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Q277674: SMS: Smsiddup Identifies Current and Historical Duplicates

Article: Q277674
Product(s): Microsoft Systems Management Server
Version(s): 1.2
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbsms120 kbsms120bug
Last Modified: 08-MAY-2002

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

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

The Smsiddup.exe utility is included with Systems Management Server (SMS) 1.2
Service Pack 4 (SP4) to identify duplicate SMSIDs that may be produced as a
result of "cloning" SMS clients. Even if duplicates that are identified by
Smsiddup have been removed and their inventory records have been removed from
the SMS Administrator console, Smsiddup may still report their presence in
subsequent reports.

CAUSE
=====

Smsiddup produces a report of duplicate SMSIDs that are contained not only in
current hardware inventory but also in hardware inventory history. Therefore, if
computers that are identified as having duplicate SMSIDs are deleted in the SMS
Administrator console, they are still identified by Smsiddup because the current
inventory record is moved to inventory history instead of being deleted. This
SMS functionality is by design.

Because inventory history is typically purged by using the Delete Special command
in the SMS Administrator console, duplicate SMSIDs are eventually removed from
the database completely. (See the "More Information" section of this article for
information about using the Delete Special command.)

If you depend on the Smsiddup reports to identify current duplicates, it can
become difficult to distinguish current duplicates from those that have already
been deleted. The hotfix that is described in this article enables you to
optionally delete inventory records that are identified as duplicates by
Smsiddup.

RESOLUTION
==========

A supported fix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to
correct the problem described in this article and should be applied only to
systems experiencing this specific problem.

To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the
fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and
information on support costs, please go to the following address on the World
Wide Web:

  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

NOTE: In special cases, charges that are normally incurred for support calls may
be canceled, if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific
update will resolve your problem. Normal support costs will apply to additional
support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in
question.

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or
later:

  Date     Time   Version  Size   File name     Platform
  ------------------------------------------------------
  9/22/00  18:13  786      15 KB  Smsiddup.exe  Intel
  9/22/00  18:13  786      22 KB  Smsiddup.exe  Alpha



STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products that are
listed at the beginning of this article.`

MORE INFORMATION
================

The updated version of Smsiddup.exe includes an option to delete duplicate
SMSIDs from inventory history. Smsiddup does not delete duplicate SMSIDs that
are current and visible in the SMS Administrator console. You must therefore
delete the duplicate SMSIDs when duplicate SMSIDs are first reported.
When you use the option to delete duplicate SMSIDs, those computer records that
are identified are deleted from inventory history. This does not affect the
inventory history for other computers for which that inventory history may be
required for reporting purposes. This prevents you from having to use the Delete
Special command with the "Machine history records older than 0 days" setting to
purge all duplicate SMSIDs from the database.

Interactive and Command-Line Use of the Updated Smsiddup.exe
------------------------------------------------------------

When you use the updated Smsiddup tool with no command-line arguments, Smsiddup
prompts you for the following information:

  Enter SQL Server name:
  Enter database name:
  User:
  Enter password:
  Delete historical duplicate ?(Y/N):

The following command-line arguments and order are supported with the updated
tool:

  smsiddup <sqlservername> <sqllogonid> <password>
  <databasename> <Y/N to delete duplicates>

For example: smsiddup smssqlsrv sa sapasswd sms y

Note that the last parameter can be ignored and defaults to N (No).

Smsiddup also supports Microsoft SQL Server integrated security. If you are using
integrated security with the interactive use of Smsiddup, you can leave the
logon and password entries blank. In command-line mode, use quotation marks (")
to delimit the logon and password entries. For example:

  smsiddup smssqlsrv "" "" sms y

Using the "Delete Special" Command to Delete Computer History
-------------------------------------------------------------

The deletion of inventory history in SMS 1.2 is not an automatic process.
Computer history grows as computers supply inventory data that contains
differences in the information that is supplied in subsequent inventory MIF
files. For example, disk information such as "%Disk Full" for hard disks changes
regularly as files are saved and deleted from the disk. You should delete
inventory history as an administrative task at regular intervals to delete
inventory history that is older than a predetermined age.

The Delete Special command is available on the Edit menu in the SMS Administrator
console while the Sites window is active (or has the focus). The default option
is to delete computers with the last activity. To delete computer history
records, click Machine History Records in the Delete box. You can purge computer
history records from the SMS database based on dates or age.

Deleting history records is a two-step process. In the first step, you use the
Delete Special command as described above. This purges the computer records but
does not actually delete the inventory information that is recorded in other SMS
SQL database tables. This data effectively becomes "orphaned" and must be
deleted in the second step. In the second step, you use the SMS Database Manager
tool (Dbclean). On the Tools menu, click Delete Unused Common/Specific Records.
This command deletes the orphaned inventory data that was created in the first
step.

Additional query words: prodsms smsiddup exe

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbsms120 kbsms120bug 
Technology        : kbSMSSearch kbSMS120
Version           : :1.2
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

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

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