KACE Systems Management Appliance 9.1 Common Documents

Delete provisioning schedules

Managing provisioning schedules

View, run, edit, or duplicate provisioning schedules

To streamline the Agent installation process, you can add provisioning schedules that specify how and when to install the KACE SMA Agent on devices. You can add, view, edit, run, duplicate, and delete provisioning schedules.

View, run, edit, or duplicate provisioning schedules

You can view provisioning schedule status and other details on the Provisioning Schedules page. From this page you can also run and edit provisioning schedules as needed.

When you duplicate provisioning schedule, its properties are copied into the new configuration. If you are creating a configuration that is similar to an existing configuration, starting with a duplicated schedule can be faster than creating a configuration from scratch.

Go to the Provisioning Schedules list:

Log in to the KACE SMA Administrator Console, http://KACE_SMA_hostname/admin. Or, if the Show organization menu in admin header option is enabled in the appliance General Settings, select an organization in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page next to the login information.

On the left navigation bar, click Settings, then click Provisioning.

On the Provisioning Panel, click Schedules.

The list displays the following columns:

Option	Description
Name	The name of the provisioning schedule (links to the Provisioning Schedule Detail page).
Targeted	The total number of target devices in the configuration (links to the Provisioning Results page).
Running	The total number of target devices on which provisioning is running (links to the Provisioning Results page).
Pending	The total number of target devices on which provisioning has not yet started (links to the Provisioning Results page).
Succeeded	The total number of target devices on which provisioning has succeeded (links to the Provisioning Results page).
Failed	The total number of target devices on which provisioning has failed (links to the Provisioning Results page).
Success Rate	The total number of target devices on which provisioning has succeeded as a percentage.
IP Range	The IP address range of the target device.
Schedule	The specified provisioning schedule. For example: Everyn minutes, Every n hours, or Never.
Enabled	Whether the configuration is enabled or disabled. A check mark indicates that the provisioning schedule is enabled.

Run provisioning schedules:

Select the check boxes for the schedules that you want to run.

Select Choose Action > Run Now.

Edit schedules:

Click the name of a schedule.

Edit the provisioning schedule on the schedule's Provisioning Schedule Detail page, and click Save.

See Install the KACE SMA Agent on a device or multiple devices.

Duplicate schedules:

Click the name of a schedule.

In the Advanced section, click Duplicate to display the Provisioning Schedules page with the new schedule listed as Copy of Schedule Name.

Delete provisioning schedules

You can delete provisioning schedules when you want to remove schedules from the appliance.

When provisioning schedules are deleted, results associated with those schedules are also deleted. Devices provisioned using the schedules, however, are not removed from inventory.

Go to the Provisioning Schedules list:

On the left navigation bar, click Settings, then click Provisioning.

On the Provisioning Panel, click Schedules.

Select the check box next to one or more schedules.

Select Choose Action > Delete, then click Yes to confirm.

View provisioning results

You can view the results of actions performed by provisioning schedules.

Go to the Provisioning Schedules list:

On the left navigation bar, click Settings, then click Provisioning.

On the Provisioning Panel, click Schedules.

Click a link in the Running, Pending, Succeeded, or Failed column.

The Provisioning Results page appears with the following information:

Item	Description
Status	The status of the Agent connection to the appliance: : An Agent-managed device is connected to the appliance. : An Agent-managed device is not connected to the appliance.
Schedule Name	The name of the provisioning schedule.
IP Address	The IP address of the target device.
Hostname	The hostname of the target device. Click the Remote Connection button to open a Remote Desktop Connection to the target device (Internet Explorer only):
Result	The status of the most recent provisioning attempt.
Action	I indicates a successful installation. U indicates a successful uninstallation.
Error	The failure error, such as TCP ports not accessible.
Last Run	The last time the schedule ran.

To view additional information about a target device, click its IP Address.

The KACE SMA Agent Provisioning page appears.

This page displays the results of the most recent provisioning run and includes information such as the IP address, port configuration, and the logs of each provisioning step.

To view inventory information, click the [computer inventory] link next to the MAC address.

NOTE: The [computer inventory] link appears only if the provisioning process can match the MAC address of the target device with the current inventory data. See Managing MIA devices.

View provisioning results

Managing provisioning schedules

View, run, edit, or duplicate provisioning schedules

Delete provisioning schedules

View provisioning results

View, run, edit, or duplicate provisioning schedules

You can view provisioning schedule status and other details on the Provisioning Schedules page. From this page you can also run and edit provisioning schedules as needed.

