Documentation forWeb Help Desk

Configure the Apple Remote Desktop 3.3 and later settings

Using Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) 3.3 requires no additional configuration on the SQLite database to create the connection.

  1. Install Apple Remote Desktop on the Web Help Desk server.
  2. Beginning in version 3.3, Apple Remote Desktop uses a local SQLite database to store report data. Install Apple Remote Desktop on the same system as Web Help Desk to sync inventory data.

  3. Start Apple Remote Desktop and ensure that the application scans for systems.
  4. Open Remote Desktop and select the systems to import.
  5. Navigate to Report > System Overview and click Run to run a System Overview Report.
  6. ARD does not remove systems from the database when they are no longer included in a System Overview report. Remove any retired assets from ARD before synchronizing with Web Help Desk.

  7. Log in to the Web Help Desk Administrator Console.
  8. Click Setup > Assets > Discovery Connections.
  9. Click New.
  10. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for this connection.

  11. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select Apple Remote Desktop.

  12. In the Remote Desktop Version row, select 3.3 or later.

  13. Enter the location of the Apple Remote Desktop SQLite database on the Web Help Desk server.

    The default location is:

    /var/db/RemoteManagement/RMDB/rmdb.sqlite3

    When you configure this field, use the following guidelines:

    • Ensure that the user can read the database. Click Setup > General > System Information to view the system information.
    • SQLite does not support TCP/IP connections. As a result, the SQLite database must be accessible from the local machine accessing Web Help Desk. Since Remote Desktop creates the SQLite database on the same machine running the System Overview report, run the report using Remote Desktop located on the same server running Web Help Desk. Otherwise, copy the database file to the Web Help Desk server.
    • If you are using a custom Web Help Desk configuration with multiple instances on multiple servers, ensure that the database is on same server running the daemon instance. Also, configure this Discovery Connection from an instance running on the same server. Otherwise, you may receive an invalid error stating that the database file cannot be found.

  14. Select a synchronization schedule that determines how often Web Help Desk collects properties from the discovered endpoints. To disable automatic synchronization, select Every but do not select a day of the week.

  15. Select the checkbox to ignore blank values encountered mapping fields of the discovery tool. Otherwise, deselect this checkbox.

  16. Select the checkbox to synchronize assets found in the discovery connection with the existing assets in Web Help Desk. Otherwise, leave this checkbox unchecked.

  17. Select an action to take if an asset currently in the Web Help Desk database is not found by the discovery tool.

  18. Click the Attribute Mapping tab and click Edit.
  19. Map the desired custom asset fields to ARD’s attributes.

    The asset attributes are different for each discovery tool, mapping directly to the values in the discovery tool database.

  20. Click Save.
  21. Click Assets > Search Assets to view your imported assets.