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Enterprise User Manual
Chapter 5
Managing Clients
Clients are PCs and Servers on which the Enterprise Client software is installed. Enterprise can access and manage these PCs in two modes:
- In Offline mode, Consoles and Schedulers communicate with Client PCs through intermediate folders called Offline Areas. (In a LAN environment, an Offline Area is a convenient file share.)
- In Online mode, the Consoles and Schedulers act directly on the Client PCs through file shares on the Client - either the Admin share, or shares created by the Enterprise Client software.
An Enterprise Site can contain any mixture of Offline and Online Clients. PC-Duo Enterprise stores details about the Client PCs' disks and shares. In Offline mode, only disk related information is held. In Online mode, information about the shares is held. Client disks and shares are referred to in dialogs under the umbrella term of Client resources.
By default, PCs are set up as Offline Clients and the manual describes how Offline mode in most cases. For more information on Online Clients, see Chapter 15, "Online Clients".
Enterprise Clients refresh and push their raw inventory data and check for software distribution tasks at the Offline Area. For more information, see "Controlling Client Behavior" on page 23.
Viewing Clients in the Console
You can view Client PCs that are registered with the currently selected Site in the Console's Clients folder. To view all the Clients at a Site, select All Clients. To list the Clients belonging to a Group, select the Group in the Clients folder.
The columns in the Client Views are resizable. You to change the widths of a column by dragging the side of a column heading. You can also drag-and-drop column headings to change the order in which they are displayed.
Right-click a Client to add, modify and view the Client data.
Viewing Client Properties
You can view and edit Client Properties using the Client Properties dialog. To display this dialog, right-click a Client in a Clients View and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. The Client Properties dialog displays the Client's stored data. Properties are collected when a Client is added to the database, or when a Update Hardware Inventory, Update Software Inventory or Get User Data Operation has been performed on it.
The Client Properties for Offline Clients includes their Offline ID. This property allows you to locate the data subdirectory for each Offline Client.
You can also locate a Client's data subdirectory by right-clicking the Client and choosing Explore Offline Area from the shortcut menu.
To add a new property, click the Add button. To edit an existing property, select the property and click the Edit button. Both these actions open the Property dialog, which you can use to create or modify individual properties.
Populating the Database with Clients
The Find Clients Operations provides an easy mechanism to keep your Site up-to-date as new Clients are created.
Offline Clients upload their raw inventory data to an Offline Area. This Offline Area can be searched by the Find Offline Clients Operation, which detects new Client data in the Offline Area and saves the Client names to the Site Database.
- An alternative to performing a Find Offline Clients Operation is the Offline Scanner. It publishes the Client names and executes an inventory analysis of the new Clients. The Offline Scanner is enabled by default when you create a new Site. You can also activate it from the Site Management folder.
To customize the Find Clients Operation:
- In the Console, right-click the Find Offline Clients Operation, and choose Customize from the shortcut menu. The Customize dialog is displayed.
- Select the Autopopulate/Scan tab.
- Select the Enable offline scan check box.
- In the Offline area list, select the Offline Area you want to scan for new Clients. If you want to scan all Offline Areas for new Clients, leave the list blank.
- Ensure the Enable online scan check box is deselected.
- Click the OK button to save the changes and close the dialog.
Performing a Find Clients Operation
Ensure you have customized the Find Clients Operation before using this procedure. To perform a Find Clients Operation, click the Find Clients Operation in the Console. A message is displayed to show its progress.
When it has finished, the Operation produces a list of new Clients in an Event Viewer window, and adds the Clients to the Site Database.
- You can also use the Offline Scanner to identify new Clients at your Site, and to automatically collect hardware and software inventory data for them. We recommend using the Scanner when creating new Sites.
Deleting Clients
You can remove Clients and all the data associated with them from the Database.
- Select a Group that contains the Clients you want to delete.
- Right-click the Client you want to delete, and choose Delete Client from the shortcut menu.
A confirmation message is displayed, asking if you want to delete the Client and the Offline Area used to transfer its data to the Site Database.
- Click the Yes button to delete the Client. Enterprise deletes the Client data from the Site Database and the Offline Area.
Removing Disk Information
To delete the disk information that Enterprise holds for a Client, right-click the Clients to display the shortcut menu, then choose Delete Resource(s) and select the disk you want to remove.
The Disk information is deleted from the Site Database. The Client PCs are not affected.
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:
To perform the Operation on Client Groups:
- In the Clients tab, click the Select Clients option.
- Select the Groups tab.
- Select the check box of each Group.
To perform the Operation on Clients from a Group:
- In the Clients tab, click the Select Clients option.
- Select the Groups tab.
- Select the Group Name.
- Select the Clients from the Member Clients list.
You can select any combination of Clients and Groups. If a Client belongs to more than one selected Group, the Operation is performed on the Client only once.
Organizing Clients into Groups
Groups help you manage and support the PCs in your Site. Because most Operations enable you to select Groups as well as individual Clients, Groups enable you identify and work with Clients that have similar properties.
Groups are displayed in the Console's Clients folder. Enterprise supports two types of group: Fixed and Dynamic.
Fixed Groups
Fixed Groups contain Clients selected by users. They can only be updated manually.
To create a Fixed Group:
- Right-click the Clients folder, and choose Add Group from the shortcut menu. The Add Group dialog is displayed.
- Select the Fixed group option, and enter a Group name and a Comment.
- Click OK to close the dialog. The new Group is added to the Clients folder. You can now add Clients to your Fixed Group.
- To add Clients to the Group:
To remove Clients from a Fixed Group:
- Click the Group to list its Clients in the Clients View.
- Select the Client you want to remove, right-click and choose Delete from Group from the shortcut menu.
Dynamic Groups
Dynamic Groups enable you to select Client PCs based on their attributes stored in the Site Database. Dynamic Groups contain Clients that meet the SQL-based criteria specified in the Group definition. Use them when you want the system to automatically update the Group members whenever the Group is used.
To create a Dynamic Group:
- Right-click the Clients folder and choose Add Group from the shortcut menu.
- In the Add Group dialog, enter a Group name and a Comment.
- Select the Dynamic group option.
- 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.
- Click the OK button to list the Clients that match your selection criteria.
To change the Group definition:
- Right-click the Group and choose Modify Group from the shortcut menu. The Modify Group dialog is displayed.
- Edit the Filter expression (or use the SQLWizard), and click the OK button.
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:
- 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.
- Click < Click here to add new condition >. SQLWizard creates a default query.
- 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.
- 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.
- Select the Condition Value field at the end of the condition, and enter the test value. For example, to identify all the PCs that contain 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.
- To add another condition 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. that corresponds to your query.
- 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:
- In the Add Groups dialog, enter a name for the Group, make sure the Dynamic group option is selected and click the SQLWizard button.
- In SQLWizard leave the all option unchanged, and 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.
- Select is equal to and select is less than in the data selection menu. Select the blank line and enter 128.
- Click the Preview button to display the database entries that will be selected by the query.
- Click the OK button to add the SQL query to your Dynamic Group.
- In the Add Group dialog, click the OK button to create the group.
Selecting Fields to 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:
- Click the Show Fields button. The Select Fields to Display dialog is displayed.
- 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.
- 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.
- To use the field to control the sort order in which the data is displayed:
- If you want to remove a field from the list, right-click the field and choose Delete result field from the shortcut menu.
- Click OK to save your changes and close the window.
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" on page 100.
To save a query:
- Click the Save Query button to open the Save Query dialog is displayed.
- 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.
- If you want to save your natural language query, select 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.
- 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 Dynamic Group definitions to other Site Databases using the import and export. These definitions are saved as .GBF files (Group Backup Files). Group Backup Files are text files that list the Filter Expressions which define Dynamic Groups.
To export Group definitions to a file:
- In the Site Management folder, click Export Groups. The Save As dialog is displayed.
- In the Save As dialog, select the location in which you want to save the Group definitions, then enter a name for the file.
- Click the Save button to export the Groups.
To import Group definitions into a Site:
- In the Site Management folder, click Import Groups. The Open dialog is displayed.
- In the Open dialog, select the Group Backup File you want to import.
- Click the Open button to import the Groups. If you import a Group whose name matches an existing Group at your Site, Enterprise adds _[1] to the name of the imported Group.
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