SMS Object Generator Overview

SMS Object Generator is an extremely flexible tool. The major tasks you can perform when using this tool are as follows:

Set parameters for each type of object that you generate.

Examples of these parameters include the total number of objects to generate, the site code, and the unique identifier of the synthetic resource that will appear to have generated the object. You can set the parameters for each type of object, whether or not the check box for that object type is selected.

Set options that affect all objects.

Examples of these settings include limits on the number of objects generated and whether Object Generator operations are reported in a log file. Option settings also control whether objects are written directly to the directory where they would appear in a production site or to a temporary directory from which they can be copied later.

Start an SMS Object Generator session from the SMS Object Generator window.

Every time you start the SMS Object Generator, it opens and runs in its own Generate: <Object Type> window and continues until the schedules for the objects generated in that session have all expired, or until you close the Generate: <Object Type> window. After you start a session, you can return the SMS Object Generator window to prepare and start additional sessions.

Each session generates the objects whose check boxes are selected in the Objects to Generate box at the time the session is started, using the current parameters for that object type. The options settings in effect when the session is started affect all objects generated in that session. After a session is started, you can change any parameters or options and start a new session.

Save all current object parameters and option settings in an initialization (.ini) file.

Later, you can open this file to use these parameters and settings as they are, or as starting points for slightly different parameters and settings. You can prepare several of these initialization files before your pilot project is set up so they will be ready to use as soon as your pilot site is ready.

For tests to be meaningful, you should generate objects in your pilot project in the order that you will generate them in your production site. For example, in a production site, discovery methods typically generate discovery data records (DDRs) that identify client candidates before hardware inventory is collected at the client and reported to the site server. In the unlikely event that hardware inventory arrives before the DDR for the client has been processed, SMS holds and reprocesses the hardware inventory file until the client appears in the SMS site database. In your pilot site, you must also produce a DDR for each client before you produce inventory objects for those clients. If the inventory objects are produced first, an atypical load will be produced when the inventory files are reprocessed.

Typically, when you first set up your pilot project, you should begin by loading your site with as many full objects as you expect your clients to generate. For example, if you expect your site to have 2,000 Windows 98 clients and 3,000 Windows NT 4.0 clients, you would begin by generating DDRs for these clients, so that the clients are recorded in the SMS site database.

After the clients are added to the database, run SMS Object Generator again to generate complete hardware inventory and software inventory records. Use the same globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) you used when you generated the DDRs, so that inventory data is included in each client record. With the complete inventories in place, you can run SMS Object Generator as many times as needed to schedule the generation of new DDRs, delta software inventory files, and delta hardware inventory files, all using the same GUIDs as you used to generate the initial DDRs. By reusing the same set of GUIDs, you maintain the original 5,000 client records in the SMS site database, and simulate the activity those clients would generate in a functioning production site because software and hardware changes were made to the client.

Optionally, you can generate all of these objects in a single session by adjusting the schedules of the various objects so they are generated in the proper sequence.

To test for high load, generate hardware inventory deltas that are 100 percent of the complete hardware inventory file size and generate software inventory deltas with the same number of files as the complete software inventory. A slider in the SMS Object Generator user interface allows you to select the file size of delta hardware inventory objects, as a percentage of the complete hardware inventory file size. For software inventory, a similar slider allows you to specify the number of files reported.