Contents
1. NEXThink Console
Launching Start > All Programs > NEXThink for SCCM > NEXThink Console brings up the following screen:
1.1. NEXThink Console root node
The NEXThink Console root node has the following actions:
1.1.1. Custom actions...
Create/manage custom actions (see Using Custom Actions for more information)
1.1.2. Send feedback...
Send information to NEXThink about issues or any other feedback about NEXThink for SCCM
1.1.3. Diagnostics...
Enable/disable diagnostics mode. Diagnostics mode collects detailed application logs to improve identification of issues. Only enable this mode when you are experiencing problems and you are planning to send us feedback information via the Send feedback... action.
1.2. Engines node
The engines node allows configuration of engine connections. It allows adding several engine connections, however with an important limitation: only one engine can be connected at a time.
1.2.1. Adding an engine
The add engine action brings up the following dialog:
The dialog allows selecting the address/port of the engine and a NEXThink Finder account to log into. It is recommended that you create dedicated NEXThink Finder accounts for NEXThink Console usage (see Managing Accounts for information about creation of accounts). Note that you can use the default admin/admin account if you haven't created any finder accounts yet. Note that NEXThink Console requires an account with personal information privileges.
1.2.2. Engine node
A node is added for each engine connection. When connected, clicking on the node shows a dashboard screen with general engine and account information, as well as external documentation and library links:
1.3. Sources node
The sources node contains the monitored systems (sources in NEXThink terminology) and allows addition/removal of sources. An overview of all monitored sources is shown in the central panel, with their last seen ip address.
1.3.1. Adding a source
Two possibilities to add a source: either using the Add source... node action or using the Add to NEXThink Console ConfigMgr extension:
Add source... node action
Clicking of Add source... sources node action brings up the following dialog:
- If an engine is currently connected, suggestions are proposed from the list of known source names.
Add to NEXThink Console ConfigMgr extension
When selecting one or several systems in Configuration Manager Console collections, a new Add to NEXThink Console action is available. This adds the selected system(s) in the sources node (if not already present).
1.3.2. Source node
When adding a source a node is created for it. Clicking on this node shows an overview of the daily activity.
This is is the same view as available in NEXThink Finder, please refer to Using Source View for more information. Note in particular that this view can be customized in NEXThink Finder, refer to Customizing Source View for more information.
Bars can be selected in the source view to find out more information about a specific time during the day.
Drilling-down & launching a one-click investigation
Right-clicking on a selected bar brings up a contextual menu with two options:
- Drill-down: this generates an investigation about the underlying activity of that metric in the selected time slot
- One-click: this launches a (pre-defined) template investigation with the current source as a parameter
The resulting drill-down investigation:
Clicking on the Network activity tab shows a visual representation of the listed connections:
1.3.3. Source real-time inventory nodes
Expanding a source node reveals a collection of associated inventory nodes:
Selecting one of these nodes launches an investigation showing the detailed list of associated objects. In the following example, destinations the source has connected to:
Opening the Network activity tab shows a visual representation of the associated network activity.
The zooming feature allows focusing on certain connection patterns, such as in the following example focus on all connections going outside the enterprise network:
Another example: the list of all installed packages on the source (packages node):
Refresh the source node to update the inventory numbers with the latest data in the engine. Individual views can also be refreshed using the refresh button at the top of the results list.
1.4. Advertisement tracking
Tracking advertisements allows following the progress of an advertisement in real-time.
1.4.1. Tracking an advertisement
When selecting an advertisement in ConfigMgr, a new Track in NEXThink Console action appears:
Clicking on the action brings up the following dialog:
Tracking will be based entirely on Product name & Manufacturer. These two values are matched with the packages inventoried in real-time by the engine.
The Tracking in NEXThink Console action extracts the information available in the associated package to pre-fill those fields. If the package does not contain this information, you can also extract it from the msi file itself: click on the ellipsis (...) button at the right of the value entry fields. This opens a file dialog where you can select the advertised msi file.
Note that tracking advertisements targeting collection hierarchies (collection + subcollections) is fully supported.
Note that due to an engine limitation the product version cannot be used as a matching criterion.
1.4.2. Advertisement tracking node
The advertisement tracking node contains two sub-nodes, without package and with package, showing the number of sources which do not yet have the package (or still have it in the case of an uninstallation).
Clicking on these nodes show the detailed list of sources:
1.4.3. Refresh action
As elsewhere in NEXThink Console, you can click on the standard Refresh node action to update the numbers with real-time data from the engine, or on the refresh icon at the top of the results list.
1.4.4. Update action
If the members of the advertisement target collection change, click on the Update action of the advertisement node. The list of target sources will be updated with latest data from the SCCM database.