Utilising the DB to roll out an agent preference to all devices within a Target, or all devices in an OS family

[#1]

Please back up your database prior to carrying out any of the below steps, so that any changes can be easily reversed if necessary!

There is a technique for rolling out agent settings that are not currently present within the Web UI (note: this only applies to customers with an On-Premises implementation)

Steps:

1) Log into SQL Server Management Studio on your database server, open a new query against your Compliance database (typically named 'FNMSCompliance')

2) Use a SELECT * FROM BeaconTarget_MT to identify the BeaconTargetID associated with the target containing the devices that you want to update

3) Create a new row in BeaconTargetPropertyValue_MT. Example:

BeaconTargetID = ID of the relevant Target

KeyName = CTrackerPackageDatabaseTypes

Value = IA,BEA,OUI,ISMP,IIM

SQL for example scenario:

INSERT INTO dbo.BeaconTargetPropertyValue (BeaconTargetID, KeyName, Value)

VALUES (<BeaconTargetID above>, 'CTrackerPackageDatabaseTypes', 'IA,BEA,OUI,ISMP,IIM')

This new value should be written to the managed device's registry, following the next policy update via mgspolicy.

4) On an agent device that falls within the specified target, check the registry hive [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\ManageSoft Corp\ManageSoft\Tracker\CurrentVersion] to see if the new value for PackageDatabaseTypes has been created/updated.

If the affected device(s) belong to a Unix-family OS, you can instead check the config.ini file, available at /var/opt/managesoft/etc by default.

Additional notes:

This approach can also be used to apply an agent preference to all WIndows/MacOS/Linux machines.

There are 3 OOTB targets defined within BeaconTarget: target_unix, target_osx and target_windows. Simply use the associated BeaconTargetID for these pre-defined targets to configure a preference for all devices from that OS family.

This approach should not be used for any preferences that can be defined within the FNMS Web UI, as updates through the UI will initiate a policy update when you hit Save and overwrite whatever is currently set.

[MurrayPeters]

Hi,

This mechanism is very useful, but can you please clarify which agent preferences can be set using this process and how would we determine the actual KeyName for the preference?

thanks
Murray

[ChrisG]

@MurrayPeters - There is no easy answer to that. The technique described here is utilizing some internal "back door" capabilities, so you won't find specific documentation about it. Many (but not all) agent preferences can be set using this mechanism. The KeyName values are internal code names used to identify preferences within the program code used by the agent; while these names can sometimes be guessed, there is no reliable way to know the specific KeyName for a particular preference short of asking somebody who has access to the agent code.

[pwesthorp]

While this doesn't address which preferences can use the above method, remember that many agent preferences are documented in the Gathering FlexNet Inventory PDF, available in all the usual places including the title page of the online help of your installation. Less guessing.