Device Type - Reserved Retrieved Property

[vk.khurava]

Hi @JasonWalker/@jgstew/@Aram

Could you please investigate the following posts and assist with fixing the bug in the “Device Type” property? While we have a workaround in place, this issue becomes highly noticeable during screen sharing with customers in BigFix-related discussions. The incorrect “Device Type” is consistently highlighted as a major concern.

In the WebUI, under Devices, the “Device Type” is a reserved property that currently displays inaccurate results. This has become a long-standing issue, and addressing it directly would be far more effective than relying on our current workaround. The incorrect display of device types undermines our BigFix presentations and negatively impacts our credibility.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Device type wrong after upgrade to 9.x

(imported topic written by SystemAdmin) After upgrading to version 9.x our clients report the wrong device typ. All servers reported back with “Laptop”. Our VDI’s also reporting back “Laptop”. Any idea ?

"Device Type" Reserved Property Update Request

IBM - Can you update the ‘Device Type’ property under site ‘Reserved’ to properly identify VDI’s. Currently they report as ‘Laptops’. Checking for the existence of running service “WorkstationAgent” would fix the issue.

[JasonWalker]

I think you’d have to open a support ticket on it, I’m afraid. A ticket will have more priority coming from a customer than it would from me, and this requires something on the Platform development side to fix.

[vk.khurava]

Thanks, @JasonWalker. will do that, but I am sure this has been noted in the past, but it appears to have never worked and has been left as is; the first post I provided is from 2013, and this bug is very old.

My entire objective in posting here and looping you in is to highlight and raise alarm over such a long-pending code error, which is part of reserved property but giving incorrect output.

Case # CS0716175 raised.

[vk.khurava]

update: Defect Article has been created.

‘Device Type’ Property on VDI Systems (hcltechsw.com)

[jgstew]

There is a built in way to fix this without the need for us to fix anything on the BigFix side of things.

Basically there is a client setting for device type and you can override what the device type is using a fixlet/action with your own custom relevance for determining what the type should be for your use case, and then set that setting only if it is not set correctly.

The relevance I use would be very similar to the relevance I use in automatic groups I create for detecting various types of VMs and other types of things, but more specific to your use case: bigfix-content/AutomaticComputerGroups at main · jgstew/bigfix-content · GitHub

The client setting is: _BESClient_DeviceTypeOverride

[vk.khurava]

@jgstew

Basically there is a client setting for device type and you can override what the device type is using a fixlet/action with your own custom relevance for determining what the type should be for your use case, and then set that setting only if it is not set correctly.

Yes, I am completely agree and rather than creating action we have separate RP which take care of this issue but that is frustrating; due to code limitations, we must rely on other adjustments or properties to support it, and I submitted a case to fix this limitation within the Device Type RP rather than managing it through other tweaks.