Go to the Provisioning Schedules list:

On the left navigation bar, click Settings, then click Provisioning.

On the Provisioning Panel, click Schedules.

The list displays the following columns:

Option	Description
Name	The name of the provisioning schedule (links to the Provisioning Schedule Detail page).
Targeted	The total number of target devices in the configuration (links to the Provisioning Results page).
Running	The total number of target devices on which provisioning is running (links to the Provisioning Results page).
Pending	The total number of target devices on which provisioning has not yet started (links to the Provisioning Results page).
Succeeded	The total number of target devices on which provisioning has succeeded (links to the Provisioning Results page).
Failed	The total number of target devices on which provisioning has failed (links to the Provisioning Results page).
Success Rate	The total number of target devices on which provisioning has succeeded as a percentage.
IP Range	The IP address range of the target device.
Schedule	The specified provisioning schedule. For example: Everyn minutes, Every n hours, or Never.
Enabled	Whether the configuration is enabled or disabled. A check mark indicates that the provisioning schedule is enabled.

Run provisioning schedules:

Select the check boxes for the schedules that you want to run.

Select Choose Action > Run Now.

Edit schedules:

Click the name of a schedule.

Edit the provisioning schedule on the schedule's Provisioning Schedule Detail page, and click Save.

See Install the KACE SMA Agent on a device or multiple devices.

Duplicate schedules:

Click the name of a schedule.

In the Advanced section, click Duplicate to display the Provisioning Schedules page with the new schedule listed as Copy of Schedule Name.

Delete provisioning schedules

You can delete provisioning schedules when you want to remove schedules from the appliance.

When provisioning schedules are deleted, results associated with those schedules are also deleted. Devices provisioned using the schedules, however, are not removed from inventory.

Go to the Provisioning Schedules list:

On the left navigation bar, click Settings, then click Provisioning.

On the Provisioning Panel, click Schedules.

Select the check box next to one or more schedules.

Select Choose Action > Delete, then click Yes to confirm.

View provisioning results

You can view the results of actions performed by provisioning schedules.

Go to the Provisioning Schedules list:

On the left navigation bar, click Settings, then click Provisioning.

On the Provisioning Panel, click Schedules.

Click a link in the Running, Pending, Succeeded, or Failed column.

The Provisioning Results page appears with the following information:

Item	Description
Status	The status of the Agent connection to the appliance: : An Agent-managed device is connected to the appliance. : An Agent-managed device is not connected to the appliance.
Schedule Name	The name of the provisioning schedule.
IP Address	The IP address of the target device.
Hostname	The hostname of the target device. Click the Remote Connection button to open a Remote Desktop Connection to the target device (Internet Explorer only):
Result	The status of the most recent provisioning attempt.
Action	I indicates a successful installation. U indicates a successful uninstallation.
Error	The failure error, such as TCP ports not accessible.
Last Run	The last time the schedule ran.

To view additional information about a target device, click its IP Address.

The KACE SMA Agent Provisioning page appears.

This page displays the results of the most recent provisioning run and includes information such as the IP address, port configuration, and the logs of each provisioning step.

To view inventory information, click the [computer inventory] link next to the MAC address.

NOTE: The [computer inventory] link appears only if the provisioning process can match the MAC address of the target device with the current inventory data. See Managing MIA devices.

Managing Agent communications

Configure Agent communication and log settings

View Agent task status

View the Agent Command Queue

Delete messages from the Agent command queue

Communications between the appliance and Agents installed on managed devices include inventory reports, alerts, patches, scripts, and crash logs. You can configure and view communications that are queued, or pending.

Configure Agent communication and log settings

Agents installed on managed devices periodically check in to the KACE SMA to report inventory, update scripts, and perform other tasks.

You can configure the Agent settings, including the interval at which the Agents check in, messages displayed to users, and log retention time, as described in this section. If you have multiple organizations, you configure Agent settings for each organization separately.

Do one of the following:

◦

If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, log in to the KACE SMA System Administration Console, http://KACE_SMA_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page next to the login information. Then click Organizations. To display the organization’s information, click the organization’s name.

The Organization Detail page appears.

◦

If the Organization component is not enabled on your appliance, select Settings > Provisioning. Then click Communication Settings on the Provisioning panel.

The Communication Settings page appears.

