Uptime

[AnEngelsen]

I was surprised to learn that FileWave doesn't natively support displaying the "uptime" for any given desktop device.

As such, the following custom field (see attachment) can be applied all desktop devices to show system uptime. (How long it has been since the computer was last last rebooted.)

Uptime.customfields

[Larry Benshoof]

We use Uptime as a custom field as well and have used a Query to generate a list of usernames to email staff reminding them to restart (gentle reminder) and we have created a Smart Group based on the Uptime custom field (we started with over 60 days) and then send a blank fileset with a Reboot requirement and deadline (not so gentle reminder - the email worked better once we rebooted the 60 day + clients) to get the computer restarted. Our team always checks that field when a ticket comes in and we ask the staff to reboot if they haven't recently before we try any other troubleshooting.

[AnEngelsen]

@Larry Benshoof I'm displaying the uptime in a "pretty" format. Does your Uptime custom field display the uptime in seconds? Otherwise, I'm not sure how you would be able to effectively create a smart client group (that contains clients w. an uptime that is higher than 60 days).

[Larry Benshoof]

This is what we have in the custom field to return the uptime in days

uptime | sed -nr 's/^.*up ([0-9]+) day.*$/\1/p'

The data type is an integer and we just look for greater than XX in the Smart Group.

Not sure where I got this. It may have been a compilation of things.

[Sean]

Uptime is probably not a standard inventory item, since it can't be reported accurately.  If a device were on for 10 days and then turned off, the uptime would still report 10 days, even though it is now 0.  Additionally, when you turn the device back on, the check-in time will update straight away, but only at the end of verification, when inventory occurs, could the update time be corrected.  As such, a device could look like it has a much larger uptime than is actually true.  There would be a period of time from the example above, where the uptime may be only minutes, yet it would  still be reporting 10 days and that data would seem like it were correct.  The only sure way to know if the data is current is by comparing the Last Update Time for that particular Field against the actual value, within the Client Info > Device Details.  However, built-in Inventory doesn't provide a Last Update Time, that is a Custom Field thing.

Regarding the reporting, my equivalent Custom Field is a Boot Date and returns a DATE value.  By using the Date data type, you can then use the before/after date, in the last x time frame, etc.  

When creating a query:

• If you define a criteria for the Last Connected date to be within a relatively short time frame (perhaps an hour or two), this will eradicate the devices that are off/offline
• If you define another criteria in the same query for the Last Connected date to be within a much shorter time frame (for example 20 mins) and set this as NOT, any devices that fall into the second category above, may be also excluded from the list.

The second timeframe will be unique to individual setups and to particular events within any one setup (imagine pushing out a really large Fileset, e.g. an Adobe app).  How much runs and how long does it take for devices to update from a verify or model update, is not a simple question.  But this should at least give you a much better idea of actual uptime on devices.

N.B.  Locked clients also won't be able to update their inventory, yet Last Connected can update.  However, FileWave Client Locked is another inventory item that could be added to the query criteria to exclude locked devices.