book.book Page 67 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

7

Managing Jobs and Tasks

A task is an action that you want to perform on a system.

The Dell™ Management Console enables you to perform tasks, such as, configuring the hardware or power reset a target device. Based on where you want to execute a task, these tasks are categorized as:

• Client Tasks — The client tasks are executed on remote computers through a Task Server. Client tasks always involve a communication between the server and a set of clients. For example, Altiris™ power control tasks.

• Task Server Tasks — A Task Server task can be run on the Symantec™

Management Console or on a system that has a Task Server installed. All the remote Task Servers should be registered with the Symantec

Management Console. For example, command line builder tasks.

The Task Server tasks are similar to client tasks, but can be run on an unmanaged system (that is, a system that does not have the Altiris Agent installed on it). For more information on Task Server, see the Online Help or Symantec documentation.

A Task Server allows you to reuse tasks in multiple jobs or to clone and modify tasks as required.

• Server Tasks — The server tasks are executed on the Symantec

Management Console. A server task may also involve communicating with a set of clients if the purpose of the task so requires. For example, network discovery tasks.

A job is a task that runs two or more tasks in a specific sequence. A complex scenario can have precondition checks to run under different situations by having nested jobs within each other. See the Online Help for more information on creating jobs.

Managing Jobs and Tasks 67

book.book Page 68 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

The Jobs and Tasks User Interface

You can access the Jobs and Tasks portal page by clicking Manage  Jobs and

Tasks .

Knowing Your Jobs and Tasks User Interface

The Quick Start - Jobs and Tasks Web part on the right pane is a good place to get started on the Tasks solution. You can use this Web part to create and schedule new tasks and jobs.

The Task Computer and Devices Web part displays a list of devices assigned to each Task Server. You can sort the devices on the Task Server or right-click a device to view the tasks run on the device.

The Task Servers Web part displays all the Task Servers registered with the

Symantec Management Console.

On the left pane, you can view sample jobs and tasks.

NOTE: The sample tasks are read-only tasks and you can only run these tasks.

When you create your first Dell task, Dell Management Console creates the

Dell Task folder under the Jobs and Tasks root folder.

68 Managing Jobs and Tasks

book.book Page 69 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

Using the Jobs and Tasks Module

To display the Jobs and Tasks Portal, select click Manage  Jobs and Tasks .

The Task Management solution ( Create New Task page) displays the tasks in a tree structure and is grouped in folders. The Dell tasks are grouped under the Dell Tasks folder.

You can schedule tasks to run half-hourly, hourly, during business hours, daily, weekly, monthly, or as custom-defined. The shared schedule allows you to specify the time, start date, end date, and repetitive execution, for example, daily, once, weekly, monthly, at logon, or at system startup.

You can run tasks on one or more devices or one or more collections. For tasks that are scheduled, the credentials entered are saved so that the task can run without user intervention.

Dell Management Console has pre-defined sample tasks for shutdown

(Power Control Device), wake up (Power Control), command line

(Run Script), and remote command line (Command Line Builder).

You can use these sample tasks and modify them by configuring the task parameters appropriately.

NOTE: Install the Altiris Agent on the managed systems before you run the Run

Script task.

All tasks listed under the Dell Tasks folder in the Create New Task page, except the Associate Dell Devices task, can be added as part of the Server and

Client jobs.

The Associate Dell Devices task can only be added to a Server job.

For information on all Dell tasks, see the Online Help .

Scheduling a Task

To schedule a shutdown task on a group of systems, for example, every third

Saturday of the month at 6 p.m. for the entire year, except in June, do the following:

1 Click Manage  Jobs and Tasks to display the Jobs and Tasks Portal .

2 In the Jobs and Tasks Quick Start Web part, click Create a new job or task .

3 In the Create New Task page, select the Power Control Device task.

Managing Jobs and Tasks 69

book.book Page 70 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

70

4 Select Shut down and click OK .

The Power Control Device - Shut down task is created and is displayed under the Task Server Tasks  Dell Tasks folder.

