Dell Management Console FAQ
Last updated by: Rob Cox
Date last updated: January 7, 2010 - 11:37
[1] Introduction
[1.1] What is Dell Management Console?
[1.2] Are there any useful product support websites?
[1.3] What technology is DMC based on?
[1.4] What is the first thing I should do to get started with DMC?
[2] Install
[2.1] What is the most important thing to know about Install?
[2.2] What OS can I install DMC on?
[2.3] What version of SQL is required?
[2.4] Is HTTPS supported?
[2.5] Are there any settings or tweaks that might help improve performance?
[2.6] How is DMC licensed?
[2.7] What sort of user account is needed to install DMC?
[2.8] How can I move my DMC database to a different SQL server?
[2.9] Why do I notice long pauses during the install?
[2.10] What operating systems are supported by the Altiris agent?
[2.11] Why do I see "Crypt32" errors in my event log after installing DMC?
[2.12] Can I install DMC in a Virtual Machine?
[2.13] When trying to install Symantec Installation Manager 7 (SIM) a screen
with all the MSI commands listed in it shows up. What is going on?
[2.14] Do I need special permissions when installing to a remote SQL database?
[2.15] How do I point to the online global product listing to get the
latest Symantec solutions and updates?
[2.16] Is there a way to skip the install readiness checks during the install?
[2.17] Do I need to install the Altiris agent on all of my servers? What is
it used for?
[2.18] What should I do when Symantec Installation Mananager asks me for
a product listing when I try to uninstall DMC?
[3] Discovery
[3.1] What is the most important thing to know about Discovery?
[3.2] Can you perform a network discovery of a subnet?
[3.3] What should I do if I run Network Discovery, the task runs very quickly but
does not discover anything or show any entries in the output properties when
I click the task details?
[3.4] Why do my Servers appear under the "Unknown" node in the device tree?
[3.5] Are there any considerations when trying to discover servers that have
Windows 2008 as the operating system?
[3.6] Why does my Discovery Task not stop when I try to stop it?
[4] Inventory
[4.1] What is the most important thing to know about Inventory?
[4.2] Why can't I see the processor information on hardware summary page for my Dell Server?
[4.3] Why can't I see my EMC inventory?
[5] Events
[5.1] Some of my non-Dell traps are coming into the event console as
unrecognized. How do I fix that?
[5.2] I have configured e-mail task to execute on receive a trap, but
its not working. What should I look for?
[5.3] I am not able to see normal alerts after some time.
[5.4] How can I delete all the alerts in one shot?
[5.5] Why don't I have more details about the problem in the trap message definition?
[5.6] Why can't I see any SNMP traps/alerts in the DMC event console?
[6] Monitor
[6.1] Why can't I see performance monitoring?
[6.2] Why can't I monitor my non-Dell device?
[6.3] I made a change to a monitor setting or policy but I don't see that
this change has taken place - why?
[7] Migrating from Dell OpenManage IT Assistant
[7.1] What data is migrated from IT Assistant to Dell Management Console?
[7.2] What all versions of IT Assistant are supported for this migration?
[7.3] Can I fetch data from a IT Assistant installed on a remote box?
[7.4] Can I fetch data from a IT Assistant whose database is present on a remote box?
[7.5] Do I need to select the check box given on first wizard page, when ITA is installed
on Windows 2000 and its database is present on Windows 2003?
[7.6] What all steps required to perform migration from a remote ITA database?
[7.7] Can I see the ITA (database) version on this migration Wizard?
[7.8] Where can I see Migrated ranges, protocols, credentials and schedule settings?
[7.9] Why are my MD Storage devices are not getting discovered in DMC using migrated
discovery ranges?
[7.10] Does migration start the Inventory cycle once discovery is done for the
migrated tasks?
[8] Hardware Patch/Updates
[8.1] How does the Dell Patch solution leverage the inventory collector?
[8.2] Are there any considerations for deploying multiple DUPs to a single resource?
[8.3] How do I indicate the catalog from the DUP Catalog Import page?
[9] Reporting
[9.1] What is the most important thing to know about reporting?
[10] Resource Manager
[10.1] What does the Connectivity State show me?
[10.2] What does the Agent Health web part show me?
[10.3] Where does the data for the Agent Health web part in the Resource Manager
come from?
[10.4] What if the Resource Manager does not display status of the OMSS and or DRAC agents?
[10.5] The Agent Version for the Connection State Metric shows as N/A. Why is that?
[11] Tasks
[11.1] What are the requirements to run Dell Tasks?
[11.2] What is the expected behavior if a Command line builder task with IPMI as command
line type is run against servers (with BMC/iDRAC enabled and configured) was
discovered using multiple protocols (in band and out of band)?
[11.3] Can I use my own command line tool to run a task against a set of devices?
[11.4] How do I run a sequence of tasks against a set of devices?
[11.5] The dropdown-list in the command line builder task doesn't show all the commands.
Can I still run the non-listed commands by typing them in the textbox below?
[11.6] How can I use tokens in my command line tasks?
[11.7] Why can't I see any Dell tasks?
[11.8] Do tasks support the NS tiered configuration?
[11.9] Can I import, export, or clone tasks?
[11.10] Is there a way to track the modification history for tasks?
[11.11] How many levels 'deep' will the Dell Command Line Task building go?
[11.12] What do I need to know to get my CMC firmware update task to work?
[11.13] What level of OpenMange does the Dell Command Line Task Builder
support?
[12] Virtualization
[12.1] What support does DMC have for managing Virtual Machines?
[13] Device Support
[13.1] How do I discover and inventory my Dell/EMC storage array?
[13.2] Are there any considerations for IPMI devices?
[13.3] Are there any considerations for MD Array storage devices?
[13.4] Are there any considerations for Clusters or Chassis?
[13.5] What is the expected behavior for servers when multiple protocols (in band and
out of band) are used?
[13.6] Are there any considerations for discovery of embedded ESX (ESXi)?
[13.7] Are there any considerations for discovery of classic ESX?
[14] OMSA Deployment
[14.1] What do I do once I deploy OMSA?
[14.2] How do I delete the existing Open Manage Server Administrator Packages?
[14.3] What can I target for OMSA Deployment?
