Article ID: 912084
Article Last Modified on 8/13/2007
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003
These release notes contain information that you must have about the Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update to successfully install and use the product. This information is not available in the product documentation. Read these release notes thoroughly before you install the Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update.
Note Because of a change in the digital signature used on the catalog.cab file, you must install or upgrade to ITDUv3 or later in order successfully sync the Dell Updates catalog after October 2005.
Providing feedback
- If you have comments or suggestions about SMS, send them to smswish@microsoft.com. We value your feedback.
- Help the SMS documentation team ship the kind of product information that you need most by giving us your feedback and comments. Send your documentation feedback to smsdocs@microsoft.com.
Additional online resources for SMS
For more information about SMS, see the following online resources:
SMS on the Web
- Visit the Microsoft Systems Management Server Web site to locate technical papers and information about related products.
Microsoft Online Support
- Visit the Microsoft Help and Support Web site to search the Microsoft Knowledge Base and other technical resources for fast, accurate answers to SMS questions. You can query the Knowledge Base to find an article about a specific problem by using the Qxxxxxx number that is assigned to the problem.
Using the Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update
Installing required hotfixes
The following hotfixes are included with the download bundle that includes the SMSITDU.msi file:
| 886197 | Applies to: SMS Site Server, SMS Site Database Server |
| 899512 | Applies to: SMS Site Server, SMS Management Points, SMS 2003 Advanced Clients |
| 900257 | Applies to: SMS Site Server, SMS Administrator Consoles |
Note As a best practice, you should install all the required hotfixes before you install the Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update. Specific installation instructions are documented in the associated KB articles listed here.
If you have already installed the required hotfixes for the Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates, you will already have the three hotfixes required for the Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update listed here and do not have to install them again.
One or more Windows hotfixes might be required
The following issues might be seen during large-scale use. Review the information for these issues, and consider how they might apply to your environment.
When the Scan Tool or the software update advertisement is run on client computers, the Scan Tool requires local administrative rights on the client computer or else it will return a failure status (unless you use the option to download and run). Unless Windows hotfix KB325804 has been installed, the test for administrative rights might fail.
WORKAROUND: Obtain these fixes as appropriate.
Specifying an Authentication Account for the Synchronization Task to Use
In some network configurations, anonymous access is not allowed through the firewall, or a specific proxy host must be specified to connect to the Internet.
WORKAROUND: In these cases, you can still enable unattended operation for the synchronization component by using the PatchDownloader.exe application to create a registry key that specifies a user account and password with credentials for access through the firewall. For more information about how to use PatchDownloader.exe, see Chapter 6, "Managing Software Updates," in the Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Operations Guide.
Configuring the Inventory Tool for Dell Updates to use HTTP only file transfers
The Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update uses both the HTTP protocol and the FTP protocol to transfer data from Microsoft and from Dell to an SMS site server or another computer that is designated as the synchronization host.
A supported method is now available to modify the Inventory Tool for Dell Update for use with HTTP-only file transfers. This method requires modification of the ITDUDownload.ini file to change URLs and to direct the tool to an alternative location for downloading the Scantoolsupdate.cab file. Follow these steps only if you require HTTP-only transfer. See KB906372 for detailed information.
OpenManage compatibility issues
When new BIOS, firmware, and drivers are released, they may have compatibility issues with older versions of Dell's Management software suite, OpenManage (includes OMSA and Array Manager). If a new BIOS, firmware, or driver is applied to a computer and you did not update the correlating OpenManage software suite, you may no longer be able to use OpenManage on that computer.
RESOLUTION: Upgrade to the latest supported OpenManage version, and deploy only system updates. All currently released system updates from Dell are tested with the latest supported OpenManage suite. If you want to deploy component updates, make sure that you review compatibility information provided by Dell, Inc. (Links to this and other support information is available in the PDK_Readme.doc at Dell's Web site.)
