PXE Service Point - Unknown Computer

[richoo2000noe...@discussions.microsoft.com]

Hi!

I cannot get the PXE Service Pint to work correctly with unknown computers,
its work correctly with known computers. Very strange, if I boot on a
bootable media it works great with unknown computers.
I have advertisement to the unknown computer collection.

MAC=00:03:FF:88:71:99 SMBIOS GUID=1E94F04D-89A3-4AAB-B251-06DCE72B2766 >
Device not found in the database. smspxe 9/5/2008 7:55:40 AM 3820 (0x0EEC)
[010.000.001.086:67] Recv From:[000.000.000.000:68] Len:548
aa74c8 smspxe 9/5/2008 7:55:44 AM 3284 (0x0CD4)
Ignoring req from [000.000.000.000:68] Dest
Server:[010.000.001.052] smspxe 9/5/2008 7:55:44 AM 3284 (0x0CD4)
[010.000.001.086:4011] Recv From:[010.000.001.249:68] Len:548
3242558 smspxe 9/5/2008 7:55:44 AM 3284 (0x0CD4)
[010.000.001.086:4011] Recv From:[010.000.001.249:68] Len:299
3243668 smspxe 9/5/2008 7:55:44 AM 3284 (0x0CD4)
Getting boot action for unknown machine: item key: 4 smspxe 9/5/2008 7:55:44
AM 3820 (0x0EEC)
Executing GetBootAction(4, SCCNT86) smspxe 9/5/2008 7:55:44 AM 3820 (0x0EEC)
No Boot Action for Device (4) found smspxe 9/5/2008 7:55:44 AM 3820 (0x0EEC)
ProcessDatabaseReply: No Advertisement found in Db for
device smspxe 9/5/2008 7:55:44 AM 3820 (0x0EEC)

[Allcock@discussions.microsoft.com Mark Allcock]

i'm experiencing the exact same issue as yourself!

I followed a blog from Steve Rachui
(http://blogs.msdn.com/steverac/archive/2008/09/21/unknown-computers-in-sccm-2007-r2-overview.aspx)
on how to configure Unknown Computer support correctly. While Unknown
Computer support works for Bootable Media, it doesn't for a PXE boot and I
have advertised a mandatory Task Sequence to the "All Unknown Computers"
collection correctly otherwise Bootable Media wouldn't work either.

To offer a little more detail on this, here is a section of output from the
SMSPXE.LOG when PXE booting an unknown computer (timings removed):

[172.016.001.105:67] Recv From:[000.000.000.000:68] Len:548 f0ba64
Executing LookupDevice(49354D56-A105-D4A6-174C-83E9559E7393,
00:0C:29:9E:73:93)
CDatabaseProxy :: LookupDevice succeeded: 0 0 0 0
MAC=00:0C:29:9E:73:93 SMBIOS GUID=49354D56-A105-D4A6-174C-83E9559E7393 >

Device not found in the database.

[172.016.001.105:67] Recv From:[000.000.000.000:68] Len:548 f0ca7c
Ignoring req from [000.000.000.000:68] Dest Server:[172.016.001.004]
[172.016.001.105:4011] Recv From:[172.016.003.210:68] Len:548 20d10ec
[172.016.001.105:4011] Recv From:[172.016.003.210:68] Len:299 20d21f4
Getting boot action for unknown machine: item key: 1180
Executing GetBootAction(1180, SCCMSRV1)
No Boot Action for Device (1180) found

ProcessDatabaseReply: No Advertisement found in Db for device

All the other posts I have seen point to a client not really being "unknown"
however you can see by the "Device not found in the database" entry that this
isn't the case.

I am concerned by the "No Advertisement found in Db for device" entry
though. All you have to do is advertise a Task Sequence to the "All Unknown
Computers" collection and hey-presto it should work. However this isn't
working and I'm constantly told that there is no advertisement for the client
when there quite blatently is!!!!!!! Again, there MUST be an advertisement or
else Bootable Media would not work.

Any help would be appreciated.

Mark

[MR!]

I'm feeling your pain with this Mark. I too am seeing the
"ProcessDatabaseReply: No Advertisement found in Db for device" entry in the
Pxe log. I have an advert created and targeted to the All Unknown collection.

