Known Issue and Workaround: Duplicate Records When You Use Unknown Computer Support with Active Directory Delta-Dis...

[Yvette O'Meally]

First published on CloudBlogs on Sep, 09 2011

9/9/2011 - The script in this posting has been updated to handle assigning a new machine name during the deployment.

[Today’s post comes from Minfang Lv ]

This post describes how and when you might see duplicate records when you use unknown computer support with Active Directory Delta-Discovery in Configuration Manager 2007 R3, what problems you might see, and some suggested workarounds.

Unknown computer support is an operating system deployment feature that was introduced in Configuration Manager 2007 R2.  It allows you to find unmanaged computers so that you can install an operating system on them, and optionally, install the Configuration Manager client:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc431374.aspx . Active Directory Delta Discovery is a new feature in Configuration Manager 2007 R3 that enhances the discovery capabilities of the product by discovering only new or changed resources in Active Directory Domain Services instead of performing a full discovery cycle: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff977086.aspx .

If you use these two features at the same time, you might see duplicate records for the unknown computer in Configuration Manager database.  In this scenario, you will see two records in the Configuration Manager console that have the same name of the computer that installed an operating system by using unknown computer support: One record shows that it is a client and assigned; the other record shows that it is not a client and not assigned.

The Technical Details

When you install an operating system by using unknown computer support, the following processes happen:

1. A record that represents that computer is added to the Configuration Manager database so that the computer can receive the operating system deployment advertisement and run it.
2. The computer successfully installs the operating system and joins the domain, which creates a computer object in Active Directory Domain Services.
3. Configuration Manager Active Directory System Discovery finds the computer object in Active Directory Domain Services and creates a discovery data record (DDR) for Configuration Manager.
4. The computer installs the Configuration Manager client, registers with the Configuration Manager site, and updates the record that was created by unknown computer support.

If the DDR is created (number 3) after the computer installs (number 4), you won’t see a duplicate record because Configuration Manager has enough information to merge the Active Directory DDR with the computer record.  However, if the DDR is created before the computer installs and registers (in the order listed above), Configuration Manager cannot match and merge the two records, which results in the duplicate record.

This problem is a timing issue, which has always existed in the product.  However, the introduction of Active Directory Delta Discovery in Configuration Manager 2007 R3 means that you are now more likely to see the duplicate records.

Potential Issues

There are two potential issues as a result of this problem:

• You will see two records in the Configuration Manager database: The correct record that is created by unknown computer support, which shows the client to be installed and assigned; and the incorrect record that is created by Active Directory Delta Discovery, which shows no client installed and not assigned:
  • Active Directory discovery updates the incorrect record rather than the correct record, with the result that correct record is not associated with any Active Directory groups.
  • If you create a query-based collection that uses the data collected by Active Directory discovery, the newly installed computer will not be included and so will not receive any advertisements that are configured for this collection.
• The two records will always remain in the Configuration Manager database and the Delete Aged Discovery Data task does not delete either of them when you use default settings (the delete time is longer than the heartbeat interval and the Active Directory full discovery schedule):
  • The correct record is updated by registration and heartbeat discovery.
  • The incorrect record is updated by Active Directory discovery.

Workarounds

Use one of the two workarounds for Configuration Manager 2007 R3:

• Manually delete the incorrect records that show that the client is not installed and not assigned, and then run a full discovery cycle for Active Directory discovery. This workaround is recommended because it is the simplest, but requires manual intervention.
• Automatically delete the incorrect records and run a full discovery cycle for Active Directory discovery by configuring a status filter rule that runs a script.  This workaround requires scripting and additional configuration steps but it might be appropriate if you must install software as soon as possible on the newly installed computers and you use Active Directory discovery data for the query-based collections.

Use the following steps:

1. Create and then copy CMDWrapper.bat and DeleteDuplicatedRecord.vbs files to your C drive.  To create these files, see the follow samples that use the Configuration Manager SDK.
2. Use the following procedure to create the status filter rule:

A.   In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Site Management / < site name > / Site Settings / Status Filter Rules .

B.   Right-click Status Filter Rules , click New , and then click New Status Filter Rule .

C.   On the General page of the New Status Filter Rule Wizard , specify a name for the new status filter rule and configure the following for the message-matching criteria:

• Set Source : ConfigMgr Client
• Site code :  <Site Code>
• Message ID : 11171
• Property :  AdvertisID
• Property Value :  <ID of the task sequence that is assigned to the unknown computers>

D.  On the Actions page of the New Status Filter Rule Wizard , specify the following action:

• Run a program
• Program : c:CMDWrapper.bat %msgsc %msgsys %sitesvr

Sample scripts

Disclaimer: These are sample scripts that use the Configuration Manager 207 SDK. Make sure that you test your scripts in a test environment before you run them on a production network.

