The Selector is a Java component on the server that receives the inventory information from the inventoried workstations. These servers can be any of the following: Leaf Server, Leaf Server with Database, Intermediate Server with Database and Inventoried Workstations, Intermediate Server with Inventoried Workstations, Root Server with Inventoried Workstations, and Standalone Server. See Section 74.12, An Overview of the Inventory Components on an Inventory Server for a quick reference table of server components.
The processing done by the Selector is as follows:
While scanning the inventoried workstation, the Scanner creates a scan data file (.str) in the scan directory (\scandir) at the server for each scan done on the inventoried workstation. The location of \scandir is obtained from the Inventory Service object. The Selector processes the .str files placed by the Scanner in the \scandir directory.
The Selector also detects the .str files generated by the ZENworks for Desktops 4.x and ZENworks 6.5 Desktop Management Scanners and moves the .str files to the \scandir\conv directory for the Str Converter to process these files.
The Selector processes the following types of .str files.
Full: Contains complete hardware and software inventory information of the inventoried workstation.
Delta: Contains only the changes in the inventory since the last scan.
Delete: Contains the information needed for the Storer to delete the inventoried workstation object from the database. This .str file is created when the inventoried workstation object is deleted from the eDirectory.
Scheduled Full: Contains full and delta scans. Depending upon the last stored status of the inventoried workstation object data, the Storer processes either the full or delta scan. The Scheduled Full .str file is used by the Storer to rectify the errors in the inventoried workstation inventory data that is stored in the database.
Using the Workstation Inventory Policy, you can configure the Scheduled Full scan to send a full scan after a certain number of delta scans. The value must be between 5 and 65535. If you do not want the Scheduled Full scan, set the value to 65535.
The Selector checks for the following conditions to ensure that the .str file, generated by the Scanner, is valid.
If a Scheduled Full scan is done at the inventoried workstation, the .str file should contain both full and delta scan data. The Identification section in the Scheduled Full Str file should have SCHEDFULL as ScanType.
If delta scan is done at the inventoried workstation, the .str file should contain two instances of the Inventory Scanner objects.
The integer value logged in the .str file is based on the .str file name with the actual value of the .str file.
The actual size of the .str file should be in sync with the size recorded in the .str file.
The Selector processes only valid .str files. If invalid files are present in the directory, the Selector deletes them.
Based on the role of the server, the Selector copies the individual .str files from the \scandir directory to the dbdir\entmergedir directory.
The following table lists the directories that the Selector copies or renames the files to:
|
Server |
Copies the .str file to the database directory (dbdir) |
Renames the .str file in the database directory (dbdir) |
Renames the .str file in the enterprise merge directory (entmergedir) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Leaf Server with Database |
Yes |
-- |
Yes |
|
Leaf Server |
-- |
-- |
Yes |
|
Intermediate Server with Database and Inventoried Workstations |
Yes |
-- |
Yes |
|
Standalone Server |
-- |
Yes |
-- |
|
Root Server with Inventoried Workstations |
-- |
Yes |
-- |
The Selector updates the sequence number of valid .str files in eDirectory.
The Selector determines whether to enforce a full scan if the scanning sequence number in the .str file is improper. If the .str file is invalid or if there are discrepancies in the sequence number of the .str file, the Selector enforces a full scan.
The Selector logs the status in the Server log. For more information, see Monitoring Workstation Inventory Using Status Logs.
The Selector removes the existing .str files in the \scandir directory.