[14.5] Why don’t I need credentials for OMSA deploy?
[14.6] Why can’t I deploy OMSA immediately after deploying Altiris Agent?
[15] User Interface
[15.1] Why is it when I try to move a device to another Organization Group,
it automatically gets moved back to the original location?
[15.2] Where can I learn more about Organizational Groups and
Organizational Views?
[15.3] Why do I get 'invalid xml' errors in my Internet Explorer browser when
I try to run DMC?
[16] Troubleshooting
[16.1] What sort of logs can I enable to help troubleshoot?
[16.2] Where can I find out more information on user priviledges?
[16.3] I changed my password on my DMC server and now I am having trouble. How do I
resolve this?
[16.4] Some of my servers are in a different domain and my Altiris agent is not
getting installed or registered back to DMC. What do I do to fix this?
[16.5] I'm having trouble pushing out the Altiris agent, any ideas?
[16.6] Why can't I run any tasks?
[16.7] Why did the Altiris agent not get properly installed on my DMC server?
[16.8] Is there any way to speed up how the Altiris agent communicates back to
the DMC server after it is first installed?
[17] UI Performance
[17.1] Why do the pages of the user interface seem slow the first time they are loaded?
[17.2] What else can be done to speed up the performance of the console?
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[1] Introduction
[1.1] What is Dell Management Console?
Dell Management Console is the 'one to many' management tool from Dell. It lets
you discover, inventory, and monitor your Dell enterprise hardware. The DMC
console runs in a web browser and is based on the Symantec/Altiris Notification
Server 7 platform.
[1.2] Are there any useful websites for DMC information?
www.dell.com/openmanage
support.dell.com
www.delltechcenter.com
www.symantec.com/connect
kb.altiris.com (especially #43648, #37648)
Also, the DMC install media includes several product 'movies' to describe
some of the basic features of DMC. These can be accessed from the
Tutorial menu on the DMC welcome screen. Please review the readme for
product information and known issues.
[1.3] What technology is DMC based on?
DMC is based on the Symantec/Altiris Notification Server 7 platform.
It is a Microsoft .Net 3.5 based product. It requires Microsoft IIS as well
as SQL Server or SQL Express.
[1.4] What is the first thing I should do to get started with DMC?
Have a look at the Getting Started movie in the Tutorial section of the
welcome screen on the DMC install media and review the readme contents.
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[2] Install
[2.1] What is the most important thing to know about Install?
Check the pre-reqs! There are a number of minimum requirements and install
'readiness' checks. Get these things lined up and you will have a smoother
install process:
Be sure you have this already on your server:
- OS, Win2003 Server *32 bit* (not Web, Core, Storage editions)
- SQL Server/Express database (on the DMC media)
- .Net 3.5
- IIS
- IE 7.0
- use a 2 (physical) processor box with at least 4 GB of memory
- local administrator authority user account for install,
full permissions, including ability to restart services, etc.
- Do not install in a virtual machine, it's not supported for DMC 1.0
- Run the install from a DVD or "disk image emulator" software
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_image_emulator)
When you begin the install, a series of "Install Readiness Checks" are displayed.
One of these, a warning, is particulary important. It shows up like this:
crl.microsoft.com access
It is important to click on the "Fix" hotlink for this. If you don't, you may
experience network timeouts that could cause unpredictable install failures.
This fix is especially important when installing in an environment that is not
connected to the internet. More information on this topic is available in
FAQ #17.2.
Also see FAQ #2.11 as well for details on another similar topic.
Please see the Installation Guide in the media/download section of the
DMC Community Site.
[2.2] What OS can I install DMC on?
DMC 1.0 can be installed on Windows 2003 32 bit only. Server editions only, not
core, storage or Web Server editions. Please see kb.altiris.com #46349 and #46279
for supported OS and browser (Internet Explorer) versions.
[2.3] What version of SQL is required?
You can use Microsoft SQL Express 2005 for small installations. For larger
environments, you need full SQL 2005 with SP1/SP2. SQL SP3 is not supported
in DMC 1.0. The database can be installed locally on the same box as DMC or
remotely. Full SQL is suggested for best performance. As a rule of thumb,
if you are managing more than 500 devices you should be using full SQL Server
rather than SQL Express. The Configuration and Optimzation Guide (whitepaper)
has more infomration on this.
[2.4] Is HTTPS supported?
Yes, instructions for installing DMC with HTTPS are included on the DMC install
media. Be sure to configure HTTPS/SSL *FIRST*, then install DMC.
[2.5] Are there any settings or tweaks that might help improve performance?
Be sure you are running on a server with more than one processor.
Your server should have at least 4GB of RAM. But if you have a very large
environment, say over 500 devices, then you will need to consider an 8GB or
perhaps a 16GB server.
Other then that there are two other important things to look at. During the
DMC install, there are two 'pre-req' or 'readiness' checks that are displayed.
One is for .Net certificate checking and the other is a suggestion to tune your
SQL memory settings. Review these pre-reqs carefully and they should improve your
console performance.
[2.6] How is DMC licensed?
There is a web part on the DMC portal page which indicates how many days are
left on the initial 30 day trial license. A free DMC license can be obtained
by visiting http://www.dell.com/openmanage/register. Once you apply this license,
the license web part at the top of the DMC portal page will disappear and you
will have the ability to make edits to the DMC portal page as well. This will
also ensure that you are alerted to important updates and changes to the product.
To apply the license:
Start up SIM by going to Start->All Programs->
Altiris->Symantec Installation Manager->Symantec Installation Manager.
Click on the apply license menu item and point to the DMC license file.
Then when you start up DMC again or refresh the DMC portal page, you should notice
that the license web part is gone, and an "Edit" button is now in the top
right corner.
Note that if your computer is not on the internet, you may need to point back to
the product listing file on the DMC install media (dell.pl.xml) before you can get to
the screen for applying the license.
[2.7] What sort of user account is needed to install DMC?
The user account must have full local administrator privileges.
It also needs to have permissions to restart services and access the SQL Server.
[2.8] How can I move my DMC database to a different SQL server?
See kb.altiris.com, article number: 45606, 40605.
[2.9] Why do I notice long pauses during the install?