5 Select the Power Control Device - Power Off task from the Jobs and Tasks tree on the left pane.

The details are displayed in the right pane.

6 In the Task Status pane, select New Schedule and configures the following settings in the Schedule Task page:

Schedule : Shared Schedule

Select Shared Schedule : Monthly

Click New .

7 In the Create New Shared Schedule page, enter name and description of the schedule.

Select Add schedule  Scheduled Time and select 1800 hours as the start time for the shut down task.

Click No repeat and select the Month (week view) and select Week 3 and

Saturday in the Repeat Schedule screen.

Select the Year (week view) and select all months in the year except June.

8 In the Create New Shared Schedule page, click Advanced and select the start and end dates (for the entire year) for this task and click OK .

9 In the New Schedule page, click Add to select the computers or groups of computers for this task.

10 On the Power Control Device - Shut down task page, click Save changes .

The Shut down task scheduled for every third Saturday of the month at 6p.m. for the entire year, except in June, is created.

NOTE: To run the Power Control Device - Shut down task immediately on some systems, in the Task Status pane, click Quick Run and select the systems.

Creating a Configure SNMP Task

NOTE: You can configure this task for managed systems running Windows operating systems only.

Managing Jobs and Tasks

book.book Page 71 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

You can configure the SNMP service properties, such as Security, Traps, and Agents using the Configure SNMP task.

1 Click Manage  Jobs and Tasks to display the Task Management Portal .

2 In the Jobs and Tasks Quick Start Web part, click Create a new job or task .

3 In the Create New Task page, under Dell Tasks  Other folder, select the

Configure SNMP task.

4 In the right pane, in the SNMP Task Settings , select the Add or Modify

SNMP Service Properties .

5 Click Security to set the security properties for a community.

6 In the SNMP Service Security Properties page, add the accepted community names for your organization and specify whether or not Dell

Management Console should accept SNMP packets from a host.

To accept SNMP requests from any host on the network, regardless of identity, click Accept SNMP packets from any host .

To limit the acceptance of SNMP packets from the Dell Management

Console server, click Accept SNMP packets from these hosts , click Add , and then types the Dell Management Console server host name or IP address in the Host name, IP, or IPX address box.

7 In the SNMP Task Settings section, click Traps to specify the community name and set the trap destinations.

8 In the SNMP Task Settings section, click Agents to specify the physical location of the agent and the person responsible for this agent.

9 Click OK to create the configure SNMP task.

This task is displayed on the Jobs and Tasks portal page under Dell Tasks .

NOTE: Enable the SNMP service on the managed systems before running this task.

10 To run the task on a group of systems, click New Schedule .

Managing Jobs and Tasks 71

book.book Page 72 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

11 In the Create New Schedule page, select Now .

12 In the Selected Devices section, click Add to add the devices on which you want to run this task.

NOTE: Restart SNMP service on the managed systems for the changes to take effect.

Creating a Command Line Builder Task for Executing Server

Administrator Commands on Managed Systems

Command line builder tasks are pre-defined tasks, such as remote Server

Administrator task, IPMI task, or a Remote Access Controller task, that enable you to run an executable with a set of defined parameters or commands and targeted towards a single or a set of managed systems.

To create a command line builder task to display a summary of the system information including system chassis, operating system, software profile, and hardware profile information of a group of managed systems.

NOTE: Server administrator must be installed on the managed systems for

Dell Management Console to fetch this data.

1 Click Manage  Jobs and Tasks to display the Task Management Portal .

2 In the Jobs and Tasks Quick Start Web part, click Create a new job or task .

3 In the Create New Task page, under Dell Tasks  Other folder, select the

Command Line Builder task.

4 From the Command Line Type , select Remote Server Administrator and then omreport .

Click Add .

Select system and click Add .

Select summary and click Add .

Or, in Command Syntax , type omreport system summary .

