Adaptiva

Client Health Adaptiva Client Health User Guide

Revision 3.1

November 7, 2013
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4
Features ........................................................................................................................................................ 4
Getting Started.............................................................................................................................................. 4
How Adaptiva Client Health Applies to a Common Scenario ....................................................................... 5
The Situation ............................................................................................................................................. 5
The Problem .............................................................................................................................................. 5
The Solution .............................................................................................................................................. 5
Licensing Adaptiva Client Health................................................................................................................... 6
Basic and Enterprise Versions ....................................................................................................................... 6
Navigating the Adaptiva Workbench ............................................................................................................ 6
User Authentication .................................................................................................................................. 6
Perspectives, Views and Editors ............................................................................................................... 6
Working with Perspectives ................................................................................................................... 7
Working with Views .............................................................................................................................. 7
Help ....................................................................................................................................................... 7
Getting Started With Health Checks ............................................................................................................. 7
Viewing Reports ............................................................................................................................................ 8
List of Health Checks ..................................................................................................................................... 9
SMS / SCCM Pings ................................................................................................................................. 9
IP Address Scope Checks ....................................................................................................................... 9
SMS / SCCM Agent Health Checks ...................................................................................................... 10
WMI Health Checks ............................................................................................................................. 10
BITS Health Checks .............................................................................................................................. 10
WSUS Health Checks ........................................................................................................................... 11
Operating System Health Checks ........................................................................................................ 11
System Performance Health Checks ................................................................................................... 11
Security Health Checks........................................................................................................................ 11
Misc. .................................................................................................................................................... 11
Failed Health Check Collections .................................................................................................................. 11
Understanding Health Checks ..................................................................................................................... 12
Parameters .......................................................................................................................................... 13

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 History Purging .................................................................................................................................... 14
Understanding Health Check Policies ......................................................................................................... 14
Understanding Instant Health Check Polices .............................................................................................. 16
Understanding Workflows (Enterprise Only) .............................................................................................. 17
Getting Started:................................................................................................................................... 17
Understanding Forms (Enterprise Only) ..................................................................................................... 17
Getting Started:................................................................................................................................... 20
Understanding Schedules ........................................................................................................................... 21
Understanding Service Windows ................................................................................................................ 22

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Introduction
Adaptiva Client Health performs scheduled or instant health checks, on either a PC or a collection, to
help you maximize the success of your computer management services. Automatic or Manual
Remediation is available to fix common problems on failing machines. The Health Checks and
Remediation can be extended with custom scripts to integrate with an organizations requirements.

Features
Independent Monitoring Framework: Does not use ConfigMgr client side framework

100% Accountability: For distribution and updates

Reduced Cost: For managing Applications, Operating Systems and PC's

Centralized: Visibility and control for administrators
Tests End-to-End Functionality: Check actual functionality
Extensible: Ability to add custom checks or edit existing checks. Health Checks are exportable
for re-use and sharing

Health Checks: Scheduled and Instant

40+ built-in checks
Can be run on PC's or on collections

Auto or manual remediation

ConfigMgr/SMS agent - installation, version, service status, site assignment, heartbeat
discovery
SCCM infrastructure pings - Software & Hardware inventory, Policy, Package
Operating system - WMI, BITS, WSUS, REGISTRY

System performance - disk space

Security - Vista UAC
Failed check collections
Detailed Web Reporting: Results are viewable for PCs, Collections or Health Checks. Displays the
results of the Health Check and any Remediation.

Getting Started
We want you to have the most productive experience evaluating Client Health. Please review this
guide in entirety and consider the following points before beginning your evaluation:

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 1. Adaptiva Client must be installed on any machines that the Admin wishes to target for Health
Checks.
2. After installation, the server will need to import SMS objects. This can take some time for large
sites. Please be patient if an SMS object does not appear immediately in the Adaptiva
workbench.
3. The Getting Started With Health Checks section describes how to quickly schedule clients for
Health Checks. The remaining sections of this document provide an in depth explanation of
various features and components.

How Adaptiva Client Health Applies to a Common Scenario

The Situation
IT organizations are traditionally effective at diagnosing and repairing issues that arise for users.
Unfortunately, they have been limited in their ability to detect problems and guarantee that their
system is healthy. Unreported issues do not get fixed, and leaves the Administrators with systems that
become increasingly difficult to manage. Additionally, IT Administrators spend much of their time
troubleshooting and fixing similar problems over and over again.

