Setting up MetaLAN and ProbeServer on your network.

Version 1

http://www.hammer-software.com
http://www.hammer-software.com/articles/guides/psmlguide/psmlguide.html

(MetaLAN was formerly named BlackProbe)

Before you start there are a few things you will need :

A network account that has administrative privileges on the computers you want to manage (Usually an account in the “domain admin” group). This is the account that the ProbeServer service will run in so if you already have an account that you use for other services with the same requirements you can use that. If you are creating an account for this use you would usually set the password to not expire on this account. If the password does expire then the ProbeServer Service will stop working.
A computer to run the ProbeServer Service on. This is usually a server computer. ProbeServer will happily reside with other server type programs. ProbeServer is generally pretty light on the computer it runs on however the more client computers you have the more resources the ProbeServer Service will require. We recommend that you install and test this on a test computer before you decide where it will reside permanently.
The latest versions of both products from Hammer Software.

MetaLAN http://dl.hammer-software.com/metalan.zip

ProbeServer http://dl.hammer-software.com/pserve.zip
A computer attached to the network to setup the ProbeServer Service from. This does not need to be the computer you want to run the ProbeServer Service on, the service can be “pushed” to any computer that you have administrative privileges on.
You may want a printed copy of this document for reference.

Installing the software.

Run the MetaLAN setup and accept the default settings.
If you have registered MetaLAN you will need to activate MetaLAN now by running the activation file that you received from Hammer Software when you purchased the client licenses. Because ProbeServer uses the MetaLAN license if you do not activate MetaLAN now the ProbeServer Service will be installed with temporary license. When you have run it select the MetaLAN installation and click the Activate button. If you purchased client licenses for BlackProbe you can receive an updated activation file by emailing the old registration file to metalanupdate@hammer-software.com
Run the ProbeServer setup and accept the default settings.

Configuring the ProbeServer Service.

ProbeServer Manager will be launched at the end of the setup this is where you will install and configure the ProbeServer Service on the computer of your choice.

If ProbeServer Manager has not launched automatically it can be found in the ProbeServer program group.

When you run ProbeServer Manager you will be presented with the following screen:

Click the [Setup/update wizard] button to begin the installation of the service.

Select a computer to run the service on

If you know the name of the machine you wish to install the service on you may type this in directly. If not, click the Browse button in order to select a computer from the computers on your network.

When you have made your selection click [next] to continue.

Select the service account details

Enter the account that has administrative privileges on the computers you wish to collect information from. Enter the domain it belongs to, the account name and the password for the account.

Click [Next] to continue.

Select the domain(s) you want the service to probe

Check one or more Domains the unchecked domains will be ignored by the service.

Click [Next] to continue.

Including/Excluding computers

You may nominate to use an include or an exclude list. With an include list, only the computers contained in the list will be probed. All other computers in the selected domains(s) will be ignored. With an exclude list, all computers in the selected domains will be probed except for the computers in the list.

If you wish to take advantage of one of these features click the appropriate radio button and then click the [edit Include/Exclude list] button and the you will be given the opportunity to select computers to add to the list. You can choose from computers on the network, computers in a text file or you may manually add computer names.

When are satisfied with your selection click [next].

Completing the installation

You may click the [Back] button at any time during the setup to adjust or view your configuration. When you are satisfied that the configuration is correct, click the [Finish] button to complete the installation.

You will receive two notification messages - one informing you that the account has been granted "logon as a service right" and the second message informing you that the installation has completed successfully.

Close ProbeServer Manager now.

Configuring MetaLAN to use ProbeServer.

To make MetaLAN use the ProbeServer Service as it's data source you need to configure MetaLAN to run in Server mode.

Start MetaLAN. MetaLAN can be found in the MetaLAN program group.

Select settings under the Options menu to open the Configuration page.

Click the Search for ProbeServer button to make MetaLAN auto configure itself to use the new ProbeServer Service. If MetaLAN does not find the Server running the service or if there is more than one computer running the ProbeServer Service you may need to configure MetaLAN manually. To manually configure MetaLAN to use the new service check the Server radio button and enter the name of the computer running the service in the ProbeServer name field.

To save the new settings click the Accept button. MetaLAN will now load information about the computers on your network for the ProbeServer.

Please direct all comments and question to support@hammer-hammer-software.com