NOTE: You can select up to four parameters from the drop-down list; after which the parameters are not dynamically populated.

72 Managing Jobs and Tasks

book.book Page 73 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

5 Click Advanced and enter the user credentials and specify the path for the log file to capture the output and then click OK .

NOTE: If you do not specify any credentials, the task uses the system-login credentials to communicate with the managed device.

NOTE: The task uses the system-login credentials of the management station to communicate with the managed device, therefore, if you do not specify credentials for managed systems running supported Linux operating systems, the task fails and displays multiple "Access Denied" messages.

NOTE: If you are creating this task for managed systems running on Linux, then, select the Task Options tab and specify the SSH port number and select the Generate Trusted key for Linux.

The Command Line Builder task is displayed under the Dell Tasks folder.

6 To run the task on a group of systems, click New Schedule .

7 In the Create New Schedule page, select Now .

8 On the New Schedule page, click Add to add the devices on which you want to run this task.

Creating a Command Line Builder Task on Managed Systems to Run

Remote Access Controller Commands

To create a command line builder task to run remote access controller commands managed systems.

NOTE: Dell Remote Access Controller must be present on the managed systems for

Dell Management Console to run these commands.

1 Click Manage  Jobs and Tasks to display the Task Management Portal .

2 In the Jobs and Tasks Quick Start Web part, click Create a new job or task .

3 In the Create New Task page, under Dell Tasks  Other folder, select the

Command Line Builder task.

Managing Jobs and Tasks 73

book.book Page 74 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

4 From the Command Line Type , select Dell OpenManage Remote Access

Controller and then setniccfg .

Click Add .

Select -s and enter the value 192.168.0.120 255.255.255.0

192.168.0.1

and then click Add .

Or, in Command Syntax , type setniccfg -s 192.168.0.120

255.255.255.0 192.168.0.1

.

NOTE: You can select a maximum of four parameters from the drop-down list, after which the parameter drop-down is not dynamically populated.

5 Click Advanced and enter the user credentials and specify the path for the log file and then click OK .

NOTE: If you do not specify any credentials, the task uses the factory default credentials to communicate with the managed device.

The command Line Builder task is displayed under the Dell Tasks folder.

6 To run the task on a group of systems, click New Schedule.

7 In the Create New Schedule page, select Now .

8 On the New Schedule page, click Add to add the devices on which you want to run this task.

Creating an Associate Dell Devices Task

If you discover devices using Import Microsoft Active Directory or Import

Domain Membership/WINS task or by pushing the Altiris Agent on the target devices, the Dell devices are not classified.

For more information on discovering devices with Active Directory import or domain resource, see the Dell Management Console Online Help .

To associate a connection profile with each of the discovered devices and classify these devices as Dell devices.

74 Managing Jobs and Tasks

book.book Page 75 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

A connection profile contains protocol settings and credentials required by the discovery and inventory modules to communicate with remote agents on the device. Discovery and inventory of devices may not work correctly without this association. Associate Dell Devices task should be set to run periodically to reflect changes in the network topology or protocol settings, and to create associations for new devices.

To create this task:

1 Click Manage  Jobs and Tasks to display the Task Management Portal .

2 In the Jobs and Tasks Quick Start Web part, click Create a new job or task .

3 In the Create New Task page, under Dell Tasks  Other folder, select the

Associate Dell Devices task.

4 On the right pane, select the default connection profile and under Select the target devices you want to associate with the selected connection profile , select the devices discovered through the Import Microsoft Active

Directory or Import Domain Membership/WINS task.

5 Select Apply to  Resources .

6 On the Select Resources page, click Add Rule in the THEN drop down, select exclude resources not in resource list and click the ellipses ( ...

).

7 From the group of Available Resources , under Group , select the devices you want to run the task on and then click OK .

The devices that you selected is displayed on the Create New Task page.

8 Schedules the task to run right away.

NOTE: The Associate Dell Devices is a Server task and can be created and run only on the Symantec Management Console. Therefore, the Quick Run and Target

Selection options under New Schedule are not displayed.

