Stuart A. Norman at myITforum.com

Locate a computer by serial number

snorman — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:17:00 GMT

This is an SMS 2003 Web Report that will prompt you for a serial number and then provide detailed computer information. The report contains columns that may be populated by asterisks. These asterisks indicate that a specific hardware item might warrant consideration for an upgrade or replacement based on your baseline requirements.

Use an SMS Web Report to locate a Computer by Serial Number

snorman — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:05:00 GMT

Here is an SMS Web Report that will help you locate a computer by searching on the serial number or by using wild cards.

Download the .zip, extract it to your favorite location and import it into your SMS Reports.

Stuart Norman

Count of Chassis Types by Collection

snorman — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:48:00 GMT

Report the numbers of workstations and portable computers by collection in SMS 2003.

Download the file - "Count of Chassis Types by Collection.txt", change the extention to .mof and import "Count of Chassis Types by Collection.MOF" into your SMS 2003 environment. Two reports are created, "Computers with specific Chassis Type" and "Count of Chassis Type by Collection".

Open the properties on the "Count of Chassis Type by Collection" Report and link it to the "Computers with specific Chassis Type" Report.

While still in the Links tab open (double click) the "ID" prompt and change the column number to "4" and OK out of the report properties.

Run the "Count of Chassis Type by Collection" Report and select your favorite Collection ID.

Using SMS 2003 (SP2) to assess your hardware environment

snorman — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 18:29:00 GMT

Although the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 tool is available, and extremely detailed, I wanted to use SMS 2003 to create a web report that could provide a quick assessment of our hardware environment as we prepare for migration to Microsoft Vista Enterprise. I began looking at the canned reports #13 and #15 to see if I could build on them and after a bit of web surfing, head scratching, and some very helpful tips and suggestions from Todd Hemsell and Garth Jones, I was able to put together a query that gets close to what I needed. The only thing that is really missing is the DirectX version data and Windows Aero requirements (where is the information that tells you exactly what to look for??). Garth mentioned that there is a DirectX class available in the Monster.mof but I haven't entered that into my system yet.

Here is the query statement for the web report:

SELECT DISTINCT
                      SYS.Netbios_Name0, fcm.SiteCode, CASE WHEN SYS.Operating_System_Name_and0 LIKE '% Server %' THEN '*' ELSE ' ' END AS OS,
                      OPSYS.Caption0 AS C054, OPSYS.Version0, CASE WHEN PROC1.MaxClockSpeed0 < '999' THEN '*' ELSE ' ' END AS P, PROC1.MaxClockSpeed0,
                      CASE WHEN MEM.TotalPhysicalMemory0 < '1000000' THEN '*' ELSE ' ' END AS M, ROUND(MEM.TotalPhysicalMemory0 / 1024.00, 0)
                      AS [Memory (MB)], CASE WHEN VC.AdapterRAM0 < '130000' THEN '*' ELSE ' ' END AS V, ROUND(VC.AdapterRAM0 / 1024.00, 2) AS [Video RAM (Mb)],
                      CASE WHEN VC.CurrentBitsPerPixel0 < '32' THEN '*' ELSE ' ' END AS B, VC.CurrentBitsPerPixel0 AS [Bits Per Pixel],
                      CASE WHEN LDISK.FreeSpace0 < '15000' THEN '*' ELSE ' ' END AS D, ROUND(LDISK.FreeSpace0 / 1024.00, 2) AS [Free Disk Space (GB)],
                      dbo.v_GS_WORKSTATION_STATUS.LastHWScan
FROM         v_FullCollectionMembership fcm JOIN
                      v_R_System SYS ON fcm.ResourceID = SYS.ResourceID JOIN
                      v_GS_PROCESSOR PROC1 ON SYS.ResourceID = PROC1.ResourceID JOIN
                      v_GS_X86_PC_MEMORY MEM ON SYS.ResourceID = MEM.ResourceID JOIN
                      v_GS_OPERATING_SYSTEM OPSYS ON SYS.ResourceID = OPSYS.ResourceID JOIN
                      v_GS_VIDEO_CONTROLLER VC ON SYS.ResourceID = VC.ResourceID JOIN
                      v_GS_WORKSTATION_STATUS ON SYS.ResourceID = dbo.v_GS_WORKSTATION_STATUS.ResourceID INNER JOIN
                      v_GS_LOGICAL_DISK LDISK ON SYS.ResourceID = LDISK.ResourceID AND LDISK.DeviceID0 = SUBSTRING(OPSYS.WindowsDirectory0, 1, 2)
WHERE     (FCM.CollectionID = @CollID) AND (SYS.Operating_System_Name_and0 NOT LIKE '% Server %') AND (VC.AdapterRam0 > '1') AND
                      (VC.CurrentBitsPerPixel0 > '1')
ORDER BY OS, P, M, V, B, D, SYS.Netbios_Name0 DESC

