I was wondering if it is possible to update values in the TEM database, by reading them in from a spreadsheet in excel .xls format. We have various custom attributes attached to each computer - for example Cfg_Patch_Batch for the patching group and Cfg_Patch_Restart_Batch. We then have automatic groups which are populated depending on the value of these attributes.
We have several other attributes too, some of which are unique to each computer, so updating these attributes can be time consuming. As the information is held in a spreadsheet, would it be possible to read the attribute value from the spreadsheet into the TEM database and populate the attribute. I was thinking of a spreadsheet with 3 columns - A - Computer Name B - Attribute Name, C - Attribute value.
So read in the spreadsheet - get the computer name from column A , get the attribute name that you wish to update from column B and read in the value to set the attribute to from column C.
Would this be possible - it’s great that the flexibility to use custom attributes is available but it would be even better if they could be set in this way rather than interactively through the console.
The database holds “retrieved properties”. They are not simply properties displayed in the console.
If you set a value in the database without also setting it on the client itself it will be overwritten if the client reports the value of the property stored on the client.
I would approach the problem from the client side. We use a retrieved property to determine which Console Operator manages non-AD computers. Under Windows, TEM stores these values in the Registry, and this value can be set locally, or remotely if you allow Remote Registry access. The client will then detect the change and report it to the Database.
As Tim says, use the file to set client settings in the registry. We do this by deploying the file to all clients and then have the action script parse the file and set the client settings. Then use those settings for the groups. Oh yeah, I think we also have some managed properties set to read the values, but AKAIK, that was not required.
I was thinking myself that csv would be more portable. I now understand about the retrieved properties, so I suppose what I really want to do is to have a fixlet which would read in a 3 column csv file, and look through the file until it sees the computer name that matches the computer it is running on, then read in the attribute name, and set that attribute to the value specified in the 3rd column.
I am managing the patching of 1200 Windows servers and we use different groups for patching, rebooting and reporting. We have, amongst others, 3 attributes or properties which we assign to each server by running a separate fixlet for each of these attributes. The fixlet then asks for the value to be set, which I type or paste in and then I paste in a list of the computer names that need that value applying.
I then have automatic groups set up which have members based upon the value of the various attributes - so a reboot group will contain servers with the Cfg_Patch_Restart_Batch set to a particular value, a patch group will be based on Cfg_Patch_Batch having a particular value, and a reporting group will be based on the value of Cfg_Patch_Reporting. So I am using retrieved properties, but am looking for an easier, less labour intensive way of setting the attributes.
Is it possible to do what I am proposing within Tivoli Endpoint Manager, or is it beyond its capabilities, or does anyone else do something similar, in a different way?
I realize this is old but I was wondering if you ever got this resolved?
I am attempting something similar in that I want to read from a .csv file that resides on a network share and output the result to a file on the endpoint where I can then create a property based on the contents of that file.
