The following are known issues with LANDesk® Asset Lifecycle Manager.
Run Windows Update on your server before
installing or upgrading
Before installing or upgrading LANDesk Asset Lifecycle Manager,
LANDesk Software recommends that you install all of the Microsoft
recommended Windows updates on your server operating system.
Downloading the latest documentation from the Web
In order to get the most current documentation, you will need to
download it from the Web. The instructions for doing this are in
the README.TXT file.
Asset Lifecycle Manager disconnected from Avocent Management
Platform
With ALM 4.02, LANDesk Asset Lifecycle Manager has been
disconnected from the Avocent Management Platform. Licensing for
the ALM product used the Avocent Management Platform (AMP) in the
past. Licensing will now be done through the ALM product.
Uninstalling Avocent Management Platform
If you are not using any other Avocent products on your ALM server
that require AMP, then you may want to uninstall AMP from your
server using Add/remove programs. To remove AMP, select Start |
All Programs | Settings | Control Panel | Programs and Features
| select to uninstall “Avocent Management Platform.”.
IE 6: Opening attachments from the Web console
You cannot open attachments directly from the Web console using IE
6. If you click the Open button, IE 6 presents you with the option
to either save or open the file. If you select Open, you get
an error. This is a known issue
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308090). To open attachments,
click Save, then open the file.
IE 7: Warning dialog from a Request Information action won't
close, prevents user from clicking anywhere
If you create a workflow with a Request Information action, run it,
and go to the Web console (Home tab > Task button) to see
the request display, clicking on the Cannot Complete button will
return a warning dialog. The Close button on the dialog will not
work.
Workarounds are the following: On Windows Server 2008, if
Enhanced Security is turned on for IE in Server Manager, the links
that execute JavaScript appear to be disabled on any site that
isn't entered in the Trusted Sites list in IE. The pop-up that
appears is "about:blank," and if you add "about:blank" to the
Trusted Sites, the dialog can be closed.
You can also turn off IE ESC in Server Manager.
Remote console on Windows Server 2008: Console users must be
given full access to the program directory
If you install the ALM console on a Windows Server 2008 computer,
you must add domain users who will access the console interface to
the Security tab on the Service Management directory, and assign
them all of the rights (Full Control), or they won't be able to log
into the console. (Go to C:\Program Files\LANDesk, right-click the
Service Management directory, click Properties | Security.)
Remote console: The error message "The request failed with
HTTP status 401: Unauthorized" displays on a remote
console
If this error message displays when trying to log into a remote
console, it means your ALM product license has expired. A more
explicit error message stating that the product license has expired
will display on the server, but this generic HTTP error displays on
a remote console, indicating you need to renew your license.
Remote console: To connect to an ALM server on Windows Server
2003 with the firewall enabled, port 80 must be opened
In order for a remote console to connect to your ALM server running
on Windows Server 2003 that has the Windows Firewall enabled, TCP
Port 80 must be added to the Exceptions list in order to open the
port and allow remote access.
Windows console: The console launches slowly due to network
traffic
If the Windows console (ALM Designer console) takes a minute or
longer to launch due to network traffic generated by requests to
the database server, you should install the console on the same
network as the database server and then use Remote Desktop to run
the console.
Web console: To avoid certain display problems when Internet
Explorer version 8 is used to run the ALM Web console
If you experience display problems when running the ALM Web console
in IE 8, you need to disable the browser's default Compatibility
View settings. To do this, click Tools | Compatibility View
Settings, and then clear the checkbox for “Display intranet
sites in Compatibility View” and clear the checkbox for “Display
all web sites in Compatibility View”.
Web console: Do not use more than one instance of the ALM Web
console in the same browser window
If you have two instances of the ALM Web console open in the same
web browser (for example, when multiple tabs are open in the same
browser), changes that are made in one instance of the console will
not be reflected in the other instance. When switching between
instances and making changes in each instance, you should open the
web console in separate browser windows instead of using multiple
tabs in a single browser.
Naming syntax rules: Special characters are not allowed as
the first character in names, descriptions, or other entered text
strings
Assets, state transition map states, reports, forms, and so forth
cannot begin with a special character (&, !, *, %, ^, #, @ ,
etc).
Workflow: Deleting a workflow that is linked from a
form
If a form is linked to a workflow, you won't be able to delete that
workflow if it's visible in the form's Properties dialog's Events
tab, even if the "Start a workflow..." options are unchecked.
Select a different workflow for the form, and then you're able to
delete the original workflow.
