IT Assistant Help

Question

Is there any resources that have clear instructions on the setup and operation of the IT Assistant software? The manuals provided are vague at best. What client piece is the best to use? Do I need the OMCC or the OMCI, or both? I have a test environment setup using a Workstation 370 with Xp SP2 as the Management Console. I have since installed the OMCI on two machines, one a Workstation 360 and one a Latitude D600. The D600 shows up as a desktop (I assume because it is docked) with a question mark, and the 370 doesn't show up at all. I've since installed the OMCC on the 370 and performed a Re-Discovery. Now neither machine shows up. I am using both SNMP and CIM discovery methods. I have a domain account setup as a member of the Domain Admins group to use for the CIM discovery. I do find in my discovery three servers and four switches and I understand they get discovered using SNMP. I was also led to believe that OMCI is necessary for workstation/desktop/notebook discovery.   Am I off base on any of my assumtios and if so is there any clear, possibly even step by step guide available to refernece for this?   Thanks for looking at my semi-rant.   Tony

tester25 · Answer

@tcrooch wrote:

OK. Here's where I'm at now. Since my last (first) post, I've uninstalled and re-installed IT Assistant. No problems there. I've installed the OMCI on about 4 clients. One client is a Latitude D610. One is a Latitude D600 which is in a docking station. One client is a Workstation 370 and one client is actually the IT Assistant machine which is also a Workstation 370.

The D610 shows up under Portables as a question mark. The Workstation 370 with IT Assistant shows up as a client workstation and has a green check mark. That's good. The other two systems don't show up at all. Not good.

To discover the clients I use Instrumentation Only and under Name resolution I use DNS . I also use a named range of 192.168.0.* so any client with OMCI installed should show up correct? That's correct, more or less.

Since all clients have XP with SP2 are there any Firewall issues to contend with? Only in the case where the XP clients with SP2 are not members of a domain.

I don't get why, after first installing the OMCI on the D610, it showed up perfectly in the IT Assistant with the green check mark. After a while, it changed to the question mark status and has remained there since. That's a good question. But let's try to figure that out after we get those 2 computers that aren't showing up in ITA to be discovered. Are both of them members of the same domain that the two computers that are discovered are members of?

I feel that I'm close, but I'm just missing one piece of the puzzle. I second that.

Thanks for looking at my post and giving help and advice. My pleasure.

Tony

tcrooch · Answer

I just now ran a new discovery using CIM only with a Domain Administrator account. I ran it against a smaller subset of IPs (192.168.0.100-200). I disabled SNMP. All PCs are in the same domain with no subnets. Only about 25-30 clients at one location.

I got exactly the same results.

Are there any special DCOM settings that must be made/changed anywhere? I see that often in the lookups I've been doing on the net, but nothing specific.

T

Message Edited by tcrooch on 02-20-2006 12:40 PM

tester25 · Answer

@tcrooch wrote:

Is there any resources that have clear instructions on the setup and operation of the IT Assistant software? Yes.

The manuals provided are vague at best. What client piece is the best to use? OMCI.

Do I need the OMCC or the OMCI, or both?

OMCC is a console that displays and modifies the information that OMCI gathers from the system. OMCC does nothing more than interact with OMCI so that you can view and modify a system's information. The first paragraph on this page gives a good overview of OMCC: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smclicon/en/ug/omcc2c10.htm#wp1070903

OMCI gathers the system information from firmware components that are inside the computer via APIs(Application Programming Interfaces). OMCI is the component that communicates to IT Assistant. Here's a good overview of OMCI: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smcliins/cli72/EN/UG/1intro.htm#wp1054543

I have a test environment setup using a Workstation 370 with Xp SP2 as the Management Console.

I have since installed the OMCI on two machines, one a Workstation 360 and one a Latitude D600. The D600 shows up as a desktop (I assume because it is docked) with a question mark, and the 370 doesn't show up at all. I've since installed the OMCC on the 370 and performed a Re-Discovery. Now neither machine shows up.

I am using both SNMP and CIM discovery methods. I have a domain account setup as a member of the Domain Admins group to use for the CIM discovery.

I do find in my discovery three servers and four switches and I understand they get discovered using SNMP. I was also led to believe that OMCI is necessary for workstation/desktop/notebook discovery.

CIM is supposed to be used for managed systems running OMCI.
SNMP is supposed to be used for managed systems running OMSA(OpenManage Server Administrator).

Am I off base on any of my assumtios and if so is there any clear, possibly even step by step guide available to refernece for this?

Okay, follow these instructions (Substitute GX280 for whatever workstation or laptop you are doing this for):

First, you need to make sure that the GX280 is a member of a domain.

Second, you need to install OpenManage Client Instrumentation(OMCI) on the GX280.

Third, you need to include the GX280 IP address in a discovery range in IT Assistant. SNMP must be disabled and CIM must be enabled for that discovery range. The credentials that you enter should be a domain account that has administrative access to the GX280.

OpenManage Client Connector(OMCC) doesn't have anything to do with the discovery of the Dell workstations in IT Assistant.

Thanks for looking at my semi-rant.

Tony

Hope this helps. Let us all know.

tcrooch · Answer

OK. Here's where I'm at now. Since my last (first) post, I've uninstalled and re-installed IT Assistant. No problems there. I've installed the OMCI on about 4 clients. One client is a Latitude D610. One is a Latitude D600 which is in a docking station. One client is a Workstation 370 and one client is actually the IT Assistant machine which is also a Workstation 370.

