SDM Tips - The Loose Thread, Thread.

[Kyle_R]

[size=7]SDM Tips - The Loose Thread, Thread.[size]

Hello Everyone,

[size=5]This is a thread for all of those "little" pieces of information that we (administrators, users, support etc) tend to accumulate, but which are not big enough to turn into Support issues, write a knowledge document on or otherwise share.[size]

Please post them here!

If it was useful to you, it may help someone (maybe even months or years from now) to have access to it.
It does not matter if it is a one line fragment, an otherwise forgettable variable, or not a full write up - that is the whole point of this thread!

[size=6]Criteria[size]

* Must contain a "whole piece" of information. That is a "question and answer," or a statement.
- That is, "No questions." Please post those to a new thread.
* Be short and to the point.
- No long posts. Please post those to a new thread if it is more akin to a TEC document.
* Follow the spirit of the Posting Suggestions.
- That is, clear sentences. Include version or any other base information that is necessar - but no more.

[size=6]Possible Content[size]
* "This message 'ABC' may really mean . . . "
* "Watch out for 'ABC' when doing process 'XYZ!' "
* "Variable 'ABC' is used for . . . "
* "Watch out for this 'gotcha' . . . "
* "This trouble-shooting <technique/log> revealed root cause of . . . "
* "Long running problem of 'ABC was resolved by . . . "

Please post away. I'll put a few examples through myself to get things started.

Remember, these do posts are for general sharing with the community.
They do not need to be:

* Earth shattering unknown information - it may be quite commonly known.
* Really important information - trivial tips are fine.
* General information - highly specific is okay.
* Formatted to TEC document standards - sharing is more important than formatting.
* Correct in all cases - correct for one case is a start that can be expanded on.

[size=6]How to Respond[size]
Following these points will make the "Tree View" at the top of each thread much easier to read.
* Please update the "Subject" of each post that you add to reflect content.
* Please reply to the FIRST thread when making a NEW post (or do a Quick Post).
* If making a small response to an existing post, please "Reply" to that post.
* Do NOT start a new tip by replying to a completely different tip.


I'll be popping some items to get things started.

But with that, I'll open it to you.

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Kyle_R]

When manually modifying the NX.env file, don't forget:

* Also to populate the change to the pdmconf/NX.env_nt.tpl file. (If not, the next pdm_configure will revert the change.)
* To confirm population to all secondary servers. (Sometimes it doesn't happen.)
* Don't do it if the option can be modified through Options Manager - take the interface route where possible. (Sometimes the interface/database entries can be forced out of alignment with the files.)

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Tammy Zadell]

I just checked my tpl file, and it does not appear to have any of the changes that were made to our nx.env files. And we have done the pdm_configure here, to redirect the SDM application to a different database location. I wonder why our nx.env ffiles were not reverted back to the contents of the tpl file (?).

[Jon_Israel]

Hi Tzadell, normally, what happens is that when you run pdm_configure, it will read from the template file and write to the nx.env. If you made changes in the nx.env, but not in the template, it would be normal that those changes would be reverted or disappear when pdm_configure was run. If those changes were made to the template, then they should hold in the nx.env. Additionally if you have values in the nx.env that are not existing in the template, those will be left alone upon pdm_configure.

However, it looks from your post that you are saying you made manual changes to the nx.env file, but did NOT make those same changes to the template, however when you ran pdm_configure, your nx.env held the custom values anyway? If so, Can you verify if those values that you were expecting to be reverted, are existing in the template file?

Thanks, Jon Israel
[color=#f00101]ADMIN:[color] Kyle_R. Removing email chain for brevity.

[Kyle_R]

tzadell wrote:

I just checked my tpl file, and it does not appear to have any of the changes that were made to our nx.env files. And we have done the pdm_configure here, to redirect the SDM application to a different database location. I wonder why our nx.env ffiles were not reverted back to the contents of the tpl file (?).

Hello tzadell,

Great clarification point.
I hope that I haven't muddied the waters too much with this post. I perhaps should have stressed more strongly that manually updating the NX.env file is an "unusual condition" and that there will always be discretion involved.

In short, see Jon's post.

The longer answer is that if you compare the NX.env and the NX.env_nt.tpl files you'll see that many of the .tpl files do not have values. Instead they contain a "replace" string. One of these is the database hostname (and all related database and hostname fields essentially).

This is the typical situation:

In NX.env:
@NX_DB_NODE=KYLE_R_SERV1

NX.env_nt.tpl:
@NX_DB_NODE=NX_DB_NODE_REPLACE

So when I am talking about populating values back from the NX.env to the .tpl, I am referring to those that don't have replace strings but have values. Or to new lines that you add to NX.env.
Commonsense, as always.

