Rollup cores

If you've installed more than one core server, you can:

Installing a rollup core

You can use a rollup core to combine the data from multiple core servers. You must schedule rollup core updates to synchronize the rollup core database with each core server's core database. Using the Management Suite Web console, you can then manage devices in the rollup core using queries, software distribution, remote control, and the other features the Web console supports.

Before installing a rollup core, you need to have configured an additional Oracle or SQL Server rollup database server. Management Suite setup's rollup option will prompt you for information about the database you've set up.

You can roll up data from cores using Management Suite version 8.7 SP2 or later. The rollup core must be installed from the latest Management Suite version. All cores must be using the same database type, such as all SQL or all Oracle. If you're rolling up data from Management Suite versions earlier than 9.0 and you're also using a double-byte version of Management Suite (Japanese, Chinese, or Russian), all cores must be using the same language.

To install a rollup core
  1. Set up a server to host the rollup core and database.
  2. Install the database the same way you would for a normal Management Suite installation. For information on installing the database, see the LANDesk community at http://community.landesk.com.
  3. Log in to the rollup core server with an account that has administrator rights.
  4. Install the rollup core through the autorun on your Management Suite installation media. Finish setup.

Configuring rollup database links

This section describes how to configure database links on the rollup core. You'll need to do this before you can start rolling up data.

The person doing this configuration must also have access to all DBMSs used by LANDesk, and they must have security permissions to create database links and perform configuration steps at a DBMS server level.

Oracle rolling to Oracle

Configure the Oracle database

The TNSNames.ora file on the database server in which your rollup database exists must contain an entry for your core server database.

  1. For an Oracle database, within the Enterprise Manager Console, log in to your database. Expand Distributed.
  2. Right-click the Database Links item and click Create.
  3. In the Name field, enter a name for your database link.
    Note: If the AR database is using Oracle9i, the link name can be any name that is not already in use or reserved. The installation will prompt you for this information.  
  4. Choose Fixed User and enter the user name and password for the core server's database.
  5. In the Service Name field, enter the TNSNames.ora (i.e., Net Alias) entry that refers to your core server database.
  6. Click Create.
  7. Double-click your newly-created link and click Test. You should get a message that says your link is active. You can also test your link by logging into the rollup database and issuing the following command:

    Select count(*) from computer@linkname;

    If the return is a count of devices in the core server's production database, then the link is configured properly.

SQL Server rolling to SQL Server

Configure the SQL Server database
Creating links with SQL
  1. Open SQL Server Management Studio.
  2. Expand your server and expand Server Objects.
  3. Right-click the Linked Servers item and click New Linked Server.
  4. On the General page, complete steps 5-11:
  5. Linked Server: enter a unique name for this database link (for example, LDMS core server1 Link).
  6. Choose Other data source.
  7. Select Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server.
  8. Product name: Enter LDMS.
  9. Data source: enter the name of the database server containing the core database.
  10. Provider string: enter the provider string. For instance:

    SQL Server
    provider=SQLOLEDB.1;user id=<User for the core server’s database>
    ** The user id portion of the provider string is required on the connection string to another SQL Server database. **

  11. Catalog: enter the physical name of your core server’s database (for example, lddb).
  12. On the Security page, select Be made using this security context and enter the username and password for the core server’s database, then click OK.
  13. Click New Query and issue the following command:

    Select count(*) from [Link name].[database name].[table-owner name].Computer

    Using the values above, this query would appear as:

    Select count(*) from [LDMS Core Server1 Link].[lddb].[dbo].Computer

    If the correct count comes back, your link is set up correctly.

Using the database Rollup Utility

The database Rollup Utility (DBRollup.exe) lets you take multiple source core databases and combine them into a single destination core rollup database. The rollup core device limit depends on your hardware and acceptable performance levels. The source database can be either a core server or a rollup core server.

The system requirements for a destination database may be substantially greater than the system requirements for a standard database. These requirements can vary considerably depending on your network environment. If you need more information about hardware and software requirements for your destination database, contact your LANDesk Software support representative.

Setup installs the database Rollup Utility automatically with the rollup core. The Rollup Utility uses a pull mechanism to access data from cores you select. For database rollups to work, you must already have a drive mapped to each core you want the Rollup Utility to get data from. The account you connect with must have rights to read the core server's registry.

The Rollup Utility checks with a registry key on the core server for database and connection information (HKLM\SOFTWARE\LANDesk\ManagementSuite\Core\Connections\local) and uses that key's information to access the database associated with each core you add to the Rollup Utility. For Oracle databases, the TNS definition on the server you're running the Rollup Utility from must match the TNS definition on the core server the utility is accessing.

You can use the Rollup Utility to select the attributes you want rolled up from the cores. The attribute selections you make apply to all cores. Limiting the number of attributes shortens the rollup time and reduces the amount of data transferred during rollups. If you know you won't be querying on certain attributes, you can remove them.

The Rollup Utility always rolls up the selected attribute data. Rollup also doesn't include any queries or scopes you've defined. Any console users with rights to the rollup database have access to all data within that database. You can use feature-level security to limit access to Web console features.

Once you've added the core servers that you want to roll up and the attribute list for those servers, you can click Schedule to add a scheduled rollup script for each core server. From a Web console, you can then schedule these rollup scripts to run at the time and interval you want. Rollup scripts are only visible from the Web console and reside on the rollup core.

