SMSINST: How Status MIFs Work with the Systems Management Server Installer

MORE INFORMATION

Fields on the SMS Tab Under Status MIF Information

Install MIF Filename and UnInstall MIF Filename:
The install and uninstall file name should be <appname>.mif where <appname> is the name of your application.

Manufacturer:
This field contains the name of the company who developed the product being installed.

Product:
This field contains the name of the product being installed.

Version:
This field contains the version number of the product being installed. If you want to specify the language, you can include the %LANG% variable. For example: 1.00.0 %LANG%.

Serial Number:
This field contains the serial number of the product being installed.

Tracing a Success Status MIF

1. A success status .mif file is written to the Windows directory (%windir%).
2. PCM immediately moves the file to the Logon.srv\Despoolr.box directory, renames the file, and replaces the .mif extension with .pck.
3. PCM also writes a status in a .sni file to the Logon.srv\Despoolr.box directory. The following is from the Pcmwin.log file:

         [05/21/97 16:58:28] Package Command Manager ==> Reporting on
         completed package execution.
         [05/21/97 16:58:28] Package Command Manager ==> No error was detected
         while attempting to run the job.
         [05/21/97 16:58:28] Package Command Manager ==> Need to report with
         DMTF MIF: C:\WINNT\ins_note.mif
         [05/21/97 16:58:28] Package Command Manager ==> Writing status
         information to \\MANGO\SMS_SHR\despoolr.box

4. Maintenance Manager moves the two status files to the Site.srv\ Despoolr.box\Receive directory.
5. Despooler compares the two files, and because the status .mif file has a status of success, the .pck file is deleted. The following is from the Despool.log file:

         ~Waiting for ready instruction file....
         $$<SMS_DESPOOLER><Wed May 21 17:09:02 1997~><thread=DB>
         ~Found ready instruction sni00000.sni
         $$<SMS_DESPOOLER><Wed May 21 17:09:27 1997~><thread=DB>
         ~Executing instruction of type
         MICROSOFT|SMS|DOMAIN_COMMISSAR_WIREMOVE
         $$<SMS_DESPOOLER><Wed May 21 17:09:27 1997~><thread=DB>
         ~Despooler successfully executed one instruction.
         $$<SMS_DESPOOLER><Wed May 21 17:09:29 1997~><thread=DB>
         ~Memory usage: blocks=0 bytes=0
         $$<SMS_DESPOOLER><Wed May 21 17:09:29 1997~><thread=DB>

   NOTE: When the VALUE assigned to the Description attribute is set to NULL (see sample piece of MIF below), the despooler reports the following error:
   ~Despooler failed to execute the instruction, error code = cb
   If no other error message precedes this error message, the error code is nothing more than a warning.

         START ATTRIBUTE
            NAME = "Description"
            ID = 2
            ACCESS = READ-ONLY
            STORAGE = SPECIFIC
            TYPE = STRING(255)
            VALUE = ""          <-- NO assignment
         END ATTRIBUTE

6. Despooler renames the file with a .mif extension and moves it to the Dataload.box\Deltamif.col directory.
7. Dataloader writes the success status to the workstation job detail record. The following is from the Dataloadr.log file:

   
         Waiting for a MIF...
         $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Wed May 21 17:36:12 1997~><thread=127>
         Processing a machine...
         $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Wed May 21 17:36:12 1997~><thread=6F>
         CMachine::FindMachine - Searching for matching Identification group
         info
         $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Wed May 21 17:36:12 1997~><thread=6F>
         Updating group: MICROSOFT|IDENTIFICATION|1.0...
         $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Wed May 21 17:36:13 1997~><thread=6F>
         finished processing current machine.
         $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Wed May 21 17:36:13 1997~><thread=6F>
         ~No more job status MIFs to be processed, terminating thread
         $$<SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER><Wed May 21 17:36:13 1997~><thread=6F>

8. If refreshed, the Job Status Details window shows a status of Complete for that workstation.

Tracing a Failed Install MIF

1. A failure status .mif file is written to the Windows directory (%windir%), and the installation is paused.
2. As soon as the pause is released, PCM moves the file to the Logon.srv\Despoolr.box directory, renames the file, and replaces the .mif extension with .pck.
3. PCM also writes a status in a .sni file to the Logon.srv\Despoolr.box directory.
4. Maintenance Manager moves the two status files to the Site.srv \Despoolr.box\Receive directory.
5. Despooler compares the two files, and because the status .mif file has a status of failed, the .sni file is deleted.
6. Despooler renames the .pck file to *.emf and moves it to the Dataload.box\Deltamif.col directory, while dataloader writes the failed status to the workstation job detail record, where it will be interpreted as retrying by the system (retrying because the job may be run again, and may succeed).
7. Dataloader also creates an event 374 for the failure where the comment, if specified in the Job Properties, contains the description of the failure (if available).
8. Dataloader moves the .mif file to the Siterep.box directory, where Site Reporter deletes the file or forwards it to the parent site (if there is one).

You can run an ad hoc query on Systems Management Server events with jobid=xxxxx and eventid=374. The results of this query will list all workstations where the job failed for that jobid.

If logging is enabled for PCM, the description of the failure may be noted in the client's Ms\Sms\Pcmwin.log (or the log name specified) file.