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Anon Anon]

"SQL ARITHABORT ERROR"

A user may see the below error when trying to save an Incident/Request/Change Order/Knowledge.
"INSERT failed because the following SET options have incorrect settings: 'ARITHABORT'. Verify that SET options are correct for use with indexed views and/or indexes on computed columns and/or query notifications and/or xml data type methods."

Explanation:
============
This error occurs if there are VIEW INDEXES created on any of the MDB Tables.

Steps to overcome this Error
========================

In order to identify if there are any "View Indexes" run the below SQL Query on the MDB Database

SELECT o.name as view_name, i.name as index_name FROM sysobjects o INNER JOIN sysindexes i ON o.id = i.id WHERE o.xtype = 'V'

This SQL Query will return the View_Name and the Index_Name. Ideally you should delete these indexes. Confirm with the user's SQL DBA before deleting this.

You can either DROP or DISABLE this index on the view by running:
DROP INDEX Test.PK_Doc_ID

For Additional Reading: Refer Microsoft KB Article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305333

[Kyle_R]

nasmo021.1 wrote:

"SQL ARITHABORT ERROR" . . .

Great tip. Thanks for documenting this in detail, Nas!

If anyone encounters this error, please post a response to this post.

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Kyle_R]

A Service Desk Manager process will attempt to restart ten (10) times if it stops running, before stopping for good with an error in the stdllogs.

This count occurs over a 30 minute period, and is then reset.

Code fragment:
------
if ( !is_restartable() ) {
log_nx (stdlog, LOGGER_NX::ERROR,
"Max restarts attempted for " << tag
<< " You may reset the count by running pdm_d_refresh from the command line.");

RESTART_OVER_TIME = 1800, // 30 minutes
------

Naturally, the cause of the process dying if it reaches this trigger should be investigated.

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Kyle_R]

Running Archive and Purge Rules from Command Line

To start the rule run:
bop_cmd -f arcpur.frg "start_arcpur('RULENAME',3)"

To stop the rule, run:
bop_cmd -f arcpur.frg "stop_arcpur('RULENAME')"

Thanks, Kyle_R.

PS Three examples to start this thread off . . . what can you share?

[Zhijun He]

After you restart ServiceDesk service, it still needs some time to be ready.
If you login immediately, you will get an error saying web engine is not available. (something like that)
(And sometimes it causes a p1 issue :), if my memory is right )

So, how to know the ServiceDesk is ready?
You can monitor the CPU usage during restarting the SeviceDesk service, if it keeps busy, then it's not ready yet. When the CPU usage drop to a normal level, then you can login safely.

Cheers,
Mark

[Anon Anon]

How can one check the list of patches installed on a ServiceDesk server without navigating to history file?

1) Navigate to command prompt and run pdm_info
2) Check the latest stdlog and scroll down to check the output as written below:
02/25 06:02:42.42 my_server pdm_info 3580 SIGNIFICANT pdm_info.c 117 Applied patches found in: C:/PROGRA~1/CA/SERVIC~1/my_server.HIS :RO33644 RO27420 RO27429 RO27421 RO29142 RO29034 RO29199 RO29580
02/25 06:02:42.52 my_server pdm_info 3580 SIGNIFICANT pdm_info.c 227 Build: Version r12.5 ( anderson-603 2010-11-20T01:10:15 )

[Kyle_R]

mayur_surana wrote:

How can one check the list of patches installed on a ServiceDesk server without navigating to history file?

1) Navigate to command prompt and run pdm_info
2) Check the latest stdlog and scroll down to check the output as written below:
02/25 06:02:42.42 my_server pdm_info 3580 SIGNIFICANT pdm_info.c 117 Applied patches found in: C:/PROGRA~1/CA/SERVIC~1/my_server.HIS :RO33644 RO27420 RO27429 RO27421 RO29142 RO29034 RO29199 RO29580
02/25 06:02:42.52 my_server pdm_info 3580 SIGNIFICANT pdm_info.c 227 Build: Version r12.5 ( anderson-603 2010-11-20T01:10:15 )

Thanks mayur_surana,

Great tip! I didn't remember that - it falls into the category that I'm sure many of us have of "Useful things that we did know about Service Desk but which we've since forgotten."

