How to target a deployment using Active Directory without Asset Integration
We are not tracking our inventory through KACE, but rather have just been deploying software to all machines that connect to KACE. Because we haven't been updating our assets through KACE it makes it tough to deploy to certain departments or Cost Centers since we do not have that built. I was wondering if there was another way to associate users with inventory without having to manually go in and update each individual machine.
Answers (1)
I'm currently not using the Assets module either - it's not really necessary for what you want to do. The approach I'm taking is a mix of tagging computer accounts in ADUC and pulling them into the K1000 via LDAP labels for some things (i.e. location, department, machine classification, machine patch groups), using smart labels for others (software versions) and regular labels for the rest (pretty much everything else). I'm using every part of the K1000 (Inventory, Patching, Scripting, Managed Installs, Custom Software Inventory, Service Desk, Reporting, etc) and haven't really found a business case for the Assets yet (something I'll probably look into at a later date, when there's a call for it).
That being said, if you want to take a look at using LDAP labels to tie into ADUC computers, here's a guide I wrote on the process (which got mangled by a recent site update, but should still be largely usable - I'll redo it as a blog in the future as I have time):
http://www.itninja.com/question/ldap-patching-sql-reports-using-all-three-for-efficient-managed-patching-and-other-cool-tric
This mainly covers patching, but it will take you through the steps necessary to get LDAP labels working. Personally, for Managed Installs, I use a mix of smart labels (to find outdated app versions, for example) and manual labels (built using the results from the smart labels so I can avoid deploy to some sensitive machines). Here's a couple of posts on that subject that may help:
http://www.itninja.com/blog/view/using-regex-in-smart-labels-to-find-lower-versioned-software-w-java-example
http://www.itninja.com/question/does-k1000-allow-older-versions-of-software-to-deploy-over-later-installed-versions
Hope that helps!
John