If your server is not connected to the internet, you may experience some
pauses or delays. This is because the install program is trying to connect
to an external product listing and license server. You may also notice a
pause between the time when the Symantec Installation Manager is installed
and the DMC install launches.
[2.10] What operating systems are supported by the Altiris agent?
See kb.altiris.com, article number: 46349.
[2.11] Why do I see "Crypt32" errors in my event log after installing DMC?
These errors may occur if the Update Root Certificates component is turned
on and the computer cannot connect to the Windows update server on the
Internet. Refer to the Microsoft KB for details on how to turn the update
root certificate component off.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317541
[2.12] Can I install DMC in a Virtual Machine?
DMC 1.0 is not supported for installing into a VM. There are many people who
pilot and demo the product in a VM, but there are known issues with running
in a VM with certain configurations. Full VM support will be added in a
future release. If you want to demo or test the product in a VM, you may
want to review these KB articles.
kb.altiris.com - 45258 and 45257
[2.13] When trying to install Symantec Installation Manager 7 (SIM) a screen
with all the MSI commands listed in it shows up. What is going on?
When trying to install Symantec Installation manager, the installation may not
start and only the Windows Installer options may be shown. Using user accounts
that are part of the Administrators group sometimes have some unknown limitations
when Windows Installer needs to run and install applications. This behavior has
been seen in some cases that were installing with an Admin account but _not_ the
local system Administrator account. For example, John Doe is member of the
Admin account and is also the account that he is using to login into the server.
What you can try is to log out and log in as the local system Administrator
account. Then start the installation process. This time you should be able to
start the Windows Installer properly. See kb.altiris.com #45806
[2.14] Do I need special permissions when installing to a remote SQL database?
You can install to a local or remote SQL database. If you install to a remote
db, then you need to be sure the user account you are using has the correct
permissions.
-dbo: to the database that DMC is being installed to
-dbcreator: server role will also be necessary if you are creating the database
[2.15] How do I point to the online global product listing to get the
latest Symantec solutions and updates?
You need connection to the internet to be able to reach the GPL online. After
verifying that you can access the internet, launch the Symantec Installation
Manager through Program Files->Altiris->Symantec Installation Manager.
Click on "Settings" in the start-up page of Symantec installation Manager.
Click "Change product listing". Then type in the location of
http://www.solutionsam.com/solutions/pl/symantec.pl.xml. Click "OK".
Now when you go back to the main SIM page and click Install New Products,
you will have access to the latest solutions and updates.
[2.16] Is there a way to skip the install readiness checks during the install?
Yes. Of course skipping the pre-req checks can result in undefined behavior
of the product. But there may be a case, for example, where the CPU speed
does not meet the minimum specs even though you have multiple processors.
To disable the check for SIM prerequisites:
Add the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\AIM to the registry.
Create a DWord called IgnoreInstallPrerequisites and set the value to 1.
To enable the Next button if any of the install Readiness checks fail:
Add the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\AIM\InstallReadinessCheck\
to the registry. Create a DWord called EnableNextbutton and set the value
to 1.
[2.17] Do I need to install the Altiris agent on all of my servers? What is
it used for?
You may or may not need the Altiris agent on all of our managed nodes. See
table 1-1 in the DMC Users Guide for details on this.
[2.18] What should I do when Symantec Installation Mananager asks me for
a product listing when I try to uninstall DMC?
When you try to uninstall Dell Management Console, the Symantec Install
Manager will launch and ask you for the location of the dell.p.xml. You
can either put in your DVD and point to the root of the DVD, or point to
a cached copy fo dell.pl.xml which should be in your Program Files
(install) directory. For example:
C:\Program Files\Dell\sysmgt\dmc\Symantec Installation Manager\
Installs\Altiris\dell.pl.xml
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[3] Discovery
[3.1] What is the most important thing to know about Discovery?
You must have Dell OpenManage Server Administrator (aka OMSA) installed on
all of the PowerEdge Servers that you want to discover and manage. You can
install OMSA on the server locally, or use the OMSA Deployment wizard in DMC.
If you do not install OMSA, your servers will not get classified as a
"Dell Computer", but rather, "Unknown" or just "Computer". And this will limit
your management capabilities in Dell Management Console.
[3.2] Can you perform a network discovery of a subnet?
Yes. You need to specify a zero in the last octet to discover a subnet.
(e.g., 192.149.20.0, 255.255.255.0, NOT 192.149.20.1)
[3.3] What should I do if I run Network Discovery, the task runs very quickly but
does not discover anything or show any entries in the output properties when
I click the task details?
Sometimes this can happen if the discovery is kicked off soon after installing
the product and the Credential Manager install is not finished. The solution is
to manually run CMClientInstall.exe from
C:\Program Files\Dell\SysMgt\DMC\Notification Server\NSCap\bin\Win32\X86\CredentialManager
and then reboot the server.
[3.4] Why do my Servers appear under the "Unknown" node in the device tree?
Systems, both Linux and Windows, discovered with SNMP only, and without OMSA
installed on them, will be classified as "Computers" and displayed under the
"Unknown" organizational group. If you have confirmed that OMSA is correctly
installed on the managed node, then check the SNMP settings. Bring up
services.msc and go to the properties page for "SNMP Service". On the
Security tab, there is a radio button for "Accept SNMP Packets from any host"
and "...packets from these hosts". You need to be sure and specify your
DMC server here, or select the radio button for "any host". If you select
"any host" consult the Microsoft documentation for any security implications.
[3.5] Are there any considerations when trying to discover servers that have
Windows 2008 as the operating system?
When using SNMP, in order to discover a system that is running Windows
Server 2008, the "Network discovery" feature must be enabled.
Perform the following steps to enable "Network discovery" on the target
server:
a) Navigate to the target system's Control Panel
b) Select "Network and Sharing Center"
c) In the "Sharing and Discovery" section, set "Network discovery" to "On"
[3.6] Why does my Discovery Task not stop when I try to stop it?
Stopping the Discovery Task takes a while, but it will stop.
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[4] Inventory
[4.1] What is the most important thing to know about Inventory?
Inventory is a separate task from discovery. So to get inventory data for your devices
you must set up an inventory task to collect this data. In order to collect Power
Edge Server inventory via SNMP or WMI, you must have Open Manage Server Administrator
on the box and the server should be properly discovered and classified as a "Dell
Computer".