To view the result of this task:

1 Click Manage  All Resources .

2 The associated Dell devices are now displayed under Organizational

Views  All Devices .

Managing Jobs and Tasks 75

book.book Page 76 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

Dell Tasks Rollout Policy

If you are managing a large multi-tiered (hierarchical) enterprise to monitor devices on your network, you can install the Task Server on multiple systems to reduce the load on the Symantec Management Console. This arrangement also reduces the network traffic by having the Altiris Agent access the closest

Task Server for jobs and tasks downloads.

For more information on Creating and managing hierarchical relationships, see the Online Help .

To support the multi-tiered Task Server architecture, the Dell tasks require the Dell tasks rollout policy to be run on all the registered Task Servers.

To run the Dell tasks rollout policy on all registered Task Servers, do the following:

• Manually enable the rollout policy that targets all Task Servers using the built-in collection.

• After you enable the rollout policy, wait until next polling interval for the task components to be deployed.

Registering a Site Server (Task Server) With the Notification Server Computer

1 Click Settings  Notification Server  Site Server Settings .

2 On the left hand pane, expand the Site Management listing.

3 If the Task Server is not displayed, click New  Site Server .

4 Select the Site Server from the list of Available computers and click OK .

5 Select the services you want for this server.

The server should now be configured properly as a site server for Task Services.

The Task Server Web part in the Jobs and Tasks portal ( Manage  Jobs and

Tasks ) displays all Task Servers registered with the Notification Server computer. If the Notification Server and Task Server are on the same system, the Computer count is displayed as 1.

76 Managing Jobs and Tasks

book.book Page 77 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

Creating a Dell Tasks Rollout Policy Task

1 Click Actions  Agents/Plug-ins  Rollout Agents/Plug-ins .

2 Under the Dell Tasks Rollout folder, select Install Dell Tasks Handlers and Tools .

3 On the right pane, for the Program Name , select Install Dell Tasks

Handlers and Tools .

4 Click Apply to  Computers .

NOTE: You can apply the policy only to Tasks that meet the Task Server requirements. For more information, see the Online Help .

5 On the Select Computers screen, click Add rule .

6 In the THEN drop down menu, select exclude computers in and then select Computer list and click ( ...

).

7 Select the computers you do not want to include as Task Servers and click OK .

8 On the Dell Advanced Tasks Handlers Install page, enter the schedule for the task and click Save changes .

NOTE: You can create a Dell Configuration Tasks handlers install task using the same procedure.

The policy creates a task internally to deploy the task components.

Managing Jobs and Tasks 77

book.book Page 78 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

Tasks Token

A token is an item that has no value except in a particular instance.

Dell Management Console allows you to create command line tasks using pre-defined tokens. These tokens are replaced with actual values corresponding to the target device when the task is run.

Dell Management Console has the following pre-defined tokens:

• %DELL_BMC_IPADDRESS%,

• %DELL_DEVICE_HOSTNAME%,

• %DELL_RAC_IPADDRESS%, and

• %DELL_DEVICE_IPADDRESS%

78

To use the preceding tokens to create a task:

1 Click Manage  Jobs and Tasks to display the Task Management Portal .

2 In the Jobs and Tasks Quick Start Web part, click Create a new job or task .

3 In the Create New Task page, select the Run Script on Task Server task.

4 On the right pane, select the Script Type .

Managing Jobs and Tasks

book.book Page 79 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

5 Enter the command script text and select a pre-defined Dell token.

6 Click Insert to insert a token in the script text and click OK .

7 The task is created and displayed under the Jobs and Tasks folder on the left pane.

Creating a Run Script Task Using Task Tokens for Executing a Script or

Command on Managed Storage-Systems

You can create a Run Script on Task Server task to run a Naviseccli command to get the current values of the performance logging properties on a group of managed storage-systems.

NOTE: Ensure that the managed storage-systems support Naviseccli commands.