To launch the Rollup Utility
  1. On a rollup core, run the Rollup Utility (\Program Files\LANDesk\ManagementSuite\dbrollup.exe).
  2. Select an existing rollup core server to manage from the list, or click New to enter the name of a new rollup core server. Note that you must enter the core server name, and not the database name.
  3. Once you select a rollup core, the Source cores list shows cores you've configured to roll up to the selected rollup core.
To configure the attributes that you want to roll up
  1. From the Rollup Utility, select the rollup core you want to configure.
  2. Click Attributes.
  3. By default, all database attributes are rolled up. Move attributes from the Selected Attributes column to the Available Attributes column that you don't want to roll up.
  4. Click OK when you're done. Moving attributes to the Available Attributes column deletes associated data from the rollup database.
To configure the source core servers for a rollup core
  1. From the Rollup Utility, select the rollup core you want to configure.
  2. Once you select a rollup core, the Source cores list shows cores you've configured to roll up to the selected rollup core. Click Add to add more cores, or select a core and click Delete to remove one.

WARNING: Clicking Delete immediately removes the selected core and all of that core's data from the rollup core database. Also, if you supply an invalid link name when adding a core server to the rollup database, you will have to remove the core from the rollup and re-add it in order to modify the link name.

To schedule database rollup jobs from the Web console
  1. From the Rollup Utility, select the Rollup core you want to configure.
  2. In the Source cores list, select the cores you want to schedule for rollup and click Schedule. If you don't select any cores, by default all cores in the list will be scheduled when you click Schedule. Clicking Schedule adds a rollup script for the selected core to the selected rollup core. If you select multiple cores, they will be scheduled as one job and will be processed one at a time.
  3. From a Web console, connect to the rollup core server.
  4. In the left navigation pane, click Schedule rollup jobs.
  5. Click the rollup script you want to schedule. The script names begin with the source core name followed by the destination rollup core name in parentheses. Click Schedule roll up.
  6. Select when you want the roll up to happen and whether it should automatically reschedule or not. Make sure there isn't more than one core being rolled up at a time. Click Continue to next step.
  7. Verify the script schedule and click Finish.

WARNING: Don't schedule rollups from cores during times when they'll be downloading patch information. The patch information download puts a heavy load on the database, which will slow down the rollup.

Only one rollup can be processed at a time. A scheduled rollup will fail if another rollup is already in progress. When scheduling rollups, allow enough time between rollups that there won't be any overlap. If the rollup times are hard to predict, it's best to schedule all the rollups in a single job. Do this by selecting multiple cores before clicking Schedule. This way, the rollups are handled one at a time automatically.

NOTE: After rolling up data from core servers running a version of Management Suite earlier than 9.0, DBRollup.exe's Rollup status dialog will show that the "Job completed with one or more errors." This is normal. Also, if you schedule a rollup task to a pre-9.0 core, the scheduled task status will show "Failed - Task handler encountered an error" even if the job completed successfully. This also is normal, but you should check the DBRollup and database logs if you suspect the failure is for another reason, such as a database lock.

Replicating rollup core data to source cores

If you have a rollup core in your LANDesk environment, you can replicate these items to source core servers:

You can create standard configurations for these items on the rollup core and then use replication to make them available on source cores for your Management Suite users.

The Replicate to cores tool is visible when the Web console is connected to a rollup core. The account you use to connect must be a LANDesk administrator. When you click this tool, a dialog appears where you can name the replication task and choose what you want replicated. When you configure this information and click OK, a task with the name you chose is available in the rollup core's Scheduled tasks view.

Replication won't happen until you configure the replication task to run. You can manually start the task with the Start now option or you can create a recurring schedule for the task. When the task runs, the rollup core creates an XML document containing the information to be replicated. Replication tasks aren't large or demanding, so you can use whatever replication schedule is necessary for your management environment.

Replication tasks don't use manually selected targets. Source cores with a rollup core certificate receive the XML file and then show the replicated data. You can use the Database Rollup Utility (DBRollup.exe) to attach rollup core certificates.

Only data with a "Public" owner is replicated. If you have data you don't want replicated, assign it to an owner other than "Public." You can edit replicated data on source cores, but unless you change the item's name, your changes will be overwritten the next time replication happens for an item with the same name. If replicated items are in custom groups on the rollup core, the group structure also gets replicated on source cores.

Replication only adds the replicated data to source cores. If you delete an item on the rollup core that was replicated at one point, that deletion won't be made on source cores. If you want to delete a replicated item on source cores, you must do it manually.

To use replication on a rollup core
  1. On the rollup core, configure the public queries, distribution packages, and delivery methods that you want to replicate.
  2. While connected to the rollup core's Web console with an account that's a LANDesk administrator, click the Replicate to cores tool.
  3. Enter a task name and check the items you want to replicate.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Click the Scheduled tasks tool.
  6. Start the replication task now or configure a schedule for it. When the task runs, source core servers with a rollup core certificate receive the replicated data.

Increasing the rollup database timeout

With large rollup databases, the Web console's query editor may time out when it tries to display a large list, such as the Software Package Name list. When this happens, the list you are trying to display won't show any data. If you experience timeouts you need to increase the database timeout value. This needs to be done wherever the IIS service or the Web console server is being installed. At the following registry key:

Add a new DWORD, Timeout, with a decimal value of 1800. This value is in seconds. You can adjust this value based on your query types and database performance. Stop and restart IIS for the change to take effect.

About the Rollup Utility

Use the database Rollup Utility (run from the rollup core) to manage data rollups from core servers.