Setting Up Workstation Inventory

Now that you understand how workstation inventory works, you need to know how to set it up and configure it for your network. Once you have installed the appropriate components and you have your workstation inventory tree design completed, you are ready to begin configuring your network to start scanning workstation data and storing it into the inventory database. The following sections describe the configuration process necessary to implement your tree design.

Configuring the Settings for the Inventory Service Object

The first step in configuring workstation inventory is to configure the settings for the inventory service object. The inventory service object controls how, when, and where the inventory server collects inventory scan data. The following sections discuss how to configure the inventory service object.

Configuring the Inventory Service Object Properties

The first thing you must configure for the inventory service object is the roll, scan data time, and path in the Inventory Service object properties page.

From within ConsoleOne, right-click the inventory service object, click Properties, and then click the Inventory Service Object Properties tab as shown in Figure 13.4. From the Inventory Service Object property page, you can configure the options discussed in the following sections.

Figure 13.4. The Inventory Service Object Properties tab for Inventory Service objects in ConsoleOne.

Modify the Role for the Inventory Service Object

Based on the servers that you have deployed for scanning inventory, you must specify the role of the server. You can select Root Server, Intermediate Server, Leaf Server, or Stand-alone Server based on your inventory configuration.

Discard Scan Data Files at the Specified Date and Time

Set the time at which you want any scan data files (.ZIP files) to be discarded. The scan data files are removed from the server at the time specified in this field. This can be useful in keeping your servers from running out of disk space.

Modify the Path for the Scan Files

When you install ZENworks for Desktops, you specify the volume on the server for storing the scan data files. If required, you can modify the volume or the directory of the Scan Directory (SCANDIR) setting from the Inventory Service Object property page.

To modify the setting, type the location of the new SCANDIR directory path on the server format of the Scan Directory Path, as follows:

\\server_name\volumename\path

NOTE

You cannot modify the server name specified in the SCANDIR path. If you modify the directory, the directory must already exist.

Enable Scanning of Workstations

You must select the Enable Scanning of Workstations option in order to scan the workstations associated with the policy. By default, the scanners collect only hardware information of the workstations.

Enforce Full Scan

When scanning the workstation for the first time the Scanner collects the complete inventory of the workstation. A complete inventory scan of the workstation is referred as a full scan.

After the workstation is inventoried, the next time the scanner runs, it compares the current inventory data to the history data that it maintains. If any changes to the workstation exist, the Scanner creates a delta scan, which collects the changes in inventory since the last scan was reported. The delta scan setting is the default scan operation for each successive scan after the first scanning of the workstation.

If the status log reported by the inventory component indicates that the scanning on the workstation is not successful, you can force a full scan. This policy's settings are applicable for all workstations associated with it. To override this policy, you set this option for an individual workstation.

Configuring the Inventory Service Sync Schedule

Once you have configured the settings on the Inventory Service Object Properties page, you need to configure the sync schedule for the inventory service. The Inventory Sync Service runs on all inventory servers that have inventoried workstations attached to them. The Inventory Sync Service is loaded by the Inventory Service Manager. It removes the redundant or obsolete inventoried workstations from the Inventory database.

Use the following steps in ConsoleOne to configure the Inventory Sync Service Schedule to schedule the Inventory Sync Service to run:

1. Right-click the Inventory Service object and select Properties from the pop-up menu.

2. Select Inventory Service Object tab, Inventory Service Sync Schedule, as shown in Figure 13.5.

   Figure 13.5. The Inventory Service Sync Schedule tab for Inventory Service objects in ConsoleOne.

   

3. Modify the schedule settings to schedule Inventory Sync Service to run at the appropriate time.

4. Click the OK button to apply the settings and close the window.

Configuring the Roll-Up Policy of Scan Data

If your workstation inventory tree design includes multiple levels, you need to configure roll-up of scan data in your inventory setup. You need to specify the details, such as the next-level server for roll-up in the Roll-Up Policy that is contained in the Server Policy Package. Use the steps discussed in the following sections to create and configure a role-up policy for scan data.

Create a Server Package That Contains the Roll-Up Policy for Identifying the Next-Level Server for Roll-Up

1. In ConsoleOne, right-click the Policy Packages container. Click New, click Policy Package, and then click Server Package.

2. Type the name for the Server Package, and click Next. Click Finish.

Enable the Roll-Up Policy in the Server Package and Associate the Server Package

1. In ConsoleOne, right-click the Server Package, and then choose Properties, Policies. Choose one of the following sub-tabs: General, NetWare, Windows, Linux, or Solaris.

2. Check the check box under the Enabled Column for the Roll-Up Policy.

3. Click Properties. The Roll-Up Policy tab should be displayed.

4. Browse to select the DN of the Inventory Service object. Click OK.

5. Next, select the IP address of the inventory server you want to assign the roll-up policy to. You can also specify a proxy server address and port.

6. Click the OK button to assign the roll-up policy.

Schedule the Roll-Up Time

1. In ConsoleOne, right-click the Server Package. Choose Properties, Policies. Then choose one of the following sub-tabs: General, NetWare, Windows, Linux, or Solaris.

