Many computers have multiple NICs, which can cause problems in Ghost Solution Suite (GSS). For instance, a computer may only have one NIC connected, and GSS may report on the second NIC with no IP address, thus showing a missing IP address in the console. Clustered computers may have a single assigned MAC given to multiple computers, again causing problems within GSS if the incorrect MAC is tracked.

Computers reporting multiple NICs may also encounter GSS licensing issues when each NIC is assigned a separate license.

Because GSS tracks a computer-based only on a single NIC/MAC address, sometimes human intervention is necessary to prevent conflicts or incorrect data.

A CustomData.ini file can be created to exclude NICs or MACs so that GSS will only track the remaining NIC/MAC options. This file is created by duplicating the Dynamic.ini file and renaming the duplicate to CustomData.ini. This can either be performed on the client computer directly, or on the server and then sent out with a job to the client computers.

First, be sure there is a [Filters] section in this file. Since GSS combines the contents of both the Dynamic.ini and CustomData.ini files, the CustomData.ini file does not need to have all the same information as the Dynamic.ini. However, for this exercise, at least the [Filters] section is required.

In this section, a line may be modified (or created) with "FilteredApaterNameList" to include custom/unique types of adapters that should be excluded or ignored by GSS (such as dial-up adapters, or WiFi adapters). The line should look something like this:

FilteredApaterNameList=Dial-Up Adapter,VPN,PPP Adapter

Note: if the network card is labeled: Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet you can include any keyword from the label and it will filter it:

FilteredApaterNameList=Broadcom

or

FilteredApaterNameList=NetXtreme

NOTE:  The spelling of the option is "FilteredApaterNameList" and not "FilteredAdapterNameList".  This is by design.

Alternatively, a "FilteredMACAddresses" line can be used to exclude certain MAC addresses of adapters that are otherwise legitimate. This would be the case for duplicate NICs, such as having two identical Intel NICs, where the above option would end up excluding both. This line is used to exclude specific MAC addresses, rather than a type of connection. This line should look something like this:

FilteredMACAddresses=CCCCCCCCCCCC,FFFFFF000000,00038A000011

Finally, for those who may need it, you can also filter based on user with the "FilteredUsernames" option. By default, we already exclude one user, but you can add others. The FilteredUsernames line looks like this (additional entries, as with the above options, should be separated by commas):

FilteredUsernames=SMSCliSvcAcct&,IWAM_

How to push out to clients

Use the syntax below in a Copy File To task to dynamically determine the installation location of the AClient agent on the machines.  This script assumes that you have placed the customdata.ini in the root of the eXpress share.

Source path:

.\customdata.ini

Destination path:

%#*"Select install_dir from aclient_prop where computer_id = %ID%"%customdata.ini

Applies To
DS 6.9 and GSS 3.0, all versions of each