Inventory Automation

[8541Doc]

I'm a new Sys Admin for Shands at the University of Florida, and I'm currently trying to automate my inventory for this year.

I've used MS's Scriptomatic tool to create a script that will scan the network for active machines, and then scan all the active machines for hardware and software information. The script takes all this information and plugs it into an Access database where I then get my reports from. The University of Florida (UF) uses external sticky tags with tracking numbers to identify the systems that have been purchased, and I would like to enter that number someplace in the OS.

I've come to the conclusion that if I enter that number into the OEMINFO.INI file as the Model="blah blah" that I might be able to pull this information through one of the scriptomatic scripts, but I cannot seem to find this particular information in any of their scripts. I'm not that familiar with VB that I can just start coding away, and I was in need of assistance with maybe creating a regular vb script to pull this information out of that .ini file.

Basically, when I change the OEM information to display the UFID number for that particular machine, I need to be able to pull that information from somewhere (probably that OEMINFO.INI file), and plug it into that vb script file as a variable so that I can place that "string" information into my access database. That way it would help immensly, because it wouldn't require me to visit every machine to pull the ID numbers. I know that I will have to visit every machine anyways for the first time, so that I can enter the ID number INTO the OEMINFO.INI file, but every subsequent inventory after that, will be 100 percent easier.

I have attached the .vbs file that will pull all required information from a networked computer. (I have since updated the file some, so this one is an older version one of my ex-coworkers made a while back) To be able to retrieve the information, one would have to create an properly named access database/table with the proper field names that are listed close to the bottom of the vb file.

Any assistance would be highly appreciated and thanks in advance for any input.

addcomp.vbs

addcomp.vbs

[fatboybubba]

So you want to use this script to remotely parse the contents of the oeminfo.ini? Does it need to be in the oeminfo.ini becuase this would be a great thing to store someplace in the registry and it would be a lot easier to retrieve remotely?

-b

[8541Doc]

Well, that's just it...

We're not browsing the OEMINFO file, we are browsing the WMI classes, and where they come from (presumably the registry), and my boss was wondering the same thing. Apparently, while browsing the Windows 2000 Scripting (found here), he found something about the SMBBios Class Asset element. But, the only problem is that the SMBbios isn't anything that we have access to, and not all comps have it.

If there's some way to ADD a class element somewhere, like in the Configuration class... then it would be perfect, because that would mean we could add other needed information also...

I'd rather stay away from the OEMINFO.INI file since it would involve "file sharing" of sorts... ideas?

[fatboybubba]

I was thining something more along the lines of creating a new key in the registry (ie HKLM\Software\UF\StickyTag) and then just a routine to your vb script to remotely query the remote registry.

You could then add as many sub keys as you wanted for other data that you wanted to store for later use.

[8541Doc]

That sound good, now the only question is... can you just add arbitrary Registry Keys...???

Because the other thing I was thinking about... how about finding out where the entries for the Remote System Management tool come from. You know, where you can click on a computer on your network, and all kinds of information for that machine, like processor, machine name, time on the network, etc etc come up...?

If I could find out where that information gets pooled from, then I could, like you said, enter in a registry entry (if that's possible) and viola, I could be in business.

[8541Doc]

*bump*

[Tadly]

We have a large number of systems which all have State ID numbers. The way we do it is have a standard setup for the computername of each machine. The computer name is basically a 2 letter identification for each department followed by the computer asset number. For example OB111111. I'm not sure if this is something you could look into doing or not since you'll have to visit each machine anyway.

[Tadly]

And, yes, its entirely possible to add arbitrary registry keys. Its going to be a little more difficult to do if you are trying to do it remotely, but it can be done. Almost every program out there adds some sort of arbitrary information to the registry when it is installed.

[/\/\o\/\/]

WMI will get his info from the WMI(CIM)-repository,

(most properties will be only collected when you query them, the providers will collect the information when needed.)

you can add your own classes and instances to WMI (e.g. with CIM-studio in the WMITools download ) so you can query them.

you can also add your ID-number to the registry(without good WMI knowledge more easy than makeing your own WMI class), and use the WMI (or WSHELL) registry provider to get them (you must be able to find a script for that in the M$ scripting center)

gr /\/\o\/\/