2. Choose Roll-Up Policy row, Properties, Roll-Up Policy tab, Roll-Up Schedule. Modify the settings for scheduling the roll-up time. Click OK.

NOTE

While scheduling the roll-up of data in the Inventory Policies, the roll-up frequency should be at least one day. It is likely that if the roll-up frequency is too often, for example less than one hour, there might be some performance degradation of the Inventory server.

Configuring the Policies for the Database

The installation program creates the database object for Sybase and configures the database server. However, you need to set up the associations for the database server.

If you are maintaining the inventory database in Oracle or MS SQL Server, you need to perform the tasks in the following sections before making the associations.

Configure the Database Server Options of the Database Object

1. In ConsoleOne, right-click the Database object. Choose Properties, ZENworks Inventory Database.

2. Browse for the DN of the server or type the server IP address.

3. Use these values for the following options: Database (Read-Write) User Name: MW_DBA; Database(Read-Write) Password: <inventory password>; Database(Read Only) User Name: MW_READER; Database(Read Only) Password: <inventory password>; Database(Write Only) User Name: MW_UPDATER; Database(Write Only) Password: <inventory password>.

4. Click OK.

Ensure That the JDBC Driver Properties Are Correct As Per Your Database Configuration.

1. In ConsoleOne, right-click the Database Object. Choose Properties, and then click Jdbc Driver Information.

2. Click Populate Fields and set the default settings for an Oracle database as shown in Table 13.1.

3. Click Populate Now.

4. Click OK.

Table 13.1. Database Settings for a Sybase Database, an Oracle Database, and an MS SQL Server Database

DATABASE SETTINGS	FOR A SYBASE DATABASE	FOR AN ORACLE DATABASE	FOR AN MS SQL SERVER
Driver	Com.sybase.jdbc.SybDriver	oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver	com.microsoft.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver
Protocol	Jdbc:	jdbc:	jdbc:
SubProtocol:	Sybase:	oracle:	microsoft:
SubName:	Tds:	thin:@	sqlserver:11
Port:	2638	1521	1433
Flags:	?ServiceName=mgmtdbs&JCONNECT_VERSION=4
SID Service Name (Service ID of the Oracle database)	-	Orcl

Once you have completed the steps for creating the inventory database in Oracle or MS SQL, or if you are simply using the Sybase database, use the following steps to associate the server.

Create the Service Location Package to Associate the Database Object with this Package.

You must set up the ZENworks database policy to establish the location of the database; otherwise, no information can be logged to the database. To establish the service location of the database, use the following steps:

1. In ConsoleOne, right-click the Policy Packages container. Click New, Policy Package, Service Location Package. Click Next.

2. Type the name for the Service Location Package. Click Next.

3. Click Finish.

Configure the Service Location Policy and Associate the Database with the Policy

1. In ConsoleOne, right-click the Service Location Package. Choose Properties, and then click the Policies tab.

2. Check the check box under the Enabled column for the ZENworks database policy.

3. Click Properties.

4. Browse to the DN of the ZENworks Database object and click OK to accept the object. Click OK again to close the ZENworks Database properties window.

5. Select the Associations tab, and then click the Add button.

6. Browse to select the container under which the Database Object is present. Click OK twice.

Configuring the Inventory Policies for Workstations

Once you have configured the server database and service location policies, you need to configure the inventory policies for the workstation. In the Workstation Inventory Policy, you configure the following settings for scanning workstations:

• Scanning time at the workstations

• Inventory server to which the workstations send scanned data

• Include software scanning of workstations

• List software applications for scanning

Use the following steps to configure the Workstation Inventory Policy. First, you need to create a policy package for the workstations:

1. In ConsoleOne, right-click the Container. Click New, Policy Package. Click Workstation Package, and then click Next.

2. Type the name for the Workstation Package. Click Next. Click Finish.

Enable and Associate the Workstation Inventory Policy

1. In ConsoleOne, right-click the Workstation Package. Click Properties, Policies. Click one of the following sub-tabs: Win95-98, WinNT, Win2000, or WinXP.

2. Check the Enable the Workstation Inventory Policy. Click OK.

3. Click the Associations tab, and then choose Add.

4. Select the container object under which the workstations are registered. Click OK twice.

Specify the Inventory Server to Which the Scanner Will Send the Workstation Scan Data

1. In ConsoleOne, right-click the Workstation Package. Choose Properties, Policies. Then click one of the following sub-tabs: Win95-98, WinNT, Win2000, or WinXP.

2. Select the Workstation Inventory Policy row, Properties, and then the Workstation Inventory tab.

3. Configure the Workstation Inventory Policy as described in the next section.

4. Click OK.

Schedule the Time for Activating the Scanning at the Workstations

1. In ConsoleOne, right-click the Workstation Package, and then click Properties, Policies. Choose one of the following sub-tabs: Win95-98, WinNT, Win2000, or WinXP.

