The Configuration Manager 2007 Documentation Script has been updated to version 1.24.

If you have any comments, questions or additions that you would like, please post those to the support forum

'History
'
'1.24 - Even more var declared and fix Boundary issues.
'1.23 - Set "Option Explicit OFF"
'1.22 - Don't remember and added bWMILocalGroups to vars list.
'1.21 - Fixed Boundaries and make this version work for ConfigMgr only now!
'1.20 - interim release.
'1.19 - more var issues. Fix issue with the alt username and password. (Doh!)
'1.18 - Increased MaxCharacters 500 to fix Microsoft Cursor Engine: Multiple-step operation generated errors. Check each status value. issue.
'1.17 - Made sure that all vars are declared, added ECStr Function, update some of the debug code
'1.16 - Fixed anther issue with username and password. Add more debug mode code
'1.15 - Fixed issue with username and password.
'1.14 - Re-released
'1.13 - Fixed typos Thanks to Jim Dempsey for finding them
'1.12 - Add lots of conversion details such as 1/0 to True/False etc.
'1.11 - Added site control file refresh
'1.10 - Fully Add  schedule token decode and update
'1.09 - Added bit shifting functions
'1.08 - Add Decodetext schedule Token
'1.07 - Add Decodetext Function
'1.06 - Add Boundary, Agent setting (HW, SW, etc.)
'1.05 - Add Help, Added Command line options
'1.04 - Changed Default Font size from 12 to 10
'1.03 - Removed SQL Query for Web report, Added ReportID
'1.02 - Fixed Basic site info

http://www.enhansoft.com/Pages/Downloads.aspx

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, January 19, 2010--- Enhansoft Inc., a leading developer of System Center Configuration Manager solutions, was awarded Microsoft Gold Certified Partner status on January 15^th 2010. Holding the Systems Management competencies confirms Enhansoft’s commitment to Microsoft customers and technologies. 

Microsoft Gold Certified Partners have access to exclusive resources and early product information. The program includes direct access to Microsoft staff, product support, new products and technologies, and planning tools and events on the latest Microsoft product developments and future direction.

 “Our new partnership provides us greater access to the Microsoft System Center team. Our dedication to providing the best solutions and support in the industry has paid off. ”

Garth Jones

Chief Architect

 

About Enhansoft Inc.

Enhansoft, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, specializes in providing software solutions and consulting services within the system management area focusing on Microsoft System Center products. Maximize the potential of your systems, the productivity of the company workforce and, best of all, the impact on the bottom line.

 

 

Our products have a worldwide reputation for extending and enhancing Microsoft technologies by leveraging Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr / SCCM) & Systems Management Server (SMS) technologies to extend their asset information and reporting capabilities.

 

Enhansoft professional services bring together a deep product knowledge of system management focused on Microsoft System Center products.

 

Our Clients Benefit From:

Our Focus

We specialize in the system management area, focusing on Microsoft System Center products with an emphasis on asset management.

 

Our Experience

The team at Enhansoft combines real-world system management experience with high-level programming expertise to design software that is easy to implement and has an immediate impact on workload and company bottom line.

 

Our professional services team helps customers realize value within their system management environment. Many of our consultants have more than 10 years of experience within system management area, are leaders in their respective IT communities and user groups, and have presented at such conferences as Microsoft Management Summit, Techdays, and EnergizeIT.

 

Our Expertise

Our products and services are designed for ConfigMgr experts by ConfigMgr experts.

 

From global corporations to institutes of higher learning and public school systems, to global government agencies, Enhansoft has the software and expertise to help any organization realize the long-term efficiencies and cost savings associated with asset management. Our headquarters are located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada with remotes offices in Chicago, Illinois. We leverage hands-on experience, as well as client feedback to continually refine our products. We also work with a network of partners — including software resellers and consulting firms — who recommend our products, service and expertise to their own clients.

 

http://Enhansoft.com/

The ConfigMgr Documentation script has been updated again.

One of the key items in this versions is updating the boundary list for ConfigMgr. This version has only be tested with ConfigMgr. So this might mean that boundaries will no longer be displayed if used on SMS server. With that in mind I have left the SMS 1.18 version on the Enhansoft site with the old boundary method enabled.