I can also recommend creating this little batch file, and setting it in a location that your PATH points to:

---------- Start of batch file called "his.bat."
[font=Courier New]@echo off
REM display output
type *.his | find /i "ptf wizard"
REM output names of all .HIS found to his.txt.
dir *.his /b > his.txt
REM output contents of all .HIS found to the file his.txt
type *.his | find /i "ptf wizard" >> his.txt[font]---------- End of file.

This way I can type "his" at any command prompt and get the patch details extracted from the .his file. Very useful when you gather .his files from multiple machines and need to compare them!

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Gordon Preston]

Multiple contact records, both active and inactive, with the same userid can cause various problems within Service Desk.

These include errors related to DomSessions in the stdlogs:

register_session_user failed; cannot find session with id 1023758020 and userid ******
Unable to find DomSession 1023758020 used by user ****** invoked by web:local with reply method 3

Also errors at the front end - "Unable to obtain DomSession"

A quick and easy way to identify any duplicate userids in your ca_contact table is to run the following query against the mdb database:

SELECT userid, COUNT(userid) AS NumOccurrences
FROM ca_contact GROUP BY userid
HAVING ( COUNT(userid) > 1 )

Once you've identified the duplicate userids, you can update the contact information via the Service Desk UI and change the userid of the unused/inactive contact, maybe prefixing it with something like dup_, thus ensuring that all userids in the ca_contact table are unique.

[Kyle_R]

gordon_p wrote:

Multiple contact records, both active and inactive, with the same userid can cause various problems within Service Desk.
.
.
.
Once you've identified the duplicate userids, you can update the contact information via the Service Desk UI and change the userid of the unused/inactive contact, maybe prefixing it with something like dup_, thus ensuring that all userids in the ca_contact table are unique.

Thanks Gordon,

Great tip. Of course, duplicate userids should not happen, but they do.

In the interface, the "userid" field is called "User ID" in the current versions (handy, that) and "System Login" in the older ones.

After finding the duplicates and treating them, next step should be to see that they don't happen again.

Root cause may be:
* Data load. (Yes, you can knobble your system by data load.)
* Integration gone wrong.
* SDM product fault. Eg USRD 1513.
It should not be caused by:
* Data entry in the web interface
as on current versions, a check for uniqueness is done on the userid field, and this error posted on save if a duplicate is detected:
AHD05910: System Login entered needs to be unique
Problem USRD 1513 "DUPLICATE CONTACTS CREATED ON USING QUICK PROFILE WITH LDAP" has been addressed by USRD 12.5 JUMBO, USRD 12.6 CUM1.

If you can't locate the source of your duplicate userids and they continue generating, please log an issue with CAT Support for assistance.

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[STUART MATTHEWS]

gordon_p wrote:

Multiple contact records, both active and inactive, with the same userid can cause various problems within Service Desk.

These include errors related to DomSessions in the stdlogs:

register_session_user failed; cannot find session with id 1023758020 and userid ******
Unable to find DomSession 1023758020 used by user ****** invoked by web:local with reply method 3

Also errors at the front end - "Unable to obtain DomSession"

A quick and easy way to identify any duplicate userids in your ca_contact table is to run the following query against the mdb database:

SELECT userid, COUNT(userid) AS NumOccurrences
FROM ca_contact GROUP BY userid
HAVING ( COUNT(userid) > 1 )

Once you've identified the duplicate userids, you can update the contact information via the Service Desk UI and change the userid of the unused/inactive contact, maybe prefixing it with something like dup_, thus ensuring that all userids in the ca_contact table are unique.

Gordon,

Any ideas on a modified version of this command, to delete the duplicates via a SQL Query, rather than manually changing the contacts via Service Desk UI?

[Gordon Preston]

Hi Stuart,

I'm sure I could come up with a SQL statement to delete the duplicate rows but am reluctant to post it for a couple of reasons:

1. It's totally unsupported.
2. You really need to evaluate the duplicate entries in order to determine which one is not required. If you did want to delete them, which one(s) would you delete?

If you really must delete them, then why not set the duplicate userid to something like dup_<userid> via the SDM UI and then use pdm_extract/pdm_load to delete them:

- pdm_extract -f "select * from ca_contact where inactive = 1 and userid like 'dup%"' > dup_userid.dat
- pdm_load -r -f dup_userid.dat

One potential problem with I see this is that you leave dangling references in the usp_contact table and to any other objects that reference the deleted ca_contact row.

My preference is for them to be inactive and the userid made unique. This 'hides' the inactive users from the UI while maintaining the integrity of the database.

Regards
Gordon.

