Manage Computers View

From this view, you can:

Manage Computers View

What is the Purpose of the Manager Computer?

Tasks performed from the Scope Pane manage the CNE Installation. Tasks performed from the Results Pane manage a single Client or groups of Clients.

Results Pane Display

The Monitors Users Results pane displays the following information that comes from the Data Vault folder structure and the recorded events received from the Client.

Tasks Overview

Scope Pane Tasks

Results Pane Tasks

  • Add Computer to List

  • Computer Add/Install Wizard

  • Deployment Utility

  • Save a Computer List

  • Quick Create Computer List

  • Active Directory Computer List

  • Pending Setup Summary

  • License Summary

  • Show Groups Only

  • Show Group Computers

  • Show All Computers

  • Find Computer

  • Deployment Utility

  • Reserve License

  • Verify License

  • Install Spector Client

  • Uninstall (Remove) Spector Client

  • Verify Install Task

  • Delete Setup Task

  • Remove Computer from List

  • Change Group

  • Diagnostics

  • Restart Client

  • Find Client

 

Scope Pane Tasks

Right click Manage Computers in the Scope panel to access the following tasks and sub tasks:

Notes

  • Network list is based on the Startup Method property (either Discover All Network Computers or Load Startup Computer List From File). See Startup Method.

  • This feature is not available if the Results window has been set to Show Groups Only. Sometimes it is necessary to restart a computer remotely either to complete an installation or to have a Client property modification take affect (or for other administrative reasons).

Notes  Show Sub-Tasks

  • The Show menu items allow you to filter the information displayed in the Results window. Information is filtered based on how the computers are grouped. They can be grouped using unique group names or (default) domains, set by selecting Enable Computer Groups Management in the Control Center's General Properties tab.

Note The Show and Find menu items previously discussed are also available by selecting Configure Computers or Monitor Computers in the Scope window tree list. Within each view, the menu items operate only upon those computers displayed.

Note All of the functionality for the Manage Computers view discussed above is related to the whole view (in contrast to those functions associated with individual computers: install/uninstall, etc). The functionality of the Control Center associated with install/uninstall, setup, etc. is enabled in this view.  

Results Pane Tasks

By selecting any computer in the list and clicking on the right mouse button, the Control Center displays a pop-up menu and consists of:

Note There are various reasons why the Control Center would not be able to communicate properly with a computer. The overriding factor is that when the Control Center queries the computer for information, it does not respond with the data. This could be the result of network problems or it could be that the computer was turned off. If the Control Center is able to communicate properly with the computer, and the computer has a Client installed with a valid license from the Primary Server, a certificate icon appears next to the computer name for that computer.   

Note The abort actually takes place after discovery process the current computer is complete and  may require several seconds to complete.

Deployment Utility

The Spector Client Deployment Utility is used to create pre-defined configurations for Client installations. After completing the utility's wizard, the configuration is stored directly within the created setup executable. The utility allows you to maintain multiple configurations and setup executables. For more information, please refer to Spector Deployment Utility.

Reserve and Verify License

You may reserve a Client license from the Primary Server for a particular computer before installing the Client on that computer. This allows you to reserve licenses for a group of computers, thus marking those computers for future Client installations. License reservations are held indefinitely for the specified computer.   

If a license is not reserved before the installation, the Control Center will attempt to reserve a license at the time of installation. If the Primary Server cannot be contacted, the license will not be reserved for the specified computer. If the number of licenses assigned to a particular serial number have been used and or reserved, the Primary Server will not issue any additional licenses.   

Verify License is used to verify the state of the license for the selected computer directly with the Primary Server.

Install/Remove Spector

This function allows you to select a setup executable, created using the deployment utility, and remotely deploy it to the computer. Installations can be executed immediately or they can be scheduled for execution later. After completing the tasks associated with remotely deploying a setup on a computer, the selected computer will be denoted with the word 'Pending' in the Results window under the column named Installed, until the install (or uninstall) process has completed.   