[4.2] Why can't I see the processor information on hardware summary page for my Dell Server?
The information can be gathered using OMSA 4.3 or later via SNMP and OMSA 5.0 or later via WMI.
If you are using SNMP to communicate with the managed node then make sure that OMSA version
4.3 or later is installed on the managed node. If you are using WMI to communicate with the
managed node then make sure that OMSA version 5.0 or later is installed on the managed node.
[4.3] Why can't I see my EMC inventory?
In order to get inventory for your Dell/EMC arrays, you must first install
the NaviCLI software on your DMC box. This software is included on the
DMC install media.
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[5] Events
[5.1] Some of my non-Dell traps are coming into the event console as
unrecognized. How do I fix that?
You need to define those traps in DMC. Traps can be added (along with their
category) under Home | Monitoring and Alerting | Event Console | Protocol
Management | Alert Management Settings page. You can also make use of the MIBImport
feature if you have the corresponding MIBs and want to import all the traps/alerts
defined in it. Please refer Symantec product documentation on how to use MIBImport.
[5.2] I have configured an e-mail task to execute when I receive a trap, but
its not working. What should I look for?
1) First verify the SMTP server settings that were provided during installation
or under Settings | All Settings | Notification Server | Notification Server
Settings | E-Mail tab.
2) Verify these settings by making use of "send test e-mail".
3) Verify whether DMC is able to receive traps and display them in the event console.
4) Check the Altiris Log Viewer to see if you are getting any error there.
5) Verify whether the Rule filter is correct and the run count is changing
with alerts coming to DMC.
[5.3] I am not able to see normal alerts after some time.
The event console Settings page has an option to disable Auto-Resolve normal alerts.
The idea is that normal alerts will be there on the event console window for
some time and in the auto-resolve state and goes to the repository after that.
This is provided to have more focus on the other critical events. You can disable
this setting if you want all the normal alerts to be present in the Events and
Alerts window.
[5.4] How can I delete all the alerts in one shot?
The event console provides a purging settings page where in you can specify the number
of alerts you want to keep in the database or how long you want to retain alerts. The
page should be called: "Resource Event Data Purge Settings". Here you can define the
amount of time or maximum aount of alerts. Please refer Event Console online help
for more information on purging.
[5.5] Why don't I have more details about the problem in the trap message definition?
There are 2 possible causes:
1. The vendor defined the trap that way. Nothing can be done in this case.
2. It is not a trap. The Event Console shows both monitor alerts and SNMP traps, but
these are quite different. Monitor alerts are generated by DMC when a rule threshold
is exceeded. This may mean a health state has changed or a performance value has been
exceeded. In either case, the monitor alert will only tell you that the state has
changed. These alerts are enabled by default so long as the policy is enabled. In
contrast, SNMP traps are generated by a device when the SNMP agent on the device
determines the condition for the trap has been met. Traps typically will contain
very specific details in the message definition. Also SNMP traps will not be received
by DMC automatically. You must first configure each device to forward traps to DMC
and ensure that the device and DMC have a matching community string. In most cases
when you have a health state change, you should see both a monitor alert and a SNMP
trap provided you are using SNMP and have it configured properly. For Windows
servers, the SNMP properties contain a tab for trap destination that needs to be
set with the IP address of the DMC server.
[5.6] Why can't I see any SNMP traps/alerts in the DMC event console?
See the information on #5.5 and also review the Dell support video at:
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/entvideos/configuringsnmp_v2?c=us&l=en&s=gen
One other item to check is to try to stop/disable the Windows SNMP Trap service if
it is running. If it is running it may have a lock on port 162 which
will prevent DMC from receiving traps. You may use netstat -ano to view
port/service status. After stopping this service you may need to restart
DMC services or reboot the DMC server.
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[6] Monitor
[6.1] Why can't I see performance monitoring?
Performance monitoring takes significantly more resources versus health
monitoring and therefore is not enabled by default. Consult the monitor
tutorial video on the DMC install media or user documentation for the steps on
how to enable this feature.
[6.2] Why can't I monitor my non-Dell device?
Dell Management Console provides license support for monitoring of Dell Devices
only. Any device that is not discovered as a Dell device (e.g. a Computer versus
a Dell Computer) will not be able to be monitored with the Dell Policies.
[6.3] I made a change to a monitor setting or policy but I don't see that this change
has taken place - why?
These changes require a restart of the monitor agent and therefore are only updated
once an hour by default (this is a configurable user setting). To force an immediate
change, the client policy update procedure can be run. Please consult the monitor
tutorial video or user documentation for more details on this procedure.
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[7] Migrating from Dell OpenManage IT Assistant
[7.1] What data is migrated from IT Assistant to Dell Management Console?
The migration wizard in DMC migrates only the discovery (include/exclude) ranges,
associate protocols, credentials (encrypted) and discovery schedule settings
from ITA. The wizard will not migrate actual device data such as discovery &
inventory. The idea is that, once you migrate the include/ranges (IP addresses),
then you can run discovery and inventory in DMC and get all of the current device
data. This is a cleaner way to migrate and avoid any possible data loss or mismatch.
[7.2] What versions of IT Assistant are supported for this migration?
IT Assistant v8.0 and later.
[7.3] Can I fetch data from an IT Assistant installed on a remote box?
Yes. The wizard allows you to provide remote database information
and fetch information once a connection is made. Along with the
default database instance (IT Assistant creates its database to the
default instance), you can also fetch this data from a named instance (if
in case you have attached ITA database to a named instance). IP Address
or a HostName can be given in the Database Server Name.
[7.4] Can I fetch data from a IT Assistant whose database is present
on a remote box?
Yes. This is same as [7.3]. If ITA is installed on one system A, and
it's database is there on a remote system B, then in the wizard, you need to
provide remote system's (B) IP/Hostname to connect and fetch data.
[7.5] Do I need to select the check box given on first wizard page, when ITA
is installed on Windows 2000 and its database is present on Windows 2003?
Yes. Below table will help you to understand when to select this checkbox. The
reason is that the latest operating systems have different encryption than
Windows 2000. Related KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/841715
No| ITA | ITA DB | Select ?|
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01| W2K |local or remote, any OS | Yes |
02| W2k3,XP |local or remote, any OS | No |
[7.6] What are all the steps required to perform migration from a remote ITA database?
