Delete inactive computers

With the help of scheduled tasks you can purge inactive computer accounts on a periodic basis. Adaxes provides a built-in scheduled task, Inactive computer deleter that locates unused computer accounts, disables them and then deletes after one month. The disable and delete actions require approval from one of the computer owners, or the owners of the organizational unit where the computer account is located. By default, the Inactive computer deleter task is disabled. In this tutorial you will learn how to customize and activate the task.

  1. Launch Adaxes Administration console.

     How { #collapse1}
    • On the computer where Adaxes Administration console is installed, open Windows Start menu.

    • Click Adaxes Administration Console.

  2. Expand Adaxes service \ Configuration \ Scheduled Tasks \ Builtin and select Inactive computer deleter.

  3. The actions performed by the scheduled task will be displayed on the right.

    If a computer account is inactive for more than 12 weeks, the task disables the computer account and marks it as inactive. After a month, if the computer is still inactive and disabled, the task will delete the account.

    To mark a computer as inactive, the task sets the value of the When Marked Inactive property to the current date/time. When Marked Inactive is a virtual property that is available in Adaxes only.

    To check how long a computer has been marked as inactive, the task compares the date stored in the When Marked Inactive property with the current date.

    If necessary, change the number of days you want the task to wait before deleting inactive computers.

     How { #howto_change_days_wait}
    • Right-click the condition and then click Edit Condition in the context menu.

    • In the Condition Parameters section, click the button.

    • Specify how to calculate the date when a computer account must be deleted. For example, if you want the task to wait for a year before deleting accounts, specify minus - 1 year.

    • Click OK two times.

    Approvals

    By default, the task requests approval for the Disable account and Delete account actions. The actions must be approved by any of the computer owners or the owners of the organizational unit where the computer is located. For more details about object ownership in Adaxes, see Object owners.

    You can modify the list of approvers, or remove the approval step from the process.

     How { #howto_configureapprovals}
    • Right-click the action and then click Edit Action in the context menu.

    • At the bottom of the dialog, modify the list of approvers or clear the Get approval for this action checkbox to perform the action without approval.

    • Click OK.

  4. If necessary, configure the scheduled task to perform other actions on inactive computers. For example, you may want the task to move inactive computers to a specific organizational unit.

     How { #howto_add_move_action}
    • Right-click the set of actions and click the Add Action in the context menu.

    • Select the Move the computer action.

    • Specify the container or organizational unit where to move inactive computers.

    • Click OK.

  5. By default, the Inactive computer deleter task is assigned to scope All Objects. It means it will be executed for all computer accounts in all domains managed by Adaxes.

    You can exclude specific computers, groups, organizational units, business units and domains from the activity scope of the task. For example, if you don't want the task to be executed for computer accounts located in a specific organizational unit, you can exclude it from the scope.

     Step by step { #exclude_scope}
    • In the Activity Scope section, click Add.

    • Make sure objects of the desired type are displayed in the list.

    • Click the object you want to exclude.

    • In the Assignment Options dialog, select the Exclude the selection option.

    • Click OK.

    Alternatively, you can apply the task to specific organizational units, groups of computers, business units and domains. To do it, delete the All Objects assignment from the activity scope, and then add the objects you need.

     Step by step { #alternative_assignment}
    • Right-click All Objects, and then click Delete in the context menu.

    • In the Activity Scope section, click Add.

    • Click the object you want to include.

    • Click OK.

  6. Click Save changes.

  7. By default, the Inactive computer deleter task is disabled. To enable the task, right-click it, point to All Tasks, and click Enable.

Any changes made to built-in scheduled tasks can be discarded. To do it, right-click a scheduled task and then click Restore to Initial State in the context menu.