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Enterprise User Manual
Chapter 6
Working with Operations
Operations enable you to perform tasks on Client PCs across your organization's networks. Some Operations, such as Update Software Inventory and Get User Data allow you to collect and save data from Client PCs, other Operations, such as Distribute Software and Update Software Inventory enable you install and monitor the software applications installed on Client PCs. Operations are listed in the Operations folder of the Console. Related Operations are organized into the various sub-folders.
Performing Operations
To perform an Operation, click its icon in an Operations folder. The Select Clients dialog is displayed enabling you specify the Clients or Group of Clients on which you perform the Operation.
Note that some Operations, such as Configure Clients, must be customized before they can be used.
Operations and Clients
When working with Offline Clients, Operations use the data that the Clients have stored in the Offline Area. The frequency which the Client data is pushed to the Offline Area is determined by the Client software settings. This enables Enterprise to retrieve Client data even when the Clients themselves are not switched on or not accessible over the network.
Creating and Customizing Operations
Enterprise enables you to customize Operations and to create new variants of Operations based on those customizations. Customizing Operations into variants enables you to match the way you manage your PCs to the particular needs of each group of users and the requirements of your PC management policies. For example, if you want to scan PCs of a department for unrecognized applications, you can create a variant of the Update Software Inventory Operation that searches specific Clients.
To create an Operation:
- In the Console, right-click an Operation and choose Create Operation from the shortcut menu.
- In the Add New Operation dialog, select the type of Operation you want to create from the Type list. The type determines the options you can choose for the new Operation. Click the OK button. The Customize dialog is displayed.
- Enter the Operation name and a Description for the Operation. The name must be unique within the Site.
- If the Operation can be scheduled, and you want to assign a default Scheduler to it, select an entry in the Default host list.
- By default, the Operation is displayed in the Console with the icon for the selected Operation Type. If you want to select your own icon for the Operation, type its location in the Icon Path field, or click Browse to search for it.
- Select the Interactive Operations Stop Processing on Error check box if you want the Operation to stop when it encounters an error. This setting has no effect when the Operation is scheduled.
- Select the Prompt on Failed Connection Attempts check box if you want the system to check that it has access to all selected Clients before running the Operation.
- Select the Operations folders in which you want to display the Operation.
- Select each tab and choose the settings you want to use. For more information on the Operation-specific settings, see the online help.
- Click the OK button. The new Operation is added to the Console. To display the Operation, open one of the Operations folders you selected, or open the All Operations folder, which lists all Operations available at the Site.
To customize an existing Operation:
- Right-click the Operation you want to customize, then choose the Customize command from the shortcut menu.
- In the Customize dialog, configure the options in the dialog tabs, then click the OK button to save the customized Operation.
You can now use this customized Operation with the Site's Clients and Groups.
Importing and Exporting Operations
The details of Operations can be stored in .OBF files (Operation Backup Files) to allow their transfer from one PC to another. The .OBF file is stored in the PC-Duo Enterprise installation folder, and read by the Console when you create a new Site. You can import and export Operations using the Import Operations and Export Operations commands in the Console's Site Management folder.
To export Operations from a Site Database:
- In the Site Management folder, click Export Operations. The Save As dialog is displayed.
- In the Save As dialog, enter the name and location of the export file, and click the Save button.
To import Operations into a Site Database:
- In the Site Management folder, click Import Operations. The Open dialog is displayed.
- In the Open dialog, select the OBF file that contains the Operations you want to import, and click the Open button.
Deleting Operations
To delete an Operation, right-click its icon and choose Delete Operation from the shortcut menu.
If you delete an Operation, it is removed from the Site Database. This means that any Consoles or Schedulers sharing that Site Database will not be able to use it.
If you delete all the Operations of a particular type, you can create new Operations of that type using the Create Operation option in the Operation's shortcut menu.
Schedulers
Schedulers manage the execution of Operations that users have scheduled from a Console. They automatically run Operations at a specified time and date, and enable you to automate regular tasks, such as software deployments. The Scheduler can run in two modes:
- On Windows 95, 98 and Me, the Scheduler runs as a background application. It can be started manually, or automatically from the Windows Startup folder, and it is closed when the user logs off.
- On Windows NT, 2000, XP and 2003, the Scheduler can run as a background application or as a Windows Service. Both modes work in the same way except that the Service can continue to run scheduled Operations while the system is logged off.
The Scheduler application is installed as part of the Console installation. However, because the Scheduler is independent, it can run when the Console is closed. This enables you to run scheduled Operations on any PC, and to distribute your organization's workload across the network.
The Scheduler Service Account
When the Scheduler is running as a Service, it manages Operations, and accesses the Site Database using the account details specified during the installation of the Console software. You can set and change the details of this account from the Enterprise Management folder.
