Can wildcards be used in the IncludeDirectory option of the managed device Inventory Agent?
Can wildcards be used in the IncludeDirectory option of the managed device Inventory Agent?
Summary
This articles discusses how to ensure that the inventory agent scans these without having to change the IncludeDirectory switch each time.
Question
I have several directories that can change within a given format e.g. on non-windows, mount points can be created from /a001 to /a999 so how can I ensure that the inventory agent scans these without having to change the IncludeDirectory switch each time?
Answer
The inventory agent on Windows (ndtrack.exe) and on non-Windows (ndtrack.sh) are capable of using wildcards within the IncludeDirectory and ExcludeDirectory options using either '*' or '?' as in the following example:
ndtrack -t machine -o IncludeDirectory=C:\s*
In the tracker.log (either in Windows\Temp\ManageSoft or %TEMP%\ManageSoft) you should see something similar to the text below at the start of the inventory scan:
[01/10/2013 13:58:14 (G, 0)] {3460} ************************************************************ [01/10/2013 13:58:14 (G, 0)] {3460} Searching directories that matches 'C:\S*' wild card directory path [01/10/2013 13:58:14 (G, 0)] {3460} Found directory 'C:\SCCM images' that matches 'C:\S*' wild card directory path [01/10/2013 13:58:14 (G, 0)] {3460} Found directory 'C:\Shared' that matches 'C:\S*' wild card directory path [01/10/2013 13:58:14 (G, 0)] {3460} Found directory 'C:\System Volume Information' that matches 'C:\S*' wild card directory path [01/10/2013 13:58:14 (G, 0)] {3460} Program arguments are 'C:\Program Files (x86)\ManageSoft\Tracker\ndtrack.exe -t machine -o IncludeDirectory=C:\S*'
Further down the log you should also see:
[01/10/2013 13:58:33 (G, 0)] {3460} File tracking looking for files in directories 'C:\SCCM images;C:\Shared;C:\System Volume Information'
These both prove that the wildcards are being used to filter directories based on the wildcard criteria.
Additional Information
The wildcard characters are the same on both Windows and non-Windows so there's no difference in their usage.
Hello, In addition to this, How does this work in the UI? I have used \*backup\ and \*oneoffs\ with the agent by setting this manual in the registry. If you use the UI to distribute this to all clients you get the message Invalid folder name. Also if you follow the F1 online instructions //*applications is neither accepted and returns an INvalid folder name error.
@Ronny_OO7 - using wildcards in the folder paths works fine in the UI. What operating system were you configuring the above paths against? //*applications would be a valid path on UNIX-like operating systems, but not Windows (which uses forward slashes rather than backslashes, and requires a drive letter at the start). \*backup\ and \*oneoffs\ would not be a valid path on any operating system (if it was Windows, you need a drive letter; if it was UNIX-like, you need forward slashes).
This is for Windows. I have used *\backup\ and *\oneoff\ in the registry. This is not accepted in the UI. If I would need to include all possible drive letters this would mean I need to create 26 entries for each exclusion. in this case 52 entries.
That's what I am looking for:-) If you configure it directly in the registry it works like a charm 🙂 But if you configure it in the UI the * is changed to % on the agent and it doesn't work.