In the Communications Settings section, specify the following settings:

To reduce the load on the KACE SMA, limit the number of Agent connections to 500 per hour. The number of connections that appears next to the inventory, scripting, and metering intervals, applies to the current organization only. If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, the total number of Agent connections for all organizations should not exceed 500 per hour.

Option	Suggested Setting	Notes
Agent Logging	Enabled	Whether the KACE SMA stores scripting results provided by Agents installed on managed devices. Agent logs can consume as much as 1GB of disk space in the database. If disk space is not an issue, enable Agent Logging to keep all log information for Agent-managed devices. These logs can be useful during troubleshooting. To save disk space, and enable faster Agent communication, disable Agent Logging.
Agent Debug Trace	Enabled	If selected, this option allows you to record the Agent's debug trace. This information allows administrators to monitor the Agent's performance, and to diagnose common problems.
Agent Inventory	12 hours	The frequency at which Agents on managed devices report inventory. This information is displayed in the Inventory section.
Agentless Inventory	1 day	The frequency at which Agentless devices report inventory. This information is displayed in the Inventory section.
Catalog Inventory	1 day	The frequency at which managed devices report inventory to the Software Catalog page.
Metering	4 hours	The frequency at which managed devices report metering information to the KACE SMA. Requires metering to be enabled on devices and applications.
Agent Status on Device	Enabled	Indicates if the KACE SMA Agent application displays in the system tray (Windows devices) or the menu bar (Mac devices) on the system on which the agent is running.
Scripting Update	4 hours	The frequency at which Agents on managed devices request updated copies of scripts that are enabled on managed devices. This interval does not affect how often scripts run.
Max Download Speed	As required	The maximum download speed, as required. Choose from the available options.
Disable Wait for Bootup Tasks	Disabled	If selected, this option stops the Agent from executing boot-up tasks.
Disable Wait for Login Tasks	Disabled	If selected, this option stops the agent from executing login tasks.

In the Notify section, specify the message to use for Agent communications:

Option	Suggested Setting	Notes
Agent Splash Page Message	Default text: KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is verifying your PC Configuration and managing software updates. Please Wait...	The message that appears to users when Agents are performing tasks, such as running scripts, on their devices.
Agent Splash Bitmap	As required	The path to an existing .bmp file that you want to use as the splash logo.
Disable Bootup Splash	Disabled	If selected, this option stops the agent from displaying the boot-up splash logo.
Disable Login Splash	Disabled	If selected, this option stops the agent from displaying the login splash logo.

In the Schedule section, specify the Communication Window:

00:00 to 00:00 (+1 day)

The period during which Agents on managed devices are allowed to connect with the KACE SMA. For example, to allow Agents to connect between the hours of 01:00 and 06:00 only, select 01:00 from the first drop-down list, and 06:00 from the second drop-down list.

You can set the communications window to avoid times when your devices are busiest.

In the Agentless Settings section, specify communications settings for Agentless devices:

Option	Description
SNMP Timeout	The time, in seconds or minutes, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.
SSH Timeout	The time, in seconds, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.
WinRM Timeout	The time, in seconds or minutes, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.
Maximum Attempts	The number of times the connection is attempted.

If the Organization component is not enabled on your appliance, specify Agent settings.

NOTE: If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, these Agent settings are located on the appliance KACE SMA System Administration Console General Settings page.

Option

Description

Last Task Throughput Update

This value indicates the date and time when the appliance task throughput was last updated.

Current Load Average

The value in this field depicts the load on an appliance at any given time. For the appliance to run normally, the value in this field must be between 0.0 and 10.0.

Task Throughput

The value that controls how scheduled tasks, such as inventory collection, scripting, and patching updates, are balanced by the appliance.

NOTE: This value can be increased only if the value in the Current Load Average is not more than 10.0 and the Last Task Throughput Update time is more than 15 minutes.

Click Save.

The changes take effect when Agents check in to the appliance.

If you have multiple organizations, repeat the preceding steps for each organization.

View Agent task status

You can view the status of tasks that are currently running, or that are scheduled to run, on Agent-managed devices.

Go to the appliance Control Panel:

◦

If the Organization component is not enabled on the appliance, log in to the KACE SMA Administrator Console, http://KACE_SMA_hostname/admin, then click Settings.

◦

If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the KACE SMA System Administration Console, http://KACE_SMA_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then click Settings.

On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.

In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click Display Agent task status to display the Agent Tasks page.