And here is the Prompt Query Information:

Name: CollID

Prompt Test: Enter Collection ID

Check "Provide a SQL statement

Prompt SQL statement:

begin
if (@__filterwildcard = '')
SELECT DISTINCT CollectionID, Name FROM v_Collection ORDER BY Name
else
SELECT DISTINCT CollectionID, Name FROM v_Collection
WHERE CollectionID like @__filterwildcard
ORDER BY Name
end

How many different versions are installed?

snorman — Thu, 31 May 2007 14:09:00 GMT

In my corner of the world I get asked to report on how many different versions of specific products are installed. Garth Jones posted a Blog today on "What is the average number or items within the Add/Remove per PC?” Well, me being the lazy person that I am, I copied it and pasted it into a new view in the 'ole SMS DB and modified it to report on a specific product: Symantec Antivirus. Coolness indeed! I created a new web report and sent that to the Antivirus dude for his edification.

Here is the query that I used:

SELECT     TOP 100 PERCENT v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Name0, v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName0,
                      v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.Version0, v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.Publisher0, v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.InstallDate0
FROM         dbo.v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM INNER JOIN
                      dbo.v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS ON
                      v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.ResourceID = v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ResourceID INNER JOIN
                      dbo.v_CM_RES_COLL_SMS00001 v_CM_RES_COLL_SMS00001 ON
                      v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.ResourceID = v_CM_RES_COLL_SMS00001.ResourceID
WHERE     (v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName0 = 'Symantec AntiVirus')
ORDER BY v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ProdID0 DESC, v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Name0 BTW, Garth's Blog is here: http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/archive/2007/05/31/417.aspx

What is that svchost.exe doing now?

snorman — Thu, 10 May 2007 12:00:00 GMT

This may help you see what services svchost.exe's are related to:

1. Open Task Manager, select View | Select Columns | check PID (Process Identifier) | Select OK | Leave Task Manager Open

2. Open command Prompt and type "tasklist /SVC" (without quotes). This will expose the Image Name, PID, and Services.

3. Compare the PID from the DOS window with the PID in Task manager to see what the svchost.exe services are running.

"Modified view of the DOS session window "

C:\>tasklist /svc

Image Name	PID	Services
System Idle Process	0	N/A
System	4	N/A
smss.exe	848	N/A
csrss.exe	912	N/A
winlogon.exe	936	N/A
services.exe	980	Eventlog, PlugPlay
lsass.exe	1000	Netlogon, PolicyAgent, ProtectedStorage,
		SamSs
svchost.exe	1224	DcomLaunch, TermService
svchost.exe	1284	RpcSs
svchost.exe	1408	AudioSrv, BITS, CryptSvc, Dhcp, dmserver,
		ERSvc, EventSystem, helpsvc, HidServ,
		lanmanserver, lanmanworkstation, Netman,
		Nla, Schedule, seclogon, SENS,
		ShellHWDetection, srservice, Themes, TrkWks,
		w32time, winmgmt, wuauserv, WZCSVC
svchost.exe	1460	Dnscache
svchost.exe	1568	LmHosts, RemoteRegistry, SSDPSRV, WebClient
ccEvtMgr.exe	1680	ccEvtMgr
ccSetMgr.exe	1732	ccSetMgr
SNDSrvc.exe	1760	SNDSrvc

You can also use tools like "PsList" from Sysinternals Utilities located here: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Processesandthreadsutilities.mspx

Upgrading Windows Server 2003 RTM to SP2 w/ SMS 2003 SP1 caused DCOM Error Event ID: 10021

snorman — Mon, 07 May 2007 13:42:00 GMT

My site server configuration prior to upgrade: Windows Server 2003 Standard RTM, SMS 2003 SP1, SQL Server 2000 SP3a.