You need to ensure that your DMC system can connect to remote database you
are trying to connect to.
A) SQL Server Authentication: "SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode" is selected.
This is required when you want to use SQL Authentications to connect to DB.
B) Valid SQL Credentials.
This is required when you want to use SQL Authentications to connect to DB.
C) TCP/IP protocol is enabled to receive remote client connections.
If your DMC and ITA database system have the same Windows credentials, then you
would need only (C). Refer the Dell Management Console User Guide, Discovery
Settings Migration section for more details.
[7.7] Can I see the ITA (database) version on this migration Wizard?
Yes. The heading on second wizard page will show the ITA database schema version.
This schema version is fetched from IT Assistant database. There may be a case
when you see smaller schema version than ITA connected to (For example: ITA 8.4
shows 8.3 schema version), when there were no schema changes between
installed ITA build (8.4) and its previous build's (8.3) schema.
[7.8] Where can I see Migrated ranges, protocols, credentials and schedule settings?
1) Discovery settings migration wizard will create Network Discovery Tasks using the
ITA's include and exclude ranges. Each Discovery task will have one include range
and all exclude ranges. These can be seen under Home | Discovery and Inventory |
Network Discovery page. "Available Tasks" tab on Network Discovery Task Management
web-part at the bottom. These tasks can also be seen under Manage | Jobs and Tasks page.
System Jobs and Tasks | Discovery and Inventory folder will have these tasks once
migration is complete.
2) Protocols will be migrated as Connection Profiles and can be seen under
Settings | All Settings | Monitoring and Alerting | Protocol Management |
Connection Profiles | Manage Connection Profile page.
3) Credentials are migrated as Credential Manager items and can be seen under
Settings | All Settings | Monitoring and Alerting | Credential Settings | Credentials Management.
4) Shared schedule will be created when in ITA week day section is selected to
run discovery on particular days within a week and at particular time. These shared
schedule can be seen under Settings | All Settings | Notification Server | Shared Schedules.
[7.9] Why are my MD Storage devices are not getting discovered in DMC using migrated
discovery ranges?
There is a defect on this which is fixed in an upcoming release of DMC. Sometimes when
you migrate two ranges having SNMP and SNMP+MD protocols respectively, migration
may neglect to consider them two separate combination and create only one connection profile
(CP) having SNMP protocol enabled. You can edit this CP and enable MD protocol.
Re-run your migrated discovery ranges. This time MD devices should be discovered.
[7.10] Does migration start the Inventory cycle once discovery is done for the
migrated tasks?
No. Migrated network discovery task is only for discovery. Once discovery completes
and discover devices, you need to create inventory task for those devices.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[8] Hardware Patch/Updates
[8.1] How does the Dell Patch solution leverage the inventory collector?
The Patch solution needs the inventory collector component for Windows and
Linux in CAB file format. If the Local Storage option is used, the files
must be downloaded separately from the following locations:
http://www.solutionsam.com/imports/7_0/Patch/Dell/dellinvtool_windows.cab
http://www.solutionsam.com/imports/7_0/Patch/Dell/dellinvtool_linux.cab
[8.2] Are there any considerations for deploying multiple DUPs to a single resource?
The user interface allows the distribution of several versions of a Dell
Update Package (DUP) to the same managed computer simultaneously. This may
cause problems after the updates are installed.
[8.3] How do I indicate the catalog from the DUP Catalog Import page?
When working remotely you can use the DUP Catalog Import page functionality
as normal. However, no browse option can be found on the DUP Catalog Import
page next to the Catalog box. You must manually enter the storage path
accessible from the Notification Server.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[9] Reporting
[9.1] What is the most important thing to know about reporting?
For Dell Management Console Reports, you must first Discover and then
Inventory resources before data appears in the Dell reports.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[10] Resource Manager
[10.1] What does the Connectivity State show me?
The Connectivity State tells you simply whether the device is online or not.
[10.2] What does the Agent Health web part show me?
It provides status on management agents: OMSA, OMSS and DRAC. It uses SNMP
or WMI to get this information.
[10.3] Where does the data for the Agent Health web part in the Resource Manager
come from?
The agent health status is driven by the Events generated by the monitor subsystem.
After discovery, the Resource Manager displays the status of the discovered agents.
If the monitor subsystem initiates an alert originating from one or more of the
monitored agents, the agent status will change to one of the following states:
critical, warning or undetermined.
[10.4] What if the Resource Manager does not display status of the OMSS and or DRAC agents?
This means drac is not enabled and the omss software is not installed. Verify that OMSS
and OMSA are installed and that the DRAC device is enabled and accessible via its management console
[10.5] The Agent Version for the Connection State Metric shows as N/A. Why is that?
This is normal. The connection State Metric is a metric that displays the connection
state of the device. This is not driven by an agent residing on the target device and therefore
there is no version information available.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[11] Tasks
[11.1] What are the requirements to run Dell Tasks?
To run hardware configuration tasks and Command line builder task with Open Manage
Remote Server Administrator as command line type, the remote server(s) should have
OMSA installed.
To run Command line builder task with IPMI as command line type, the remote server
requires the IPMI-over-LAN interface to be enabled and configured. This task supports
both IPMI V1.5 and IPMI V2.0 commands.
To run Command line builder task with Remote Access Controller as command line type,
the remote server requires DRAC or iDRAC enabled and configured.
[11.2] What is the expected behavior if a Command line builder task with IPMI as command
line type is run against servers (with BMC/iDRAC enabled and configured) was
discovered using multiple protocols (in band and out of band)?
If the task is run against the server, it automatically runs against the supported
device (BMC/iDRAC) associated with that server.
[11.3] Can I use my own command line tool to run a task against a set of devices?
Yes. If you need to run the command line tool against the DMC box, you can use
"Run script on server" task.
If you need to run the command line tool against a set of remote devices that does
not have Altiris agent installed, use "Run script on Task server" task.
If you need to run the command line tool against a set of remote devices that has
Altiris agent installed, use "Run script" task. Additionally if the command line
tool supports remote interface (accepts IP address or hostname as parameter), use
"Run script on Task server" task along with tokens.
