Reporting on Duplicate Devices

Reporting
1

(imported topic written by ErnieF91)

We have several duplicate computer entries in the console. I would like to run a report to show entries with duplicate names, so I can go back and remove the one that is no longer responding.

Has anyone build a report to do this they would like to share?

Ernie

2

(imported comment written by jessewk)

Ernie,

You know we have tool called the duplicate computer remover that will do this for you? It’s on our ‘Utilities’ page:

http://support.bigfix.com/bes/install/downloadutility.html

You can run it without actually deleting the computers if you just want to get a list.

If that’s not sufficient for your needs, let us know and we can try to come up with a report for it.

-Jesse

3

(imported comment written by ErnieF91)

This sounds like exactly what I need. I ran the utility from the BES Server and it reported “No Duplicate Computers Found”. I running version 6.0.15.7. Is the 4.1 version of the besduplicateremover compatable with this version or did I do something wrong?

Ernie

4

(imported comment written by barbie91)

I use this utility all the time. However, you need to be logged into the main BES server, not a relay, for this utility to work. I am using the 4.1 version of the software too.

5

(imported comment written by SystemAdmin)

The 4.1 version should work for you unless maybe you have a database that is not on the BES Server itself. Do you think it is not picking up the duplicates correctly in 6.0?

You can also view the duplicate computers using the BES Health Check for duplicate computer names. The Health Checks are in the BES Administration section of the Navigation Bar.

6

(imported comment written by ErnieF91)

I’m running it from a temp folder on the BES Server as an Administrator. The Database is local to this server. I ran the Health Check from the same server and it shows 922 Duplicates.

Help me Mr. Wizard, what am I doing wrong? Drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drome, time for this one to come home…

7

(imported comment written by SystemAdmin)

Hmm, could you run it with the -l command line parameter and post the log file results? Are you using any command line parameters?

It will use the bes_bfenterprise dsn by default, does this dsn point locally? I don’t see how it could not but it would be worth checking.

I just tried running on my 6.0.15 server and it seems to be working fine for me.

Here is the SQL Query that it is making to find duplicate computers, try running this directly and see if it returns some results:

declare @PropertyID 

int select @PropertyID = (select top 1(ID) from PROPERTIES where Name = 
'Computer Name')   select CAST( Q.ResultsText AS VARCHAR( 64 ) ) AS 
'ComputerName', C.ComputerID, C.LastReportTime INTO #T1 from QUESTIONRESULTS Q JOIN COMPUTERS C ON ( Q.ComputerID = C.ComputerID ) and Q.ID = @PropertyID AND C.IsDeleted = 0 AND Q.IsFailure = 0   select CAST( Q.ResultsText AS VARCHAR( 64 ) ) AS 
'ComputerName', MAX( C.LastReportTime ) AS 
'LastReportTime' INTO #T2 from QUESTIONRESULTS Q JOIN COMPUTERS C ON ( Q.ComputerID = C.ComputerID ) and Q.ID = @PropertyID AND C.IsDeleted = 0 AND Q.IsFailure = 0 GROUP BY CAST( Q.ResultsText AS VARCHAR( 64 ) ) HAVING count(*) > 1   select T1.* from #T1 T1 JOIN #T2 T2 ON T1.ComputerName = T2.ComputerName and T1.LastReportTime  T2.LastReportTime
8

(imported comment written by SystemAdmin)

Ernie,

Try this one out:

http://software.bigfix.com/download/bes/util/BESDuplicateRemoval-4.2.exe

Let me know if it works.

9

(imported comment written by ErnieF91)

That version worked.

Thanks,

Ernie

10

(imported comment written by StacyLee)

I tried the new version of the removal tool and it works better but it seems to be deleting computers that are not dupliates as well.

We commonly see many out of the box computers but on the network with their default computer name (TOSHIBA for example).

I can the command line and it says it will remove 2 or more of these nodes, before answering yes I look in the console and look at the individual computers and I can tell they are all unique but have the same computers names.

Some things I look at are the CPU, our custom email field are a couple quick spot checks to see they are different computers.

11

(imported comment written by SystemAdmin)

Hey Stacy,

You can use the -P option to specify a different property, MAC address might be a better unique identifier then Computer Name. I think Computer Name is the easiest to think about but there are some cases where it isn’t a correct unique identifier as you point out.

Fortunately, deleted computers will reappear the next time they report in. So, if these are active computers they shouldn’t stay deleted for long.

12

(imported comment written by StacyLee)

I thought the tool would check on multiple properties not just if there are duplicate names. We currently don’t retrieve the MAC address on computers since its not of the reserved properties. Is there a way in the tool to check for multiple properties that are duplicated?

13

(imported comment written by SystemAdmin)

You can choose any property that makes sense with the -P flag but currently it can’t do more then one property at a time.