If you have any comments, questions or additions that you would like, please post those to the support forum

'History
'
'1.21 - Fixed Boundaries and make this version work for ConfigMgr only now!
'1.20 - interim release.
'1.19 - more var issues. Fix issue with the alt username and password. (Doh!)
'1.18 - Increased MaxCharacters 500 to fix Microsoft Cursor Engine: Multiple-step operation generated errors. Check each status value. issue.
'1.17 - Made sure that all vars are declared, added ECStr Function, update some of the debug code
'1.16 - Fixed anther issue with username and password. Add more debug mode code
'1.15 - Fixed issue with username and password.
'1.14 - Re-released
'1.13 - Fixed typos Thanks to Jim Dempsey for finding them
'1.12 - Add lots of conversion details such as 1/0 to True/False etc.
'1.11 - Added site control file refresh
'1.10 - Fully Add  schedule token decode and update
'1.09 - Added bit shifting functions
'1.08 - Add Decodetext schedule Token
'1.07 - Add Decodetext Function
'1.06 - Add Boundary, Agent setting (HW, SW, etc.)
'1.05 - Add Help, Added Command line options
'1.04 - Changed Default Font size from 12 to 10
'1.03 - Removed SQL Query for Web report, Added ReportID
'1.02 - Fixed Basic site info
'==========================================================

http://www.enhansoft.com/Pages/Downloads.aspx

On a regular base Enhansoft is asked how Monitor Information Reporting (MIR) compares to the community monitor scripts. So we thought that we would compare MIR to a few of the existing scripts. Throughout this white paper we will try to provide a fair comparison.

Download the Whitepaper below:

We are pleased to announce the beta of Monitor Information Reporting v3.

 

As a participant in this beta, you will receive a 4-month license for MIR v3 and will help shape the final release of MIR v3. To participate in this private beta, please contact support@enhansoft.com and we will send you a license key and link to the MIR v3 setup program.  

 

During the beta program Enhansoft will send out surveys to participants to help guide us with future releases of MIR v3. Support can be obtained by posting issues within support forum http://support.enhansoft.com/Forum/  or contacting support@enhansoft.com 

 

What is new in MIR v3:

·         Interface changes to provide a better listing of monitors

o   Minor changes to layout

o   Removed Default Monitor data

o   Filtered out truly duplicated monitors.

·         Option to scrub monitor data and allow for a fresh start

·         Capture native pixel format data

·         Capture monitor power option data

·         Update the active monitor status

·         Calculated serial numbers

·         Even more detailed logging.

 

Interface

Based on feedback we have simplified the interface.

 

Scrubbing monitor data

Removing old monitor data from a PC can be a tedious process as demonstrated by the blog poston how to manually clean up monitor data. MIR v3 allows you to remove this data either by using an option within the MIR GUI found under tools menu or by using a command line switch “/Scrub”.

 

 

 

It is important to note that a reboot is required to repopulate the monitor data, otherwise you will see the following message displayed. MIR v.3 will NOT force the reboot of a system once the scrub command has been executed.

 

 

Native pixel format

 

The Native Pixel format also called Preferred Timing Mode or default resolution has been added. This allows an Administrator to determine if a monitor is blurriness’s caused by incorrectly setting the native pixel format.  With most PCs now having liquid crystal display (LCD), most LCD flat panel monitor users do not realize that operating their monitor in a resolution other than the native resolution negatively impacts the performance of their flat panel monitor. Unlike cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, the liquid crystal display panel used in flat panel monitors has a fixed, predefined pixel format over a set area. A fixed pixel format means that if the native resolution of the LCD panel is 1,024 x 768, there are exactly 1,024 pixels in each horizontal line and 768 pixels in each vertical line or 786,432 total pixels. When a PC’s resolution is set to the native pixel format, this allows for a 1:1 ratio and yields the best results. When the non-native resolution such as the 800 x 600 is displayed on a 1024 x 768 native resolution monitor scaling occurs. Scaling adjusts the image to fill the entire monitor screen. This results in manipulation of pixels to fill the screen, but the manipulation may cause text and images to appear blurry.  There is no good way to show a non-native resolution on a fixed matrix display. 

