You can use Database Doctor for the following clean-up tasks.
Delete attributes
Over time, the inventory database can become populated with many attributes that are obsolete or irrelevant. You can use Database Doctor to delete these unwanted attributes.
1. On the toolbar, click the Delete attributes icon.
2. Browse to the database attribute you want to delete.
3. To delete one or more attributes, select the check box next to each attribute you want to delete.
4. To delete an attribute and all of its child attributes, select the check box next to the parent.
5. To delete all non-default attributes, leaving only those attributes that were initially installed with Management Suite, click the Select non-defaults button.
6. Click the Next button. The dialog displays a list of all attributes you selected for deletion. To see if any devices currently have one of these attributes associated with them, select an attribute in the list and click the Computers button.
7. To save the configuration and run it later, click the Finish button. The configuration will appear in the Database Doctor tasks view, where you can name and run it at a later time. Otherwise, click the Delete now button to remove the attributes from the database immediately.
Delete duplicate computers
In a large company, devices are often moved from location to location or from user to user, possibly creating duplicate entries in the inventory database for the same device. This is especially true of re-imaged computers.
You can use Database Doctor to prevent this problem by specifying attributes that define what is unique about each device.
NOTE: We recommend that you use an attribute that is normally unique for all devices, such as Computer.Network.NIC Address.
When adding an attribute, you can choose to exclude certain values from the duplicate check. For example, there may be times when a device's Computer.Network.NIC Address may show up as 00000000. This is not a value you want compared to other devices' NIC addresses, so you can exclude that value. Any devices with a NIC address of 00000000 will not be treated as duplicates.
1. On the toolbar, click the Delete duplicate computers icon.
2. Click the Add button to open the attribute browser. Browse to the unique attribute that you want to use to identify duplicate devices.
3. If you want to exclude certain values from the duplicate check, select an attribute and click the Exclude button. For example, certain devices will return 00000000 as the NIC Address, so you may want to exclude that to prevent those devices from being deleted.
4. If other attributes are necessary to define uniqueness, repeat steps 2-3. When you have selected all attributes, click the Next button.
5. Select the attribute that will determine which devices to keep. By default, Last updated by inventory server is the attribute used. You can choose another attribute, but it must be a date attribute. Click the Next button to continue.
6. To save the device's information to a scan file before deleting, select Export computers, then enter the path or browse to the location where you want to save the scan file.
7. In the Attribute text box, use the default or enter a different attribute for naming the scan file.
8. To save the configuration and perform the deletion later, click the Finish button. The
configuration will appear in the Database Doctor tasks view, where you can name and run it at a later time.
9. To delete the duplicate devices now, select Perform delete duplicates now and click the Next button.
10. If you chose to delete immediately, a dialog appears with a list of devices to be deleted.
Database Doctor assumes that the device with the most recent attribute from step 5 is the correct device to keep. The list displays only the duplicates (those with an older date).
11. Select one or more devices in the list and click the Remove button to delete them.
12. Click the Finish button to save the configuration.
NOTE: You may want to schedule this configuration as a task to remove duplicate devices every day or on a periodic basis.
Delete old computers
In a large company, devices are often decommissioned and need to be removed from the inventory database. One way to do this is to remove device records that have not been scanned in a certain time period.
Database Doctor provides a convenient tool to clean up the inventory database while still saving the old device information. To use this tool, you must define what constitutes an old device by choosing the number of days since the device was last updated.
1. On the toolbar, click the Delete old computers icon.
2. Select the attribute to use to determine how to age out computers. By default, Last updated by inventory server is selected.
3. Choose the number of days since the device was last updated. Any devices not updated within that number of days will be included in the "old" list.
4. If you want to export the data from these devices to a scan file, select Export computers and then enter the path or browse to the location where you want to save the scan file.
5. In the Attribute text box, use the default or enter a different attribute for naming the scan file.
6. Click the Next button to continue.
7. To delete the device records now, highlight one or more devices in the list and click the Remove button; otherwise, you can perform the deletion later.
8. Click the Finish button to save the configuration. The configuration will appear in the Database Doctor tasks view, where you can name and run it at a later time.
NOTE: You may want to schedule this configuration as a task to remove old devices every day or on a periodic basis.
Delete users and reassign their objects
Once users are created inside Management Suite, they can create and own many different kinds of objects. If you want to delete a user, you must first find and remove all of the user's objects manually. Database Doctor provides a simple tool for removing and reassigning user objects.
1. On the toolbar, click the Delete user icon.
2. From the list, select the users you want to delete.
3. Select Delete the users. Also select Change ownership of objects to a different user if you want to reassign their objects. From the drop-down list, select the new user that will own the objects.
4. Click the OK button. A dialog will appear if any problems occur.