The Problem
A typical organization has a system in place to track issues. As problems occur on machines, users
create reports and IT Administrators are dispatched to resolve these issues. However, there is no
guarantee that the user will report their issues. This becomes compounded by the fact that many IT
management solutions rely on client software running on user machines, even though the user is
unaware of its existence. For example, when critical SMS/SCCM features are failing on a client, the
admin is unable to detect those problems until he attempts to perform an operation on that machine.
His time is wasted diagnosing and fixing these common tasks.

The Solution
Adaptiva Client Health allows the IT organization to guarantee that a system is in a healthy state,
reducing time required for updates and distribution. Problems are reported and addressed proactively,
causing less disruption to users. It also frees up Administrators from performing repetitive tasks
through automation, reducing cost for the IT organization.
Using Adaptiva Client Health Administrators can:

Automate Health Checks to guarantee System Health

Automatically fix common problems to free up their time
Instantly run Health Checks or Remediation as a response to user issues
Modify or Create new Health Checks to define what System Health means for their organization

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Licensing Adaptiva Client Health
Client Health requires a License for each active Client reporting to the site for which it is installed.
Client Health server will periodically count all active, healthy, reporting clients as licensed clients.
The License key will contain the licensed Company name and client count. The license key needs to be
entered using the Adaptiva Workbench. If you are starting the workbench for the first time or your key
has expired, you will be prompted for a key at startup. When the workbench is running, you can view
keys or add more using the Licensing Perspective.
Client Health will function for a period of 30 days from the date of installation for evaluation purposes.
If additional evaluation is required, please contact support@adaptiva.com.

Basic and Enterprise Versions

Client Health is sold in two versions, Basic and Enterprise.
The basic version of client health allows administrators to run the Adaptiva built in Health Checks.
These checks can be run instantly or on a recurring schedule. All reporting features are included in the
basic version, including Web Reports and collections for all machines failing health checks.
The Enterprise Version includes all the features of the Basic version. It also allows administrators to
edit the built in health checks or create their own.

Navigating the Adaptiva Workbench

To launch the Adaptiva Workbench, navigate to the Adaptiva Workbench installation directory (default
is C:\Program Files\Adaptiva\AdaptivaWorkbench). Run the application AdaptivaWorkbench.exe.
There is also a start menu shortcut to launch the workbench. Start -> Programs -> Adaptiva ->
AdaptivaWorkbench.

User Authentication
a. Enter the host name of the machine where Adaptiva Server is installed.
b. Login with a user name that has administrator privileges.
c. Password of the administrator.
By default, when you install Adaptiva server, it creates a super administrator login. The super admin
can create additional users with necessary permissions and privileges.
After the login is successful, the Adaptiva Workbench Home Perspective is displayed.

Perspectives, Views and Editors

A View provides information for a given task. A view is typically used to navigate a hierarchy of
information, open an editor, or display properties for the active editor. The two most common views in
the Adaptiva Workbench are Explorers and Task Navigators.

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 Explorers are used to display objects. These could be objects created by Adaptiva, SCCM, or the
admin. Right click on an object in an explorer to view operations which can be performed on
that object.

Task Navigators display a list of tasks which may be performed. Selecting an item from a task
navigator will open any views, perspectives, or editors needed to perform the task.
An Editor is a page that displays information or allows the user to edit a configuration.
A Perspective is a combination of views and editors that perform a particular set of tasks. For
example, the Health Check Policy Perspective opens all views necessary for scheduling Health
Checks on collections. Use of perspectives allows the admin to see all relevant information and
hide the rest.

Working with Perspectives

To change perspective, click on Perspective->Manage Perspectives. A Workbench Perspectives Dialog
will appear, allowing you select any perspective. When you change perspective, your current
perspective is maintained, and all open views and editors will be available when you return to the
current perspective.
You can quickly navigate between open perspectives using the Ctrl+F8 and Ctrl+Shift+F8 hotkeys.

Working with Views

To open a view, click on View->Manage Views. A Workbench Views Dialog will appear, allowing you to
select any view. Once opened, views can be moved and placed anywhere on the workbench for
convenience.
The position of views within a perspective is always maintained. To restore a perspective back to the
original layout, select Perspective->Reset Perspective.