By default, In Progress tasks are listed. To view other tasks, select different filtering options in the View By drop-down list, which appears above the list on the right. Task information includes:

Column	Description
Device Name	The name of the device that is the target of the task.
Type	The type of task. Depending on appliance configuration, task types include alerts, inventory, kbot, krash upload, and scripting updates.
Started	The start time of the task.
Completed	The completion time of the task.
Next Run	The next scheduled run time for the task.
Run Time	How long it took to run the task.
Timeout	The time limit for completing the task.
Priority	The importance or rank of the task.

The options displayed depend on type of tasks available on your appliance. Typical options include:

◦

Ready to Run (connected): Tasks that are connected through the messaging protocol and about to run.

◦

Ready to Run: Tasks that are queued to run when an messaging protocol connection is established.

◦

Longer than 10 minutes: Tasks that have been waiting longer than 10 minutes for a protocol connection.

To view details about a device, click its name in the Device Name column.

The Device Detail page appears.

View the Agent Command Queue

The Agent Command Queue list shows messages, such as pop-ups and alerts, that have been queued for distribution from the appliance to Agent-managed devices.

Go to the appliance Control Panel:

◦

If the Organization component is not enabled on the appliance, log in to the KACE SMA Administrator Console, http://KACE_SMA_hostname/admin, then click Settings.

◦

On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.

In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click View Agent command queue to display the Agent Command Queue page.

Pending messages appear in this queue only during continuous connection between the Agent and the appliance.

NOTE: Pending alerts appear on the Agent Command Queue page even if there is no connection between the Agent and the KACE SMA.

The Agent Command Queue page contains the following fields:

Option	Description
Device Name	The name of the device. Click a name to view device details.
Type [Plug-in, Source]	The type of message, such as Run Process.
Command	The content and information contained in the message.
Expiration	The date and time when the message expires, also called Keep Alive time. Messages are deleted from the queue automatically when they expire.
Status	The status of the message, such as Completed or Received.

Delete messages from the Agent command queue

You can delete messages that are no longer needed from the Agent command queue.

Go to the appliance Control Panel:

◦

If the Organization component is not enabled on the appliance, log in to the KACE SMA Administrator Console, http://KACE_SMA_hostname/admin, then click Settings.

◦

On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.

In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click View Agent command queue to display the Agent Command Queue page.

Select the check box next to one or more messages.

Select Choose Action > Delete, then click Yes to confirm.

Configure Agent communication and log settings

Managing Agent communications

Configure Agent communication and log settings

View Agent task status

View the Agent Command Queue

Delete messages from the Agent command queue

Configure Agent communication and log settings

Agents installed on managed devices periodically check in to the KACE SMA to report inventory, update scripts, and perform other tasks.

Do one of the following:

◦

The Organization Detail page appears.

◦

If the Organization component is not enabled on your appliance, select Settings > Provisioning. Then click Communication Settings on the Provisioning panel.

The Communication Settings page appears.

In the Communications Settings section, specify the following settings:

Option	Suggested Setting	Notes
Agent Logging	Enabled	Whether the KACE SMA stores scripting results provided by Agents installed on managed devices. Agent logs can consume as much as 1GB of disk space in the database. If disk space is not an issue, enable Agent Logging to keep all log information for Agent-managed devices. These logs can be useful during troubleshooting. To save disk space, and enable faster Agent communication, disable Agent Logging.
Agent Debug Trace	Enabled	If selected, this option allows you to record the Agent's debug trace. This information allows administrators to monitor the Agent's performance, and to diagnose common problems.
Agent Inventory	12 hours	The frequency at which Agents on managed devices report inventory. This information is displayed in the Inventory section.
Agentless Inventory	1 day	The frequency at which Agentless devices report inventory. This information is displayed in the Inventory section.
Catalog Inventory	1 day	The frequency at which managed devices report inventory to the Software Catalog page.
Metering	4 hours	The frequency at which managed devices report metering information to the KACE SMA. Requires metering to be enabled on devices and applications.
Agent Status on Device	Enabled	Indicates if the KACE SMA Agent application displays in the system tray (Windows devices) or the menu bar (Mac devices) on the system on which the agent is running.
Scripting Update	4 hours	The frequency at which Agents on managed devices request updated copies of scripts that are enabled on managed devices. This interval does not affect how often scripts run.
Max Download Speed	As required	The maximum download speed, as required. Choose from the available options.
Disable Wait for Bootup Tasks	Disabled	If selected, this option stops the Agent from executing boot-up tasks.
Disable Wait for Login Tasks	Disabled	If selected, this option stops the agent from executing login tasks.

