Machines with the same name and asset tag?

(imported topic written by Vern91)

ALA-DKRAUSE-L1 dkrause CZ5ZGJ1 4/22/2009 9:35:45 AM 7.2.1.357 N/A WinXP

ALA-DKRAUSE-L1 dkrause CZ5ZGJ1 5/8/2009 9:32:13 AM 7.2.1.357 N/A WinXP

Hi All,

I have a interesting issue and I am not sure what is happening. I have 2 machines, listed above. The top machine is the older machine that we took out of service on the 22nd of April. The bottom machine we just installed BigFix on. Here are the problems that I am seeing.

  1. The top/older machine has the current machine’s asset tag !? When we replaced the machine we took out the HD and slapped it into the new machine. The asset information is stored in the WMI so I can see that the older entry in BigFix would know about the new asset tag, but one would think that it would have called in earlier that the 22th. It has been inactive since the 22nd.

  2. Since we pulled the HD and put it into a new machine, would not the BigFix installation still have been active ? When I did a lookup to see if BigFix was installed, it said there was no BigFix installation ??!! hence, the re-install.

What am I missing ?

Cheers

Vern

(imported comment written by BenKus)

Hi Vern,

BigFix stores a ComputerID in the registry of the computer and if it ever changes or if a duplicate ID is detected, the ID will be reset and you will see two entries in your BES Console. You can right-click delete the old computer i you want or we have the BigFix Utilities that remove old or duplicate computers on a scheduled basis.

I am not sure exactly what scenario led to this computer showing up twice, but you can safely delete the old computer.

Ben

(imported comment written by Vern91)

Hi Ben,

We are using BigFix to track assets. So, I know for a fact that the first machine’s asset tag is not CZ5***. The second machine’s asset tag is CZ5***. So, in essence, the first machine is gone. I am just concerned why is adapted the newer machines asset tag and then went inactive(last contact 4/22/09).

I have deleted the duplicate entry, but this is not a preferred method. Ones it is removed from BigFix, it is gone. What this is telling me is BigFix is not a very good asset management / tracking tool.

(imported comment written by BenKus)

Hey Vern,

If BigFix told you the asset tag was CZ5****, then I think the agent was correct unless it is suffering from some issue that we hadn’t seen (or perhaps I am not understanding the situation that got the agent in this state)…

To adderess your question, computers will stay in your BigFix Console and database even if the agent is no longer reporting until you remove them. It is up to you when you want to remove them and for what reasons.

Ben

(imported comment written by Nitin_Gupta91)

Hi,

I need to write analysis for finding asset tag for a particular machine.

Is this possible.

Thanks.

(imported comment written by johnree3191)

Ben, i had the same problem with Vern but it was already fix because of your tip. thank you and keep up the good work. thumbs-up!!!

:slight_smile:

:slight_smile:

(imported comment written by Kerni91)

Tried it on Inspiron 1410… doesn’t work & it only sets the asset tag as PASS:12/31 or PASS:12/34 whichever you enter.