 

 

Monitor Power option

 

 

 

What are the 4 monitor power management options and what do they mean?

The 4 options are: 

Mode	Power	Approximate Recovery Time
On	100%	0 Second
Standby	< 80%	1 Second
Suspend	< 30W	5 Seconds
Active Off	< 8 W	20 Seconds

 

From these options we can see that a significant power saving can be achieved just by ensuring that all monitors have suspend mode and are set up to use it. For more details please see the blog post entitled “Monitor Power Management Options”

 

 

Update the Active monitor status

Within the previous screenshot for the interface section you will notice within the Active Monitor section that the HP monitor is “Marked Active”, but if you look at the screenshot below you will see that the Samsung is “Active”. You might ask yourself why have we added this feature. The answer is simple: we have determine that there are cases when a monitor is “Marked Active” when in fact is it not active. Until now, there was no way to determine this if a monitor was truly active, let alone clean up this issue. MIR v3 solved this issue in two ways, First for Vista , Windows 7 and Windows 2008 we can determine the truly active monitors; those will be set as “Active”, and other monitors will marked appropriately. Secondly, we have provided mechanisms to scrub the existing monitor data, which allows for this data to be cleaned up and the correct data to be displayed. See the scrub section for more detail.

 

Active Monitor States:

Active – This monitor is truly active (Vista, Window 7, Windows 2008 only)

Marked Active – This monitor is marked as active but could be a false positive (Active state for Windows XP and Windows 2003)

Non-Active – this monitor is not active

 

 

 

Calculated serial numbers

Based on the standards for monitors, the maximum serial number length is 13 characters. However many monitor manufacturers have serial numbers greater than 13 characters.  This leaves the question: how can I determine what is the right serial number for a given monitor?

 

Through a number of processes we have been able to expand the functionally of MIR to help determine the correct serial number and in some cases even provide almost all of the serial number for some manufacturers. The following screenshots illustrate this.

 

 

Notice the following for each screenshot:

 

HWP2601	This HP model serial number has been confirmed to be correct as displayed.
ACRAD92	This Acer model, we can expand the serial number to included all but the first 2 characters. (we believe that they are always “ET” but have not added this into MIR yet pending further research.)
DEL3013	This Dell monitor we have displayed the serial number as it would look on the physical monitor itself, except we have replaced unknown charters with “x”
CPQ1349	This Compaq monitor is an example of a monitor that we have not confirmed what the physical serial number is and therefore we have placed the normal serial number within the Calculated field and marked it as Default

 

We will be expanding this feature to included more Calculated Serial numbers as we confirm details for each model. Please feel free to pass along any details to help expand this feature. We require a copy of the EDID for the monitor and physical serial number as displayed on the monitor.

 

System Management Server 2003

MIR v3 is fully backwards compatible with SMS 2003, however the setup program is designed only for ConfigMgr, therefore will not install correctly on SMS 2003. If you require manual installation instructions, please review the MIR v2 documentation as it still applies. If you need additional assistance please contact support.

 

Troubleshooting:

To aid in troubleshooting, please provide us  with the following details:

 

MIR

·         A description of the issue that is occurring

·         Export of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\DISPLAY

·         MIR.log, generally found with the ConfigMgr client logs.

·         Physical serial number of monitor as displayed (optional but recommend)

 

MIR Setup

·         A description of the issue that is occurring

·         MIR_setup.log, generally found with the ConfigMgr client logs; in some cases it will be within the %temp% directory

·         A description  of your environment: please include Windows version(2003/2008/2008 R2) (x86/x64), ConfigMgr version, SQL version (2005 / 2008) and location (Local to site server or remote)

Why does Monitor Information Reporting (MIR) v2 and below display more active monitors than the PC truly has?

This is what is called a false positive. There are many reasons why this occurs. The two most popular reason are when the OS has crashed and a new monitor replaces the original monitor or when the PC is imaged the active monitor flag does not always get cleared. 

How can I resolve this issue?

In MIR v3, a new feature has been added to help fix this issue. Launch MIR as an Administrator on the local PC, from the File menu and select Scrub, once the data has been scrubbed, reboot the PC to allow for the monitor data to be recreated. There is also a /Scrub command line switch that can be used by ConfigMgr to delete the display data. 