In the Notify section, specify the message to use for Agent communications:

Option	Suggested Setting	Notes
Agent Splash Page Message	Default text: KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is verifying your PC Configuration and managing software updates. Please Wait...	The message that appears to users when Agents are performing tasks, such as running scripts, on their devices.
Agent Splash Bitmap	As required	The path to an existing .bmp file that you want to use as the splash logo.
Disable Bootup Splash	Disabled	If selected, this option stops the agent from displaying the boot-up splash logo.
Disable Login Splash	Disabled	If selected, this option stops the agent from displaying the login splash logo.

In the Schedule section, specify the Communication Window:

00:00 to 00:00 (+1 day)

You can set the communications window to avoid times when your devices are busiest.

In the Agentless Settings section, specify communications settings for Agentless devices:

Option	Description
SNMP Timeout	The time, in seconds or minutes, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.
SSH Timeout	The time, in seconds, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.
WinRM Timeout	The time, in seconds or minutes, after which the connection is closed if there is no activity.
Maximum Attempts	The number of times the connection is attempted.

If the Organization component is not enabled on your appliance, specify Agent settings.

NOTE: If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, these Agent settings are located on the appliance KACE SMA System Administration Console General Settings page.

Option

Description

Last Task Throughput Update

This value indicates the date and time when the appliance task throughput was last updated.

Current Load Average

The value in this field depicts the load on an appliance at any given time. For the appliance to run normally, the value in this field must be between 0.0 and 10.0.

Task Throughput

The value that controls how scheduled tasks, such as inventory collection, scripting, and patching updates, are balanced by the appliance.

NOTE: This value can be increased only if the value in the Current Load Average is not more than 10.0 and the Last Task Throughput Update time is more than 15 minutes.

Click Save.

The changes take effect when Agents check in to the appliance.

If you have multiple organizations, repeat the preceding steps for each organization.

View Agent task status

You can view the status of tasks that are currently running, or that are scheduled to run, on Agent-managed devices.

Go to the appliance Control Panel:

◦

If the Organization component is not enabled on the appliance, log in to the KACE SMA Administrator Console, http://KACE_SMA_hostname/admin, then click Settings.

◦

On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.

In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click Display Agent task status to display the Agent Tasks page.

By default, In Progress tasks are listed. To view other tasks, select different filtering options in the View By drop-down list, which appears above the list on the right. Task information includes:

Column	Description
Device Name	The name of the device that is the target of the task.
Type	The type of task. Depending on appliance configuration, task types include alerts, inventory, kbot, krash upload, and scripting updates.
Started	The start time of the task.
Completed	The completion time of the task.
Next Run	The next scheduled run time for the task.
Run Time	How long it took to run the task.
Timeout	The time limit for completing the task.
Priority	The importance or rank of the task.

The options displayed depend on type of tasks available on your appliance. Typical options include:

◦

Ready to Run (connected): Tasks that are connected through the messaging protocol and about to run.

◦

Ready to Run: Tasks that are queued to run when an messaging protocol connection is established.

◦

Longer than 10 minutes: Tasks that have been waiting longer than 10 minutes for a protocol connection.

To view details about a device, click its name in the Device Name column.

The Device Detail page appears.

View the Agent Command Queue

The Agent Command Queue list shows messages, such as pop-ups and alerts, that have been queued for distribution from the appliance to Agent-managed devices.

Go to the appliance Control Panel:

◦

If the Organization component is not enabled on the appliance, log in to the KACE SMA Administrator Console, http://KACE_SMA_hostname/admin, then click Settings.

◦

On the left navigation bar, click Support to display the Support page.

In the Troubleshooting Tools section, click View Agent command queue to display the Agent Command Queue page.

Pending messages appear in this queue only during continuous connection between the Agent and the appliance.

NOTE: Pending alerts appear on the Agent Command Queue page even if there is no connection between the Agent and the KACE SMA.

The Agent Command Queue page contains the following fields:

Option	Description
Device Name	The name of the device. Click a name to view device details.
Type [Plug-in, Source]	The type of message, such as Run Process.
Command	The content and information contained in the message.
Expiration	The date and time when the message expires, also called Keep Alive time. Messages are deleted from the queue automatically when they expire.
Status	The status of the message, such as Completed or Received.