Auto generate computer name (increment)

Question

Hi,

One of our requirement is to automaticaly generate computer names, in a incremental way.

For instance

Computer0001
Computer0002
Computer0003

I was unable to do that with Adaxes so far.

This is what I tried:
- I create a custom action "Create computer" in the web interface
- I removed computer name in the input form
- I made sure that computer name was not marked as required in any Property pattern
- I created the following Business rule:
Target: All object
Before creating a computer
$Context.SetModifiedPropertyValue("cn","TEST")
$Context.SetModifiedPropertyValue("samAccountName","TEST$")
$Context.SetModifiedPropertyValue("displayName","TEST$")
# Constant test is for testing purpose

The web page gives me the following error: Name is not specified for the new object

Any idea is welcome.

Answer 1

Hello,

The thing is that you cannot create a computer without the Computer Name (cn) property specified. Also, you cannot set the Computer Name property with a script, you should set the Name property instead. What we suggest is that you add a predefined field to your Home Page Action that will set the Computer Name for every newly created computer to a certain random value. Then, with the help of your Business Rule, you will set the Computer Name to the value that you need. To do this:

1. Launch the Web Interface Configuration tool.
2. In the Interface type drop-down list, select the Web Interface, for which you've configured the Home Page Action that creates computers.
3. Click Configure Home Page Actions.
   
4. Double-click the Home Page Action that you will use to create new computers.
5. Switch to the Form Customization tab.
   
6. In the Predefined Fields section, click Add.
   
7. Select the Computer Name property in the Property name list.
8. Specify a template for random computer name generation in the Default value field, for example, Computer%adm-RandomInteger,6%. %adm-RandomInteger% is a value reference that will be replaced with a random integer. For more information on value references, see Value Reference Format. Also, remember, that a computer name cannot consist of numbers only.
   
9. Click OK 4 times.

Also, you'll need a modified version of the script. For example:

$Context.SetModifiedPropertyValue("name","TEST")
$Context.SetModifiedPropertyValue("samAccountName","TEST$")
$Context.SetModifiedPropertyValue("displayName","TEST$")

As to generating incremental computer names, take a look at the Validate/Modify User Input Using a Script Tutorial. In Example 2 on the 5th step of the tutorial you will find how to accomplish a similar task for usernames.

Comments

Thanks for the idea!

I gave a try and it works as expected. Clever application!

The only downsides of this solution I can think of are the some real unlikely racing conditions and the log overhead; but we don't mind.

Thanks again

---

Hello,

There shouldn't be any log overhead, as the only thing that will be logged additionally is that a script was run on computer creation. Also, no additional changes are made to your Active Directory as changing of the computer name by the script is performed before creating the computer, that is, before any data is committed to Active Directory.