After selecting Install Spector, a dialog box for file selection will display allowing you to select the desired setup executable for deployment on the computer. Installation files are executables, but on the computer on which the Control Center is installed, their file extension is .sds. All .sds files in the Control Center installation folder (the default folder for storing deployable setup files) are displayed in the File Selection dialog box. You may store setup executables created using the deployment utility in another folder. After selecting a setup .sds file, the Task Options dialog box is displayed.

For Uninstall Spector, only the previous paragraph is not applicable. The following information is applicable to both install and uninstall.  

Task Options

This dialog box allows you to select whether you would like to immediately execute the task (install or uninstall) or schedule it for a later time. By default, Run Task Immediately is selected. It forces the task to execute immediately. By de-selecting this option, the Set Task Schedule button is enabled.

The Control Center utilizes the built in Windows Task Scheduler to execute the remote installs and uninstalls, whether or not the task is to run immediately, or it is scheduled. Selecting Set Task Schedule displays a scheduling dialog.   

Since the Control Center forces the task to be deleted upon the completion of the execution, the only selection valid for scheduling an installation at a user specified time and date is: Once. The scheduler defaults to five minutes from the time the dialog was displayed. The scheduled time and date may be changed to your preference.  

  1. After scheduling the task (known as a trigger), the Control Center requires that you enter credentials to pass to the Windows Task Scheduler. These credentials are the log on and password required for access to remote computers.
    You may need administrative or domain administrative privileges to proceed, depending on the set up of your network. If applicable, see your network administrator for the proper access.

  2. After providing the required credentials, you are returned to the Task Options dialog box so you may click on the OK button to continue.
    Providing incorrect credentials may result in the task getting created on the remote computer, but not executing properly.

  3. After providing credentials, the Control Center will also automatically attach a second trigger to the task, which forces the task to run on computer startup. This trigger is executed in the case where the computer is turned off at the time the task was originally set to run.

  4. Once you have clicked on the OK button, the Control Center creates the task on the remote computer, and in the case of installations, it copies the selected deployment setup executable to the remote computer's temporary folder, and changes the name to spsetup.exe.
    In the case of uninstalls, the Control Center copies the file spuninst.exe to the remote computer's temporary folder.

  5. After the task is completed, the task scheduler deletes the task and the deployment setup or uninstall executable is marked for deletion (to occur when the remote computer is restarted).

Notes

  • Please refer to the Spector Client Install/Uninstall Notes for additional notes on what to expect after installing/uninstalling Clients.

  • Only those Client installation executables created by using the Spector Deployment Utility can be uninstalled remotely.  

  • When the Results window has been set to Show Groups Only, the install or uninstall is effective for all computers in the group (domain).

  • The Startup Method and the use of a computer list file can affect this process. See the Startup Method section. If you are attempting to install Client on all computers in a group (domain) where one or more computers in that group already have a Client installed (or pending), the Control Center will ask if you wish to skip over those computers. It will request that you install only to the computers that do not have a Client already installed.

Delete Setup Task

If after you have scheduled a task (install or uninstall) on a remote computer, and you decide not to execute that task, you can use Delete Task to remove the task from the selected remote computer.

When the Results window has been set to Show Groups Only, the task deletion is effective for all computers in the group (domain).

Note The Startup Method and the use of a computer list file can affect this process. See the section on Startup Method.

The Control Center will look for any install or uninstall tasks on any computer in the group (domain) and delete them.

 Uninstall Spector Client

This menu item removes a computer from the currently displayed list in the Manage Computers view. You will be asked to verify the remove request.

Click on Yes to remove it from the list after removing it from the list, you will be asked if you want to save the modification to the current computer list file.

Note  This feature is not available if the Results window has been set to Show Groups Only.

Change Group

This feature is available only if Enable Computer Groups Management is selected in the General properties tab. Use the Change Group menu item to move a computer from one group to another.  

You can select from one of the current groups from the list or select New Item to add a new group to the list.

Note This feature is not available if the Results window has been set to Show Groups Only.


Related Topics:

Configure Computers View

Monitor Computer View

Monitor Users View

Create a Load at Startup Computer List (NetConfig) XML File

Planning how CNE discovers the Clients on the Network

Knowledge Base

Technical Support