1.6 Workstation Inventory
ZENworks Desktop Management lets you gather and administer complete hardware and software information for all workstations connected to your network. From ConsoleOne, you can view the complete hardware and software inventory of the workstations. You can also query the centralized database of the workstations and generate reports. Desktop Management also provides roll-up of inventory information across servers, firewall, and eDirectory trees for large networks.
The following brief glossary provides basic definitions of Workstation Inventory terms:
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Inventoried workstation: A Windows workstation whose hardware and software data you want to scan and maintain in a central repository. To gather complete hardware and software inventory for a workstation, you must install the Inventory Agent (part of the ZENworks Desktop Management Agent) on that workstation.
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Inventory server: A NetWare®, Windows, or Linux server where you run the Inventory service. This server can also run any other Desktop Management services. The Inventory server collects the inventory data from associated inventoried workstations and stores it in the Inventory.
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Inventory database: A repository of inventory information of all the inventoried workstations. The Inventory database can be Sybase*, Oracle*, or MS SQL.
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Database server: A NetWare, Windows, or Linux (the Open Enterprise Server (OES) version of the Linux or the SUSE* Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) version of Linux) server running the Inventory database.
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Management console: A Windows workstation or server running Novell ConsoleOne with Desktop Management Workstation Inventory ConsoleOne snap-ins installed. The management console provides the interface to administer the inventory system.
The focus of the Installation Guide is to set up a pilot system so that you can better understand Workstation Inventory. The pilot system consists of a management console, an Inventory server, an Inventory database running Sybase, and one or more inventoried workstations, as shown below.
Figure 1-1 Workstation Inventory Pilot System
This setup has the following features:
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The Inventory server and the inventoried workstations reside on the same Novell eDirectory tree.
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The Inventory server has inventoried workstations attached to it.
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The Inventory server has an Inventory database attached to it.
The Inventory scanning cycle is as follows:
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The Inventory scanner sends hardware and software information from the inventoried workstations to the Inventory server as per the scan schedule.
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The Inventory server stores the inventory information in the Inventory database.
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At the management console, you can view and retrieve the inventory information from the Inventory database using Inventory tools such as Reporting and Summary.
To install Workstation Inventory in your production environment, you must plan and decide the Inventory server tree hierarchy for your company. Also, you should organize your inventory deployment based on your network and information requirements. For detailed information, see Workstation Inventory
in the Novell ZENworks 7 Desktop Management Administration Guide.