Who's that Mac?

[mBox]

Nowhere near my OSX Leopard Server at the moment but need to ask anyway 🙂
Can the Server read each Mac on Network System Profiler?
We have a few dozen and Im too lazy to open each System Profiler to do a database of what is what in my department 🙂
Or better yet, is there a Mac Software Utility that can do this?
Id love to gather all info with one press of a button 🙂

Thanks!

 

[calderone]

What is "Network System Profiler?"

You wouldn't be able to do this with "one press of a button." Unless you have a decent inventory already (machines names, IP addresses). Meaning, you are going to have to input data into whatever solution you choose. A few options:

Push a launch daemon or logon script (via WGM) to the machines that will run:

system_profiler -xml > report.spx

I would write it in so that the report has the same name as the machine or serial number or however you keep track of the Macs.

You can view the man page to narrow down the details you want. For example, you can do a mini, basic or full report. You can even single out specific sections. For example:

system_profiler SPHardwareDataType

Will give you the general hardware overview.

Of course, using Apple Remote Desktop would make this process much easier, since you can gather reports from there.

I am not familiar with any 3rd party solutions to get this done, mainly because I use Remote Desktop for my management. However, there a number of ways to get this done in a way that is fairly automated.

If this is something that you need to do often, or even if you want more control of management, I would look into Apple Remote Desktop: http://www.apple.com/remotedesktop/

 

[mBox]

Of course, using Apple Remote Desktop would make this process much easier, since you can gather reports from there.

If this is something that you need to do often, or even if you want more control of management, I would look into Apple Remote Desktop: http://www.apple.com/remotedesktop/

Just purchased Remote Desktop Unlimited. Works great for basic system management, however the reports options is not giving me the complete System Profiler?
I would like to be able to get all that info from all the Macs in our network.
Am I missing something?

Just purchased Remote Desktop Unlimited. Works great for basic system management, however the reports options is not giving me the complete System Profiler?
I would like to be able to get all that info from all the Macs in our network.
Am I missing something?

My bad. The option I was looking for is "Computer". It defaults to a few sub-options.

 

[yellow]

Probably.. the reports can be expanded to pick up everything.

 

[mBox]

Probably.. the reports can be expanded to pick up everything.

Yea after testing all possible report options, Im not getting the same results as using the System Profiler > Save As > XML or RTF doc.
That option is almost 800 pages long in RTF format.
That might be overkill for Remote Desktop but I would still like that as an option.

 

[calderone]

There are different profiles at the top of the Reports window.

Under "System Overview Report" you can select to add additional item. If you want everything, click the "All Fields" checkbox and it will select all items.

One the top left, click on the "Template" dropdown. And select "Save as template." Name it complete report. Now when you select the System Overview Report, you can then select the "Complete Report" template to get all items.

Also, remember you can select multiple machines and even schedule the report.

Apple has a few video tutorials. Here is one for inventory management:
http://www.apple.com/remotedesktop/tutorials/assetmanagement.html

EDIT: I see you still aren't getting the information you want. Remote Desktop is more targeted. Instead of getting a bunch of stuff, you get what you need.

Also, you may want to consider sending out the system_profiler command if you want the full report. I gave that above.

 

[yellow]

Which report type are you looking for? Everything populated in system profiler is broken into different categories in Reports, to my knowledge you'll have to get a massive dump individually from each machine, not through Reports.

 

[mBox]

Which report type are you looking for? Everything populated in system profiler is broken into different categories in Reports, to my knowledge you'll have to get a massive dump individually from each machine, not through Reports.

Thanks calderone and yellow, I guess Ill have to accept with what I get. Only reason I wanted full detail is that some systems are a few floors away. That lazy 🙂
Im loving this Remote for situations like Avid/Protools studio.
I can check on renders and processes without having to walk a few hundred feet. I know that lazy huh 😉

 

[calderone]

As I said, you can just send a command to the machine to produce the full report.

All you have to do is:

1. Highlight the machines
2. Click Manage in the menu bar
3. Click "Send UNIX Command"
4. type in

system_profiler -detailLevel full

And await the reports.

 

[mBox]

As I said, you can just send a command to the machine to produce the full report.

All you have to do is:

1. Highlight the machines
2. Click Manage in the menu bar
3. Click "Send UNIX Command"
4. type in

system_profiler -detailLevel full

And await the reports.

awesome that did it 😉 man I dont know why I took this long to buy this software 🙁 I just did a days work of running around in almost two hours 😉
thanks calderone for the tips!!