1. NEXThink SCCM Bridge

NEXThink SCCM Bridge is an external helper application which allows edition of SCCM collections. It is readily available in NEXThink Finder via a specific custom action. It can typically be used to create or update collections with the result of investigations - making activity-based collections possible.

NEXThink SCCM Bridge also offers a command line interface for further customization of the custom action or integration into a different context (see below for the detailed usage).

1.1. Export to SCCM custom action

Selecting a list of sources in NEXThink Finder and right-clicking on the selection offers the following option:

Clicking on Export to SCCM... launches NEXThink SCCM Bridge with the selected sources in parameter.

1.2. Login dialog

The first window to show up is the login dialog. Enter the SCCM server ip address or name and your credentials if necessary.

Note that address and credentials fields are saved and will be automatically filled with previous saved values next time you run the bridge.

1.3. Main dialog

Upon successful login to the SCCM server, the bridge main dialog appears:

Select the relevant option and click on OK to carry on with the collection edition operation.

1.4. Command-line interface

Usage: nxSCCMbridge [OPTIONS] source [source, ...] Create, replace or append sources to a SCCM collection.

Options:

• -l, --lastlogin            connect to SCCM server transparently using last login information

  -s,--silent                silent mode
  -h,--help                  show this message and exit
  -c, --collection=VALUE     add sources transparently to the specified collection

  -m, --mode=VALUE           'add': add to existing collection (default); 'replace': replace existing collection

2. Debugging Issues

In some complex scenarios the error messages returned by SCCM Bridge might not be sufficient to identify the cause of a problem. In such cases it is possible to attach a trace listener which outputs detailed diagnostic information to a file. Simply create a file named nxSCCMbridge.exe.config with the content below and copy it in the NEXThink for SCCM install directory:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net" />
  </configSections>
  <log4net>
    <appender name="FileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender">
      <!-- Make sure the following file path is writable by the current user. -->
      <file value="DESTINATION_FILE" />
      <appendToFile value="false" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%property{NDC}] - %message%newline" />
      </layout>
    </appender>
    <root>
      <level value="DEBUG" />
      <appender-ref ref="FileAppender" />
    </root>
  </log4net>
</configuration>

where DESTINATION_FILE is the full path and name of the log file where trace information will be saved (for instance c:\log\Bridge.log).