[Anon Anon]

We have had this problem for years (since r11.2 -> r12.5 upgrade) and sticking an underscore in front of the inactive userids has balanced the risk well for us. As duplicates come up we run the sql scipt to locate additional duplicates and fix them in one sitting. This coupled with process enhancements at the help desk (search active and inactive contacts before creating new) has possibly eliminated this problem.

-fred SDr12.6 CP2

[Zhijun He]

Clear your browser(particularly, the IE) cache after you update your ServiceDesk from old version.
Otherwise, you could encounter web page error such as 'Object expected'.

This should be one of the post-install steps (run command pdm_webcache -b to alert users to clear their browser cache), but it's very easy to be ignored, and result in a lot of error report from end user.

[System]

This is a great thread you started here Kyle and it's awesome everyone else jumping in! :grin:

I am going to make it "sticky" for a bit so others have a chance to see it and jump in to the discussion.

[Gordon Preston]

Are you planning an upgrade to your OS, Database, Web Browser or Service Desk version??

If you are, then be sure to check out the ]Service Desk Certification matrix for your Service Desk version to check that you have certified versions of all the related components.

Reviewing this document prior to your upgrade can save you time and unexpected support issues while undergoing the upgrade process.

[Anon Anon]

After implementing the SSL, export button does not work. To resolve this, take a backup and edit the NX.ENV file and then locate the following variable:

@NX_SERVLET_SERVER_URL=http://servicedeskhostname:8080

Change it to

@NX_SERVLET_SERVER_URL=https://servicedeskhostname:8443

NOTE: servicedeskhostname is the hostname of servicedesk server.

Save the file. Recycle services of CA Service Desk and export button should work now.

Thanks - Naveen

[Anon Anon]

Below are the list of operators used for Data Partition Constraints:

- String(text) Operators:
=, !=(not equal to)


- Arithmetic(number) Operators :
=, <>(not equal to), <, <=, >, >=


- Logical Operators :
AND, OR, NOT


- SQL Operators:
LIKE, IN (Like Enables use of the %wildcard in text searches and IN Enables sub select statements)

[Legacy User]

[size=7]SDM Tips - The Loose Thread, Thread.[size]

Hello Everyone,

[size=5]This is a thread for all of those "little" pieces of information that we (administrators, users, support etc) tend to accumulate, but which are not big enough to turn into Support issues, write a knowledge document on or otherwise share.[size]

Please post them here!

If it was useful to you, it may help someone (maybe even months or years from now) to have access to it.
It does not matter if it is a one line fragment, an otherwise forgettable variable, or not a full write up - that is the whole point of this thread!

[size=6]Criteria[size]

* Must contain a "whole piece" of information. That is a "question and answer," or a statement.
- That is, "No questions." Please post those to a new thread.
* Be short and to the point.
- No long posts. Please post those to a new thread if it is more akin to a TEC document.
* Follow the spirit of the Posting Suggestions.
- That is, clear sentences. Include version or any other base information that is necessar - but no more.

[size=6]Possible Content[size]
* "This message 'ABC' may really mean . . . "
* "Watch out for 'ABC' when doing process 'XYZ!' "
* "Variable 'ABC' is used for . . . "
* "Watch out for this 'gotcha' . . . "
* "This trouble-shooting <technique/log> revealed root cause of . . . "
* "Long running problem of 'ABC was resolved by . . . "

Please post away. I'll put a few examples through myself to get things started.

Remember, these do posts are for general sharing with the community.
They do not need to be:

* Earth shattering unknown information - it may be quite commonly known.
* Really important information - trivial tips are fine.
* General information - highly specific is okay.
* Formatted to TEC document standards - sharing is more important than formatting.
* Correct in all cases - correct for one case is a start that can be expanded on.

[size=6]How to Respond[size]
Following these points will make the "Tree View" at the top of each thread much easier to read.
* Please update the "Subject" of each post that you add to reflect content.
* Please reply to the FIRST thread when making a NEW post (or do a Quick Post).
* If making a small response to an existing post, please "Reply" to that post.
* Do NOT start a new tip by replying to a completely different tip.


I'll be popping some items to get things started.

But with that, I'll open it to you.

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Anon Anon]

To check the version of BOXI, navigate to $BOBJEDIR( Business Objects installation folder) and open the biek.properties file. You should see the below entries:

[BOXI]
Version=BusinessObjects Enterprise XI Release 3 SP3
Lang=EN
InstallDir=C:\Program Files\CA\SC\CommonReporting3
SampleReports=0
BOXITomcat=1
BOXIMysql=0
ASServer=tomcat55
[Patches]
Level=0
Patches=0

Here 'Version' and 'Patches' entries refers to the BOXI Version and its patch level.