Help
Task oriented cheat sheets are available for step by step guidance for performing common tasks. To
open a cheat sheet, select Help->Cheat Sheets and select the desired task.

Getting Started With Health Checks

The Admin can rapidly schedule Health Checks for by performing the following tasks.
1. Select Perspective->Manage Perspectives from the menu bar. Expand the Client Health folder
and open the Health Check Policy Perspective.
2. Notice the Health Check Policy Explorer on the left of the workbench. Right click on a folder
and select Create New Health Check Policy.
3. Enter a Name for this Policy. You may optionally enter a Description. The default behavior for a
policy is to take effect immediately and never expire, but this can be edited by changing the
start or end time.

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 4. A Policy will run when its Schedule(s) are triggered. Notice the Schedule Explorer in the lower
left of the workbench. Drag and Drop a Schedule from the Schedule Explorer into the Schedule
Section. Schedules can contain service windows, and these can be observed or ignored by the
policy. They can also be overridden with a new service window.
5. Notice the Collection Explorer in the lower right of the workbench. Drag and Drop a Collection
from the Collection Explorer into the Target Collections Section. The Health Checks contained
in this policy will be run on the machines belonging to any collections defined here.
6. Click on the tab at the top of the editor labeled Health Checks.
7. Notice the Health Check Explorer at the top right of the workbench. Drag and drop a health
check onto the editor to add it to the policy.
8. After the Health Check appears in the editor, you may change its Execution Settings. If the
Health Check contains a Remediation Workflow, you may choose whether or not to execute
remediation when a Client fails the Health Check. If the Health Check accepts additional
parameters, a form will be displayed. If any parameters are not optional, an error will be
displayed in the Generic Errors view at the bottom of the workbench.
9. At the bottom of the workbench is the General Errors view. If there are any errors in the
policy, they will be displayed here.
10. Notice the Save button at the top right of the editor. Click the Save Button. Congratulations!
You have successfully created your own Health Check Policy. Selected Health Checks will be
run on the target Collection(s) when the schedules fire.

Viewing Reports
In order to easily track the health of clients. Adaptiva Client Health generates reports in SMS/SCCM.
These reports are viewable using the SMS/SCCM Report Viewer. All Adaptiva Client Health Reports
begin with the prefix ACH.
Reports are organized by type. The four types are Executive, Collection, Health Check and Machine. To
view the reports, the site must have a reporting point.

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List of Health Checks
The following section lists the health checks that are provided.

SMS / SCCM Pings

Management Point Ping - Management point location can be detected, and management point
can be pinged using ICMP echo
Hardware Inventory Ping
Software Inventory Ping
Policy Ping

Software Distribution Ping

Status Message Ping

Package Ping

IP Address Scope Checks

Permitted Scope - Client's IP address is within the specified permitted IP address scopes
Prohibited Scope - Client's IP address is not within the specified prohibited IP address scopes

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SMS / SCCM Agent Health Checks
CCM Folders - There is no file named CCM in the windows system32 folder
Agent Installed - The SMS/SCCM client agent is installed

Agent Version The specified version or later of SMS/SCCM agent is installed

Agent Site Assignment - The client is assigned to the specified site
Site Auto Discovery - Site auto discovery is working on the client
Agent Service Running - The SMS/SCCM client agent service is running, and its start mode is set
to automatic

Management Point Location - The client can correctly determine the location of the
management point
Duplicate SMS GUID The client does not have a duplicate SMS GUID
Client Cache Location - The client cache location is correctly set
Client Cache Size - The client cache size is set to desired value, or more
Client Cache Available Space - The specified amount of space is available in the client cache

WMI Health Checks

WMI Stability Patches Installed on Windows XP Systems - Hotfix 933062 is installed on XP
systems

WMI Stability Patches Installed on Windows 2003 Server Systems - Hotfix 933061 is installed on
Server 2003 systems and XP 64 bit systems WMI in path

WMI In Path - the system32\wbem folder is included in the path variable in the environment
WMI Service Running - WinMgmt service is running, and its start mode is set to automatic
WMI Repository Integrity - Integrity of the WMI repository
WMI SMS/SCCM Namespaces - Connectivity to WMI namespaces used by the SMS/SCCM client

Execmgr WMI Connection Error - Whether the sccm client's execmgr log contains wmi
connection errors