[11.4] How do I run a sequence of tasks against a set of devices?
DMC supports the notion of jobs where a set of tasks can be configured to run in
sequence. Navigate to Task Management portal (Manage? Jobs and Tasks). In the Jobs
and Tasks Quick Start Web part, click "Create a new job or task". In the Create New
Task page, select "Client job" or "Server job" and add tasks.
[11.5] The dropdown-list in the command line builder task doesn't show all the commands.
Can I still run the non-listed commands by typing them in the textbox below?
Yes. You can run the commands by typing them in the "command line syntax" textbox
provided the target machine supports these commands. However for IPMI task, only the
commands listed in the dropdown-list are supported.
[11.6] How can I use tokens in my command line tasks?
Dell Management Console allows you to create command line tasks using
predefined tokens. These tokens are replaced with actual values corresponding
to the target device when the task is run.
The following pre-defined tokens are supported:
%DELL_BMC_IPADDRESS%
%DELL_DEVICE_HOSTNAME%
%DELL_RAC_IPADDRESS%
%DELL_DEVICE_IPADDRESS%
To use any of the above tokens, select "Run Script on Task server" task from
Task Management portal (Manage->Jobs & Tasks) and click "Insert token". If
"Save script output with task status" is enabled in "Run Script on Task
server" task (by clicking "Advanced...") the substituted token value for each
target device may be viewed, after the task is run.
Note: You can create new task tokens in any of the "Run script" tasks, in
edit mode.
[11.7] Why can't I see any Dell tasks?
All the created Dell tasks are located under the "Dell Tasks"
folder in the left pane of Task management. If no Dell tasks exist,
the folder is hidden.
[11.8] Do tasks support the NS tiered configuration?
Refer to the following document to configure a Site server (rollout task
server to a machine):
http://webtop.us.dell.com/webtop/drl/objectId/0901478180dc247d
On configuring a task server, you can rollout Dell Tasks Handlers to the
configured task server.
a) From DMC console(NS) browse to Actions->Agents/Plugins->Rollout
Agents/Plugins
b) On the left pane, expand Dell Tasks Rollout
c) Click 'Install Dell Tasks handlers and Tools'
d) Select appropriate target and schedule in the right pane. This will
enable Altiris agent on NS server to roll out Dell Tasks package to
the target.
e) Verify Dell Tasks rollout by checking the following folder on the
target machine:
C:\Program Files\Dell\sysmgt\dmc\DMCTasksSolution\ToolsBin
NOTE: Altiris agent on NS needs to get its configuration before the Dell
Tasks package is deployed and run. Typically the agent will get its
configuration every 15 minutes, when the agent starts, or you can force a
configuration update by right clicking the Altiris Agent icon in the task
bar and selecting 'Altiris Agent Settings' and click the 'Update' button.
[11.9] Can I import, export, or clone tasks?
You can use DMC to migrate existing tasks from NS6 to NS7 instead of
recreating and reconfiguring all the tasks.
a) Right click on the task item to export the task in XML.
b) Right click on any of the folders in Task Management portal
(Manage -> Jobs & Tasks) to import the task using the exported XML.
c) Right click on the task item to clone the task.
[11.10] Is there a way to track the modification history for tasks?
If the task is edited multiple times, you can view the modification
history by clicking "Modified x times" link in the top right corner.
Select the task item in the left pane, in the Task Management portal.
In the right pane, in the top right corner, you should see "Modified
x times" link. If the task was never modified, then you wont see the
"Modified x times" link.
[11.11] How many levels 'deep' will the Dell Command Line Task building go?
In the Command line builder task, the parameters in the dropdownlist
are dynamically populated up to four parameter depth, after which
the rest of the parameters are not dynamically populated.
Example:
omconfig storage controller action=createvdisk controller=0 raid=5
pdisk=0:0,0:1,0:2
In the above command syntax, parameters are dynamically populated up to
"controller=0", after which rest of the parameters are listed.
[11.12] What do I need to know to get my CMC firmware update task to work?
To run the "Update CMC Firmware" task, the firmware image file selected
must exist on the DMC management station at the given directory with the
given filename.
[11.13] What level of OpenMange does the Dell Command Line Task Builder
support?
In the Command line builder task, the "parameter" dropdownlist shows
commands based on OpenManage 5.5. However users can still run
commands that are not displayed in the dropdownlist by directly
entering them in the "Command Syntax" textbox, if the target device
supports these commands.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[12] Virtualization
[12.1] What support does DMC have for managing Virtual Machines?
DMC can discover ESX, ESXi and Hyper-V Virtualization host servers.
It will discover the host server and associate the guest VMs in the
All Devices tree (Virtualization host servers appear under the
'Virtualization Hosts' node only if one or more guest VMs exist on the
host server). There is very limited inventory from the guest VMs.
Please see FAQ #13.6 for additional information on ESXi support.
If OMSA is present on ESX and HyperV servers following additional
support is available:
HW inventory, HW SNMP alerts, Global health monitoring.
On ESXi (v 3.5 U4) servers DMC supports Global health monitoring.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[13] Device Support
[13.1] How do I discover and inventory my Dell/EMC storage array?
Your EMC array should have FLARE 26 or above installed.
SNMP needs to be enabled on your EMC array. This can be done via EMC Navisphere
Manager. NaviSecCLI must also be installed on the management station (i.e., the
DMC Server). NaviSecCLI is included on the DMC install media.
[13.2] Are there any considerations for IPMI devices?
The Channel Privilege Level Limit on the IPMI device and the IPMI Privilege
level of the connection profile must match for proper classification of the
IPMI device. If these levels do not match the device will be classified as
a Network Resource.
The following table lists the appropriate level relationships:
+-------------------------------+----------------------+
| IPMI Device | Connection Profile |
| Channel Privilege Level Limit | IPMI Privilege level |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+
| Administrator | admin |
| Operator | operator |
| User | user |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+
[13.3] Are there any considerations for MD Array storage devices?
MD3000 devices do not send normal severity traps.
This will affect the ondemand feature of Dell health monitoring for this device.
As a result a state change in this device to a normal state will not be detected
until the next regularly scheduled poll cycle.
