1. AD Rescan offline computers and users feature (urgent!)

[pcrockett]

1. Rescan AD OUs, and objects feature. (Force startable and schedulable)

We've restructured our AD for it, and the Lansweeper AD capability is a powerful feature, but without it updating offline systems, it reduces lansweeper to a hardware information only system - which the free version does just as well. THAT is why this fix is so important.

If you are modifying offline objects directly in AD, the changes don't update in Lansweeper until they are powered on (for hardware) or the user logs in (for user objects) (or until active scan hits the already on machine). All of our reports that are based on anything OU or AD related is potentially months out of date and not accurate. Some much needed reports will actually never be accurate because the reported hardware can't be turned on for months...

We just discovered that the Lansweeper database doesn't update directly from AD details on any schedule, and realized that it's causing our reports to be significantly incorrect because they reflect old AD data. (we have recently made some significant changes to AD to allow for better LS reporting capabilities based on OU. But because manual changes to AD aren't updated in LS at all for offline users/systems, the current AD ability doesn't get us anything accurate enough to use for reporting.)

If what I'm saying isn't clear, here are a couple of scenarios.

Scenario 1: a computer is taken from the floor and added to spare.

1. computer is removed from a users desk and placed on a shelf in storage. Currently it's in an OU for its old location.
2. From AD computer object is moved to an inactive OU for organizational/security/reporting purposes.
3. browsing lansweeper still shows that computer in the old location, not inactive..
4. reporting from lansweeper may show 400 machines in active OUs but 50 have actually been moved to spare.
5. Currently, (correct me if i'm wrong) the only way to fix this is to reboot all 50 computers (if available) on the network, then take them off again...

Scenario 2: A user's information is updated in AD to indicate that they have left. Lansweeper doesn't update ever again have the ability to include the new information regarding their account.

Correct me if i'm wrong! (I hope I am!)

[NeilL]

I have a couple of concerns about Permanently deleting computers in that we have field crews that are out with their laptops or tablets for long periods of time and that since this computer has not been seen in xxx of days that it will delete the record give me an inaccurate report. If this would be a option of on or off and if its on then have the ability to set the # of day or months or years even.

[Hemoco]

NeilL wrote:
I have a couple of concerns about Permanently deleting computers in that we have field crews that are out with their laptops or tablets for long periods of time and that since this computer has not been seen in xxx of days that it will delete the record give me an inaccurate report. If this would be a option of on or off and if its on then have the ability to set the # of day or months or years even.

You will have the option to set it on and off (and the # of days)
It will be off by default.

[pcrockett]

Some Not-So-Urgent-but-related ideas...

Another thought on this topic would be logging for the auto deletions. I wouldn't say this is urgent for this version (and I wouldn't want it to delay the release date), but it may be a useful confirmation reference for the random occurrence of an item not showing up anymore.

And yet another idea would be that for the "set computers to non-active if not found in AD" option (I like this feature): have it also record a date and time it made the status change. Then someday we can add the feature to set a purge of non-active items that have not been in AD for more than a specified period of time. Without it you have to get rid of all of them or none of them.

Just some thoughts for the future to make it a little easier and seamless to manage. Thanks!

[pcrockett]

Outstanding! I think the only other thing that I can think of for this item is to have a little option to manually trigger each of those things as well (not just scheduled) (perhaps with a confirmation on the ones that do any deletions from the database).

For example: if I need a report right away I can force update that information and soon after run the fully accurate report - instead of waiting 24 hours for the next update.

Thanks!

[Hemoco]

Next version will solve these problems with the following. (let me know if I'm missing something)

Following options can be selected (optionally) and run every 24 hours.

1) Remove computers not found in AD from all tables.
2) Set computers to non-active if not found in AD
3) Remove AD users not found in AD
4) Refresh AD computer details (OU,...)
5) Refresh AD user details (OU, title, ...)
6) Permanently delete computers not seen in the last xxx days.

[MKroell]

Ditto