Computer Status unexpectedly changes to Retired

Products

• Asset Management Solution

Issue/Introduction

When reviewing a computer report or while editing a computer, it is noticed that certain computers have had their Status unexpectedly changed to Retired.

Cause

Various

Resolution

There are several ways a computer's Status can change to Retired, which may seem unexpected or automatic to the user. These include:

Cause: Purging Maintenance set unresponsive computers to Retired.
Solution: Purging Maintenance is the only out of box process that can set a computer's Status to Retired, if so configured to do so (which, out of the box, it is not). This task is normally the cause of unexpected Status changes to Retired. Purging Maintenance can retire or even delete computers when they don't check in after a set amount of time. And if they are checking in, but no data is received, this can still result in the computer's being processed and retired. Check Settings > Notification Server > Purging Maintenance, and then click on Purging Maintenance. If this is configured to retire computers, disable that function temporarily to verify if this was the cause. The Symantec Management Platform server logs can also be checked to see when this was ran and compare the date and time with when the computer's Status changed to Retired to cross-reference that this is or is not the cause.

Cause: A user manually changed the Status to Retired.
Solution: The Symantec Administrator should check with their Asset users to verify who may be changing computer Status values. It may be that one or more users are doing this as part of their normal job but this was unexpected to the Symantec Administrator.
 
Cause: A Data Connector import rule or CMDB rule or Barcode sync changed the Status of computers to Retired.
Solution: These are harder to track down as they could include a lot of areas to check over. For Data Connector import rules and CMDB rules, verify if any are changing the Status by reviewing all rules found at Settings > All Settings > Notification Server > Connector. For Barcode syncs, there is no direct way to check these except to have the Symantec Administrator check with their Barcode users to verify who may be changing computer Status values.

Cause: Replication changed the Status of computers to Retired.
Solution: If there is a hierarchy and replication is used, it's possible that computer Status values may be part of the replication. Check Settings > Notification Server > Hierarchy, and then click on to expand the folder Replication. If this is configured for replication and the Status is being replicated, this may result in unexpected changes. Refer to the following related articles for more information about how this may be changed:

Please see:

Resource Status is being overwritten on the parent server in Hierarchy or when Basic Inventory is received

'Retired' status is being changed automatically to 'Active' when basic inventory reports in

Cause: The affected computers were merged with other computers that had been retired.
Solution: If a computer merge occurred and the Status of the other computer was kept and it was Retired, then the affected computer retains this and it becomes retired. Check Manage > Jobs and Tasks, and then click on to expand the folders System Jobs and Tasks > Service and Asset Management > CMDB, and then click on Duplicate Computer Merge and then on Resource Merge Rule. If either are enabled, these could have been the cause. In SQL Server Management Studio, run the following SQL script to check if specific computers were merged:

USE Symantec_CMDB
SELECT _eventTime 'Merged Date', Resource1Name 'Merged To (Kept) Resource Name', Resource1Guid 'Merged To GUID', COALESCE(ib.Barcode, '') 'Barcode Kept',
COALESCE(isn.[Serial Number], '') 'CMDB Serial  Number Kept', COALESCE(ii.[System Number], '') 'CMDB System  Number Kept',
Resource2Name 'Merged (Removed) Resource Name', Resource2Guid 'Merged (Removed) Resource Guid'
FROM Evt_Resource_Merge erm
LEFT JOIN Inv_Barcode ib
ON ib._ResourceGuid = erm.Resource1Guid
LEFT JOIN Inv_Serial_Number isn
ON isn._ResourceGuid = erm.Resource1Guid
LEFT JOIN Inv_Identity ii
ON ii._ResourceGuid = erm.Resource1Guid
ORDER BY 1 DESC

Additional Troubleshooting

• Check an affected computer's Resource Change History. In a computer report, right-click on the computer and choose CMDB Functions > Resource Change History. In the history list, look for entries that refer to the Asset's Status. These will include the user account or process that initiated the change, along with the date and time the change occurred on.
  
  
• In SQL, search the Evt_NS_Item_Management table for Status changes. This table's data may not be very clear on what happened, but it can at least show changes that occurred that can possibly be later tracked down. In SQL Server Management Studio, run the following SQL script to check activities for a specific computer:
  
  USE Symantec_CMDB
SELECT *
FROM Evt_NS_Item_Management
WHERE ItemName = '<computer name>' -- Change "<computer name>" to the name of the computer to check.
ORDER BY _eventTime DESC
   
• Also in SQL, search the ResourceAssociationHistoryDelta table for Status changes. For example:
  
  USE Symantec_CMDB
SELECT DISTINCT COALESCE(vcc.Name, '(Computer was Deleted or Merged)') 'Computer', rahd.ParentResourceGuid 'GUID', rahd.CreatedDate 'Changed On', vfas.Name 'Changed To'
FROM ResourceAssociationHistoryDelta rahd
LEFT JOIN vCMDBComputer vcc
ON vcc.Guid = rahd.ParentResourceGuid
JOIN vFixedAssetStatus vfas
ON vfas._ResourceGuid = rahd.ChildResourceGuid
WHERE ResourceAssociationTypeGuid = '3028166F-C0D6-41D8-9CB7-F64852E0FD01'
ORDER BY 3 DESC 

Related Articles

Computer Status unexpectedly changes to Active

Understanding how a computer's Status works