Alert Initiated Discovery will not work for the MD storage devices. MD
Arrays Traps are forwarded from the Server where Dell Power Vault Modular
Disk Storage Manager application is installed. And Host IP in the trap
is of that server instead of MD Storage Device. Alert Initiated discovery
is run on the Host IP which in this case is device which is managing
MD Storage device.
[13.4] Are there any considerations for Clusters or Chassis?
HA Clusters can only be discovered using SNMP. The discovery task which is
intended to discover HA Clusters must have SNMP enabled in its Connection
Profile and the associated credentials must be correct for the target
devices.
The IP address of each cluster member must be included in the list of
addresses to be discovered by the discovery task in order for the members to
be discovered.
When discovering HA Clusters the cluster name may replace the name of the
active cluster node. To avoid this, do not include the cluster IP address in
the discovery range.
If the cluster IP address is the only IP address in the discovery task that
is related to the HA Cluster, the currently active cluster node will be
discovered and its name will be the same as that of the cluster itself. This
will result in the cluster name appearing in several places under the "All
Devices" organizational view: 1) under "HA Clusters" as the HA Cluster, 2) in
the resource pane as the discovered system when the cluster's organizational
group is selected, and 3) in the resource pane as the discovered system when
the "Servers" organizational group is selected.
[13.5] What is the expected behavior for servers when multiple protocols (in band and
out of band) are used?
A server may be discovered with a connection profile that has multiple
protocols enabled. For example SNMP and IPMI. In this case, there is some
specific behavior that you should be aware of.
Discovery: If a server and its BMC or iDrac are discovered, either in the same discovery task
or different discovery tasks, only one device will be displayed in the
organizational view under the Servers node. This device will be
classified as a Dell Computer.
If a server and its DRAC are discovered, either in the same discovery
task or different discovery tasks, two devices will be displayed in the
organization view. The server will be displayed under the Servers node
and will be classified as a Dell Computer. The DRAC will be classified
as an Out-of-Band device and will be displayed under the Out of Band
Devices node.
Inventory: The inventory of a server that was discovered using a connection profile
with in-band (SNMP or WMI) and out-of-band (IPMI) will be done using the
in-band connection only. BMC and iDrac information will be collected using
in-band (SNMP). Inventory data will not be gathered using IPMI.
Health Monitoring: The health of a server that was discovered using a connection
profile with SNMP and IPMI will be reported using the OMSA & OMSS
health status. The IPMI health status will not be used.
[13.6] Are there any considerations for discovery of embedded ESX (ESXi)?
Please see the ESXi whitepaper in the media/download section of the
DMC Community Site for more details on this subject. The URL is:
http://en.community.dell.com/groups/dell_management_console/media/default.aspx
[13.7] Are there any considerations for discovery of classic ESX?
DMC will discover and classify ESX hosts and enumerate the guest VMs. To
do this you need to include the IP address of the ESX host in the discovery
range. Do not include the IP address of the guest VMs. Be sure that
OMSA is installed on the ESX host. SNMP must be properly configured on the
guest VMs. If this is done correctly, you should see the ESX host listed
under All Devices | Virtual Servers. And the guests will be associated and
classified as 'Virtual Machines' on the right side of the tree.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[14] OMSA Deployment
[14.1] What do I do once I deploy OMSA?
OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) is required on all PowerEdge Servers that
you want to manage. If you don't have OMSA on the box, the server will be
classified as a "Computer" and you need to have it classified as a
"Dell Computer" to fully manage it in DMC.
So once you deploy OMSA, you need to go back to the Network Discovery portal page
and re-run your discovery task. Now that OMSA is on the servers, the discovery
task will be able to properly re-classify them as "Dell Computers" and they will
be displayed in the "Servers" organizational group.
[14.2] How do I delete the existing Open Manage Server Administrator Packages?
Go to Manage->All resources and search for Dell OpenManage. This will list all the
existing Open Manage Server Administrator packages. You can then select individual
packages and right click on the selection for delete option. If the package has a
dependency new window will open up showing the dependency. You will have to delete
the dependency first before deleting the package. You will have to delete Software
Product, Package, Release and component displaying the same version.
[14.3] What can I target for OMSA Deployment?
OMSA Deploys can be targeted against any device classified as a "Computer" but
will only succeed for Dell servers.
[14.5] Why don’t I need credentials for OMSA deploy?
OMSA deployment uses Symantec Software Delivery Framework and Altiris Agent.
It uses the credentials supplied for installed Altiris Agent on the target
node. As a result no separate credentials are necessary.
[14.6] Why can’t I deploy OMSA immediately after deploying Altiris Agent?
Altiris Agent needs to communicate back to NS after it is installed. This
process can take a few hours depending the network load. Once the
communication is established, it can execute Software Delivery Tasks like
OMSA deploy. Please see kb.altiris.com #45718 and #1776. Also see item
16.8 in this FAQ.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[15] User Interface
[15.1] Why is it when I try to move a device to another Organization Group,
it automatically gets moved back to the original location?
This is by design. One of the fundamental rules of OV/OGs is that resources can
only appear in one OG beneath any given OV. Assigning a resource to a second OG
within an OV will always act as a *move* operation. The 'Servers' Group is defined
as a dynamic group that will automatically obtain its membership (as opposed to a
static group that can only change when users manually add/remove resources). Because
of this, resources that are manually moved out (or copied into a separate static
group) will automatically *move* back to the dynamic group once their departure
has been noticed. If you wish to mix dynamic and static groups in the one OV,
the resources that appear in the static OG should not form part of the dynamic
OGs definition or the dynamic OG will always win out. If you wish to logically
group the servers, create a new OV that is either fully dynamic or fully static
in nature.
[15.2] Where can I learn more about Organizational Groups and
Organizational Views?
See the following articles on kb.altiris.com:
47297, 46240, 44970, 47016
[15.3] Why do I get 'invalid xml' errors in my Internet Explorer browser when
I try to run DMC?
Be sure that 'enable native XMLHTTP' support is checked in your IE advanced
settings.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[16] Troubleshooting
[16.1] What sort of logs can I enable to help troubleshoot?
There are install logs, discovery logs, and "PPA" (protocol) logs that can be
enabled to help with debugging depending on your situation.
