How to inventory a successful PDQ Deploy package
Steve K.
I have an autoit executable that overwrites an XML file being deployed via PDQ Deploy. The software in question will update the dates on the XML when it is opened, so I cannot effectively use the file scanner. Does PDQ Deploy inherently leave a marker stating that package XYZ was installed on this date that can be picked up by PDQ Inventory? Is this stored in the registry? A text file on the computer? Or do I have to create my own registry entry for each PDQ deployment? I want to use PDQ Inventory to build a dynamic deployment list of who has received the updated XML file.
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Since the file scanner doesn't actually report on file contents you'd probably need to filter based on the Modified Date. I have attached two attachments. One showing a custom Scan Profile which scans two scanners. The Computers Details and a Files scanner which scans for XML files in a certain directory. Scan your computers with this profile.
Create a collection which isolates computers with a file called Configuration.xml (my example). Change the modified date to an appropriate time. For instance if the last change to the xml files in your org was on Dec 26th then you can filter on files modified after Jan 3, 2014. The collection attachment would show computers that are updated. To show computers not updated you would create a collection but change the Modified filter to Before instead of After.
To specifically answer your question, no, there isn't a value in the Inventory db which tracks when packages were deployed. That only exists in the Deploy DB which can't be referenced when creating a collection.
I'm tracking what you are getting at here. However I think maybe I did not accurately describe the situation.
Avaya One-X modifies the Settings.xml file located in each user's personal directory when the user opens the application. This is due to the user adding their extension and password to the program when they launch it. I have well over 300 users at several different locations that may be online/offline at the time of distribution.
Considering that each user has their own personal copy of that file and that it can change dates at any time they modify it within the application, I do not believe that Modified Date or Created Date will suffice for basing the inventory on.
To solve my issue, I created a HKLM key that writes the PDQ Deploy package name, version, and date installed on each system deployed to. I think that will help going forward with other inventory issues as well as far as reporting when XYZ was installed on system ABC123. That functionality built-in would be a nice future addition.