Any ideas anyone?

[Mark Allcock]

I've found a solution - thanks to another post!

Please have a good read of this thread:

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=4022504&SiteID=17

It turns out that we too had 4 'Unknown Computer' Resource Objects when
performing a query of the 'SMS_R_UnknownSystem' class and our Advertisements
were targeted against the wrong Resource Objects. We can only assume that
these two extra objects were created as a result of our migration from SMS
2003 to SCCM (using a Parent/Child configuration).

To summarise the detail from the referenced thread, perform the following to
see if you've got the same issue:

1. Locate the SMSPXE.LOG file (I highly recommend using Trace32.exe to read
this)
2. Restart the 'WDSServer' Service
3. Look for "GetUnknownMachineResource" entries in the log (see my example
below)

My Results:

GetUnknownMachineResource (SS2,x86):
GetUnknownMachineResource: a8027d6d-1885-4d90-a792-5bd3f263ced1, 1180
GetUnknownMachineResource (SS2,x64):
GetUnknownMachineResource: 84236a55-fbfd-4f0f-a1ad-ca336a13b537, 1181

4. Make a note of the Resource IDs used for the x86 and x64 Resource
Objects (in my case it's 1180 and 1181)
5. In ConfigMgr, create a new Collection and call it anything you like
6. Modify the Membership Rules of this Collection and add a Query Rule
7. In the Query Rule dialog, select "Unknown Computer" from the Resource
Class list
8. Give the Query Rule a name of some kind and click OK
9. Complete the rest of the New Collection dialog to create the collection
10. Refresh your Collections node and locate the newly created collection
11. If no results appear in the Collection, use the 'Update Collection
Membership' option

My Results:

x86 Unknown Computer
x64 Unknown Computer
x86 Unknown Computer (x86 Unknown Computer)
x64 Unknown Computer (x64 Unknown Computer)

12. Check the properties of each object, you can obtain the 'Resource ID'
and 'Decommissioned' values for each

My Results:

Resource: x86 Unknown Computer
Resource ID: 1180
Decommissioned: 1

Resource: x64 Unknown Computer
Resource ID: 1181
Decommissioned: 1

Resource: x86 Unknown Computer (x86 Unknown Computer)
Resource ID: 1182
Decommissioned: 0

Resource: x64 Unknown Computer (x64 Unknown Computer)
Resource ID: 1183
Decommissioned: 0

13. Now take a look in your 'All Unknown Computers' Collection and make a
note of the 'Resource ID' of each member
14. Make absolutely sure you have a least one Task Sequence Advertised to
your 'All Unknown Computers' Collection (it doesn't matter if it is a
madatory advertisement or not)

My Results:

Resource: x86 Unknown Computer (x86 Unknown Computer)
Resource ID: 1182

Resource: x64 Unknown Computer (x64 Unknown Computer)
Resource ID: 1183

So, the PXE Service Point (in my case) has assigned IDs 1180 and 1181 as the
Unknown Computer Resource IDs however according to the 'All Unknown
Computers' collection, the Advertisement(s) will only apply to Resource IDs
1182 and 1183!!!! What's more is that the Resource IDs 1180 and 1181 are
"Decommissioned" (Value: 1) according to SCCM. No wonder PXE booting unknown
comptuers was not working for me!!!

If you have this, then you can use the following to *bodge* your way round
the issue (just as the thread suggests) - I've not had time to research
further.

1. Modify the Query Rule in the 'All Unknown Computers' Collection
2. Change 'Decommissioned = 0' to 'Decommissioned = 1'
3. Use the 'Update Collection Membership' option on the 'All Unknown
Computers' collection
4. If you want to double-check this has worked, check the Resource ID of
each collection member

My Results:

Resource: x86 Unknown Computer
Resource ID: 1180

Resource: x64 Unknown Computer
Resource ID: 1181

Now when the PXE process looks for an Advertisement tied to the 1180 or 1181
Resource IDs, it finds one and Unknown Computer support now works!!!

Greatest respect to the contributors in the aforementioned thread. Without
you, Unknown Computer support would still be broken (from PXE at least)

Regards

Mark