Install Logs:
Install logs are located under the %temp% directory. You can get there by
typing in %temp% in from Start | Run in... Windows. Look for the SIM Install
folder.
Discovery Logs:
It you are having trouble with discovering systems, you may want to enable
discovery logs.
Discovery logging is turned 'off' by default. To enable the logging from the
DMC console, select:
o Settings -> All Settings -> Discovery and Inventory -> Discovery Log Settings
o On the right pane, click "Change Settings" and check "Enable discovery logging" option.
o Additionally you can change the location where the log files will be stored.
Note: the Altiris Object Host service (atrshost) and the Altiris Service
(aexsvc) must be restarted for the settings to be applied.
Users can also enable discovery logging manually by modifying the registry keys
value.
The following registry keys are created at install time:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\DiscoveryTasks]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REG_SZ VALUE DESCRIPTION
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LogDebug 0 A value of "1" enables writing Altiris Discovery debugging
information to the debug log.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\DiscoveryTasks\Engine Log]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REG_SZ VALUE DESCRIPTION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LogWanted 0 A value of "1" enables writing Altiris Discovery
engine log to a file. It also enables DMCDiscovery
logging to the debug log. A value of "0" will disable
logging.
IncludePhase5 1 A value of "1" will include final discovery
processing logging to the file. A value of "0"
will skip this information.
LogLevel Debug "Debug" is the only value here. Any other value
will result in nothing being written to the file.
LogFilePath C:\\WINDOWS\\Temp\\discovery.log
Path and filename to store the
engine log. A new file will be created for each
discovery task run. The PATH must exist otherwise
the files will not be created.
LogThreadActivity 1 A value of "1" will display thread level activity
in the engine log. A value of "0" will not display
thread level activity in the file.
Note: the Altiris Object Host service (atrshost) and the Altiris Service (aexsvc)
must be restarted for the settings to be applied.
From the command line:
net stop aexsvc
net start aexsvc
net stop atrshost
net start atrshost
[16.2] Where can I find out more information on user priviledges?
For additional information on user privileges, refer to Altiris Knowledge
Base Article 45213 (kb.altiris.com).
[16.3] I changed my password on my DMC server and now I am having trouble. How do I
resolve this?
After installing the Dell Management Console, if you want to change the operating
system and Notification Server passwords, always change the Notification Server
password before changing the operating system password.
However, if the operating system password is changed before the Notification
Server password, use the following command to change the Notification Server password:
aexconfig /svcid user:<username (domain, machine\user)> password:<password>
The aexconfig command is available under the Altiris/Notification server/bin folder.
After intallation of Dell Management Console, if you change the system hostname
and try to launch Dell Management Console, a server exception is displayed.
For more information on troubleshooting this issue, see the section on Symantec
Management Server Error in the Online Help.
Please see kb.altiris.com #46542, #21849 for more information.
[16.4] Some of my servers are in a different domain and my Altiris agent is not
getting installed or registered back to DMC. What do I do to fix this?
Please see kb.altiris.com #41435.
[16.5] I'm having trouble pushing out the Altiris agent, any ideas?
Be sure you have access to the Admin$ share on the managed node (target).
The user specified should be a member of a group with local admin rights to the
machine they are deploying to. This could mean a domain administrator but could
also be any user account or group that has been added as a local admin.
Please see kb.altiris.com #45717, #45718, #1776.
[16.6] Why can't I run any tasks?
Do you have a security policy in place in Windows that disables the
Windows scheduling service from running? If so, that will keep some DMC tasks
from running and it will need to be enabled.
[16.7] Why did the Altiris agent not get properly installed on my DMC server?
During the DMC install, the Altiris agent is installed on the DMC server. This
agent is important to the correct operation of the product. You should see an
agent icon in your system tray. If the agent did not get installed, you may
need to check the SIM install logs under the %temp% directory. In the past,
we've seen that some IT environments disable the download of executable files.
As part of the install, the Altiris agent exe is 'downloaded' in order to install
on the DMC box. If this is blocked by the Windows security policies, the
agent won't be installed and the install will fail.
[16.8] Is there any way to speed up how the Altiris agent communicates back to
the DMC server after it is first installed?
Go to the Tasks section and create a new "Update Client Configuration" task.
This task tells the Altiris agent to update the client configuration from the
server. By default, this is typically done every hour.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[17] UI Performance
[17.1] Why do the pages of the user interface seem slow the first time they are loaded?
This is a .Net application. The first time the page is hit, it is compiled on the server.
Subsequent loads of the page are generally faster.
[17.2] What else can be done to speed up the performance of the console?
There are _two_ install readiness checks that should be reviewed during installation time.
The first one is for .Net publisher certificate checking. And the second one
is for tuning the amount of memory in SQL server. Both of these settings have
been observed to make meaningful improvements in UI performance. Refer to the KB number
cited in the install to learn more about this. To see if you have properly
configured the publisher check setting, look at your machine.config file
under your v2.xxx .Net directory. Look for the 'runtime' tag. It should contain
the following element:
<configuration>
...
<runtime>
<generatePublisherEvidence enabled="false"/>
</runtime>
...
</configuration>
Here is what the pre-req check says on this issue:
About Microsoft Authenticode signature
Notification Server uses many Microsoft .NET Framework managed applications.
A Microsoft .NET Framework managed application that has a Microsoft
Authenticode signature takes longer than normal to start. Because this
delay occurs with web applications, it causes delays in console page loads.
CAUSE:
This problem occurs because the signature is always verified when the
.NET Framework managed assembly has an Authenticode signature. The
problem may also occur because of other settings such as the network
configuration.
RESOLUTION:
A configuration setting can be used to disable signature verification in
a .NET Framework managed application. You use this configuration setting
in the system machine.config configuration file. The machine.config file is
located in the .NET Framework %runtime install path%\Config directory.
This code disables signature verification and the .NET Framework managed
applications start faster. Note: When you disable signature verification,
the .NET Framework managed applications no longer receive publisher evidence.
This behavior affects the .NET Framework managed application only when
you use publisher evidence or when you use the PublisherIdentityPermission
REFERENCES:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936707
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941990.
For more information, search support.microsoft.com for "CRL".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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