Understanding Client Automation › Agent

Agent

Agents exist on all managed end systems on all supported operating environments, where each of the agents performs individual tasks.

When an agent is registered to the ITCM Manager, the host UUID is the main attribute used to match the computer to any existing computer record in the MDB. If the host UUID does not have a match, the host name and the MAC addresses are used to match the computer.

If a match with the host name and MAC addresses is found, that means the computer's host UUID is changed. For example, OS re-installation results in the change of the respective computer’s host UUID. The computer record is then updated with the new host UUID and a "Reinstall After Crash" (RAC) Software Delivery job container is created.

If no match is found on the host name and the MAC addresses, a new computer is created and no "Reinstall After Crash" job container is created.

In some scenarios, a duplicate computer could get created instead of matching to an existing record. To address these scenarios, the matching algorithm on the host name and the MAC addresses is improved. Previously, only the primary MAC address is used to match against the existing MAC addresses. Now, the complete set of the regular MAC addresses from the computer is used in the matching. The regular MAC addresses exclude the transient MAC addresses, for example, from a VPN, which could lead to the false matches.

The table below summarizes the cases, where a new computer is created and where an existing one is matched to, when any one of the host UUID, the host name or the MAC addresses change.

Note: The hyphen (-) used in the table indicates that the system ignores the search for changes.

Note: In an environment with virtual machines, e.g. XenServer, Hyper-V, ESX, the Administrator must ensure that each virtual machine has a unique MAC address within the domain space.

Note: When a computer is pre-registered, the Administrator should ensure that a regular MAC address is entered.