2. Click the Workstation Inventory Policy row, Properties. Select the Policy Schedule tab.

3. Modify the settings for scheduling the scan of the workstations. Click OK twice.

Ensure That Scanning Is Enabled

1. In the Inventory Service Object property page, you enable the scan of the workstations associated with the selected Inventory server.

2. From ConsoleOne, right-click the Inventory Service object (servername_ZenInvService), and then click Properties. Choose the Inventory Service Object Properties tab.

3. Check Enable Scan of Workstations. Click OK.

Once you have finished configuring the workstation inventory policies for workstations, make the following checks in your environment to make certain that the inventory scanning process can complete properly:

• If you have configured the inventory server as a Windows NT/ 2000 server and Windows 98 workstations are present that will send their scan data to that Windows NT/2000 server, you must do the following for the scanners to collect data:

  • If eDirectory users are present who are also Windows NT/2000 domain users, ensure that the users logged in are valid users of the Windows NT/2000 domain in the existing share created by ZENworks.

  • If users are logged into a different domain, ensure that the users are trusted users of the domain in the existing share created by ZENworks.

  • If eDirectory users are present who are not users of any Windows NT/2000 domain, ensure that the users do not log in to eDirectory during workstation start up. However, these users can log in to eDirectory later.

Configuring the Workstation Inventory Policy

The Workstation Inventory Policy allows you to configure which inventory service that workstations associated with this workstation policy package use. It also allows you to enable and configure hardware and software scanning.

To configure the Server Inventory Policy for a workstation policy package, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the package and select Properties from the drop-down menu.

2. Select the Policies tab for the operating system you want to configure. ZENworks for Desktops 4 allows you to select Win95/98, WinNT, Win2000, WinXP, or general.

3. Enable the Workstation Inventory Policy by checking the box next to it.

4. Select the Workstation Inventory Policy and click the Properties button to bring up the Workstation Inventory Policy Properties window.

The following sections discuss how to configure the Workstation Inventory Policy from this window.

Configure General Settings for the Workstation Inventory Policy

The first step in configuring the Workstation Inventory Policy is to configure which inventory service that workstations associated with this policy will use. Select the General tab in the Workstation Inventory Policy panel as shown in Figure 13.6 and configure the following settings:

• Inventory Server Object DN Use the browse button to navigate through the eDirectory tree and locate the correct roll-up schedules and locations configured for servers associated with this Workstation Policy Package.

• Force Full Scan Schedule Once you have selected the Inventory Server Object, you need to specify, in the Force Full Scan Schedule field, the number of delta scans that will occur before a full scan is required.

Figure 13.6. General settings in the Workstation Inventory Policy panel.

Configure Hardware Scan

Next, you need to configure hardware scanning by selecting the Hardware Scan tab, shown in Figure 13.7, and setting the following options:

• Enable DMI Scan Enables ZENworks to collect hardware inventory data from Windows workstations using the Desktop Management Interface (DMI) 2.0 specification.

• Enable WMI Scan Enables ZENworks for Desktops 4 to collect hardware inventory data from Windows workstations using the Web-based Management Interface (WMI) 1.5 specification.

• Enable Custom Scanning Allows you to enable custom hardware scanning and specify a custom scan executable to be run on inventoried workstations.

• Custom Attribute Editor Allows you to specify a list of custom hardware attributes that should be scanned during the workstation scanning process.

Figure 13.7. Hardware inventory settings for the Workstation Inventory Policy.

Configure Software Scan

Next, you need to configure software scanning. From the Software Scan tab, shown in Figure 13.8, you can enable the following software inventory options:

• Enable Software Scan Enables software scanning on workstations associated with this Workstation Policy Package.

• Product Identification Numbers Scans for product identification numbers of applications that are installed on inventoried workstations. The product identification number can be extremely useful in sorting and organizing inventory software reports.

• Product Location Allows you to specify software scanning to include scanning of the full path of the product executable installed on the inventoried workstations.

• Perform Custom Scanning only Allows you to specify software scanning to scan only for the software defined by the custom scan editor.

• Custom Scan Editor You can click on the Custom Scan Editor button to bring up the Custom Scan Editor window discussed later in this chapter.

Figure 13.8. Software Scan settings for the Workstation Inventory Policy for a Workstation Policy Package.

Configure the Configuration Editor

Once you have enabled and configured software scanning, you can modify the .INI file that ZENworks for Desktops 4 uses when reporting software inventory. Do this by selecting the Configuration Editor tab, shown in Figure 13.9. You can edit the SWRules file by clicking on the Set Default button to open the default file and then modifying the entries. ZENworks will use this file when you create inventory reports.

Figure 13.9. Configuration Editor for the Workstation Inventory Policy for a Workstation Policy Package.

If you are modifying the Workstation Inventory policy for Windows, the Configuration Editor tab will have a drop-down arrow allowing you to modify the entries in the .INI files for Zipped Names. This allows you to specify the manufacturer of software being used to zip files as well as the identifiers that they are using for the zipped files.

You can also modify the entries in the .INI file for Asset Information. You can specify the DMI classnames and attributes for things such as a workstation model, model number, serial number, and computer type.