I can no longer run reports of my client computers

Question

RDC 3.2.2 I recently need to run some reports of all my client computers. First, I attempted to run report of several computers. It never got beyond "Waiting for report data", so, I attepted to do separate clients, one at a time. Same result. All users are upgraded to the current client. Users are on a 1000BaseT network. Thought it may be 10.5.6 update related, but not all of my users are on Leopard. I have testing a variety of different clinet configs and I cannot generate a report.

Answer 1

Starting on May 29th, 2008, I noticed that some of the computers that have been added to ARD were showing up with their IP address as 0.0.0.0. Some of the systems could have reports done for them while other would not. At the time, out of 140 computers currently listed, only 120 returned reports.
After troubleshooting I called Apple to attempt to figure out where this problem may reside. Apple indicated that the IP numbers would get zeroed out when another device takes over the IP address of the client computer. This made sense since we were setup via DHCP. They could not determine why the reporting was not functioning without further troubleshooting through Enterprise support. This would require funding to get additional support.
On January 22nd, 2009 I called Apple support back and started the support via their Enterprise support. The technician asked if we were using spanning tree with our network switches. I verified with the network team that we are using multicast spanning tree for Semantic Ghost. The technician also asked that I set up ARD on another test computer to see if the problem occurs with that system as well.
On February 5th I setup both a second system for ARD Admin and a test client computer. In Mid February I set up the SQL database used by ARD to be accessed but other applications, such as a PHP webpage. This would allow me to see what information was in the database without needing to use ARD admin.
By March 5, I had completed my tests and determined that the information is still being lost using this second computer setup. Keep in mind that the test client computer had been turned off by mid February so its network IP number would be release for another device to use. A few days before I had created a second account on the test ARD admin computer and re-imported the original list of systems used when this test started. This second account did not have the ARD test client computer added into ARD admin. This would allow for reports to be collected for a few days on this system. I then went back to the original account for ARD admin on March 5 and attempted to run the report for the test client. In ARD admin I was not able to acquire any report information. I was, however, able to see the data using the PHP webpage I have created earlier.
I called Apple back to continue troubleshooting this problem. Remember that we had paid for support for this problem, $199. The technician indicated that the case had been resolved and closed. I explained that the issue was not resolved and troubleshooting was still ongoing. The technician remained adamant that the case was resolved and would not open a new case for further support.
I spoke with my Technical Director in regards to this. We both called Apple Enterprise support back to see if we could get further support for this unresolved issue. The technician did give us a bit of support, however, he continued to insist that we were adding the client computers in via IP and this was causing our problems. We explained exactly how we have been adding computers into ARD admin; by scanning them through our network and dragging them to the main list, not by adding them by direct IP. The technician then continued to be unclear as to how to go about correcting this situation of lost data. He indicated that when the client computer's IP was taken over by another device the only way to get the client to report again was to remove and re-add the client back in.
According to the document "ARD 3.1 Admin Guide.pdf"; Chapter 8 page 104, in the section titled "Installing Software on Offline Computers", paragraph 2, it states "When the client comes online, it contacts the Task Server and notifies it of its network state and any setting changes (like a DHCP-assigned IP address change)." Even after reading this statement to the technician he still was not clear as to why the client computers did not update their IP information correctly (from their current 0.0.0.0 IP) when reconnected back to the network.
Because information is continuing to become lost Apple Remote Desktop is not meeting the needs of our department and the community college for tracking the Macintosh hardware currently in use. It may take an extended time to retrieve requested information if this data does not get reported on in ARD admin. Currently, one of my coworkers is in the process of creating a whitepaper to include alternatives for asset management for the Macintosh community.