I don’t have MIR v3, how can I scrub the data from my PC?

For manual instruction on how to clean up monitor data, please see How to manually clean out the monitor data 

 

What are the 4 monitor power management options and what do they mean?

The 4 options are: 

Mode	Power	Approximate Recovery Time
On	100%	0 Second
Standby	< 80%	1 Second
Suspend	< 30W	5 Seconds
Active Off	< 8 W	20 Seconds

Why do I care about monitor power consumption?

There are many reasons why, but with all the discussion about “Green IT” let’s not forget that a PC is made up of two major parts:  CPU & Monitor. If we only look at the power consumption of a PC we might not be getting all the power savings available to you. What happens in many case is that the PC is shut down or Wake-on-LAN product is use to turn off a CPU, however the monitor is not shut off. 

Using a Dell 1901FP as an example we can see that the ON mode uses maximum 75W and typically 55W vs in Active off mode it uses less than 3W. If we assume that a PC is turn off for 14 hours a day then we can calculate that power saving by having a monitor that can enter into Active Off mode.  

With average cost per KW cost 9.13¢ according to the Energy Information Administration.  

55W-3W=52W

52Watts*14 hours = 728W savings or ~6.6¢ per PC/Day or $24.26/PC/Year 

Or IBM E74 Monitor

75W-2W=73W

73W*14Hours= 1022Watt or ~1KW or ~9.3¢ per PC/Day or $34.05/PC/Year 

Now this does not sound like a lot of money to be saved but what these numbers don’t take into account are the AC cost nor do they take into account that businesses pay more for electricity compare to residential rates.  

Now take an originations with 5000 PCs, 10 000 or 100 000, how much will they save with Active Off mode using the Dell 1901FP as an example?

5000 PC                                $322.33/Day       $121 301.18/Year

10000 PC                              $644.66/Day       $242 602.36/Year

100000 PC                            $6446.60/Day     $2 426 023.60/Year 

Even farther saving can be achieved if the monitor uses any of the other modes during the day! Is $322.33/day good enough reason to care about monitor power consumption? 

Need more convincing? 

Quoting Energy Star’s web site http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=power_mgt.pr_power_management 

“Hundreds of leading organizations have activated system standby and hibernate settings. Read how GE, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, North Thurston Public Schools and others are saving as much as $75 per computer annually.” 

Use Energy Star calculate to help you determine the cost saves. Estimate your savings using our online savings calculator 

Which of my monitors support “Active Off” option?

Monitor Information Reporting (MIR) v3 has just added this feature to collect this data and return it to your System Center Configuration Manager 2007 database.  

For more information about monitor power management options see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_Display_Power_Management_Signaling or http://www.vesa.org/Standards/summary/2003_3b.htm  

What is a preferred monitor size?

Preferred monitor size is defined by the Monitor standards group (vesa) as the resolution as“The display manufacturer defines the “Preferred Timing Mode (PTM)” as the video timingmode that will produce the best quality image on the display’s viewing screen. The display manufacturerdefines the meaning of the words “best quality image”. For most flat panel displays (FPD), the preferredtiming mode will be the panel’s "native timing" based on its “native pixel format”.” 

Why should I use a monitor’s Preferred Timing Mode / Native Pixel Format?

Most LCD flat panel monitor users do not realize that operating their monitor in a resolution other than the native resolution negatively impacts the performance of their flat panel monitor. Unlike cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, the liquid crystal display (LCD) panel used in flat panel monitors has a fixed, predefined pixel format over a set area. A fixed pixel-format means that if the native resolution of the LCD panel is 1,024 x 768, there are exactly 1,024 pixels in each horizontal line and 768 pixels in each vertical line or 786,432 total pixels. When the PC’s resolution is set to the native pixel format, this allows for a 1:1 ratio and yield the best results. When the non-native resolution such as the 800 x 600 is displayed on a 1024 x 768 native resolution monitor scaling occurs. Scaling adjusted the image to fill the entire monitor screen. This results in manipulation of pixels to fill screen but, the manipulation may cause text and images to appear blurry.  There is no good way to show a non-native resolution on a fixed matrix display. 

How do I know what the native monitor size is for my monitor?

