Import of expired action runs after import by default

Usage and Config Platform
1

(imported topic written by superhoops91)

Hello All,

Using BES 7.0.7.96 console.

Recently run a task which was set to action against 8 specific computers, no relevance was set against this action as I knew the machines I was targeting. Once the action was complete I export the expired action in order to keep the console tidy.

I then wanted to see what machines I had run the action against so I doubled clicked on the exported action presuming it would import as an expired action and I woudl be able to see the whole list of what is run against.

What I found is the action started to run against ALL machines although I had not told it too. This caused a few issues as it targeted machines it was not suppose too.

This has taught me to write a good relevance in the future but I do not know if BES is designed to work this way.

I understand ther eis an SQL query you can run if you want to see what actions run against what machines now but should BES of kicked off this action against all machines if I had not specifically told it to? I coudl not find in any manual where it states if you import an old expired action it will then try and run it against all relevant machines.

Please help

2

(imported comment written by BenKus)

Hi superhoops,

The expected behavior of imported/exported actions is:

  • The definition of the action (including the relevance, description, actionscript) will be exported/imported.
  • The parameters of the action (including start time, constraints, message/restart behavior, etc.) will be exported/imported.
  • The targeting of the action (which computers get the action) will NOT be exported/imported.
  • The ID of the action will NOT be exported/imported.
  • The action results from the computers will NOT be exported/imported.

The idea behind importing/exporting actions is so you can share them with other users or back them up if needed (similar to exporting/importing Fixlets, properties, Tasks, Analyses, Baselines). The process of exporting/importing actions was not designed to allow you to “save the action results” so the new action that you make has no idea if it was previously run.

Note that in your example, you had to choose the options computers from the “Target” tab and if you don’t do that the action will not run and the console will prompt you with a warning.

Hope that helps explain the behavior.

Ben