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Q175763: SMS: Long Inventory Package Names Cause Incomplete Inventory

Article: Q175763
Product(s): Microsoft Systems Management Server
Version(s): winnt:1.2
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbnetwork kbDataLoader smsdataloader
Last Modified: 30-JUL-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Systems Management Server version 1.2 
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SYMPTOMS
========

An Inventory package whose name exceeds 40 characters can cause the Systems
Management Server Inventory Dataloader service to only partially process a
client's inventory if one of these packages is detected on the Systems
Management Server client. When one of these MIFs is processed, the information
contained in the MIF is ignored by SMS_Inventory_Dataloader without logging any
errors in the Datalodr.log file.

  -or-

You may also see multiple incomplete inventory records when you view them from
the Systems Management Server Administrator utility. These machine inventory
records contain only four or five inventory groups in the Personal Computer
Properties window of the computer.

Also, you may see duplicate inventory entries.

CAUSE
=====

The symptoms may occur if you have package inventory rules with names that are
longer than 40 characters and the Software_Name0 column size in the
Software_Comm table in the SMS database is 40 characters. You can check the
length of your software package names in the Package.rul file to confirm whether
these names contain more than 40 characters.

The Software_Name0 column size was increased from 40 characters to 128 characters
in Systems Management Server version 1.2 Service Pack 2. But when you upgrade to
Service Pack 2, Dbcnv12a.exe fails to modify the Software_Name0 column size to
128 characters.

When SMS_Inventory_Dataloader processes the MIF that has a software name longer
than 40 characters, it fails to load this attribute into SQL and truncates this
field. It subsequently ignores the rest of the groups defined in the MIF file.
Therefore, an incomplete inventory record appears in Systems Management Server
Administrator for this client. It does not log any errors in the Datalodr.log.
It also does not move the MIF to the
Sms\Site.srv\Datalodr.box\Deltamif.col\Badmifs subdirectory.

The Datalodr.log files looks like the following:

  Adding group: MICROSOFT|IDENTIFICATION|1.0...
  $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Tue Nov 04 13:07:27 1997~><thread=A0>
  Adding group: MICROSOFT|MOUSE|1.0...   $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Tue
  Nov 04 13:07:27 1997~><thread=A0>
  Adding group: MICROSOFT|VIDEO|1.0...   $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Tue
  Nov 04 13:07:27 1997~><thread=A0>
  Adding group: MICROSOFT|SOFTWARE|1.0...   $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Tue
  Nov 04 13:07:28 1997~><thread=A0>
  Adding group: MICROSOFT|SOFTWARE|1.0...   $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Tue
  Nov 04 13:07:29 1997~><thread=A0>
  Adding group: MICROSOFT|SOFTWARE|1.0...   $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Tue
  Nov 04 13:07:30 1997~><thread=A0>
  finished processing current machine.   $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Tue
  Nov 04 13:07:31 1997~><thread=A0>
  ~No more machine MIFs to be processed, terminating thread
  $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Tue Nov 04 13:07:31

WORKAROUND
==========

You can use either of the following workarounds.

The first is to change the names in the inventory packages to 40 characters or
fewer. By doing this, the Package.rul and Pkg16.cfg files will be rebuilt and
subsequent inventory from the clients will be processed correctly.

The other workaround is to delete the Software group class using the Systems
Management Server Database Manager. After deleting a group class, it is
important to stop and restart the Systems Management Server Executive service on
the site server. Also, in order to keep client resynchronization (resync) jobs
from occurring, delete the history (.hms and .smh) files from
Sms\Site.srv\Inventory.box\History directory. This will allow the Inventory Data
Loader to recreate this table with 128 characters for the length of the
Software_Name0 column when it processes a client's inventory.

Additional query words: prodsms

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbnetwork kbDataLoader smsdataloader 
Technology        : kbSMSSearch kbSMS120
Version           : winnt:1.2
Issue type        : kbbug

=============================================================================

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