Update LS database with warranty information from Dell's site

[Corbett]

FYI: Lansweeper 5.0 which is currently in beta will have this feature build-in for Dell, HP, Lenovo

This isn't exactly a "custom action" but this topic seems the best. I wrote an application that when executed it will update the Purchase Date and Warranty Date custom fields of all Dell computers in the LS database. It accomplishes this by making an HTTP request to Dell's support site and pulling down the appropriate dates. Some assumptions are made here: The oldest date found on the support page is the purchase date and the most recent date found on the page is the warranty expiration date.

EDIT (3/21/2012): Dell changed their support site which broke the program. The program now uses the web service that Dell provides for getting warranty information. Due to this change a new line needs to be added to the .config file:

<add key="DellWarrantyURL" value="http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx"/>

This is a .NET application and therefore requires Framework 3.5.

Before running the program be sure to edit the .config file and set the connectionString option with the appropriate SQL Server computer name, database name, username and password.

In my situation I used the Task Scheduler to run this application once a week (UpdateDellWarrantyInfo -all) to make sure all computers have the most recent warranty information and once a day
(UpdateDellWarrantyInfo -warrantyInfo) to get the warranty information for new computers.

12/21/2009, 4:15PM ET - Added most recent version of utility.
12/24/2009, 10:50AM ET - Attached most recent version (v1.4) of utility and updated the documentation.
01/04/2010, 1:30PM ET - Fixed bug where invalid Asset Tags (AAAAAA5 for example) would throw an exception. It now just skips it and keeps going. Attached v1.5.
01/13/2010, 10:07AM ET - Added a proxy authentication mechanism (integrated authentication only), fixed a SQL statement that failed on SQL 2000, added -verbose option for troubleshooting (rewrote argument handling routines), added stack trace to error output for additional troubleshooting. Attached v1.6.
01/18/2010, 8:16AM ET - Rewrote date handling routine to better handle different date formats. Attached v1.7.
07/02/2010, 12:16PM ET - I haven't had much time to maintain this lately. Attached v1.7 of the source.
03/21/2012, 8:26AM ET - Rewrote the warranty fetch routine to use the Dell web service. Note this version now requires a DellWarrantyURL key in the .config file. Attached v2.0.

Usage: UpdateDellWarrantyInfo [options] [-verbose]

Options

-all
Will update the warranty information for all Dell computers in the Lansweeper
database.

-warrantyInfo
Will update the warranty information only for the Dell computers that have
empty warranty and purchase dates in the Lansweeper database.

-assetTag <assetTag>
Will update the warranty information for a single Dell computer based on the
asset tag.  Must provide a single asset tag.

-computer <computerName>
Will update the warranty information for a single Dell computer based on the
computer name.  Must provide a single computer name.

-verbose
Print troubleshooting information to the console.

-help
Will display this screen.

NOTE: If no options are provided, will update all Dell computers.

[rkotvis]

On a few HP desktop and notebook models the part number can be found in the Model property of the Win32_ComputerSystem class:

HP Compaq 6710b (GR680ET#ABH)
HP Compaq nx8220 (PY516ET#ABH)
HP dx2000 MT(PE205ET)


Unfortunately, these are the only ones I've been able to find.

[BSONO]

I'm not sure if anyone gave Corbett the HP information, but our HP serial numbers also require a part number. I cannot find anyway to get the part number from WMI, registry etc. The only way I know of is physically looking at the number on the computer/server. Our provider is HP so this would be very helpful. Thanks,

[Corbett]

Sorry, I never received any links to an HP system's warranty information. With this new information it sounds like it's going to be quite difficult to get the warranty information automatically from their web site.

BSONO wrote:
I'm not sure if anyone gave Corbett the HP information, but our HP serial numbers also require a part number. I cannot find anyway to get the part number from WMI, registry etc. The only way I know of is physically looking at the number on the computer/server. Our provider is HP so this would be very helpful. Thanks,

[dsch]

Sure, i used this for Dell Workstations:

Select tblComputers.Computername, tblCompCustom.Warrantydate, tblCompCustom.PurchaseDate, tblComputersystem.Manufacturer, tblComputersystem.Model From tblComputers Inner Join tblCompCustom On tblComputers.Computername = tblCompCustom.Computername Inner Join tblComputersystem On tblComputers.Computername = tblComputersystem.Computername Where tblCompCustom.Warrantydate <= Convert(DateTime,Convert(VarChar(10),GetDate(),120),120) And tblComputersystem.Model Not Like 'Power%'

and this one for the servers:

Select tblComputers.Computername, tblCompCustom.Warrantydate, tblCompCustom.PurchaseDate, tblComputersystem.Manufacturer, tblComputersystem.Model From tblComputers Inner Join tblCompCustom On tblComputers.Computername = tblCompCustom.Computername Inner Join tblComputersystem On tblComputers.Computername = tblComputersystem.Computername Where tblCompCustom.Warrantydate <= Convert(DateTime,Convert(VarChar(10),GetDate(),120),120) And tblComputersystem.Model Like 'Power%'

The report shows you all devices that have no longer Dell Support.

[kurtp]

Is there a way to show purchase and warranty end date on the action screen?
I ran the tool and it seemed to work without an error. I tried to create an report but fail getting the information from the db.
Can anyone help me in getting a report?

cheers

[DGoodwin]

we have roughly 140 HP's if you want a tester?

[Facilities]

Hi

This works so well, thank you for all of the effort!

Would you be able to do the same for IBM/Lenovo and HP?

I have sample data etc for you if you need data to test with.

[Corbett]

I wondered when this was going to happen.

If you could give me a sample URL for both IBM and HP I can look at the amount of work involved. Would you be willing to beta test? I have no IBM or HP machines.

Facilities wrote:
Would you be able to do the same for IBM/Lenovo and HP?
I have sample data etc for you if you need data to test with.

[physh]

Corbett wrote:
I wondered when this was going to happen.

If you could give me a sample URL for both IBM and HP I can look at the amount of work involved. Would you be willing to beta test? I have no IBM or HP machines.

Facilities wrote:
Would you be able to do the same for IBM/Lenovo and HP?
I have sample data etc for you if you need data to test with.

I have Dell, HP and Lenovo machines. I love the Dell Warranty lookup script you wrote and I'm willing to test for HP and Lenovo. Perhaps you could open source the thing?

Thanks

[Martin]

Well done Corbett! Works beautifully. Thanks a lot.