(imported topic written by Shlomi91)
Hi,
i would really like to run the RelevanceDebugger (formerly QnA) on remote computers.
it would be real nice if it can be done quietly (i.e without user interaction).
Shlomi.
(imported comment written by SystemAdmin)
As Aram completely knows, I am VERY MUCH onboard with this request as well! This would save an inordinate amount of time. Even if it could be done command line style.
(imported comment written by BenKus)
All I can say at the moment is that this is definitely on our list (and I agree that it would be very useful).
Ben
(imported comment written by memorri91)
This is especially helpful in instances where the remote clients are of a different O/S type and thus have different inspectors than the local client.
The most recent post says this is “definitely on our list”. Can you give us some idea as to where in the list it might be prioritized? Near the top of the list? Closer to the bottom of the list? Might we expect a change in months or in years?
Also, a different but related question: When will the Relevance Debugger be available for Unix clients?
(imported comment written by BenKus)
Hi memorri,
Unfortunately, there really isn’t an easy way to do remote Relevance Debugging… the relevance evaluation itself must be done locally on a computer because not all the information about the computers can be discovered remotely so in order to do this properly, we need to establish a connection with a computer with a BigFix Agent and query it directly. This is actually a major architecture change to deal with agents in an interactive 1-on-1 manner like this, but we think it is a good idea and it has many enticing applications and benefits… but we can’t consider such a change until a new major version is released… The next major version is BigFix 8.0 and this feature is being strongly considered (can’t give any more details than that right now).
For your Unix Relevance Debugger question, the answer is that every Unix/Linux agent ships with the Relevance Debugger already installed. Just run the “qna” tool from the BES Client bin folder.
Ben
(imported comment written by SystemAdmin)
Just curious since version 8 is coming around the corner…will a remote debugging be available? I keep finding myself copying the QnA folder out to various systems to test relevance, but sometimes this just isn’t feasible. It would be VERY helpful.
(imported comment written by mcalvi91)
or how about a command line version that we can run from a console on a remote computer.
(imported comment written by NoahSalzman)
OK… so my .bat skilz are extremely limited… but perhaps this first hack towards a “batch file wrapper” will help get someone in the BigFix community started on a “command line interface” for the Relevance Debugger:
@echo off del infile.txt outfile.txt set relstring=%1 REM strip the
double quotes from our command line argument set relstring=%relstring:
"=% REM convert single quotes to
double quotes set relstring=%relstring:
'="% echo %relstring% > infile.txt RelevanceDebugger.exe /e infile.txt outfile.txt type outfile.txt
Example usage:
relevance.bat
"q: properties whose (it as string contains 'proc')"
Note that you need to use single quotes in the relevance where you would normally use double quotes. Another caveat: I don’t think that the (set foo=%foo:"=%) syntax works on Win 95/98.
(imported comment written by mcalvi91)
sweet!
C:\utilities\qna>relevance.bat “q: computer name”
Q: computer name
A: C-653653
(imported comment written by NoahSalzman)
Woo hoo… glad it worked.
Note that pmullins
pointed out
the Sysinternals tool “psexec” tool for executing remote commands. So, if you put together (psexec + RelevanceDebugger + batch file wrapper) you get command-line remote-execution of relevance scripts (although I have not tried this).
Some obvious additions to the batch file that are left to the whims of crowd sourcing:
-
a switch let you suppress the echo-ing of the Q statement
-
pre-pending the Q if it is missing
-
a switch that outputs the result with out the “A:”
(imported comment written by jully91)
Hi
I am Jully I have read about Relevance Debugger on remote computers In this site. It’s really like to run the formerly QnA. It would be really nice if it can be done quietly like without user interaction). I am Just curious since version 8 is coming around the corner. will a remote debugging be available? I keep finding myself copying the QnA folder out to various systems to test relevance, but sometimes this just isn’t feasible. It would be VERY helpful, especially helpful in instances where the remote clients are of a different O/S type and thus have different inspectors than the local client. How about a command line version that we can run on a remote computer.
Thanks forever
(imported comment written by SystemAdmin)
Remote debugging is not in version 8. This is still something that we want to do.
(imported comment written by tscott91)
Dang… Would have been nice but understand if it’s really not feasible…
Seeing that version 8 was brought up in 2007… When roughly is it supposed to be released?
(imported comment written by BenKus)
Well, we released 7.2.5 last October so it isn’t quite that bad…
It will be released extremely soon… We will have an announcement shortly…
Ben
(imported comment written by cstoneba)
http activex based QnA would be nice too. A little different than the rest of this thread, but that way the Relevance debugger would not need to be executed locally or accross the network. Just http out to the bigfix server and a flash based QnA session runs. Now that would be cool.