Monitor Information Reporting (MIR) v3 displays and collects this information. 

Let face it, most IT people are not finance savvy, however they unknowingly have to deal with finance issues on a day to day bases.

 

So to help out everyone lets discus Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

The TCO of a PC is not just the cost of the PC itself it is much more than that.

• Service Desk cost
• Infrastructure cost
• Application Testing cost
• Out of Warranty Support costs
• Etc. 

In a recent WIPRO study “Using Total Cost of Ownership to Determine Optimal PC Refresh Lifecycles” (available on the Intel web site), they listed various cost associated with TCO for a PCs.

What you might be asking yourself is why not keep the PCs until it breaks. Well this is when the more hidden cost come into play.

• Application testing
• Service desk cost
• Client performance costs
• Increase of operation cost vs newer PCs. 

How is TCO affected by application testing?

Application testing affects TCO by increasing the number of workstations needed for any application rollout. If you have a 5 year life cycle and assuming that you replace 1/5 of your workstation each year at a minimum you would have 5 different configureations but more likely you would have 10 (5 Desktops and 5 laptops). If you are a multinational company this number would increase even more with respect to different OS languages and regional procurements. By reducing the refresh cycle to ever three years, you reduce this number significantly. 

How is TCO affected by Service Desk Cost?

There are hundreds of way this is affects TCO but some of the more common ways are:

• Locating drivers when moving from one version of an OS to the next
• Increased conflict resolution between drivers
• Increase in image sizes due to the number of drivers that need to be supported
  • Increase in bandwidth used by image deployment
  • Backup cost for bigger images
• Increase in troubleshooting
• Once a PC is out of warranty, there could be costs with stocking parts such as hard drives, RAM, monitors, etc. 

What are some of the client performance costs?

This is a catch-all for anything that affects the client. Costs in this section range from

• Downtime due to hardware failure
• Cost of overtime to recover from data loss
• Increase in cost of out of band PC replacements
• Inability to run needed software 

What are some of the increase operating cost vs newer PCs?

For example take these two Intel processors E5410 vs L5410, There is a difference of 30W. If you assume that you have 10000 PCs that were replaced you would see a 30*10000 = 300 000W or 300 KW/H. At $0.10 KWH that is $30 an hour in saving between the two processors. If you assume 7.5 hours a day with 200 working days a year that equates to almost $50K  is savings. ($30*7.5*200 =$45 000). From this we can see that you can save money by picking the right processor.  

We all know that if you that a PC and lock it away in a closed room that the room will get hot. Now take several hundred or thousands of PCs in a building, this will increase the air conditioning (AC) cost. Yes it will decrease the heating cost but you will find that AC cost will out weight your heating savings. As you look at processor specs you will see that some run hotter than others, there is a trade-off. This is where upgrading to a newer CPU might give you more saving with respect to AC / power consumed, etc. with the same performance. Don’t forget about the capital  & operating cost of the AC units and UPSs that you might need to run this equipment.  

What this is ultimately meant to show is that there is a lot more to a PC’s cost than just the capital cost of the PC. We need to look at all the costs to determine what is right for our company. These are just example of some of the costs are involved in TCO for a PC. 

Attached is a simple spreadsheet that you can used to help determine what is the appropriate TCO and therefore PC replacement cycle for your company.

TCO.xlsx (11.63 kb)

When I look at my monitor’s serial number it is a 20 character serial number, but when I run MIR or other tools they display a 12-13 character serial number. Why is that? 

The answer to that is simple: VESA, the monitor standards organization, has defined “up to 13 alphanumeric characters of a serial number may be stored”. This is why that EDID Serial number is a maximum of 13 characters long.  

When I look at my monitor’s serial number it is a 20 character serial number, but when I run Monitor Information Reporting (MIR) or other tools they display a 12-13 character serial number. Why does it not display the last 13 characters of the serial number? 

This answer is not so simple. Although the standards say “up to 13 alphanumeric characters of a serial number may be stored”, they don’t define which 13 characters are stored. Therefore it is up to the manufacturer to select which part why want to encode within EDID. 

Follow up question: But how can I determine which monitor is the right monitor? Keep watching here for an announcement on how to better handle monitors and their serial numbers.