M100768: ManageSoft Schedule for ManageSoft distribution servers

Introduction

By default, ManageSoft uses the Microsoft Task Scheduler on active distribution servers to invoke tasks required for healthy operation of those servers. This article describes how to use a ManageSoft schedule to manage scheduled tasks running on distribution servers. This provides benefits including central administration of scheduling parameters, and reducing reliance on MS Task where some customers have reported problems.

Attached to this article is a sample ManageSoft schedule which can be modified as appropriate and deployed to distribution servers to run these functions.

Implementation

The following steps can be performed to make effective use of this sample schedule:

1. Download and copy the attached Distribution Server Schedule.nds file into the following folder in your ManageSoft repository:
   \Repository\Schedules\Distribution Server Schedule\
2. Review the events in the schedule. By default it contains:
   • Run mgssysstat.exe - Generate ManageSoft system status information. 
     
     If you do not have any ManageSoft 7.8 or later distribution servers in your environment, this event may be deleted. If you have a mixture of pre-7.8 and 7.8 (or later) servers in your environment, the task can be safely retained in the schedule. When executed on a pre-7.8 server, it will silently do nothing.
   • Run ndrspawn.exe - Process ManageSoft distribution jobs
   • Run mgsres.exe - Process ManageSoft remote executions actions
   • Run ndupload.exe - Upload ManageSoft logs and inventories
   The schedule also includes the following standard ManageSoft events: Update Machine Policy, Generate Inventory, Update Failover Locations, Upload Client Files, Update User Policy, Generate Security Analysis and Apply Security Policy.
3. Customize the triggers on the various scheduled tasks in your ManageSoft adminstration console as appropriate to your environment. The default settings are configured to be the same as the standard tasks configured in the Microsoft Task Scheduler, and will be appropriate for most environments.
4. Distribute the schedule to relevant distribution locations.
5. Add the schedule to policy to target (only) managed distribution servers. Remember that only one machine schedule can be installed on a managed device and the schedule that is closest to the machine as targeted by OU will take precedence. Follow your normal processes and practices to deploy the schedule to an appropriate set of pilot computers before doing an enterprise-wide deployment.
6. Disable (or delete) the Microsoft scheduled tasks on the distribution servers. To automate this, you may be able to use schtasks. See the MS online help for further details on schtasks.

On the next policy update, the managed distribution servers will install the updated schedule.

NOTES:

• It is only feasible to use the ManageSoft native task scheduler to run scheduled tasks on distribution servers using local SYSTEM credentials. The ManageSoft native task scheduler cannot execute events that are part of a machine schedule using non-SYSTEM credentials.
• Since ManageSoft 7.5, distribution servers implicitly include managed device functionality, making it possible to use the ManageSoft native task scheduler (ndtask) as described above to run scheduled tasks. If you have earlier distribution server versions in use, ManageSoft for managed devices will need to be explicitly installed on the servers to be able to use the scheduling technique described in this article.