Inventory Reports Filtering documentation is not helpful:

Inventory Reports Filtering documentation is not helpful: ZFD 4.0.1 Generating Inventory Reports, 3. Specify the selection criteria., ZDM 6.5 Generating Inventory Reports, 3. Specify the selection criteria.

The documentation for 6.5 and later has been updated (ZFD 4.x.x will not be). Also, test for current behavior on the lastest code for supported versions of ZENworks. The TID will eventually be obsoleted, but use the following information to get a start with usable queries (provide feedback to this TID if the documentation still needs to be improved):

It looks like the documentation for ZFD 4.x& 6.5 were incomplete as they don't really use working examples and fully explain how to filter.

The documentation does say that: "If the Reporting dialog box allows wildcards, you can use the asterisk (*) or question mark (?) with all selections criteria. The wildcard characters can be used for character data only."

The asterisk (*) is the only wildcard that can be used in some of the Reporting fields--as per development. That means the question mark (?) will not work in some fields. The * and ? require being very clear on where they can/can't be used. The ? should work in the 'Machine Name' field. The Machine Name can be queried by'part(s)' of the 'Machine Name'.

What is 'data'? This needs to be explained/defined.

One weakness of the documentation, it seems, is that the distingushed name (DN) is used in the 'Machine Name'. There doesn't appear to be any other field it could be used in but there is nothing stating that specifically.

The output from a successful query on the Reporting with default * on all fields will display the expected convention needed for user-defined queries. Example: output for 'Machine Name': CN=.OU=WORKSTATIONS.O=NOVELL.C=US.T=LAB110TREE. Use the output in that string and stick to that string format. The"T=" (TREENAME) looks to be required. If "C=" (COUNTRY) is defined, it would also need to be used.

A few examples of test filtering:

1. CN=*.OU=WORKSTATIONS.O=NOVELL.C=US.T=LAB110TREE in the'Machine Name' worked finding all workstations in that context.

2. For a 'Machine Name' of 'LAB110', CN=LAB*.OU=WORKSTATIONS.O=NOVELL.C=US.T=LAB110TREE, didn't work initially. On a second, new tree (rather than the much used & tested migrated old tree) it did work. After checking with development, it is coded to work.

3. Neither did CN=LAB???.OU=WORKSTATIONS.O=NOVELL.C=US.T=LAB110TREE. On a second, new tree (rather than the much used & tested migrated old tree) it did work. After checking with development, it is coded to work.

4. CN=LAB110.* in the 'Machine Name' did find the machine with that name. If that same name was in another context, would it find it? Did not test.

5. On the IP address field, one workstation's IP address is 123.45.67.890. If I used 123.45.67.???, the w/s was found. If 123.45.???.??? (extra ? in the 3rd octet), the w/s with only 2 digits in the 3rd octet was not found. Using 123.45.??.??? worked. I expect if there were workstations with 3 real numbers in the 3rd octet (ex: 123.45.678.999), then 123.45.???.??? would've found all workstations with that format of IP address--didn't test though. You have to use ? for the semi-colon also as the ? is for each character.

Feedback is welcome.

Formerly known as TID# 10098886