Workflow: A workflow has a task with a timed deadline whose
duration intersects with Daylight Savings Time
In this scenario, the timer expiration time will NOT reflect the
one hour time change due to Daylight Savings Time. In other words,
it ignores the clock moving ahead one hour and shows the original
time.
Manager fields for a Get Approval action: You must select
both manager fields – "Manager" and "Manager0" – in order for a Get
Approval action to send the e-mail
If you use a workflow with a Get Approval action that retrieves the
name of a manager from a Department form, you MUST select both of
the manager fields that appear in the list: "Manager" and
"Manager0". Otherwise, the action cannot resolve the name of the
manager and the approval request e-mail will not get sent.
SQL Server 2005 Express database: If your ALM server uses an
SQL Express database and has the firewall enabled, make sure you
add the SQL service executable to the Exceptions list
SQL Express database doesn't add itself to the Exceptions list
automatically during installation. If you don't do this,
additional/remote consoles won't be able to connect to the server.
The service executable is called sqlservr.exe. To find the path to
the executable, check the properties for the "SQL Server" service
in Control Panel's Services applet. The default path is:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL
Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe". (You also may have to open
TCP port 1433 and UDP port 1434. See
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287932 for more information.)
SQL Server 2005 Express database: Don't use the SQL Express
database install option on a machine with an SQL Server database
already installed
If you attempt to use the SQL Express database option when
installing ALM on a machine that already has an SQL database
installed, an error occurs and the ALM install fails.
Software synchronization workflows
The Asset Content pack includes a set of eight synchronization
packs that are provided to make it easy for customers with LANDesk
Management Suite (LDMS) 9 to easily synchronize asset data from
their LDMS database. Note however, that these workflows and their
related scripts were written for use with a SQL database. If you
are using Oracle as your LDMS database, the scripts will need to be
modified to be compatible with Oracle.
Upgrade: Issues regarding previous upgrades where Avocent
Management Platform is installed
For upgrade installs where AMP is already installed, AMP will not
be uninstalled, but the Avocent Management Platform ESB service
will be disabled. If you have another product installed on your ALM
server that uses AMP (such as Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure
Explorer), you may want to enable the AMP service.
Upgrade: Issues when upgrading from ALM version 3.0 to
version 3.5
If you already have ALM version 3.0 installed and want to upgrade
to version 3.5, you should be aware of the following issues:
Enabling VMware synchronization when upgrading from ALM 3.0/3.5 to 4.0
The following are the steps required to enable VMware Synchronization when upgrading an ALM install from 3.0 or 3.5 to 4.0:
These steps apply only to an upgrade. ALM 4.0 shipping content works out of the box and does not need to be configured.
VMware Synchronization functionality depends on two pieces of content being properly configured: The ‘Computer’ asset being defined as a single object, and a static list attribute on the computer asset which defines the type of computer asset, e.g., ‘Desktop’, ‘Laptop’, ‘Server’, ‘Virtual machine’. Out of the box, content prior to 4.0 does not contain these two requirements. 3.0 content contains separate objects for each of the computer types; 3.5 content does not contain an attribute that can be used to enumerate the computer type.
For 3.0 content, a single object must be designated as the computer asset. This may be done by defining a new object, or one of the out-of-the-box objects may be re-purposed for this usage. In either case, we need to determine the BNF of the computer object. Information about how BNF works can be found in the LDMS database metadata technical notes. For our purposes, we can determine the BNF by finding the metaobjrelations_idn of the computer object.
Execute the following sql statement on the alm database:
select formID, Name, Type, Folder_Idn, MetaObjRelations_Idn from FormDefinition order by Name
The results gives the metaobjrelations_idn we need:
| FormID | Name | Type | Folder_Idn | METAOBJRELATIONS_IDN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 2 | Catalog services | 5 | 14 | 42 |
| 9 | 63 | CD and DVD drive | 5 | 166 | 116 |
| 10 | 69 | Company | 5 | 20 | 144 |
| 11 | 26 | Computer | 4 | 61 | 50 |
| 12 | 3 | Contract | 5 | 15 | 35 |
| 13 | 4 | Contract line item | 5 | 15 | 29 |
| 14 | 5 | Contract line item type | 5 | 15 | 44 |
For our installation, the metaobjrelations_id of the computer object is 50. Referring to the metadata tables, the BNF can be determined as ‘Assets.Computer’. If your installation contains multiple objects with the same name, the type and folder_idn must be taken into consideration to determine which of the objects is the correct one.
