Generally speaking there usually isn’t a need to import MAC addresses into BatchPatch because you can use Actions > Get Information > Get MAC address to retrieve the MAC addresses for hosts that are in the grid. However, there are still times where you might need or want to import MAC addresses. For example, maybe your machines are not on the network at the time that you want to add the MACs to BatchPatch, or it’s possible that using the ‘Get MAC address’ action is retrieving the MAC address for a different network adapter than you want to use for Wake On LAN.
With regard to notes, you may very well want to populate the ‘Notes’ column in BatchPatch with instructions or notes about computers in the grid. There are a couple of different ways to accomplish this task.
Import Notes or MACs When You Import Hosts
The process for adding MAC addresses or notes is very simple. You can import directly from a text file or by simply typing directly into the ‘Add hosts’ dialog, which is accessed under File > Add hosts
The format that you need to use is as follows:
host1|Notes for host1
host2|Notes for host2
host3#1CF6565D4631
host4#C16F342E3521
host5#D2FF245C1432|Notes for host5
host6#D2DC425C1432|Notes for host6
If you copy the above text exactly as it is written and then paste it into the File > Add hosts dialog, you’ll see that the hosts, MACs, and notes are all entered at once into the BatchPatch grid. The following screenshot illustrates this:
If you instead paste the above text into a .txt file, you can simply use the File > Open to browse to the .txt file and import it. The results will be identical to the screenshot above.
Import Notes or MACs for Hosts that Already Exist in the Grid
If you already have a grid that’s populated with hosts but you want to add MACs or Notes to that existing grid, the process is almost identical to the steps outlined above. The only difference in this case is that instead of using File > Open or File > Add hosts, you’ll need to first highlight the hosts that you want to import notes or MACs for, and then use Actions > Import notes or MAC addresses.
The format of the .txt file for importing notes should be:
host1|Notes for host1
host2|Notes for host2
host3|Notes for host3
host4|Notes for host4
The format of the .txt file for importing MACs should be:
host1#1CF6565D4631
host2#D2FF245C1432
host3#D2DC425C1432
host4#C16F342E3521
That’s all there is to it. Some admins like to keep one big master .txt file list of all Hosts|Notes, and then when it’s time to start patching they simply setup their BatchPatch instances and import the notes. This is preferable in some instances to manually editing cells.