Configure the management station to run Naviseccli commands on the remote storage-systems.

1 Click Manage  Jobs and Tasks .

2 In the Jobs and Tasks Quick Start Web part, click Create a new job or task .

3 In the Create New Task page, select the Run script on Task Server task.

4 From the Script Type , select Command Script .

5 In the script text, enter the following command syntax:

"C:\NaviCLITool\naviseccli.exe" -h -

AddUserSecurity -password mypass -scope 0 -user

Tom analyzer -get -narinterval

6 From Insert token drop down menu, select the

DELL_DEVICE_IPADDRESS token and click Insert to insert the token in the script text after -h option and, click OK .

The command displayed as follows:

"C:\NaviCLITool\naviseccli.exe" h%DELL_DEVICE_IPADDRESS% -AddUserSecurity password mypass -scope 0 -user Tom analyzer -get narinterval

7 The task is created and displayed under the Jobs and Tasks folder on the left pane.

Managing Jobs and Tasks 79

book.book Page 80 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

8 To run the task on a group of managed storage-systems, click

New Schedule .

9 In the Create New Schedule page, select Now .

10 On the New Schedule page, click Add to add the managed storage-systems on which you want to run this task.

11 When the task runs, the % DELL_DEVICE_IPADDRESS % token is substituted by the actual IP address for each target storage-system.

Creating a Warranty Extractor Task

The Warranty Extractor Task is a Server Task that can be used to extract warranty information for managed devices with service tags (specifically,

Dell PowerEdge™ systems, Dell PowerConnect™ switches, and

DRAC/CMC). The task retrieves warranty information from the Dell Support website.

To run the warranty information extraction task successfully, ensure that the

Dell Management Console can connect to the Dell Support website.

To configure and test proxy settings.

1 Click Settings  All Settings.

2 In the left pane, click Notification Server  Notification Server Settings .

3 On the right pane, click the Proxy tab to configure the proxy settings.

80 Managing Jobs and Tasks

book.book Page 81 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

To create the Warranty Extractor task:

1 Click Manage  Jobs and Tasks to display the Task Management Portal .

2 In the Jobs and Tasks Quick Start Web part, click Create a new job or task .

3 In the Create New Task page, under the Dell Utilities folder, select the

Warranty Extractor task.

4 On the right pane, enter the number of days for which you want to retrieve the warranty information for the newly discovered devices.

NOTE: When you run the Warranty Extractor Task for the first time, warranty information is retrieved for all the managed devices. On subsequent runs, the retrieve information for newly-discovered devices are retrieved (that is, devices that were discovered by the Dell Management Console after the first run of the task). Dated warranty information is refreshed (that is, warranty information that was retrieved over 60 days ago.)

You can choose to refresh either all the warranty information by selecting

Delete all existing warranty information or choosing a selective refresh by entering a value for refresh information retrieved n days ago .

Managing Jobs and Tasks 81

book.book Page 82 Monday, April 19, 2010 5:19 PM

NOTE: If the warranty report does not display any retrieved information, then, check if the proxy settings are enabled correctly, and for all subsequent reports, you must select the Delete all existing warranty information option.

5 If the Dell Management Console is managing a large number of devices, the Warranty Extractor task may take some time to complete. If the task is running for a long time, you can specify that the task retrieve and process information in subsets of size 'n' (specified in the Update information for

'n' devices at a time field).

You can click Warranty report to view the information retrieved for the n devices that you specified.

6 Click OK .

This task is displayed on the Jobs and Tasks portal page under System Jobs and Tasks  Notification Server .

7 To run the task on a group of systems, click New Schedule .

8 In the Create New Schedule page, select Now .

You can view historical information about the devices that are no longer managed by the Dell Management Console, that is, devices that are deleted from the Dell Management Console device list. This information is updated in the warranty report each time you run the Warranty Extractor Task and is displayed in the Device Status column.

82 Managing Jobs and Tasks