Asset import on the K1000 v6
I've had a support ticket in with KACE for a week now and not heard anything (I guess they're busy following the v6.0 upgrade).
Previously, I could *update* our computer assets en-masse by importing a CSV file, mapping columns in the CSV to fields in the asset records, choosing a primary key and hitting 'go' and this worked very well. The CSV had 3 or 4 columns that I mapped to fields in the asset records; not all fields in the asset records were updated, just some. The ones that weren't updated weren't mapped to anything and remained unchaged after the import.
However, since the v6 upgrade if I do exactly the same thing, the fields that should remain 'unchanged' (i.e. the ones that are not mapped to anything during the asset import) are now cleared (deleted) rather than unchanged!
I discovered this after doing my regular weekly import to update computer assets - 1800 machines had several fields 'wiped' as a result of the asset import! I had to restore a database backup to get all this data back.
I gingerly tried repeating the exercise, thinking I had done something wrong, though this time on 1 computer asset rather than 1800, and the behaviour was repeated - the fields that I'd mapped in the import were updated, and the rest of the fields were effectively deleted!
Has anyone else observed this behaviour, or am I doing something stupid? I'm guessing if it were the latter, KACE support would have got back to me by now to tell me!
I use this import method to update the computer assets with data from the inventory (via a scheduled report) on a weekly basis, so as you can imagine, my computer assets are becoming increasingly out of date until I find a way around this.
Answers (4)
I noticed the same thing, it updates all fields even if you did not map them to anything. As a work around, you could export all the assets, modify the csv, and reimport everything.
Another fun issue with importing assets is when you have fields that are associated with other assets and your import doesn't have a value set for that field. It will create new assets with no name and link to them. If the next record also has no value set, it doesnt use the new blank one it created, it creates another new blank one. I discovered this the hard way and had to delete 150,000+ blank assets 1000 at a time.
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Thanks, it's not just me then. I did also notice the creation of loads of 'associated assets' (another reason I had to restore the database from a backup!). What you suggested would work, but it would involve a lot more work, and it makes me nervous re-importing all that unique information. This is quite a major bug (hopefully it is a bug rather than a design change!!). Surely it must be affecting a lot of people who regularly update their asset records in a batch job? - Chordmeister 10 years ago
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Had a reply from KACE Support.... it 'works as designed' but there is a change request of 'critical severity' in place as it's impacting many customers. There are so many processes in place that require me to update CERTAIN fields in our assets as a batch job. I really hope they sort this out pronto! - Chordmeister 10 years ago
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Do you know if this has been addressed in the time since you heard from KACE Support? - brian.almon-dva 10 years ago
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During my trial I was able to get in a web session with our sales rep and one of the engineers to show them the issue, they are going to report it as a bug to be fixed in a future release. - pete.si 10 years ago
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I've been in contact with Dell support and my Dell pre-sales contact and the news is that this issue will be resolved in the v6.2 update (6.1 is being 'skipped' now I believe). This will most likely be released in December this year. - Chordmeister 10 years ago
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I found this out the hard way too! I've opted to update using just the UI only for the time being. Slower than CSV import (if it worked) but faster than cleaning up after the mess of a broken import.
Sadly 6.2 doesn't fully fix this. In 6.2 unselected fields are no longer wiped, but it still creates new assets with blank names if you're using fields mapped to other assets :( - Arcolite 10 years ago-
Yes, I took the time to demonstrate this bug to KACE support via a webex session, at which point I was told I was the first person to highlight this bug, post-v6.2. So they definitely know about it but don't expect a fix any time soon! I had to use the workaround eventually which was to 're-import' the existing associated asset data during the asset import. Getting this data to match up with the data I actually wanted to update/import was not a trivial task though! - Chordmeister 10 years ago
Workaround, not a fix.
Online with support now. Support informed me to ensure that each cell (using it for import, or not) contains some form of data. Blank data anywhere in the importing CSV row will initiate creation of empty assets for related asset types.
We populated each cell with very identifiable "bogus" data (for later corrections) and imports worked, all except the associated "User", that still errors...period.
They also said the bug/problem was found throughout many KACE versions to include 6.3.
Thrilled to be past this initial problem, but not thrilled about the garbage now in the database.
When doing advanced searches on criterion that calls for "Null" as a value only randomly work for me anyway, so losing that ability won't have an impact in my situation.
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Yes, my workaround has been to first EXPORT all the data I want to UPDATE using a report to CSV. Then update the CSV with the 'new' data and import the whole lot back in. - Chordmeister 9 years ago
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Update -- I now have over 1000 blanks assets after the import from earlier and it will not let me delete any of them. I even rebooted with DB check option but they are still there and won't delete. - pete.si 10 years ago
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I didn't have that problem. The first time I did a mass import and ended up with 5000 blank asset records, I just did a database restore to sort out the mess. Following that I did a controlled experiment (i.e. imported one asset to be 'updated'). It created a blank asset for each field that had a mapped asset, of that type. I was then able to find each of the blank assets and delete them (they appeared at the top of the asset list as they had no name!).
I also hope they sort this out really soon, as my computer assets are becoming more and more out of date and inaccurate. I spoke to someone at KACE support who said they already had a dozen tickets relating to this problem -- I mean, change of design -- which is why it became a 'critical severity' change request. They told me that a hotfix would be coming out to resolve the issue, and it would also be included in the 6.1 release, which was in Alpha (when I spoke to KACE tech support about 3 weeks ago). - Chordmeister 10 years ago-
In v6, where is the database restore option? - pete.si 10 years ago
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The database restore option is in Settings --> Control Panel --> Backup Settings - Chordmeister 10 years ago
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Odd, even though daily backup is turned on, the only back up is from 2 AM this morning. I might just need to do a factory reset and start over again. I'm on the trial and not production yet, but this issue and the level of support is going to be a deciding factor when my review is complete. - pete.si 10 years ago
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I haven't updated yet but I can't see it mentioned in the Release Notes. Although there's a lot of other good stuff in there which has been bugging me for a while! - Arcolite 9 years ago
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The impression I got from KACE tech support was that it probably wouldn't be fixed in the next release. I haven't upgraded to 6.3 so I can't comment but would be very interested to hear one way or the other! - Chordmeister 9 years ago
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Sort of.... It still creates a blank asset but it looks like it uses the same blank asset for everything else now instead of creating one for each. Tested 5 minutes ago on my dev KBOX with 6.3. - h2opolo25 9 years ago
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Now THAT I can live with, so it would mean just deleting one blank asset per 'associated asset' field involved in the import? - Chordmeister 9 years ago
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Looks to be the case. I tried it with Computers and then again with Printers, both of which have a location asset field and there was still just one blank location asset field that they all used. - h2opolo25 9 years ago
It appears there is no way to import any associated asset types without creating empty assets for all liked types...at least in 6.2.109330. - MichAda 9 years ago