As part of the definition of the computer asset, a static list needs to be added which will enumerate the different types of computer. In the 4.0 out of the box content, this static list contains ‘Desktop’, ‘Laptop’, ‘Server’, and ‘Virtual machine’. Once you have created or designated a computer object, ensure it has a static list attribute defining the types of computer appropriate for your deployment.
Next, we need to find the static list id. Execute the following sql statement on the alm database:
select * from am_staticlists order by datalist_idn
| DATALIST_IDN | LISTVALUE | SORTINDEX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 68 | 61 | Semi-annual | 2 |
| 69 | 61 | Yearly | 3 |
| 70 | 64 | Desktop | 0 |
| 71 | 64 | Laptop | 1 |
| 72 | 64 | Server | 2 |
| 73 | 64 | Virtual machine | 3 |
| 74 | 68 | Chinese (simplified) | 1 |
Looking through the results, we see that our computer types (‘Desktop’, ‘Laptop’, ‘Server’, ‘Virtual machine’) are associated with datalist_idn 64.
Armed with these two pieces of information, we are now ready to configure VMware Synchronization for use. This is done by adding two records to the SystemProperty table.
insert SystemProperty (Keyword, Value) values ('Computer.BNF', 'Assets.Computer')
insert SystemProperty (Keyword, Value) values ('Computer.Type.StaticList.Id', 64)
Replace the second value in each statement as appropriate for your results as determined in the above steps.
You should now be able to define a VMware Synchronization package to import VMware assets.
The following section covers notes from earlier releases that still apply.
When using the LANDesk Process Manager's database utility to configure connections to LDMS core servers, if you receive an error message indicating that the LANDesk Integration DSN could not be created, you will need to manually create a System DSN (Data Source Name). The following steps describe how to create a System DSN on Windows 2003 Server.
IMPORTANT: Create a System DSN on a core
server ONLY; not on a remote console. Otherwise, database listeners
will not be able to see the System DSN.
Also, in order to prevent any possible conflicts for database
listeners, make sure the database connection information is the
same for both the System DSN on the core server and for the remote
console.
The LANDesk core server connections should now be enabled.
LANDesk Management Suite 8.8 includes a streamlined version of LANDesk Process Manager with a pre-defined patch automation workflow that can be configured and enabled from the Download Updates dialog box in LANDesk Security and Patch Manager. The patch automation workflow includes all of the actions and most of the settings necessary to enable patch automation, and the required database listener is automatically generated. A tutorial that explains how to configure the patch automation workflow is available from the Download Updates dialog box.
Please note that if you use Oracle as your LDMS core database, you will need to manually edit the Update query in order for the event listener to work.
This is not necessary if you use SQL as your LDMS core database, as SQL is not case sensitive.
To enable the creation of an Exchange mailbox when using the Create/Delete user action in the Active Directory action group in Process Designer, you need to provide the appropriate values in the msExchHomeServerName attribute and homeMDB attribute fields. The following instructions describe how this can be done.
First, determine the two Microsoft Exchange LDAP paths (msExchHomeServerName & homeMDB). You can have Exchange provide this using a tool included with your Windows and Exchange servers. On the Exchange server, run:
CSVDE -f exchattribs.csv
This copies all the data from your Active Directory and writes it to a CSV file named exchattribs.csv, which you can then open and view with Excel. Now look for the columns named “msExchHomeServerName” and “homeMDB” and locate a user record that is similar to what you will be creating with the script. In the resulting cells, you will be able to get the values for these variables.
To create the user under the Users folder in Active Directory, you need to change the LDAP path, using Process Manager's Database Utility. After starting the Database Utility and logging in, click the Configure and restart services button. Click the Users and Groups tab, select the domain, and click Edit. The LDAP path should be something like: "LDAP://CN=Users, DC=workflow, DC=local" and the user name should be something like: "loginname@domain.com".
Finally, click the Advanced button to insert the attributes for the msExchHomeServerName attribute and homeMDB attribute fields.
When opening the Designer.chm file (Designer's guide Online Help), some customers have reported seeing a Windows Security warning. If this happens, clear the checkbox for "Always ask before opening this file". This will stop this message from appearing in the future and allow the Help to function normally.
When Asset Lifecycle Manager 4 is installed as an option during the installation of LANDesk Management Suite (by selecting the "Install Automated Patch Process" option during the LDMS Setup procedure), the ALM Web Console Help window may open as an empty window. This can be resolved by completing the following steps using the Internet Information Services (IIS) Utility: