PST locator task doesn't remove deleted computer accounts

[Mikeydee135]

Hi

I've been picking up PST files and watching the locator scan. the Locator is pretty good at picking up new pachines as they appear in the domains in question. what it doesn't do, however is remove the computers from the DB that have been removed from AD. we have cleaned up AD and removed a lot of stale computer accounts, these still show in Personal Store Management => Computers. this doesn't break anything though probably slows the locator down when searching these machines and makes it very difficult to tell actual proportions of the network yet to be searched as oposed to non existant machines in the list.

is there anyway i can turn on such a cleanup? short of deleting the computers from this list and having the locator repopulate it, i'd rather avoid this as itwould put the last scan dates back to zero and the Mailbox asignements would also be lost. so it would be harder to see progress which has been made.

Thanks guys

Mike

[JesusWept3]

To be honest I think clearing the PSTComputer table is all you can do, if you have a list of computers deleted you can specify the computer name and use an IN statement in your delete request Other than that I believe it's an enhancement request

[TonySterling]

Are there many of them?  I believe you can manually remove them from the list, at the very least you can mark them to not be searched.  You can select more than one computer at a time, so not an automated process but a manual work around.

edit==> JW2 suggesting is good, use sql to just delete the computers you want.  They all should have a status about not being able to connect or something.  I don't have my lab in front of me right now but can take a look later.

[Rob_Wilcox1]

You *could* write a script to do it... but.... it doesn't exist 'inside' the product.

[TonySterling]

Ok, two options for you.  Computers not on the network will have an error like this for HardDisk search, 'Failed to read registry to get list of drives : The network path was not found.'  If you are doing a Registry search it is a bit different, 'The network path was not found.'

You can set the computers that have the Hard Disk error to not be searched by using this query:

use EnterpriseVaultDirectory

update PstComputer
set SearchThisComputer = 0
Where HardDiskFailureText = 'Failed to read registry to get list of drives : The network path was not found.'

Or you can use this query to delete them from the table:

use EnterpriseVaultDirectory

Delete from PstComputer
Where HardDiskFailureText = 'Failed to read registry to get list of drives : The network path was not found.'

One thing to bear in mind, there could be some computers on that you want searched that were offline when the locator task ran that could generate this error, these would be re-populated when the locator task runs and looks for computers again.

Personal note, I might lean towards just marking them not to search as opposed to deleting.  That way if you do find one that should be searched you can just re-check it.

[AKL · Accepted solution]

All above posts should be helpful and as they say there is always more than 1 way to skin a cat ;)

Either way, I am running under same scenario as you do, way I am doing it is explained below:

1. There is a separate script (not EV/SQL - AD Script) which picks up Active workstations from AD based on different AD attributes - Basically picking up computer accounts logged on to within a month.

2. Result of above script are stored under separate SQL database & table.

3. I compare PST Computer table with the table mentioned in Step 2 - And mark all computer accounts which PST Locator task found in AD but are not in AD script result to NOT be searched.

Reason I don't remove them is because when you restart PST locator task - it will go out again and search those computers and add to table one more time. So I keep search this computer as 0 for accounts not present in Step 2.

Reason I don't rely on hard disk scan failure or registry scan failure is because as Tony indicared - there could be computers which you want to search but perhaps they were offline when locator tried to scan them & recorded error in SQL.

Hope it helps and hope you're able to figure the puzzle out. :)

And I am in agreement - this should be in-built in product - where it removes inactive computer account based on certain algorithm.

[Mikeydee135]

Hi AKL

I like the sounds of your design, it does sound like the best option, (we have a lot of users who might be missing while in the field for a few weeks at a time so "not found" isn't quite gonna match our requirements)

what script do you use to populate an SQL table of all computer accounts idle for 30 days? do you use a query to comapre the two tables and update the search this computer column or do you make this a manual check? 

If you have these scripts to hand they could be REALLY useful, though it is a shame the product doesnt have this built in.

Thanks

Mike

[AKL]

Getting the AD Script that determines active computer accounts and loads them on SQl reporting server is not under my reach as its being handled by someone else.

For the SQL logic to mark only active computers based on CustomPSTActiveWorkstation (assuming that's name of table)

______________________________________________________________________________

Update dbo.PSTComputer PC

Set SearchThisComputer = '1'

from dbo.PSTComputer

Inner Join dbo.CustomPSTActiveWorkstation CPAC ON CPAC.ComputerName = PC.ComputerName

_______________________________________________________________________________

In above, you can also add line at bottom like "Where LastRegistryScan is not null" (cannot recall exact parameter name as I do not have labs n stuff running atm)

Hope above helps.