printed using its Log to File button, which also offers the option to append to a file which already exists. You can also export selected Events to a file using the Log to File command in the Event viewer's shortcut menu.

Stored Information on free space is only available using the Hardware Inventory Operation (in the Hardware tab). The Free Space Scan Operation is designed to generate exception information, and therefore does not update the Database (except in the Event Log associated with a scheduled Job). The Free Space scan is targeted at providing Event information, rather than data, and the way in which the results are processed and presented reflects this.

PC and Server Backups

PC-Duo Enterprise offers backup to Windows Host systems when used in conjunction with the UltraBac product from Barratt Edwards International Corporation (BEI). Refer to their web site at www.ultrabac.com for more details.

Experienced UltraBac users will probably find the following summary information, and the Console's backup support, enough to start immediate use. Refer to the documentation supplied with UltraBac for an explanation of its use.

The Backup Operation cannot be used interactively; it must be used from within a submitted Job. An attempt at interactive use generates an error message entry in the Console Execution Log.

Objectives and Highlights

PC-Duo Enterprise complements the third party UltraBac product by allowing its use against PC Groups in the PC-Duo Enterprise Database, and by supporting the network backup function through the same PC-Duo Enterprise Console and distributed Scheduler architecture that underpins other management functions.

UltraBac provides network backup from Windows NT, and 2000 systems, which offers a solution to the problems of backup for the Registry and of active databases, and so on. UltraBac is a third party tool which is not supplied or supported by Vector Networks. While it has a reasonable feature set, you should always confirm its suitability for your environment. Vector Networks cannot be held liable for faults in the UltraBac product.

PC-Duo Enterprise provides an easy to use interface to define the data paths to be backed up, and the settings to be used. System Managers familiar with UltraBac should find that all the major command switches relevant to a PC backup requirement are available as simple options and dialog fields in thePC-Duo Enterprise UltraBac Backup Operation detail sheet.

Note that PC-Duo Enterprise does not provide a Console interface to the data restore process and this must be managed entirely with the UltraBac tools. PC-Duo Enterprise does not retain any detailed tracking information to assist in recovering a specific file from a set of tapes and this must be accomplished with the support provided by UltraBac.

UltraBac includes facilities to backup the system Registry, it can process extended attributes and it can potentially handle open files. Refer to your UltraBac documentation for details of any limitations that may apply to your configuration.

UltraBac backups must be restored using the UltraBac tools. Refer to your UltraBac documentation for the recommended procedure for system and data recovery.

The Backup Process

UltraBac backups can be triggered interactively from the PC-Duo Enterprise Console if it is running on the same Windows system as UltraBac.

Similarly, scheduled UltraBac backup Jobs must be directed to a PC-Duo Enterprise Job Scheduler running on Windows NT4, 2000 or XP. In each case, PC-Duo Enterprise unpacks the UltraBac Job definition and it expands the Client List into absolute PC names and Resource names that are passed to UltraBac for execution.

PC-Duo Enterprise updates the Jobs Database as each PC is processed, and when the Job completes, a Job Log is retained with summary status information relating to each PC accessed. To view PC-Duo Enterprise's Jobs Database, click on the Show Jobs button in the Console toolbar - the Jobs Database window is displayed.

UltraBac retains more detailed logging information which can assist when a data restore is required.

Customizing the Backup Process

The UltraBac Backup Operation supports all of the main UltraBac options for cross-network PC backup, and the Console installation provides default full and incremental UltraBac Backup Operations which can be further customized, as required.

Backup operations can be customized with UltraBac options, such as enabling automatic Registry backup, and interfacing to SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange databases for online backup. Some functions require UltraBac components to be loaded on the Client PCs. Refer to the UltraBac documentation for more details.

You can control which files and directories are processed on each disk or share. PC-Duo Enterprise defaults to processing all files but it is good practice to exclude files which are meaningless in a backup, such as page and swap files (PAGEFILE.SYS or WIN386.SWP). You can also specify individual directory trees to be included or excluded, using the File Paths to be Included/Excluded option. Always specify file includes and excludes using DOS syntax.

Separate multiple file/directory paths with commas (,). Do not include any Node names or drive / share names-PC-Duo Enterprise adds these as it processes each PC. A typical exclude path is:

Note that the Disk and Share Properties include a flag to indicate whether a drive must be backed up. New resources default to being included in backup operations.

Backup Throughput

Throughput is dependent on the available CPU power of the Host and the Client, and the tape drive itself, especially in relation to the network bandwidth.

It is important to understand that cross-network backup direct to tape can be vulnerable to any link in the chain being weaker than the others, such that an imbalance occurs. Increasing the performance of a tape drive can decrease overall backup throughput if it means that the tape is no longer kept streaming; tape repositioning can cripple performance, and network bandwidth or Client performance limitations are often the culprits.

Backup Results

PC-Duo Enterprise does not include Backup information in its own Database. UltraBac provides more comprehensive backup tracking and file restore support, as expected from a dedicated backup product. Refer to your UltraBac documentation for more details.

No Database updates or displayed results are generated by the Backup Operation. Backup Operations do not produce any Events, and no Event Log is generated.

As per any Scheduled Job, a Backup Job produces an entry in the Job Logs table. The Client Log, attached to the main Job Log, lists all the Nodes and Resources that the Job attempted to process.

Wake-on-WAN

Wake-on-LAN is a firmware technique, developed by Intel Corporation, that enables PCs to be powered-on remotely by sending special 'Wake-up' packets to their network cards. In addition to LAN-based operation, PC-Duo Enterprise has the unique capability to reach PCs on routed networks - providing a Wake-on-WAN capability.

The operation is used by multi-selecting PCs, or selecting a group, and double clicking the operation. Alternatively it can be scheduled as a Job, in which case more complex lists of Clients can be processed.

This technique has obvious benefits. PCs can be switched on, or confirmed as on, in readiness for inventory scans, virus scans, software distribution, backup, or any other automated process - typically overnight, at the weekend, or any other time when PCs are normally powered off. PC-Duo Enterprise provides Wake-on-LAN support as an independent operation that can be used in support of any of these tasks.

Note that for Software Distribution, you can achieve precise timings by posting data and instructions to the Offline Areas, then sending a Wake-on-LAN/WAN signal to switch on the PC at a specified time so that the software distribution instructions are processed when the PC boots.

Chapter 13