Additional components are downloaded from the Internet
Use of the Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update may result in downloads from the Internet. This is because the inventory tool is built by using components that are provided by Dell Inc. and some of these components are updated regularly. The following components are downloaded from the Internet:
| Dell Catalog (Catalog.cab) | This CAB file contains an XML file published by Dell Inc. that lists all available updates for Dell servers that are available from Dell Inc. The Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update uses this XML file to determine which Dell updates are installed on your computers and which updates are applicable. The Sync Tool automatically downloads the latest version of the CAB file regularly so that the CAB file can be distributed to the computers in your organization by using the SMS software distribution feature. |
| Dell Prerequisites (Pre-req.cab) | This CAB file contains an XML file that the Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update uses to determine whether all relevant Dell update prerequisites are installed on your computers. The Sync Tool automatically downloads the latest version of the CAB file regularly so that the CAB file can be distributed to the computers in your organization by using the SMS software distribution feature. |
| The Inventory Collector Tool (InvCol.exe) | The Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update uses this tool to perform hardware component level scanning of the client computers to determine currently installed components and their versions. The output of this scanning is then used by the Scan Tool to determine which Dell updates are installed on your computers and which updates are applicable. The Sync Tool automatically downloads the latest version of this tool regularly so that the tool can be distributed to the computers in your organization by using the SMS software distribution feature. |
| The Bundle Applicator Tool (BundleApp.exe) | The Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update uses this tool to install Dell System Updates. This tool identifies individual component updates through bundle xml files associated with System Updates. The Sync Tool automatically downloads the latest version of this tool regularly so that the tool can be distributed to the computers in your organization by using the SMS software distribution feature. |
| ScanToolsUpdate.cab | The ScantoolsUpdate.CAB file contains the ScantoolsUpdate.xml file, published by Microsoft, that lists the details of the Dell PDK components. This file stores information such as Version, Release Date, and minimum compatible version of the Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update. The Sync Tool uses this file during Web download to decide and update the Dell PDK components for which a later version is published and available. It also uses this file to detect the compatibility of the Dell PDK components with the currently installed SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update and to inform users about availability of upgrades. This file is not used by the Sync Tool when it is configured to run using a network shared location. In such cases this file is not required to be downloaded manually and maintained in the network share folder that contains the Dell Repository. |
WORKAROUND: If the SMS site server computer does not have access to the Internet, obtain the required files as described in the "The Setup Program, Step-By-Step" section of the online Help documentation by using a computer that does have Internet access and then copying the files into the appropriate default folders. Refer to them when you are prompted on the download page of the setup wizard. After the required files are available in the default folders, the setup wizard allows the installation process to continue to the next page.
SMS SP1 software update reports would be overwritten
When you install the Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update, the existing SMS SP1 - software update reports would be overwritten. The updated reports would include additional Type input parameter. The Type input parameter is required for filtering information specific to a type of update which you want to view such as Dell Component Updates, Dell System Updates, or MBSA. The following is the list of SMS SP1 reports which are overwritten by the Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update:
- Computers where a specific software update is applicable.
- Software updates with count of applicable and installed computers.
- Compliance by product.
- Compliance by Software ID.
- Software updates not yet authorized.
- All computers that have a specific software update distribution status.
- Software update distribution status by software update ID.
- Distribution status summary of software updates.
- Summary of software updates that did not deploy.
Dell Scan collection may include non-supported Dell servers
If you install the Microsoft SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update, it creates Scan and Sync collections. By default, the Scan collection created may include such non-supported Dell Servers. These non-supported Dell Servers are shown even when you change the property of the collection from Limit to collection to Not collection limited. Therefore, when the Scan program is advertised on this collection, it may cause scanning of the non-supported Dell Servers. When the Scan program runs on the non-supported Dell Servers it may not generate any Results.xml. In these cases, the ITDUScan.log file will contain the message "There are no matching Software components with inventory. No Results.xml generated." and the status message ID 11405 ("Scan Results not found") will be raised.
WORKAROUND: You can run the report Manageable Dell Servers to view a list of Dell servers in your environment that are not supported. To avoid scanning of unsupported Dell servers, you may manually create a new collection which excludes the non-supported Dell Servers and then set the property of the Scan collection to limit to this newly created collection. Also you may manually modify the Scan collection query. To do this, follow these steps:
- In the left pane of the SMS Administrator console, expand the site database node and then right-click on the Scan collection node and then click Properties. The Scan Collection properties dialog appears.
- In the Scan Collection properties dialog click the Membership Rules tab and then click Collection Query present in the Membership rules. The Query Rule Properties dialog appears.
- In the Query Rule Properties dialog set the Collection limiting option to Not collection limited and then click Edit Query Statement. The Collection Query Statement Properties dialog appears.
- In the Collection Query Statement Properties dialog, click Show Query Language. The Collection Query Statement Properties dialog appears.
- In the Collection Query Statement Properties dialog modify the query appropriately to exclude the non-supported Dell Servers.
- Click OK three times.
Release notes copyright information
Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.
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Keywords: kbsmsadmin kbsmsutil KB912084
