Exclusions on Filters - Please go away!

[EugeneDisc]

Hey guys and girls,

Its been a while since i asked a question and thanks to those asking and even more important, answering the q's.

The issue i am having now is that when i create a filter, and i add exclusions of resources, ie. 2 machines excluded from all workstations, i cannot remove those exclusions after saving it.
I edit the filter, remove them, but as soon as i click OK, it remains as excluded.

Any ideas? Do you have the same problem?

E

[Migration User]

So, just to be sure, you are creating and then saving a custom filter, correct?

In that case, I will have to agree with you. If you save a custom filter, it can't really be modified, at least from what I've seen. You have to save the new filter under another name.

Ironically, if you have the filter applied to a series of tasks, and modify it there, you get a warning about how changing the filter will change it everywhere it is used. So, in that case, it appears to work.

(if that isn't an actual case of irony, please don't mark me thumbs down. )

[EugeneDisc]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for replying. Let me try and explain what i am doing and why it is frustrating:

We have certain groups for patching. ie. Week1 (Test Servers), Week2 (DR) and Week3 (All Servers)
These groups are patched accordingly, now software division comes to me and ask that i do not patch 3 of their servers in Week2 because they are busy with upgrades or whatever the case might be. I then edit my Week2 filter and exclude these 3 servers. Next week i need to patch again, but this time i can include those 3 machines, so i delete them from my exclusions, but they don't remove... 
This means every time i patch i need to create a new collection should i wish the delete previous exclusions.

E

[Migration User]

Its a better idea to change the Update Policies and include additional Filters.

[EugeneDisc]

Hi Martijn,

Thanks for the reply. Please explain what you mean by this.

E

[Migration User]

Instead of edditing the Filters all the time create for instance 2 Filters.

• Test Patch Rollout
• Corporate Patch Rollot

When you create your Update Policy from Patch Management you can link it to the first (Test Patch Rollout filter). After the testing period you can simply add the second filter to the Update Policy (Corporate Patch Rollout filter).
That way it is easier to maintain and also the posibility of a error is smaller.

[EugeneDisc]

Thats is what we did (Week1, Week2 and Week3)
What im asking is:  (In your example)
You need to exclude 2 or 3 machines from the Test or Corporate filter, only for a week or so. After that you try and delete you exclusions but cant.

E

[Migration User]

Is there any information posted to the Altiris Event Log when you save the filter?

[EugeneDisc]

I checked - theres nothing. The status in the console is Saved Successful. I think this might be a bug.
Don't you have the same problem?

E

[Migration User]

Hi EugeneFT,

How did you create the Filter?
Query Mode: None
Query Mode: Query Builder
Query Mode: Raw SQL

[EugeneDisc]

I imported a CSV file which contains my machines. and when needed, i exclude via "Exclusions - Resources excluded in this filter" and i select my machines here.

E

[Migration User]

Hi EugenFT,

I just created a Filter using the Query Builder and I have the exact samething. As soon as I add a resource to the exclusion I'm unable to remove it again.
Even If i delete the connection to the policy I'm unable to delete the exclusion.

By the way,

I just tested with an exclusion Filter and that works as expected. So you could create a Filter for the 2 machines you want to exclude and add or delete that from Exluded Filters.

[EugeneDisc]

Hi Martijn,

Thanks for testing and confirming this for me. I have logged a call with Symantec, will post the results to this thread.
The problem is that the 2 machines will not always be the same, i changes on a regular basis, so that means creating a filter every week before patching, not my idea of fun :)

Once again, thanks for all the efforts.

E

[EugeneDisc]

This is a known issue, please see Article ID: 50719 on kb.altiris.com

E