To change the Scheduler Service Account:
- In the Enterprise Management folder, click Scheduler Service Account. The Scheduler Service Account Details dialog is displayed.
- Enter the User name and Password of the account with which you want the Scheduler to access the Site Database. The account must have admin privileges.
- Click the OK button to save your changes and close the dialog.
- Restart the Scheduler to apply the new account information.
Starting Schedulers
The Scheduler can be automatically started on a Console PC by the Enterprise installation process. It is also started automatically by the Console when you create a new Site using the default options, or when you create a new Site with the custom options and enable the Offline Scanner. In addition, you can start the Scheduler manually from the Console.
To start the Scheduler from the Console:
- In the Operations folder, click the Configure Scheduler Operation. The WinScheduler icon is displayed in the system tray of the Windows Taskbar.
- If you want to run the Scheduler as a service:
Configuring Schedulers
Each Scheduler is responsible for polling the Site Database at each wake-up interval. If a Scheduler finds any Operations assigned to it, it puts the Operations into a queue pending their run time.
At run time, the Scheduler checks the maximum number of active Jobs that it can run simultaneously. If it has a free Job slot, it unpacks the Operation's Client List and then runs the Operation. If the Scheduler is already at maximum capacity, it leaves the Operation in pending status until a slot becomes free.
You can configure the settings that control the Scheduler behavior using the WinScheduler Properties dialog.
To configure the Scheduler:
- If the Scheduler is running as a service, click the Configure Scheduler Operation in the Console.
If the Scheduler is running as a background application, double-click the Scheduler icon in the Windows Taskbar.
- Click Stop to suspend the Scheduler.
- If you have more than one Site Database and you want to assign the Scheduler to another Site, select the new Site in the Database site list.
- If you want the Scheduler to record its status messages, enter a Log file name, or click the Browse button to select a file.
- By default, the Scheduler appends its status messages to the existing log file when it starts. If you want the Scheduler to overwrite the log file each time it starts, clear the Append to log file check box.
- By default, Schedulers check for new Jobs every 60 seconds. If you want to change the check frequency, enter a new value in the Wake-up Interval field.
- If you want to change the maximum number of Jobs that can be simultaneously managed by the Scheduler, enter a new value in the Max active jobs field. To allow the Scheduler to run an unlimited number of Jobs, set the value to 0.
- If you want to prevent Jobs from being displayed in the Windows desktop as they run, select Hide running jobs.
- Select Run jobs as low priority to prevent Jobs from affecting the performance of the PC where the Scheduler is running.
- If you want to record all Scheduler messages in the log file, select the Debug and Verbose check boxes.
- If the PC is running Windows NT, 2000, XP or 2003 and you want the Scheduler to run as a Service, click the Run Service button.
If you want the Scheduler to run as a background application, click the Start button.
Scheduling Operations
You can submit an Operation as a scheduled Job, and schedule it for a specific date and time using the Submit Job dialog. You can schedule the following Operations:
Update Hardware Inventory
Collects hardware asset information from Client PCs, such as network shares, drive sizes, and video settings.
Update Software Inventory
Lists the applications installed on Client PCs.
Get User Data
Presents Client users with questions. It can also collect environment variables and INI file settings directly from Clients.
Distribute Software
Deploys and installs applications on Clients.
Command Launch Operations
Run external applications from the Console.
To submit an Operation as a Job:
- In the Console, right-click the Operation you want to schedule and choose Submit Job from the shortcut menu.
- In the Select Clients dialog, select the Clients or Groups on which you want to perform the Operation, then click the OK button.
- Schedulers evaluate Dynamic Groups each time they run an Operation. This ensures that Client changes are reflected in the Operation even if the changes occurred after the Job was submitted.
The Submit Job dialog is displayed. It contains the following tabs:
- In the Job tab, enter a Job name.
- In the Schedule tab, enter the Starting run date and Starting run time.
- In the Host list, select the Scheduler on which you want the Operation to run.
- Set the frequency with which you want the Operation to run.
- In the Logging tab, select the logging options to specify how the Job records its progress. For more information, see "Using Tokens in Log File Names".
- If the submitted Operation supports retries, select the Retry tab and specify how often the Scheduler can attempt to start the Job.
You can specify the retry interval in units of Minutes, Hours, Days, or Weeks. This interval enables you to define a Job for Clients that are not currently available.
- Click the OK button to submit the Job and close the dialog. The Job is added to the database and displayed in the Scheduled Jobs folder.
The Scheduler runs the Job at the specified date and time. When the Job has finished, it is deleted if it was defined as Once-only, or returned to the Scheduler's queue in Pending status if it is scheduled to be repeated.
Each time the Job runs, it is unpacked and re-initialized, so that any modifications made to it since the previous run are implemented.
Using Tokens in Log File Names
When you specify the Logging information for a Job, you can include tokens in the Log file name. This enables you to identify the source of the log file and when the Job was run.
