Root Server

The Root Server has the following characteristics:

• This server is the topmost Inventory server in the inventory tree hierarchy.
• This server has an Inventory database attached to it.

  Choose Root Server to store the inventory information for your enterprise in a centralized database.The Inventory database at the Root Server contains the inventory information for all lower-level Inventory servers.

  The following illustration depicts Leaf Servers connected to the Intermediate Server with Database. The Intermediate Server is attached to the Root Server.

  
  

Root Server with Inventoried Workstations

The Root Server with Inventoried Workstations has the following characteristics:

• This server is the topmost Inventory server in the inventory tree hierarchy.
• This server has an Inventory database and inventoried workstations attached to it. We recommend that you deploy these inventoried workstations in a LAN.

Choose Root Server with Inventoried Workstations if you want to store the inventory information of your enterprise in a centralized database and if you have inventoried workstations in the same site as the Root Server. You can directly send the inventory information from these workstations to the Root Server. The Inventory database at the Root Server with Inventoried Workstations contains the inventory information for all these inventoried workstations as well as for all the lower-level Inventory servers.

The following illustration depicts a Root Server with inventoried workstations and Inventory database attached to it. The Leaf Servers are connected to the Root Server.

Intermediate Server

The Intermediate Server has the following characteristics:

• This Inventory server acts as a staging server for the lower-level Leaf Servers.
• The server moves the inventory information to the next-level Inventory server.
• This server does not have inventoried workstations or an Inventory database attached to it.
• There can be one or more Intermediate Servers in your enterprise.

Place Intermediate Servers on sites where the link parameters change substantially. The Intermediate Server stores the scan files to the disk to make up for the difference in bandwidth and reliability.

The following illustration depicts an Intermediate Server connected to Root Server. Two Leaf Servers roll up the inventory information to the Intermediate Server. This Intermediate Server rolls up the inventory information to another Intermediate Server that is connected to the Root Server.

In the illustration, there are many Leaf Servers and Intermediate servers at different levels. The Intermediate server is a staging server for uploading the scan information to the next-level server. The last Intermediate Server is attached to the topmost Root Server. This scenario is typical if there are many Leaf Servers in different geographical locations. All the Leaf Servers move the inventory information to the Intermediate Server.

In some scenarios, the Leaf Server connects to the Intermediate Server over a WAN.

Intermediate Server with Database

The Intermediate Server with Database has the following characteristics:

• This Inventory server acts as a staging server for the lower-level Leaf Servers.
• The server moves the inventory information to the next-level Inventory server.
• This server has an Inventory database attached to it.
• There can be one or more Intermediate Servers with Database in your enterprise.

Choose Intermediate Server with Database if you want to administer an intermediate site by generating Inventory reports. The inventory information that is rolled up to this Inventory server is stored in the local Inventory database and also rolled up to the next-level Inventory server.

The following illustration depicts two Leaf Servers attached to the Intermediate Server. A consolidated inventory information of all Leaf Servers is available at the Intermediate Server level.

Intermediate Server with Inventoried Workstations

The Intermediate Server with Inventoried Workstations has the following characteristics:

• This Inventory server acts as an intermediate server for the lower-level Leaf Servers.
• This server moves the inventory information to the next-level Inventory server.
• This server has inventoried workstations attached to it
• The server does not have an Inventory database attached to it.
• There can be one or more Intermediate Servers with Inventoried Workstations in your enterprise.

Choose Intermediate Server with Inventoried Workstations if you want an Intermediate Server and the site having the Intermediate Server has inventoried workstations, whose inventory information you want to store it at the Root Server.

The following illustration depicts two Leaf Servers attached to the Intermediate Server. This Intermediate Server also has inventoried workstations attached to it.

Intermediate Server with Database and Inventoried Workstations

The Intermediate Server with Database and Inventoried Workstations has the following characteristics:

• This Inventory server acts as a staging server for the lower-level Leaf Servers.
• This server moves the inventory information to the next-level Inventory server.
• This server has inventoried workstations attached to it.
• This server has an Inventory database attached to it.
• There can be one or more Intermediate Servers with Database and Inventoried Workstations in your enterprise.

Choose Intermediate Server with Database and Inventoried Workstations if you want the functionalities of Intermediate Server with Database and Intermediate Server with Inventoried Workstations available on the site.

The following illustration depicts two Leaf Servers attached to the Intermediate Server. The Intermediate Server has inventoried workstations attached to it. A consolidated Inventory database of all Leaf Servers and the inventoried workstations that are directly connected to the Intermediate Server is available at the Intermediate Server level.

Leaf Server

The Leaf Server has the following characteristics:

• This Inventory server is at the lowest level in the inventory tree hierarchy.
• This server has inventoried workstations attached to it.
• This server moves the inventory information to the next-level Inventory server
• A simple Leaf Server does not have an Inventory database. An Inventory database is not required because there might be only few inventoried workstations attached to the Leaf server.

  Choose Leaf Server if you have inventoried workstations at remote sites, and you want to obtain and store the inventory information from these inventoried workstations in a centralized database.

  The following illustration depicts many Leaf Servers attached to the Intermediate Server. The Intermediate Server is connected to Root Server. A consolidated Inventory database of all Leaf Servers is available at the Root Server level.

Leaf Server with Database

The Leaf Server with Database has the following characteristics:

• This Inventory server is at the lowest level in the inventory tree hierarchy.
• This server has inventoried workstations attached to it.
• This server moves the inventory information to the next-level Inventory server.
• This server has an Inventory database attached to it. You can assign a server as a Leaf Server with Database to maintain the inventory information for the inventoried workstations specific to the site.

Choose Leaf Server with Database if you want the functionalities of a Leaf Server as well as administer the site by generating Inventory reports.

The following illustration depicts two Leaf Servers attached to the Intermediate Server. One Leaf Server has an Inventory database attached to it. This database contains a consolidated inventory of all inventoried workstations attached to this Leaf Server.

Standalone Server

The Standalone Server has the following characteristics:

• This Inventory server has inventoried workstations attached to it.
• This server has an Inventory database attached to it.
• There is no roll-up of scan information and there are no requirements for Intermediate Servers and a Root Server.

Use a Standalone Server if your network is made up of a single site and you want to administer that site.

The following illustration depicts Standalone Server.

Quick Reference Table of the Inventory Server Roles