[Paul Coccimiglio]

You can also locate the BOXI version via the Central Management Console (CMC) and navigating to SETTINGS->PRODUCT VERSION

Refer to the following link for BOXI build version numbers

http://www.forumtopics.com/busobj/viewtopic.php?p=693096

Paul Coccimiglio
Sr Support Engineer
[color=#f00101]ADMIN:[color] Kyle_R. Removing email chain.

[Anon Anon]

There are two services in SDM.

CA SDM Server - Controls the primary server.

CA SDM Remote Proctor - Controls a secondary server.

Follow the below sequence for smooth restart of SDM.

To start SDM: You must start Remote Proctor in all secondary servers before starting the CA SDM Server service on primary.

To stop SDM: Stop CA SDM Server service on primary first and make sure all daemons have been stopped, then stop CA SDM Remote Proctor service on the secondary.

[Kyle_R]

chive06 wrote:

There are two services in SDM.

CA SDM Server - Controls the primary server.

CA SDM Remote Proctor - Controls a secondary server.

Follow the below sequence for smooth restart of SDM.

To start SDM: You must start Remote Proctor in all secondary servers before starting the CA SDM Server service on primary.

To stop SDM: Stop CA SDM Server service on primary first and make sure all daemons have been stopped, then stop CA SDM Remote Proctor service on the secondary.

Thanks chive06,

An excellent point - this trips up sites to this day, because some things you can get away with skipping full procedure, and some you can't . . .

Jon has provided an expanded note in this week's Tuesday Tip: CA Tuesday Tip - Primary and Secondary's Oh My!

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Anon Anon]

I know this is the case for Service Desk Manager r12.6, but it ,may apply to other versions.
When the Knowledge Report Card is running, Managers can view knowledge documents statistics for people who report to them. For the subordinates to appear on the managers Knowledge Report Card, the supervisor field (under Organizational Info) must contain the managers name.

[Anon Anon]

[font=Verdana]The pdm_extract command extracts data from specified CA Service Desk database tables or the entire CA Service Desk database, and outputs in various formats.

To select the data for extraction, the data extractor uses an integral SQL subset with the following rules:

The following SQL functions are specifically supported:
- IS NULL, IS NOT NULL, LIKE
- SELECT statements and WHERE clauses

The following SQL functionality is not supported:
- Joins
- Embedded tabs and new-line characters
- Clauses other than SELECT, FROM, and WHERE
- Asterisks ( * ) in SELECT statements
- Nested SELECTs
- Aggregate functions

For Detailed Information Review Appendix C: Reference Commands in the Administration Guide

[font]

[Anon Anon]

In CA ServiceDesk Manager, the licensing daemon (license_nxd) always runs on the primary server and it cannot be added on any secondary server using pdm_edit.pl. Hence, the license file needs to be present only on the primary server and the secondary server does not require a license file.

[Zhijun He]

One day, your service cannot start up, and you find that the port of the service has been occupied by another process.
How do you find out who is running on your port?

1. Find out the pid of the process on the port
netstat -ano|findstr <port>

2. Get the commandline of that process
wmic process get processid,description,commandline|findstr <pid>

Cheers,
Mark

[Anon Anon]

We might need to increase tomcat memory from default to 1GB when there is huge load on the tomcat server.

Below are simple steps need to be followed.

1 - Go to Service Desk install directory $NX_ROOT

2 - Open NX.ENV file

3 - Search for variable named @NX_JAVA_OPTIONS

4 - Modify the value

From:

-Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=false -Xms64M -Xmx512M

To:

-Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=false -Xms64M -Xmx1024M

5 - Save NX.ENV file and recycle CA SDM service

[Kyle_R]

chive06 wrote:

We might need to increase tomcat memory from default to 1GB when there is huge load on the tomcat server.

Below are simple steps need to be followed.

Thanks chive06,

Increasing the resources available to Tomcat is a common tuning step required for all large sites. I would go so far as to recommend it for all sites, given the amount of memory available on modern servers, and the typical heavy use of this process.

Is there a TEC document on this somewhere? I seem to recall one.

When Tomcat tuning, remember that it may be important to identify what is using Tomcat. You may be able to do further setup changes.

For example, if a big Web Services site, then configuring dedicated servers to Web Services should free up the primary Tomcat.

There are typically two Tomcat processes running on a box - the main one, and the one for CMDB Visualizer. The latter seldom needs a lot of resources.


I really appreciate all of the tips that people have been contributing. Keep them coming.

