Leveraging Product Compliance

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SMS 2.0 includes a product compliance database that was intended to be used with its inventory and package distribution component to create Y2K management solutions. You can use the compliance database to determine Y2K compliance among SMS client computers, or to determine other kinds of compliance for applications running in your organization.

In the previous section, we discussed the need to determine the Windows 2000 compatibility of the existing clients and software applications before you implement a Windows 2000 upgrade strategy. In this section, we will see how the product compliance feature of SMS 2.0 can be used to assist you in developing that strategy.

Customizing Product Compliance

You can customize the product compliance database by modifying existing entries or by adding new entries. Since you can use this database to test compliance of any kind within your organization, if you want to test applications for Windows 2000 compliance, you can modify or create your own product compliance database to include these products and their level of compliance. Furthermore, you can define your own method for upgrading and then use SMS to assist you in determining compliance.

To add new products to the product compliance database, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the Product Compliance folder in the SMS Administrator Console, right-click on it, choose New from the context menu, and then choose Product Compliance to display the Product Compliance Properties window, shown in Figure 20-9.
  2. On the General tab, enter the product data either by browsing for the .EXE file (whose header will contain most if not all of the required field information), selecting a product reported through software inventory from the Product Name drop-down list, or entering the information manually.
  3. If you choose a product from the Product Name list, some fields may be blank. You can either fill them in or leave them blank, as appropriate.

    Figure 20-9. The Product Compliance Properties window.

TIP
If you are entering the information in these fields manually, refer to the Systems Management Server Administrator's Guide for a complete description of each field, the data it should contain, its Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) object name, and the type and length of the field value. Refer to this information also if you are importing product information from other sources.

  1. Click the Set button to display the Set Display Name dialog box, where you can specify a friendly name that will be displayed when the product is viewed through the Product Compliance folder in the SMS Administrator Console. You can also specify version and revision information here, if desired. Click OK to return to the General tab of the Product Compliance Properties window.
  2. In the Compliance section, select the compliance type from the drop-down list or enter a type of your own, such as Windows 2000 Compatibility. This field can contain a text string up to 30 characters long.
  3. To specify the Windows 2000 Compatibility compliance type, enter a compliance level either by selecting one from the drop-down list or by entering a level of your own in the compliance level text box. For example, for Windows 2000 Compatibility you could enter one of these four levels: Compatible, Not Compatible, Compatible With Minor Issues, or Compatible With Major Issues. This field can contain a text string up to a 40 characters long. Once you have entered your compliance type and levels, these settings will be available for any additional products you add to the product compliance database.
  4. Click on the Information tab, shown in Figure 20-10, and either type in or select from the drop-down lists the appropriate entries for the company that developed the product, the languages supported, the platform the product runs on, and the data source from which the product information was obtained.
  5. Figure 20-10. The Information tab.

  6. Enter a URL to which the viewer can be directed to obtain more information about the product, such as compliance update files, as well as a descriptive comment that defines what needs to be updated, and perhaps how to do it. Both of these fields can contain text strings up to 255 characters long.
  7. Click OK to add the product to the product compliance database.

TIP
You can connect to the URL entered for the product by right-clicking on the product in the Product Compliance folder and choosing All Tasks, and then choosing Go To Web Page.

Existing entries can be modified in much the same fashion as described here. For example, you might want to modify the Comment or URL settings on the Information tab to reflect company-specific information or the location of an intranet Web site where the update file has been stored for download.

MORE INFO
For a detailed discussion about using SMS 2.0 and the product compliance database to determine Microsoft Windows 2000 compatibility among your SMS clients, refer to Chapter 8 of the document "Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Deployment and Planning Guide." This document is available from a variety of sources, including Microsoft TechNet and the Microsoft Windows Server 2000 Resource Kit at http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/library/resources/reskit.

Exporting Data

The product compliance database can be exported to a file in Unicode format which can then be used in other applications for reporting or analysis purposes. The entire database can be exported, or you can filter what is exported by data source, compliance type, or both. To export the database, follow these steps:

  1. Right-click on the Product Compliance folder in the SMS Administrator Console, choose All Tasks from the context menu, and then choose Export Product Compliance Data to display the Export Product Compliance Data dialog box, shown in Figure 20-11.
  2. Figure 20-11. The Export Product Compliance Data dialog box.

  3. Filter the export by selecting a particular data source and/or compliance type from their respective drop-down lists.
  4. In the Export To File text box, enter the name of the file to export the data to, or click Browse to find and select an existing file.
  5. Click OK to export the file.

NOTE
If you need to convert the file from Unicode format to ASCII, open and save the file using a text editor such as Microsoft Notepad.



Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 Administrator's Companion
Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 Administrators Companion (IT-Administrators Companion)
ISBN: 0735608342
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 1999
Pages: 167

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