Symantec Connect - SMP - Altiris Agent

In this Article I'm going to explain how to send a message to the Altiris Agent via a Task, this is possible due to a method within the Agent called DisplayBalloon.

Remote onto your SMP/Altiris Server

Go to the ASDK Help file

"[Install Drive]:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris ASDK\Help\ASDK7.6.chm"

Open and search for "DisplayBalloon"

Cause the agent to display a message to the user. Namespace: Altiris.ASDK.Agent
Assembly: Altiris.ASDK.Agent (in Altiris.ASDK.Agent.dll)

public Object DisplayBalloon(string title,string message,int iconType,int timeout
)

Parameters
title
Type: System...String
Text to display in the balloon title.
message
Type: System...String
Text to display as the balloon message.
iconType
Type: System...Int32
Id number of the icon to display.
timeout
Type: System...Int32
Number of seconds to display the balloon.

Return Value
A handle to the balloon.

DisplayBalloon

So create a vbs file (SendNotificationTask.vbs):

We need a few objects to work with so we will set them first.

'Altiris Agent - Send Notification Task
Set objAltirisAgent = Nothing
Set objWshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

Next we wan to check if the Altiris Agent exists:

Dim strAltirisDir, strAltirisReg
strAltirisDir = "c:"
strAltirisReg = "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris Agent\InstallDir"
if RegVerify(strAltirisReg) then
    strAltirisDir = objWshShell.RegRead(strAltirisReg)
end if
If objFSO.FileExists(strAltirisDir & "\AeXAgentActivate.exe") Then
    set objAltirisAgent = CreateObject("Altiris.AeXClient")
else
    set objAltirisAgent = Nothing
End if

We can do this with a method to verify the Registry key exists and check that folder.

Public Function RegVerify(ByVal sRegEntry)
    On Error Resume next
    Dim WSH, sKeyTmp
    Set WSH = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
    sKeyTmp = WSH.RegRead (sRegEntry)
    if err.number=0 then
        RegVerify = True
    else
        RegVerify = False               
    end if
    err.clear
    On Error goto 0
End Function

Registry Editor - Altiris Agent

Next we want to create a function to display a message

sub AltirisBubble(strTitle, strMsg, intIcon, intTime)
    if numLoggedinUsers() => 0 then
        if not objAltirisAgent Is Nothing then
            dim sessmgr, sessions, session, cookie
            set sessmgr = objAltirisAgent.SessionManager
            set sessions = sessmgr.Sessions
            set session = sessions.Item ( 0 )
            
            cookie = session.DisplayBalloon ( "", "", intIcon, 0, Nothing)
            WScript.Sleep 10
            cookie = session.DisplayBalloon ( strTitle, strMsg, intIcon, intTime, Nothing)
            set sessmgr = Nothing
            set sessions = Nothing
            set session = Nothing
        end if
    else
        'Log
    end if
end sub

To change the Icon on the Message pass in one of the following numbers

0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

'intIcon info
' 0 = No Icon
' 1 = Information Icon
' 2 = Warning Icon
' 3 = Error Icon
' 4 = Altiris

AltirisBubble "No Icon", "There is No Icon", 0, 10

Agent Message - No Icon

AltirisBubble "Information Icon", "Information Icon", 1, 10

Agent Message - Info

AltirisBubble "Warning Icon", "Warning Icon", 2, 10

Agent Message - Warning

AltirisBubble "Error Icon", "Error Icon", 3, 10

Agent Message - Error

AltirisBubble "Altiris", "Altiris", 4, 10

Agent Message - Altiris

AltirisBubble "Test", "Warning Big", 5, 10

Agent Message - Warning (Big)

AltirisBubble "Test", "Error Big", 6, 10

Agent Message - Error (Big)

Another helper method we can use is to get the number of logged in users

Function numLoggedinUsers()
    Dim objWMIService
    Dim intUserLoggin
    
    strComputer = "."  
    Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _  
        & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")  
        Set colComputer = objWMIService.ExecQuery _  
        ("Select * from Win32_ComputerSystem") 
        
    intUserLoggin = 0
    
    For Each objComputer in colComputer
        if objComputer.UserName <> "" then
            intUserLoggin = intUserLoggin + 1
        end if
    Next
    numLoggedinUsers = intUserLoggin
End Function

You can now create this as a Task in the SMP and add it to a Job, beginning/end to display a message to the User.

At the moment the message is hardcoded which doesn't make it very flexible, why not use a Task Parameter?

Adding a variable into the script is done by enclosing your Paramter name in "%!" and "!%"

"%!Message!%"

We can now replace the script to have

AltirisBubble "%!Title!%", "%!Message!%", 1, 10

And now you can choose which Title and Message you want in each task you create.