Client Naming When Imaging

Usage and Config OSD
1

Good afternoon! Hopefully I put this in the right section.

We are currently looking at moving from Altiris 6.9 to BigFix. We have a demo setup now and I have a question regarding naming.

Currently with Altiris, if we get 500 new computers, I can scan all of their serials into a spreadsheet and give them a host name and then upload that spreadsheet to Altiris. Once the PC checks in and images, it associates the serial to the account and will auto name the computer using a token to name the computer what Altiris has in the console, during the unattend.xml part of the imaging process. Can this be done with BigFix or can auto-naming only be done when reimaging (so it uses the original name)? We do not use serial numbers in our naming scheme. We base our names off of the building/room that they are in so the predefined [SN] names will not work for us.

Example: If a computer is in room 200 at Brace and our district (school system) is Southfield, the computer is named SFD-BR200 (district+building+room). Computer labs we slap a number at the end such as SFD-BR200-22 for PC#22.

Thanks!

2

If this is at all helpful - when you generate a new bare metal profile for the image you’d like to deploy, there’s a part you can customize for naming convention. It’s not the same as what you’re currently doing, but there are some variables you can include into the name.

"Specify the hostname rule that will be used to build the hostname, computer name, and full computer name of the target. You can specify values in the following forms: prefix and/or one or more variables. Variables must be specified in the form [variable] enclosed by square brackets. You can concatenate variables. Allowed variables are:

[IP] [MAC] [UUID] [SN] [AT] [BBSN]

Using pc-[IP] (ip=192.168.0.232) hostname becomes: pc-1921680232

To use variables, your OS Deployment Server must be at version 7.1.1.20 or later."

… there may be clever ways to create a task that would rename the machine post-imaging, but I’m not really familiar with how to.

3

There’s a “Register Bare Metal Target” task that should let you create a MAC Address to Hostname assignment.

4

I’m trying to do something similar. the advantage is that I can leverage the default gateway to find the location, and I use the serial number.

So, what I’m trying to do (Still having problems help would be appreciated)

I need to use a name abbreviation depending on the default gateway, I need to identify the type of system and utilize the Serial number.

so, in the rules in MDT I’m able to insert this code and theoretically, it should work.

[Init]
ComputerSerialNumber=#Right("%SerialNumber%",10)#

[VMType]
Subsection=VM-%IsVM%

[VM-True]
TypeCode=VM

[LAPTOPType]
Subsection=LAPTOP-%IsLaptop%

[LAPTOP-True]
TypeCode=L 

[DESKTOPType]
Subsection=DESKTOP-%IsDesktop%

[DESKTOP-True]
TypeCode=D 

[DefaultGateway]
10.50.54.1=CGLD
10.144.35.1=HUST
 
[CGLD]
LocationName=Miami
OSDComputerName=CGLD-%TypeCode%-%SerialNumber%

[HUST]
LocationName=Huston
OSDComputerName=HUSD-%TypeCode%-%SerialNumber%

[Settings]
Priority=Init,VMType,DefaultGateway,Default
Properties=TypeCode,ComputerSerialNumber,OSDPREFIX,BFClientVersion,BFClientFileName

However, Bigfix Manual Tab has a different variable for the computer name and extract the serial number.
OSDPrefix=
and then you would go to use the [SN] and so on. So the only thing I have imagined up to now is to for each site create 3 profile, each profile would have to be different per location. we have 11 locations, that would be a total of 33 profiles! this is insane!

if any of you have done anything like this in the past greatly appreciated.

I made these changes, currently testing them. I also have a ticket open with IBM for assistance.

[Default]
BDEInstallSuppress=YES
BackupDir=%OSDComputerName%
BackupFile=install.wim
ComputerBackupLocation=NONE
DeploymentType=NEWCOMPUTER
DoCapture=NO
DriverPaths001=C:\Deploy\$OEM$\BigFixOSD\Drivers
DriverPaths002=D:\Deploy\$OEM$\BigFixOSD\Drivers
DriverPaths003=E:\Deploy\$OEM$\BigFixOSD\Drivers
DriverPaths004=F:\Deploy\$OEM$\BigFixOSD\Drivers
DriverPaths005=G:\Deploy\$OEM$\BigFixOSD\Drivers
DriverPaths006=H:\Deploy\$OEM$\BigFixOSD\Drivers
FullName=COOKIES AND CREAM
OSInstall=YES
OrgName=BFTG
SkipBDDWelcome=YES
SkipFinalSummary=YES
SkipSummary=YES
SkipWizard=YES
SkipAdminPassword=YES
_SMSTSOrgName=COOKIECUTER- BigFix OS Deployment
TaskSequenceID=D_W10X64_01
UILanguage=en-us
UserLocale=en-us
KeyboardLocale=0409:00000409
TimeZone=040
TimeZoneName=US Eastern Standard Time
FinishAction=RESTART
BFClientSettings=Status:New_System
XResolution=1
YResolution=1

BFImageIndex=1
BFPartitionMapping=0:0:1%:::T:F:0;0:1:99%:C:1:F:T:19232301056

[Init]
ComputerSerialNumber=#Right("%SerialNumber%",10)#

[VMType]
Subsection=VM-%IsVM%

[VM-True]
TypeCode=VM

[VM-False]
TypeCode=noVM 

[DefaultGateway]
10.50.54.1=CGLD
 
[CGLD]
LocationName=Miami
OSDPrefix=CGLD-%TypeCode%-%SerialNumber%

[Settings]
Priority=Init,VMType,DefaultGateway,Default
Properties=TypeCode,ComputerSerialNumber,OSDPREFIX,BFClientVersion,BFClientFileName