SMS: PREINST /SYNCPARENT Leaves Blank Records in Machine Groups (190949)

SYMPTOMS

When you perform a PREINST /SYNCPARENT to update inventory at a parent site, records that are deleted from the child site may result in blank records in your Systems Management Server machine groups on the parent site.

CAUSE

When the PREINST /SYNCPARENT process runs, the child site sends all of its inventory to the parent. When the parent processes this inventory, it will remove any records from its database that have been deleted on the child site. When the parent site deletes these records, it does not check to see if the deleted computers are members of any Systems Management Server machine groups. The machine groups will be left with blank records that point to the computers that were deleted.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, try any one of the following:

Manually delete each record from the Parent sites when they are deleted from the child site. -or-
After going through the PREINST /SYNCPARENT process, look at each machine group on the parent site and delete any blank records. -or-
Use the DELMIF trigger to automatically delete all computers from the parent when a computer is deleted from the child site. For more information on the DELMIF trigger, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base;
188051 SMS: Delmif.exe Syntax, Description, and Usage

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Systems Management Server version 1.2. We are researching this problem and will post additional information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.