I stopped all SMS related services, upgraded the OS to SP2, rebooted, and started checking the logs for errors. I noticed a persistent DCOM error with Event ID 10021 (figure 1) and knew that I would need to reset COM permissions as noted in everything that I read. Well, I reset the permissions for all of the documented processes (SMS Reporting Users Group, granting the SMS Admin Group "Remote Activation" for remote console access, and for the SMS_SERVER_LOCATOR_POINT.

The error continued to populate in the System Event logs at a rate of every 5 seconds. The information provided from the Help and Support Center link was only partially helpful. In REGEDIT you find that the CLSID value for {AD65A69D-3831-40D7-9629-9B0B50A93843} is the SMS Agent Host. You are then instructed to run DCOMCNFG and "Add the user to the permissions list, and give the user the appropriate permissions", in the Launch and Activation Permissions section. That is the unhelpful part - which user account?

After an hour of Live Search and Google Searching, I stumbled on an article from http://www.monkeyclicker.com/ that worked. All is well in my world toady.

(http://www.monkeyclicker.com/forum/index.php?topic=26.msg56;topicseen#new)

Excerpt from the site:

Open component services by going start -> run -> dcomcnfg.exe
Expand Component Services
Expand computers
Expand My Computer

Its a DCOM error so you should try the DCOM Config subtree for this first
-drill down to COM+ applications/DCOM Config depending on the error source in eventviewer
-switch to a detail view,
-objects will show up in the right hand pane with an application ID against them. *hopefully* the clsid above will show up there so you can identify the problem component.

Find the Class ID from the event log.
Right click on the name and select properties.
Select the security tab
Check permissions on Launch and Activation. Odds are they are set to custom. Change to default settings.

Figure 1

___________________________________________________

Event Type: Error

Event Source: DCOM

Event Category: None

Event ID: 10021

Date: 5/5/2007

Time: 1:18:01 PM

User: N/A

Computer: MYSITESERVER

Description:

The launch and activation security descriptor for the COM Server application with CLSID {AD65A69D-3831-40D7-9629-9B0B50A93843} is invalid. It contains Access Control Entries with permissions that are invalid. The requested action was therefore not performed. This security permission can be corrected using the Component Services administrative tool.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

___________________________________________________

Use Site Status Messages to review SMS Client Installation failures

snorman — Thu, 03 May 2007 17:54:00 GMT

So, you created a collection of "Assigned but Not Installed" systems and manually pushed the SMS Advanced Client using the "Client Push Installation Wizard" to the collection. If you are like me, you already had the ccm.log and the ccrretry.box open so that you can watch the messages fly as the ccrretry.box folder fills up with .ccr files.

Ok, you may already know this, but, in case you didn't, here is a quick way to find those systems that the SMS Client Configuration manager could not connect to and sort them by error. So far, I have only seen three reported error message types and they are as follows:

Error 1: Incorrect Function (I haven't figured that out yet)

Error 5: Access Denied - More often than not I have found that the "local computer administrator group", of the affected systems, are not configured correctly.

Error 53: The network path was not found. Yep, turned off or it doesn't exist (the system name still exists in the Active Directory....@#$23!#$^%$^%%E^&).

Open System Status | Site Status | Your Site | Component Status. Right Mouse click SMS_Client_Config_Manager, select Show Messages, and Warnings.

Once the SMS Status Message Viewer opens, select View | Filter from the tool bar. In the Description field type in either *The operating system reported error 53:* or *The operating system reported error 5: * (don't forget the *).

Now you can save the results as tab delimited or column delimited text files. You'll need to tweak your export options to your liking.

Good luck!

Distributed COM and Advanced Client interaction

snorman — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 16:35:00 GMT

Here is another tip to help troubleshoot advanced client issues. Run wbemtest and attempt to connect to the system that is behaving badly:

1. Launch wbemtest, and connect to \\yourbadsystem\root\cimv2 <file://\\yourbadsystem\root\cimv2>

2. If you receive error number 0x8007005, Facility:Win32, Description: Access is denied, connect to the remote system (RDP) and do the following:

Ensure that "enable Distributed COM on this computer" is checked.