CMDWrapper.bat

call cscript c:DeleteDuplicatedRecord.vbs %1 %2 %3

DeleteDuplicatedRecord.vbs

'======Delete duplicate recorde '======Usage DeleteDuplicateRecords <sitecode> <SystemNetBIOSName> <servername> Const ForAppending = 8 Const Interval = 30 'in minutes, only support 30 and 60. Please Const Tolerent = 10 'in minutes, make sure the good record has the name now. 'implement if you want another value Const sFileName = "c:DeleteDuplicatedRecordsLog.log" '======Create/Append Log Files Dim oFilesys, oFiletxt, sPath Set oFilesys = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") if (oFilesys.FileExists(sFileName)) Then Set oFiletxt = oFileSys.OpenTextFile(sFileName, ForAppending, True) else Set oFiletxt = oFilesys.CreateTextFile(sFileName, False) End if oFiletxt.WriteLine("DeleteDuplicatedRecordsLog") oFiletxt.WriteLine("============" &Now()) '======Check Parameters if (WScript.arguments.count <> 3) then oFiletxt.WriteLine("Usage DeleteDuplicatedRecords <sitecode> <SystemNetBIOSName> <servername>") WScript.Quit else oFiletxt.WriteLine("SiteCode = " & WSCript.arguments(0)) oFiletxt.WriteLine("Machine name = " & WSCript.arguments(1)) oFiletxt.WriteLine("ServerName = " & WSCript.arguments(2)) end if SiteCode=WSCript.arguments(0) MachineName=WSCript.arguments(1) ServerName=WSCript.arguments(2) '======Connect to SMS Provider Set lLocator = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemLocator") Set gService = lLocator.ConnectServer(".","rootsmssite_" + SiteCode) Set swbemContext = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemNamedValueSet") swbemContext.Add "SessionHandle", gService.ExecMethod("SMS_SiteControlFile", "GetSessionHandle").SessionHandle '=============================================================================================================================================== '======If you give the computer a new machine name, you need to query for the new machine name oFiletxt.WriteLine("Wait for 5 minutes for the client to register successfully") WScript.Sleep 1000*60*5 oFiletxt.WriteLine("wake up: " &Now()) oFiletxt.WriteLine("Check to see if the machine name has been changed") statusMessageQuery = "select RecordID from SMS_StatMsg where MessageID = 11171 and MachineName = '" & MachineName & "' order by RecordID desc" Set statusMessages = gService.ExecQuery(statusMessageQuery) if (statusMessages.Count < 1) then oFiletxt.WriteLine("No Status Message with ID = 11171 and MachineName = " & MachineName & ", exiting...") WScript.Quit end if For each statusMessage in statusMessages RecordID = statusMessage.RecordID exit for Next oFiletxt.WriteLine("Status Message RecordID = " & RecordID) statusMessageAttributeQuery = "select AttributeValue from SMS_StatMsgAttributes where RecordID = '" & RecordID & "' and AttributeID = 408" Set statusMessagesAttributes = gService.ExecQuery(statusMessageAttributeQuery) if (statusMessagesAttributes.Count < 1) then oFiletxt.WriteLine("No Status Message Attribute with AttributeID = 408 and RecordID = " & RecordID & ", exiting...") WScript.Quit end if For each statusMessagesAttribute in statusMessagesAttributes GUID = statusMessagesAttribute.AttributeValue exit for Next oFiletxt.WriteLine("SMS Client GUID = " & GUID) machineNameQuery = "select NetbiosName from SMS_R_System where SMSUniqueIdentifier = '" & GUID & "'" Set machineNames = gService.ExecQuery(machineNameQuery) if (statusMessagesAttributes.Count < 1) then oFiletxt.WriteLine("No Systems with SMSGUID = " & GUID & ", using the Machine Name in the status message") else For each newMachineName in machineNames MachineName= newMachineName.NetbiosName exit for Next oFiletxt.WriteLine("New MachineName = " & MachineName) end if '================================================================================================================================================= '======Find the system with the specific machine name. duplicateRecordsQuery = "select * from SMS_R_System where NetBIOSName = '" + MachineName + "'" Set duplicatedRecords = gService.ExecQuery(duplicateRecordsQuery) if (duplicatedRecords.Count < 1) then oFiletxt.WriteLine("Didn't find the machine, exiting...") WScript.Quit end if '======Delete if the Client, Client Type, Hardware ID, SMBIOSGUID, SMSUniqueIdentifier is null Deleted = 0 for each item in duplicatedRecords Active = item.Properties_.Item("Active") AgentName= item.Properties_.Item("AgentName") Client = item.Properties_.Item("Client") ClientType = item.Properties_.Item("ClientType") HardwareID = item.Properties_.Item("HardwareID") Name = item.Properties_.Item("Name") NetbiosName = item.Properties_.Item("NetbiosName") ResourceId = item.Properties_.Item("ResourceId") SMBIOSGUID = item.Properties_.Item("SMBIOSGUID") SMSUniqueIdentifier = item.Properties_.Item("SMSUniqueIdentifier") oFiletxt.WriteLine("Active: " & Active) for each AgentNameInstance in AgentName oFiletxt.WriteLine("AgentName: " & AgentNameInstance) Next oFiletxt.WriteLine("Client: " & Client) oFiletxt.WriteLine("ClientType: " & ClientType) oFiletxt.WriteLine("HardwareID: " & HardwareID) oFiletxt.WriteLine("Name: " & Name) oFiletxt.WriteLine("NetbiosName: " & NetbiosName) oFiletxt.WriteLine("RecourceId: " & ResourceId) oFiletxt.WriteLine("SMBIOSGUID: " & SMBIOSGUID) oFiletxt.WriteLine("SMSUniqueIdentifier: " & SMSUniqueIdentifier) if (IsNull(Active) and IsNull(Client) and IsNull(ClientType) and IsNull(HardwareID) and IsNull(SMBIOSGUID) and IsNull(SMSUniqueIdentifier)) then oFiletxt.WriteLine("Delete this one: ResourceId = " & ResourceId) 'Delete Record when there's duplicate and it's active/SMBIOSGUID, etc is null item.Delete_ oFiletxt.WriteLine("Deleted item: ResourceId = " & ResourceId) Deleted = 1 end if Next if (Deleted <> 1) then oFiletxt.WriteLine("Didn't delete anything, exiting...") WScript.Quit end if '======If there's delete operation, trigger a full AD Group/SG discovery in no later than half hour. '======Get the Current Time & Calculate Next full schedule time. CurrentTime = Now CurrentTime = DateAdd("n", Tolerent, CurrentTime) oFiletxt.WriteLine("Defined Interval: " & Interval) oFiletxt.WriteLine("Current Time: "& CurrentTime) MinusSec = 0 - Second(CurrentTime) MinusMin = 0 - Minute(CurrentTime) CurrentTime = DateAdd("s",MinusSec,CurrentTime) if (Interval = 60) then CurrentTime = DateAdd("n",MinusMin,CurrentTime) CurrentTime = DateAdd("h",1,CurrentTime) else if (Interval = 30) then if (Minute(CurrentTime) <= 30) then CurrentTime = DateAdd("n", 30 + MinusMin, CurrentTime) else CurrentTime = DateAdd("n", MinusMin,CurrentTime) CurrentTime = DateAdd("h",1,CurrentTime) end if end if end if NextPlannedTime = CreateWMITime(CurrentTime) oFiletxt.WriteLine("Next Planned Full Sync Time: "& NextPlannedTime) '======Set the Startup Time of the next full discovery Call ScheduleFullSync("SMS_AD_SYSTEM_GROUP_DISCOVERY_AGENT", SiteCode, ServerName, NextPlannedTime) Call ScheduleFullSync("SMS_AD_SECURITY_GROUP_DISCOVERY_AGENT", SiteCode, ServerName, NextPlannedTime) oFiletxt.WriteLine("Successfully Configured, exiting...") wScript.Quit '======End of the script Function ScheduleFullSync(DiscoveryMethodName, SiteCode, ServerName, NextPlannedTime) oFiletxt.WriteLine("Now Configure " & DiscoveryMethodName) Dim DeltaEnabled 'Whether the delta discovery is enabled Dim StartupPropertyName 'Startup Schedule or Full Sync Schedule depends on whether delta discovery is enabled or not. Dim StartUpTime DeltaEnabled = false Query = "SELECT * FROM SMS_SCI_Component " & _ "WHERE ItemName = '" & DiscoveryMethodName & "|" & ucase(serverName) & "' " & _ "AND SiteCode = '" & siteCode & "'" oFiletxt.WriteLine("[Debug]Query = " & Query) 'Get the Discovery Agent properties. Set SCIComponentSet = gService.ExecQuery(Query, ,wbemFlagForwardOnly Or wbemFlagReturnImmediately, swbemContext) 'First Loop to see if delta discovery is