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Anon Anon]

To view environment variables without opening NX.ENV file, run the below command:

nx_env

This would all the display all the NX (Service Desk specific) variables that are active on a Service Desk server.

Thanks - Naveen

[Kyle_R]

Hi All,

Feel free to share any[size=6] unusual locations of logs in SDM[size] as a reply to this post. That is, those outside of the SDM /logs folder.

Here's one.
* The EEM (EIAM) process writes logs to eiam_sdklog_[<<VARIABLE>>].log in the C:\ folder as a default location.

See TEC577385. How to set up EEM tracing with Service Desk for details on setting up EEM tracing, including setting a better log path location, maximum size of logs, number of logs to roll over and so on. Very useful for tracing EEM issues in conjuction with the SDM /log/stdlogs.

(There are small typos in the doc. with invalid "Â" and "â€" characters appearing in blank spots, but I've notified the document author to have these amended.)

Thanks, Kyle_R.

UPDATE: 2013-4-18. Note that many of these "unusual" items may be for supporting components to an SDM system. So not every site will have them.

[Anon Anon]

Below are the 3 different log files stored in the NX_ROOT\bin folder:

- coracleanup.log and coraout.log files which refers to the Coracleanup utility.

- oc-notification.log file refers to Spectrum SDM Integration.

Thanks,
Naveen

[Kyle_R]

Aim: To update the asset tag for Configuration items which have all key CORA fields fully populated.

Issue: Using GRLoader to update asset tags for these CI's results in the creation of duplicates, which is the correct behaviour, but not desirable if an update is required.

Solution:
1. Create XML for the CI's which specifies <asset_num update_if_null="YES"/> to clear the field
2. Create XML with <asset_num update_if_null="">B20002072</asset_num> to populate with correct value e.g. B20002072

Reference: CMDB 12.5 Technical Reference Guide - p159, Specify an Empty String.

Hello All,

I'm shamelessly providing near verbatim a solution received from a client in one of their issues.

Thank you for sharing this!

Kyle_R.

[Kyle_R]

[size=5]Starting Event timer from the start of day / How to delay the SLA start time beyond a straight delay.[size]

Hi All,

A question came in on how to delay the start of the SLAs to be a set time from the start of the day.

That is, not just "Delay 10 hours, taking account of workshift." But "Delay until when the next workshift regularly starts, then count your delay from there."

Example: Workshift is 9am - 5pm. You have an SLA event you wish to delay 10 hours from the start of the day.
So if the event occurs at 4pm in the afternoon, the default way that it would delay is 1 hour on the current day, suspend overnight, and then count 9 hours.
But we want it to suspend overnight as the next workshift hasn't started yet, and then count 10 hours from the start of the day.

The solution is to run two workshifts. An "out of hours" workshift and the main "in hours" workshift.

You attach one Event to your ticket which is going to fail the "out of hours" test and thus not fire at all. This workshift is set so it does NOT fire during the regular business day.

It fires OUTSIDE of the regular business day, and this Event attaches OTHER Events that have normal "in hours" workshift on them,. With whatever delay you wish - as per normal.

Clear as mud? I hope it helps someone when they search threads and find posts. Reply here if it does!

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Anon Anon]

To reset the count to 1 please follow the below steps:

[list=1]
[*]In the command prompt type the below query and take an extract of the Key_Control table:
pdm_extract Key_Control > ctl.txt
[*]Please take a backup of this file.
[*]Edit the file with a notepad.
[*]Change the values for key_value column to 1 for crkey.ctl
[*]Save the file.
[*]a. Stop Service Desk
b. Start Service Desk in DBADMIN mode (pdm_d_mgr -s DBADMIN)
c. pdm_userload -f ctl.txt
d. Stop Service Desk (pdm_halt)
[*]Restart Service Desk.
[list]
**Edited*

[Kyle_R]

Thanks Mayur for the tip on resetting sequence numbers within Service Desk Manager.

If you're interested in this topic, there are also two knowledge documents:
TEC574943. How are ticket numbers allocated? Why are there sometimes small gaps in the consecutive ticket numbers?

TEC477555. How do we add the prefix and reset the sequence numbers for the tickets?

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Anon Anon]

Thanks for letting us know the logic behind how the ticket number will genarate.

I would like to ask one question that how we can add prefix to the ticket number ?

Example

if it a change order number as "chg:xxxx"
if it a request/incident/problem as "cr:xxxx"

Thanks

Venkat

[Anon Anon]

Hi Venkat,

To add prefix, click on Administration tab. Expand ServiceDesk and click on sequence numbers. In the right pane, edit Request/Incident/Problem Num and add the prefix or suffix.