The D610 shows up under Portables as a question mark. The Workstation 370 with IT Assistant shows up as a client workstation and has a green check mark. The other two systems don't show up at all.

To discover the clients I use Instrumentation Only and under Name resolution I use DNS . I also use a named range of 192.168.0.* so any client with OMCI installed should show up correct?

Since all clients have XP with SP2 are there any Firewall issues to contend with?

I don't get why, after first installing the OMCI on the D610, it showed up perfectly in the IT Assistant with the green check mark. After a while, it changed to the question mark status and has remained there since.

I feel that I'm close, but I'm just missing one piece of the puzzle.

Thanks for looking at my post and giving help and advice.

Tony

tester25 · Answer

Okay. Let's start using some identification terms.

Computer A & B will be the two computers that are currently being discovered by ITA.

Computer C & D will be the two computers that are NOT currently being discovered by ITA

Question 1. Are computers C&D members of the same domain that computers A&B are members of?

@tcrooch wrote:

I just now ran a new discovery using CIM only with a Domain Administrator account. I ran it against a smaller subset of IPs (192.168.0.100-200). I disabled SNMP.

I got exactly the same results.

Are there any special DCOM settings that must be made/changed anywhere? Not that I'm aware of. I see that often in the lookups I've been doing on the net, but nothing specific.

T

tcrooch · Answer

Question 1.  Are computers C&D members of the same domain that computers A&B are members of?  Yes. ALL computers are members of the same domain.

tester25 · Answer

Interesting results.  Can you do the same on Computers A&B?  Are you using the machines' IP Addresses?  Can you ping Computer C&D?

tester25 · Answer

In IT Assistant, can you open the Troubleshooting Tool and run the CIM Connectivity Test against Computers C & D? Also, go to the "Service Tier Configuration" tab in the troubleshooting tool and run the DCOM Connectivity test against Comps C & D.

Let me know what the results are.

tcrooch · Answer

Quick note (sorry if I didn't mention before): Computer B (lets call it the D610) no longer shows up at all in the tree.

So, the new results I have are: Computers B, C, and D all "failed to execute the test" for the CIM test.

Computers B, C, and D all fail the DCOM test with "Unable to determine the DCOM security settings"

Computers B, C, and D all PASS the Ping Connectivity Test.

Now, Computer A (the Workstation 370 running Windows XP SP2 that is the Management Station), obviously passes the Ping test, FAILS the DCOM connectivity test for the same reason as the others, and FAILS the CIM Test with "Failed to connect to Windows Name Space"

tcrooch · Answer

I ran the tests on both PCs. Here is what I got:

PC "C" - CIM Connectivity Test - "Failed to execute the test" ???

PC "C" - DCOM Test - Failed - Unable to determine DCOM security settings.

PC "D" - CIM Connectivity test - "Failed to execute the test"

PC "D" - DCOM Test - Failed - Unable to determine DCOM security settings.

tcrooch · Answer

Well, I give up !! I've tried various things and still I can't get the clients to show up. I think this software needs major help or some step by step instructions for beginners like myself that want to get started in client PC management. If there are any Dell Moderators looking at this thread maybe they should take this to heart. It may seem easy to some, but to others there is way to many vague areas that need explaining. I'm, now going to try my hand at the Client Administrator piece using the Altiris Notification Server and all the pieces that go along with it. I'll probably be posting again on that although I don't see too many posts addressing that software, so maybe it just works better!   Tony  :smileytongue:

tcrooch · Answer

Well I'm back! After finding that the other service is a licensed serviced and I need to buy licenses, I figure I'll rack my brains out with ITA again.

Still no love in finding client machines. I find all network items that use SNMP (servers, switches) but no client PCs. All clients are Xp SP2 machines with OMCI (all the latest build).

I have to believe it is a permissions issue. I have a user on the domain in the Domain Admins group. I use this user when discovering clients via CIM. What sort of provisions do I have to make (if any) on the client to allow this user to have rights to OMCI?

Thanks again for looking.

Tony

kmatus · Answer

Tony,   Don't feel bad, I'm running into the same problem that you are. I have ITA (version 4.5) running on an Optiplex 620. It connects properly to my servers but my clients (all GX520) running either OMCI 7.2 or OMCI 7.3 I have also been racking my brains out trying to get them to stay 'alive'.   First, all PCs and Users are part of the same domain; same subnet (192.168.1.x)   Maybe this could add a little insight into solving this issue. I just took one of the GX520's (brand new), logged on as Domain Administrator, loaded OMCI 7.3, went to my ITA box, inventoried it with no problems. I rebooted the GX520, logged on as Domain Admin, the machine only gets discovered (goes to Unknown branch). I re-ran the OMCI 7.3 installation; I could inventory the box again. I rebooted and I go back to square one. I use (currently) our Domain Admin account for CIM.   Ken

tcrooch · Answer

That seems to be the way things work. I've had that issue myself. I did find a Microsoft KB article that may help also. It deals with WMI related issues in Windows XP SP2.

The link is http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=875605#6

I did everything on that page and finally got my troublesome workstation 360 to show, green, and I was also able to perform a remote BIOS upgrade on it. To me that is like mankind first setting foot on the moon! Now I just have to figure out the best practice to get ALL my systems to show. I'm close, but I haven't nailed it yet. I will keep posting if any new developments arise.

Tony

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