enabled For Each SCIComponent In SCIComponentSet ' Loop through the array of embedded SMS_EmbeddedProperty instances. For Each vProperty In SCIComponent.Props ' Setting: Delta Discovery Enabled or not if (vProperty.PropertyName = "Enable Incremental Sync") then oFiletxt.WriteLine ("Delte Discovery value: " & vProperty.value) DeltaEnabled = vProperty.Value end if ' Setting: if full schedule is enabled or not if (vProperty.PropertyName = "SETTINGS") then oFiletxt.WriteLine ("Active: " & vProperty.value1) if (vProperty.value1 = "INACTIVE") then oFiletxt.WriteLine ("Discovery not enabled, exist Function") exit Function end if end if Next Next '======If Delta Discovery is enabled, then PropertyName is "Startup Schedule", else, it's "Full Sync Schedule". if (DeltaEnabled = false) then StartupPropertyName = "Startup Schedule" else StartupPropertyName = "Full Sync Schedule" end if 'Second loop to get the Startup time For Each SCIComponent In SCIComponentSet ' Loop through the array of embedded SMS_EmbeddedProperty instances. For Each vProperty In SCIComponent.Props oFiletxt.WriteLine("check Property Name: " & StartupPropertyName) ' Setting: Startup Schedule If vProperty.PropertyName = StartupPropertyName Then StartUpScheduleToken = vProperty.Value1 oFiletxt.WriteLine("Original StartUpScheduleToken: " & StartUpScheduleToken) Set InParams = gService.Get("SMS_ScheduleMethods").Methods_("ReadFromString").InParameters.SpawnInstance_ InParams.StringData = StartUpScheduleToken set outParams = gService.ExecMethod("SMS_ScheduleMethods","ReadFromString",InParams,,swbemContext) oFiletxt.WriteLine("**DayDuration:" & outParams.TokenData(0).DayDuration) oFiletxt.WriteLine("**HourDuration:" & outParams.TokenData(0).HourDuration) oFiletxt.WriteLine("**MinuteDuration:" & outParams.TokenData(0).MinuteDuration) oFiletxt.WriteLine("**DaySpan:" & outParams.TokenData(0).DaySpan) oFiletxt.WriteLine("**HourSpan:" & outParams.TokenData(0).HourSpan) oFiletxt.WriteLine("**MinuteSpan:" & outParams.TokenData(0).MinuteSpan) oFiletxt.WriteLine("**StartTime:" & outParams.TokenData(0).StartTime) oFiletxt.WriteLine("**IsGMT:" & outParams.TokenData(0).IsGMT) StartUpTime = outParams.TokenData(0).StartTime 'If Startup Time not equal to planned next schedule time, update is. if (StartUpTime <> NextPlannedTime) then oFiletxt.WriteLine("Original Startup time != Planned time, update it") outParams.TokenData(0).StartTime = NextPlannedTime Set clsScheduleMethod = gService.Get("SMS_ScheduleMethods") clsScheduleMethod.WriteToString Array(outParams.TokenData(0)), NextPlannedTimeScheduleToken oFiletxt.WriteLine("NextPlannedTimeScheduleToken:" & NextPlannedTimeScheduleToken) vProperty.value1 = NextPlannedTimeScheduleToken Set SCICompPath = SCIComponent.Put_(wbemChangeFlagUpdateOnly, swbemContext) ' Commit the change to the actual site control file. Set InParams = gService.Get("SMS_SiteControlFile").Methods_("CommitSCF").InParameters.SpawnInstance_ InParams.SiteCode = siteCode gService.ExecMethod "SMS_SiteControlFile", "CommitSCF", InParams, , swbemContext else oFiletxt.WriteLine("Next schedule time is within 30 minutes, will not change") End If End If Next Next End Function Function CreateWMITime(StringTime) Dim iYear,iMonth, iDay, iHour, iMinute, iSecond iYear = Year(StringTime) iMonth = Month(StringTime) iDay = Day(StringTime) iHour = Hour(StringTime) iMinute = Minute(StringTime) iSecond = Second(StringTime) if len(iMonth)<2 then iMonth = "0" & iMonth End if if len(iDay)<2 then iDay = "0" & iDay End if if len(iHour)<2 then iHour = "0" & iHour End if if len(iMinute)<2 then iMinute = "0" & iMinute End if if len(iSecond)<2 then iSecond = "0" & iSecond End if CreateWMITime = iYear & iMonth & iDay & iHour & iMinute & iSecond & ".000000+***" if len(CreateWMITime)<25 or len(CreateWMITime)>25 then CreateWMITime = "" end if End Function

-- Minfang Lv

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights.