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Enterprise User Manual


Chapter 3

Managing Sites


PC-Duo Enterprise collects information about your 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.

Viewing Offline Paths

Offline Clients are accessed using an Offline Area, which acts as a data repository and method of communication between Hosts (Consoles and Schedulers) and Clients. You can have multiple Offline Areas defined for a Site.

Offline Areas are best located on intermediate file servers. However, for testing and evaluation purposes, you can locate the Offline Area on the PC where the Console 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.

The Site Offline Paths dialog enables you to view the Offline Paths that are defined for the current Site. You can also add, edit and remove Offline Paths using this dialog. To display the dialog, click Offline Paths in the Site Management folder.

If you are using the Offline Scanner, it scans the Offline Areas specified in the Site Offline Paths dialog.

Changing the 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 new or changed definitions to the new Global Site, use the Package Definition Editor's exporting and importing features. For more information, see "Configuring Package Definitions".

Changing the Database Logon Settings

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 Offline Clients Operation.

Assigning Schedulers to a Site Database

In Enterprise, the Job Scheduler can run in two modes. On Windows 95 or later, it can run as a background application; on Windows NT, 2000, XP or 2003, it can also run 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, if you are using Windows NT, 2000, XP or 2003, click the Run Service button to run the Scheduler as a Service in the tray.

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. Select the Database's DSN in the System Data Sources list, 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.

Understanding the 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 Results Summary.

The full Hardware Inventory data is stored in the tables whose name begin with HW.
LG_ALLNODES

Package Policy Clients - a temporary table used to list expanded Groups. It is cleared every time a policy analysis is performed

LG_CLIENT

Package Policy Members - holds the names of Clients and Groups belonging to each Package Policy.

LG_FILTER

Package Policy Filter - contains the SQL statements that are used to generate the Compliance views in the Package Policy Manager.

LG_GROUP

Package Policies - holds the names of package policies defined by users.

LG_PACKAGE

Package Policy Packages - contains the names of the packages associated with each package policy, and the rules controlling their use.

LG_RESULTS

Package Policy 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

Scheduled Job Details - 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 name of Clients and key items of Client data.

PACKAGES

Contains the application that can be identified by the Update Software Inventory Operations.

PKGRPTDB

The Software Inventory Results. Each record contains the Client name, the application, 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 Software 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. Data from this table 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.


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