Thanks,
Naveen

[Anon Anon]

Good piece of information Naveen, thank you.

venkat

[Anon Anon]

Many sites require that a different date format be used by Service Desk ? how can we change the default time format ?


Solution :

There are two variables that needs to be changed in server level
1.
“DateFormat” variable in web.cfg file
2.
“NX_EXPANDER_FORMAT” variable in NX.env file


If your site have multiple web engines, then the” DateFormat” statement in each web.cfg file should be modified in addition to the web.cfg file.

“NX_EXPANDER_FORMAT” affects the outgoing Notifications time format.

It is highly recommended to change the both variables at the same time.


Note: Changes made to the web.cfg, NX.env must also be repeated in the web.cfg.tpl file in order to avoid being overwritten when a pdm_configure is run.


For more detailed information on this refer the Tech document: TEC489874


Thanks
Venkateswarlu.v

[Anon Anon]

Pdm_isql is utility wich help to check the ODBC connection between service Desk and CA BI


1.Login to Service desk primary server

2.Open the command prompt and navigate to $NX_ROOT/bin folder

3.run the command pdm_isql

it will display the isql prompt then type the command as follows

"connect userid*password@casd_SERVERNAME"


if incorrect login information is provided or if there is any problem with the ODBC driver it displays the error message.

From BOXI Server:

1.
On the CA Business Intelligence Server, Go to Start->All Programs->Business Objects XI Release 2->Designer
2.
Login to Designer as Administrator
3.
On the Menu bar, go to Tools->Connections
4. Select CA ServiceDesk connection and click on Test. It should display the message "The server is responding" .

Thanks
Venkat

[Lindsay_Estabrooks]

Mayur, please note that you have to stop Service Desk before the pdm_userload as Service Desk locks that table.

6a. Stop Service Desk
6b. Start Service Desk in DBADMIN mode (pdm_d_mgr -s DBADMIN)
6c. pdm_userload -f ctl.txt
6d. Stop Service Desk (pdm_halt)

[Anon Anon]

This tip is incomplete without the contents of ctl.txt, can you please post the contents of ctl.txt here?

[Anon Anon]

Hi Craig,

Below is the example of ctl.txt content:

TABLE Key_Control

id key_name key_value

{ "151" ,"crkey.ctl" ,"33" }

{ "154" ,"chgkey.ctl" ,"21" }

{ "155" ,"isskey.ctl" ,"7" }


Thanks,
Naveen

[Lindsay_Estabrooks]

In an earlier post the author showed how to create the ctl.txt file:

pdm_extract Key_Control > ctl.txt

[Kyle_R]

[color=#f00101]ADMIN:[color] Kyle_R. 2013-05-03 . Thread use tip, NOT an SDM tip.

Hello All,

You may experience a slow response time on some of the longer threads - sometimes leading to a warning box:
'Windows Internet Explorer. Stop running this script? <more text, buttons>'
Suggestions:
* Firefox and Chrome seem to perform better on the Message Board at present. You may wish to give a different browser a go.

* Use a "flat view" on this message thread (middle button of thread view). This presents the messages on this thread a page at time, and you choose default number to appear such as 5 or 10.
(I get reasonable speed on this thread with Firefox 20 and like the Combination View, as it groups the topics together for quick navigation. But flat view should resolve any speed issue.)

* Our Communities team is aware of the slowness on long threads, although typically this is a problem on much longer threads than this one - so we should be right for a while (Above IE problem notwithstanding).

* In the meantime, I'll monitor thread and break it out to a "Part 2" once we get above around 50 posts.

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Anon Anon]

When trying to run pdm_configure on a Windows 2008 OS with an administrator privileges, the configuration fails either during the launch of the Configuration window or in the Database Configuration screen of the Configuration window. To configure SDM successfully, click on Start, All Programs, CA, Service Desk Manager, then right-click Configure and select Run As Administrator.

Thanks,
Naveen

[Anon Anon]

When running setupmdb.bat which is the post installation step for R12.7 CUM1, we need to define the correct JRE_DIR path in the below command:

setupmdb -DBVENDOR=mssql -JRE_DIR=C:\PROGRA~1\CA\SC\JRE\1.6.0_30
-DBUSER=sa -DBPASSWORD=sa -DBDRIVER=Service_Desk
-WORKSPACE=Service_Desk

For 32-bit Windows OS, the short name for the Program Files folder is Progra~1. So, the JRE_DIR path is[b] C:\PROGRA~1\CA\SC\JRE\1.6.0_30.