BITS Health Checks

BITS Version - SMS clients contain at least BITS version 2 and SCCM clients contain at least BITS
version 2.5
BITS Client Service Running - BITS service is running, and its start mode is set to automatic
BITS client service startup failing - Verifies whether BITS service's startup is failing and tries to
remediate by deleting its DAT files

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WSUS Health Checks
WSUS Client Version - The WSUS client version is 3.0 SP1 or later
WSUS Client Service Running - Wuauserv service is running, and its start mode is set to
automatic

WSUS service missing - Verifies whether WSUS client service is present or not and tries to
remediate it by registering the WSUS engine dll

Operating System Health Checks

Operating System Version - The client operating system version is one of the versions specified
Remote Registry Service Running - RemoteRegistry service is running, and its start mode is set to
automatic

Admin$ Share - The admin$ share is published on the client

System Performance Health Checks

Free Disk Space Free disk space is greater than the specified amount

Security Health Checks

Vista UAC Enabled - UAC is enabled: performed only on Vista or later operating systems.
Is User Local Admin - Checks if logged on user is a local administrator on the machine.

Misc.
Adaptiva Companion service running: The Adaptiva companion/green planet service is running

Failed Health Check Collections

When a client fails a Health Check, it is automatically added to the collection corresponding to that
Health Check. This allows the admin to easily evaluate and remediate any problems.
The Failed Health Check Collections are viewable in SMS/SCCM or in the Adaptiva Workbench in the
SMS Collections Explorer. The Health Check specific collections are sub collections of the All Failed
Adaptiva Health Checks collection.

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Understanding Health Checks
A Health Check executes some logic on a client and determines whether that client meets a certain
criteria. If it fails to meet the criteria, remediation logic can be executed automatically. The logic that
the Client executes is referred to as a Workflow.
There are two forms of workflows for Health Checks. The Health Check workflow determines whether
or not the client is Healthy. The Remediation workflow attempts to repair an unhealthy client.

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Parameters
Health Checks are executed in policies, which are explained in the next section. However, you may
want to have some behavior of the health check change when it is run in different policies. For
example, it might be important for all machines maintain a certain amount of disk space, but different
offices have different requirements for the amount of disk space. It would be tedious to create a new
Health Check for every different requirement. You would like to specify this in the policy. This
functionality is provided by Health Check Parameters. Health Checks can accept input when they are
added to a policy to define their behavior. It is also possible for the Health Check to contain default
values, which are specified in the Default health Check Parameters Section.

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 In order to author a completely new Health Check from scratch, it is important to understand the
purpose of a Health Check, as well as how to create Workflows and Forms.

History Purging
The most recent result of a health check execution on a client is always available. We also keep the
history of health check execution, so that an admin can view a particular clients history. The admin
can specify how far back they would like to keep this history available before it is purged to clear
space.

Understanding Health Check Policies

Health Check Policies define the Where/When/How of Health Check Execution. The admin provides a
collection and a schedule. The included health checks will run on the machines in the collection at the
time specified by the schedule.

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A Health Check Policy includes one or more Health Checks. The Health Checks will be run sequentially,
and remediation can be enabled/disabled for each Health Check individually. To add Health Checks to
the Policy, drag and drop them from an Object Explorer.

An Admin can specify whether they would like to perform remediation on failure, or even force
remediation on a healthy machine. Any additional parameters required for running the health check
will be displayed in the policy for editing.

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 The Workflows tab of the Health Check policies allows the Admin to fundamentally change the way the
policy will execute, and inject their own logic into the process. In most cases, this tab can be left as is.

Understanding Instant Health Check Polices

There may be a need to run Health Checks on a Client or Collection immediately. This may be in
response to a ticket or complaint, and the admin may not want to wait for a scheduled policy to fire.
This functionality is provided in the form of Instant Health Check Policies.
When saved, an Instant Health Check Policy will immediately execute any number of selected Health
Checks. The results will be reported and saved in the Execution Results Pane of the Policy. Depending
on the complexity of the Health Check and network availability, this may take several minutes.

