How a status Management Information Format (MIF) file produced by the ISMIF32.exe file is processed in SMS 2.0 (268791)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0
This article was previously published under Q268791

SUMMARY

When you perform a software distribution, you may want to define a custom status Management Information Format (MIF) file to be returned after the advertisement has run. This can be accomplished by using the Ismif32.exe file from the Microsoft BackOffice Resource Kit version 1.0.

The status MIF file is collected by the client agent, Smsapm32, and reported to the database if the following criteria are correct:
  1. The time and date recorded on the status MIF file are between the time and date that Smsapm32 starts and ends the advertisement.
  2. The information on the Reporting tab in Package Properties in the SMS administrator's console matches the status MIF file.

MORE INFORMATION

The Ismif32.exe file has the following command-line switches:

-f = MIF file name (no drive letter or extension, test)
-p = Product name
-c = The manufacturer or publisher of your package
-v = The version of your status MIF
-d = The description of your status message
-s = 0 or 1 with 0 (zero) being failed and 1 being success
-q = Quiet mode, no output is displayed on the screen

The following information is a map of the command parameters and the fields that they map to, as they are listed in the Reporting tab:

MIF file name = Value entered for -f
Name = Value entered for -p
Version = Value entered for -v
Publisher = Value entered for -c

The following is an example of an Ismif32 command line (and its corresponding log entries) that creates a status MIF file: 
ISMIF32 -f test -p "SMS" -c "Microsoft" -v "2.0 SP2" -d "This test was a success" -s 1

Sched data : MIF file spec "C:\Temp\Test.mif"~ $$
Sched data : MIF file spec "C:\Winnt\Test.mif"~ $$
Sched data : Checking MIF file "C:\Winnt\Test.mif"~ $$
Sched data : MIF file manufacturer "Microsoft"~ $$
Sched data : MIF file product "SMS"~ $$
Sched data : MIF file version "2.0 SP2"~ $$
Sched data : MIF file locale ""~ $$
Sched data : MIF file status "Success"~ $$
Sched data : MIF file description "This test was a success"~ $$
Sched data : Found MIF file match: "C:\Winnt\Test.mif"~ $$

Note If the last line is not present, the status MIF file was not written to the database. Smsapm32 looks for the MIF file in both the Temp and Windows NT directories.

After the MIF file is written to the database, you are able to use advertisement status messages to see it. To do this, right-click the advertisement status message and click Show All Messages. Locate the message ID 10009. This is your custom status MIF message.

REFERENCES

The Ismif32.exe file is also discussed in the Systems Management Resource Guide, Supplement, Chapter Four. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

186415 Status MIF creator, Ismif32.exe is available

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:1/15/2006
Keywords:kbAdvertisement kbConfig kbinfo kbPackage kbReport kbsmsUtil kbStatSum KB268791
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