Updating Core Settings in ITMS 8.5

Products

• IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

Prior to the release of ITMS 8.5, to change Core Settings for SMP (Symantec Management Platform) we had two options:

1. NS Configurator (nsconfigurator.exe under ...\Program Files\Altiris\Notifcation Server\Bin\Tools) tool to be executed on SMP Machine
2. Manually editing CoreSettings.config

Both approaches had their downsides:

1. NS Configurator requires direct access to SMP Machine
2. Both ways did not keep any “audit” for the change and it was quite often to see a situation when no one knew why and by whom the setting was changed

After ITMS 8.5 was released, NS Configurator doesn't provide the option to make modifications to the Core Settings as before:

Prior to ITMS 8.5, you were able to change the "Value" and "Save" the changes:

Post ITMS 8.5, NS Configurator doesn't provide that ability anymore (grayed out and missing buttons):

Environment

ITMS 8.5

Resolution

New functionality was implemented in ITMS 8.5 Console UI to make changes in the Core Settings. That makes the NS Configurator no longer the main tool to make modifications.

To change the Core Settings, open the Console and go to:
SMP Console>Settings>Notification Server>Core Settings

Core Settings Console

When clicking on the menu, we open the Core Settings content:

The tree allows navigating among different logical groups, defined in the same XML document (under ...\Program Files\Altiris\Notifcation Server\Bin\Tools\ConfigDocXML), which is used by the NS Configurator tool.

The grid at the right-side is the list of the settings under the currently selected node, including all nodes under it.

 

Core Settings Console: Active Settings node

The first root node in the tree is named “Active Settings” and unlike everything else, this node is about the content of the CoreSettings.config file. There are no nodes under it, as the configuration file does not have any hierarchy defined.

Settings under this node can be the same, as for other nodes – if they are defined in the main XML document by NS Configurator, or can be anything else, if settings are not described or added manually by the user.

Settings with the ‘yellow arrow’ on the icon are the ones, which found in CoreSettings.config, but not described, for example:

This particular setting is found in CoreSettings.config, but it was not part of NS Configuration definition.

Some settings have a ‘lock’ icon, means that these should not be modified from web UI, as it’s too dangerous to change them:

Change setting value

To change particular setting value, it is possible either:

• Click ‘edit’ button in toolbar -
• Double click on the setting in the list

The dialog will pop up and allow you to change the value for a setting and define a ‘comment’ for audit – why the value was changed. By default, the comment field will be a current user name.

Add new setting

To add a new setting click on the icon in the toolbar:

The dialog will appear:

Change Audit

All changes done from Core Settings Console UI will be audited and this audit is possible to reach by:

• Click on “Audit” button on the right side of the breadcrumb over the right pane:
  
  

• Navigate to audit page from main console menu -  “Settings” / “All Settings”:
  
  

The audit page will list the changes with setting name, time, the user who done it, and how value was changed – from/to along with provided comment.

Additional Information

"Replication Core Settings Guide" (KB 180775)

"Notification Server Core Settings Guide" (KB 180751)