Split up between various types of 'Windows' machines

[Arjan]

In our organisation we use several types of Windows machines, and all of these are identified as asset type 'Windows'. I'd like to see these machines split up in the various types of hardware we have, Notebooks, Thin Clients Desktops and Graphical Workstations.

The only way I've found to realise this until now is to create a 'Dynamic Group' which enters the hardware in a group if it meets a model criteria. The thing is we have several models of each hardware type, and this would require an edit each time a new model is taken into use.

Is there an easy way to create additional asset types and have Lansweeper recognize these automatically?
Or what would be the best way to approach this?

[RCorbeil]

For distinguishing notebooks, rather than muck around with the various chassis types, I just check whether there's a portable battery.

SELECT
  ...
  CASE
    WHEN tblPortableBattery.AssetID IS NULL
    THEN 'Desktop'
    ELSE 'Notebook'
  END as MachineClass,
  ...
  
FROM ...
  LEFT JOIN tblPortableBattery ON tblPortableBattery.AssetID = tblAssets.AssetID

Just make sure to use a LEFT join rather than the query editor's default INNER join or you'll end up filtering your selection to only machines with a portable battery.

[esr]

We're looking at a much broader definition here where we only define as desktop or laptop, but perhaps with some changes you can make a simple CASE WHEN statement like the following-

(And yes, we blend some server stuff under desktop with this version, but the language is not used for reports that contain servers, just some management "can the end users carry it around?" stuff)

Case When TsysChassisTypes.ChassisName = 'Portable' Then 'Laptop'
    When TsysChassisTypes.ChassisName = 'Notebook' Then 'Laptop'
    When TsysChassisTypes.ChassisName = 'Laptop' Then 'Laptop'
    When TsysChassisTypes.ChassisName = 'Desktop' Then 'Desktop'
    When TsysChassisTypes.ChassisName = 'Mini Tower' Then 'Desktop'
    When TsysChassisTypes.ChassisName = 'Space-Saving' Then 'Desktop'
    When TsysChassisTypes.ChassisName = 'Low Profile' Then 'Desktop'
    When TsysChassisTypes.ChassisName = 'Tower' Then 'Desktop'
    When TsysChassisTypes.ChassisName = 'Main System' Then 'Desktop'
    When TsysChassisTypes.ChassisName = 'Rack Mount' Then 'Desktop'
    When TsysChassisTypes.ChassisName = 'Lunchbox' Then 'Desktop'
    Else 'Not Defined' End As [Chassis Style]

[Arjan]

Thanks for the assistance on this.

I managed to create 4 different reports and was able to define these on the following criteria.

Graphical workstations all contained 'workstation' in the name of the model, so I used: Where tblAssetCustom.Model Like '%Workstation%'

Notebooks I am currently filtering on Chassistypes. (portable, notebook and laptops)
Where (tblSystemEnclosure.ChassisTypes = 8 Or tblSystemEnclosure.ChassisTypes =
9 Or tblSystemEnclosure.ChassisTypes = 10) And tblAssetCustom.State = 1

Thin clients are all member of a workgroup so I used this to filter them out.

For the regular desktops I ended up in adding the models manually as there was no common factor for the various models without getting unwanted devices in there as well.

[RCorbeil]

If you can't use physical characteristics of the machines to derive your categories, you could always designate one of the custom fields as your machine class identifier.

[Michael_V · Accepted solution]

I suggest creating a query and linking tblsystemenclosure and tsyschassistypes.
You can also group on Manufacturer and Model, this will also distinguish all kinds of computers.

[RCorbeil]

Can you use physical characteristics of the machines to distinguish them? Notebooks are simple enough to identify by their having an entry in tblPortableBattery. Could you use things like processor type and installed RAM to distinguish thin clients and graphical workstations? Just spitballing...