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Understanding Workflows (Enterprise Only)
Workflows represent an execution of logic that is performed. A workflow is composed of a number of
activities. These activities are the tools that the administrator can use to create health checks for their
common IT scenarios. The Workflow Designer Framework gives the administrator the ability to edit
existing workflows or create their own.
Workflows are created and edited using the Workflow Designer Perspective. This perspective consists
of the following views.
Workflow Explorer allows the Admin to view existing workflows or create a new workflow.
Workflow Designer Palette displays all activities which can be used in workflows. Activities can be
dragged from the palette directly into the workflow.
Workflow Errors - the Workflow Errors View at the bottom of the workbench informs you of any
problems with your workflow.
Workflow Designer Outline Provides an overview of the workflow. This can be used to search for all
used activities.
Workflow Designer Properties Displays the properties associated with an activity.
Workflow Management Task Navigator Allows the administrator to perform various tasks regarding
workflows. This is not needed for creating or modifying workflows.

Getting Started:
Client Workflows There are three types of workflows. Server, Client and Business Workflows. For the
Client Health product. For creating health check workflows and remediation workflows, you should
create a client Workflow. Select Workflows -> New Client Workflow.
Start Node The start node contains a property Workflow Name which stores the name of the
workflow.
End Node The end node contains the result of the workflow. When the workflow terminates, the
values held by the end node will be used to report success/failure, error description, error codes, etc.
These fields can be set by any activity in the workflow using the External node property setter in the
Workflow Designer Properties View while the activity is selected.

Understanding Forms (Enterprise Only)

Forms are groups of UI elements. The Form Designer Framework allow for rapid creation of custom UI.
The admin uses forms to create custom windows for accepting Health Check Parameters. Many
complex UI Components are provided, but in most cases the admin will only need the simplest UI
elements.
Forms are created and edited using the Form Designer Perspective. This perspective consists of the
following views:

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Form Explorer - allows the Admin to view existing forms or create a new form.
UI Form Designer Palette - displays all UI elements which can be used in the form. The UI Form
Designer Properties View displays properties of any elements used in the form.

UI Preview - Once the container is added, you can experiment by dragging other UI elements onto
the container. Click the UI Preview View at the left of the workbench, next to the Form Explorer and

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 UI Form Designer Palette. You can view how your form will appear as you make changes.

UI Form Designer Properties - Located on the right of the workbench, this view will show the
properties of any selected UI element.

Designer Errors - The Designer Errors View at the bottom of the workbench informs you of any
problems with your form.

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 In this case, we need to provide a name for our form. If you double click the error, you will be shown
the field which needs to be edited. We need to edit the FormName property of the UIDL Root element.
As you provide a name, the error in the Designer errors view will disappear.

Getting Started:
UIDL Root Node - All forms contain the UIDL Root Node Component. This component defines the
general information of the form. The most important are Name and Description. The UIDL root can
only contain one child element, which must be a container element (Composite, Section, HtmlForm,
etc.). To add a child, choose a container from the UI Form Designer Pallete and drag it onto the UIDL
root element in the Form Editor.

Containers - The UIDL root can only contain one child element, which must be a Container element
(Composite, Section, HtmlForm, etc.).

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 As you experiment with other components, keep an eye on the designer errors view. It will notify you
of any missing fields or invalid entries.

Understanding Schedules
There are several types of schedules, which should be familiar to the SCCM Admin. Some schedules
have been provided, but the Admin may create their own schedules to suit their organizations needs.
ASAP and Non-Recurring Schedules will fire once, and are useful for tasks which do not need to be
repeated. The tasks will run to completion, or until the Schedule End Time expires. Recurring
Schedules come in many flavors, and are used for automating tasks which occur on a regular basis. A
recurring schedule will take effect after the start time.
When a task is scheduled for a particular day, it will fire at the time of day provided in the start time.
E.g. When you schedule a task to occur on the last day of the month, starting on March 5th, at 5pm. It
will fire on March 31st at 5pm, April 30th at 5pm, and so forth.

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Understanding Service Windows
Allowed hours allow you to prevent SMS Operations from launching outside the specified range of
start time and end time.
Allowed hours can be specified on a weekday, every day, or selected day-of-week basis.
Load leveling Windows have been integrated with and can be overlapped in arbitrary combinations
with allowed hours.
E.g. if you target a health check at 11:00 AM, specify allowed hours of 8:00 PM to 6:00 AM All
Weekdays, and a load leveling window of 7 days, all the clients will launch the application at a
smoothly load-balanced pace during the available windows of opportunity during 8:01 PM to 5:59 AM
on weekdays.

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