However, for the 64-bit Windows OS, the short name for the 32-bit Program Files (x86) folder is Progra~2. So, the JRE_DIR path is C:\PROGRA~2\CA\SC\JRE\1.6.0_30.

Thanks,
Naveen

[sharath mateti]

naveen_desham wrote:

When running setupmdb.bat which is the post installation step for R12.7 CUM1, we need to define the correct JRE_DIR path in the below command:

setupmdb -DBVENDOR=mssql -JRE_DIR=C:\PROGRA~1\CA\SC\JRE\1.6.0_30
-DBUSER=sa -DBPASSWORD=sa -DBDRIVER=Service_Desk
-WORKSPACE=Service_Desk

For 32-bit Windows OS, the short name for the Program Files folder is Progra~1. So, the JRE_DIR path is[b] C:\PROGRA~1\CA\SC\JRE\1.6.0_30.

However, for the 64-bit Windows OS, the short name for the 32-bit Program Files (x86) folder is Progra~2. So, the JRE_DIR path is C:\PROGRA~2\CA\SC\JRE\1.6.0_30.

Thanks,
Naveen

Hi!

Even if we have the SQL admin rights, we will not be able to run setupmdb.bat and it will be some challange always to engage DBA to get it executed during migration. However, it runs if we create sa_temp having similar rights then its runs.

It seems look for SA% account instead of looking at the admin rights only...

[Kyle_R]

Pdm_deref is a useful way of mapping data from another system, so that it is suitable for loading into Service Desk Manager.

The pdm_deref command may not like some characters within data files, such as an apostophe in a name like "O'Brian."

If used, the pdm_deref tool could throw an error to the screen when run: Invalid character encountered in input.

[font=Courier New]05/23 14:45:28.68 MY_SDM_SERVER deref_drv 5312 FATAL tokfile.c 537 Invalid character encountered in input[font]

[size=4]EXAMPLE[size]
Data file name: ca_contact.dat
(This is an extract from a much larger file.)
----------
TABLE ca_contact
alternate_identifier first_name last_name email_address inactive userid

{"u’llynd", "U’llynda", "Da Vinchi", "[e-mail]", "0", "u’llynd"}
----------

ca_contact.spec
----------
Deref
{
input=alternate_identifier
output=id
rule="SELECT id FROM ca_contact WHERE userid=?"
}
----------

run.bat
----------
pdm_deref -s "ca_contact.spec" < "ca_contact.dat" > "ca_contact_deref.dat"
----------

If this is run as is with the run.bat, then the above error was thrown.

This is because the apostrophe was not handled correctly.

The correct response is to use the additional command pdm_uconv first:

pdm_uconv -t utf-8 inputfile.txt > outputfile.txt

This won't make any obvious changes if you view through Notepad or Wordpad, but changes the encoding of the file.
(Further details are in the product PDF documentation.)

You may then run pdm_deref on the outputfile.txt and it should run. Make a copy of the run.bat in the above case and replace "ca_contact.dat" with the new "outputfile.txt" name.

There is lots of information on the pdm_deref command available in the documentation, but as I didn't find an explanation of the above error and it has been posted through to Support a few times, I thought I'd post it here.

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Kyle_R]

Hi All,

A clarification that SQL Express is not a certified database for any current version of Service Desk Manager.

It does look like it works. However, there are limits to this product, such as only having a 10Gb size which is easy to bump into if you don't archive out the not_log and session_log (Which everyone is doing, right?).
It may also not have features like dynamic reindexing, which SQL Enterprise Edition has but SQL Standard Edition doesn't.

In short - not certified.

Thanks, Kyle_R.

[Shawn Walsh]

1-
Download cazipxp.exe from support.ca.com
2-
Place it on the C:\ drive on your desktop
3-
Create a “uncazip.bat” batch file under the C:\ drive with the following contents:
REM Procedure to use cazipxp -u in a batch file
REM to unzip.caz files with a double click.
REM This batch file will create a subdirectory,
REM and move the file to that folder and unzip
REM the file there.
@echo on

Set filename=%1

For %%A in ("%filename%") do (
Set Folder=%%~dpA
Set Name="%%~nxA
echo %Name%

)

echo.Folder is: %Folder%

echo.Name is: %Name%

mkdir %Name%_DIR

move %Name% %Name%_DIR

CD %Name%_DIR

c:\cazipxp -u %Name%

4-
Double Click a .CAZ file and Windows will prompt you to select the program to open the file with.
Browse to the batch file you created.

Now when double clicking any .CAZ file, it will extract automagically.