By default, the file name of a log file is set to:
For example, if you submit an Update Hardware Inventory Operation, to Scheduler S1 for 20 July 2003, a log file called HWINV_S1_200703.LOG is created.
You can create a log file name using any combination of the following tokens:
- $RETRY - The Job retry number. (A value of 1 is used for the first retry.)
- $MAXRETRY - The maximum number of retries. For example, you can use this token with $RETRY to create file names such as HWINV_1_OF_5.LOG, HWINV_2_of_5.LOG.
- $OPERTYPE(n) - The short Operation type name, such as HWINV for Hardware Inventory.
- $JOBNAME(n) - The name of the Job.
- $HOST(n) - The name of the Scheduler managing the Job.
- $USERNAME(n) - The name of the account used by the Scheduler.
- $FROMHOST(n) - The name of the Console that submitted the Job.
Date and Time Tokens
Use the date and time tokens to add the date and time when the Job was run to the name of a Job Log:
Monitoring Schedulers
The Schedulers View in the Console lists all the Schedulers assigned to the current Site, and their statuses. Use the View to display and change selected properties of the Schedulers.
To check and configure a Scheduler from the Console:
- Right-click the Scheduler entry and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
The Host Details dialog is displayed. It contains information on the status of the Scheduler, when it was started and how many Jobs it has run since it was last started.
- If you want to change the frequency with which the Scheduler checks for new Jobs, enter a new value in the Wakeup interval.
- If you want to change the maximum number of Jobs the Scheduler can manage simultaneously, change the Maximum active jobs value. If you want to allow the Scheduler to run an unlimited number of Jobs, enter a value of 0.
- Click the OK button to save your changes and close the dialog. The changes are applied when the Scheduler next wakes up.
Monitoring Jobs
After submitting a Job, you can monitor its progress using the Scheduled Jobs View in the Console's Jobs & Schedulers folder. It displays the name of each Job, its status, and its next scheduled start time. It also contains information on the Console from which the Job was submitted, the Scheduler selected to manage the Job, the number of retries allowed and any postponements made by the user. To manage a Job, right-click its entry in the Scheduled Jobs View and choose an option from the shortcut menu.
- For information on monitoring software deployments, see "Monitoring Distribution Jobs".
Choose the Job Hold option to place the selected Job in Holding status and delay execution of a Pending Job indefinitely. Choose the Release option to release a Job back to Pending status so that it is executed as normal when it becomes due.
- The system holds Jobs that generate execution errors. This enables you to review log information and to investigate and correct problems.
Run Now
Choose this option to start the selected Job immediately. When the Job is completed, it is returned to the Scheduler's queue pending its next run if it was a regular Job, or deleted if it was defined as Once-only.
Abort
Choose this option to abort a Job that is currently running. The Job terminates when the Scheduler finishes processing the current PC, and a comment is posted in the Job Log file and the Client Log.
Delete
Choose this option to delete the selected Job. Any associated log information generated by the Job during previous runs is also deleted. This option is available only for Jobs that are in Pending or Holding status.
Modify Job
Choose this option to update the details of the Job and to reschedule it. In the Modify Job dialog, update the details, and click the OK button to save your changes and close the dialog. You can apply changes to any Job that is not currently running. Operation details are reloaded each time a Job runs so any updates are automatically included when the Jobs next runs.
Modify Clients
Choose this option to change the Clients assigned to the Job. In the Select Clients dialog, select the Clients and Groups you want to assign to the Job, then click OK to save your changes and close the dialog.
Job Logs
When a Job is complete, the details of the Job and any messages recorded during the course of the Job are transferred to the Job Log Database. (The level of information recorded depends on the options selected in the Logging tab when the Job was submitted.) To display the logs of completed Jobs, select the Job Logs in Console's Job & Schedulers folder. This lists the Jobs in chronological order.
To view the details of a completed Job from the Console, right-click on its entry in the Job Logs list and select an entry from the shortcut menu. Choose:
View Client Log
To display the messages that report the success status of the Job for each Client, such as failing to access a PC that is turned off. The Clients assigned to the Job are displayed in the Client Report Log dialog. Click the Log To File button to save the Client log to file.
View Event Log
To display change and exception messages for each Client. For example, the Event Log contains summaries of changes detected during a Hardware or Software Inventory Job, and Job Abort events. The details of each event are displayed in the Event Viewer. Right-click the Event Viewer to save the log to a file.
Jobs also record progress information in Job Logs on Scheduler PCs. This includes the start time for each PC processed, the number of PCs processed and detailed information on the actions performed and messages received. The log files are saved in the PC-Duo Enterprise Data\Logs directory of the Scheduler using the name specified in the Logging tab of the Submit Job dialog. For more information, see "Scheduling Operations".
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