Customizing the Inventory Information

This section describes how to customize the inventory information.

• Customizing Software Scanning of Inventoried Servers
• Scanning for Vendor-Specific Asset Information from DMI
• Customizing the Software Scanning Information of Vendors and Products
• Customizing the Hardware Scanning Information of Jaz and Zip Drive Vendors

Customizing Software Scanning of Inventoried Servers

You can customize the list of software applications that you want to scan for at the inventoried servers. You specify the software scan settings in the Server Inventory policy page. The software scan settings are saved in eDirectory.

By default, the Scanner will not scan for software applications at the inventoried server. You must enable the Software Scan option in the Server Inventory policy. For more information, see Configuring the Server Inventory Policy .

To specify the applications you want to scan for, you add the list of applications or import files that contain the list of applications. You can also export the list of applications as a file and then modify the file.

If you have a large number of software applications that you want to specify, you can create a Custom Scan file following the conventions explained in this section and later import the file.

To specify software scan settings that you specified at a different location, you export the file at that location and import the file at the location you want to use the list.

The following sections contain more information to help you customize scanning of the inventoried servers:

• Adding New Applications for Scanning
• Format of the Custom Scan File
• Exporting the List of Application Files for Scanning

Adding New Applications for Scanning

To add a new application, you must provide the details of the application.

To add a new application for scanning:

1. In ConsoleOne, open the Server Inventory policy.

   For more information, see Configuring the Server Inventory Policy .

   Ensure that the Enable Software Scan option is checked.

2. Click the Custom Scan Editor button.

3. Click Add to specify the details of the application.

4. Fill in the details of the application:

   Vendor name, Product name, Product version, File name, File Size (in Bytes)

5. Click OK.

6. To save the application entry in eDirectory, click OK in the Custom Scan Editor dialog box.

You can also add application entries to the Custom Scan table by importing a file with the list of application entries. You create this file by following the format of the Custom Scan file conventions. For more information, see Format of the Custom Scan File .

To add a list of new applications:

1. Open a text editor.

2. Create a file with the format specified in Format of the Custom Scan File .

3. Save the application as a text file with any extension you prefer.

4. In ConsoleOne, open the Server Inventory policy.

   Ensure that the Enable Software Scan option is checked.

5. Click Custom Scan Editor.

6. Click Import.

   To save the application entry in eDirectory, click OK in the Custom Scan Editor dialog box.

Format of the Custom Scan File

The contents of the Custom Scan file are as follows:

total_number_of_application_entries_in_Custom_Scan_file; total_number_of_columns_in_the_application_entry

vendor_name;product_name;product_version;file_name;file_size (in Bytes)

vendor_name;product_name;product_version;file_name;file_size (in Bytes)

vendor_name;product_name;product_version;file_name;file_size (in Bytes)

Keep in mind the following guidelines as you work with the Custom Scan file:

• The default total number of columns in the application entry is 5.
• The separator between the columns is a semicolon (;).
• Fill in all the columns for each application entry.
• Do not use comma (,) in the file size parameter.

The following is a sample Custom Scan file:

2;5
Novell;GroupWise;5.5;grpwise.exe;4025856
Novell;client32nlm;3.03;client32.nlm;524168

Exporting the List of Application Files for Scanning

You can export the Custom Scan file to use at a different location. You export the Custom Scan file at one location and then import it at the other location.

To export the list of applications:

1. In ConsoleOne, open the Server Inventory policy.

   For more information, see Configuring the Server Inventory Policy .

   Ensure that the Enable Software Scan option is checked.

2. Click Custom Scan Editor.

3. Click Export.

4. Type the filename with any extension for the text file.

   The export file is a text file.

5. Click OK.

The exported file will contain the list of applications that are displayed in the Custom Scan table. If you have not saved the list of applications before exporting, the entries in the exported file and the saved application entries in eDirectory will differ.

Scanning for Vendor-Specific Asset Information from DMI

1. In the Server Inventory policy. click the Configuration Editor tab.

   For more information, see Configuring the Server Inventory Policy .

2. Click the Asset Information suboption > click Set Defaults.

   The following entries will be populated.

   [ASSETTAG]

   DMI1_CLASSNAME=

   DMI1_ATTRIBUTEID=

   DMI2_CLASSNAME=

   DMI2_ATTRIBUTEID=

   [SERIALNUMBER]

   DMI1_CLASSNAME=

   DMI1_ATTRIBUTEID=

   DMI2_CLASSNAME=

   DMI2_ATTRIBUTEID=

   [MODEL]

   DMI1_CLASSNAME=

   DMI1_ATTRIBUTEID=

   DMI2_CLASSNAME=

   DMI2_ATTRIBUTEID=

   [COMPUTERTYPE]DMI1_CLASSNAME=DMI1_ATTRIBUTEID=

   [MODELNUMBER]DMI1_CLASSNAME=DMI1_ATTRIBUTEID=

3. Specify the values.

   The Asset Information contains the following sections:

   • Contains Asset Tag in the section [ASSETTAG]
   • Contains Serial Number in the section [SERIALNUMBER]
   • Contains Computer Model in the section [MODEL]
   • Contains Computer Type [COMPUTERTYPE]
   • Contains Computer Model Number [MODELNUMBER]

   Each section contains the particular DMI Class name and DMI Class Attribute ID.

   The format of Asset Information is as follows:

   [ASSETTAG] 

   DMI1_CLASSNAME=DMI_class_pathname_for_asset_tag

   DMI1_ATTRIBUTEID=DMI_attribute_ID_for_asset_tag

   [SERIALNUMBER]

   DMI1_CLASSNAME=DMI_class_pathname_for_serial_number

   DMI1_ATTRIBUTEID=DMI_attribute_ID_for_serial_number

   [MODEL] 

   DMI1_CLASSNAME=DMI_class_pathname_for_computer_model

   DMI1_ATTRIBUTEID=DMI_attribute_ID_for_computer_model

   The value of the Asset Information sections can have a maximum string length of 64 characters.

   A DMI Class name can be any DMI class other than DMTF|COMPONENTID|00x.

   If there is more than one DMI vendor implementing different custom DMI classes, you can specify multiple DMI classes. A maximum of five classes can be specified in these sections. For example, the asset information for five classes is as follows:

   [ASSETTAG] 

   DMI1_CLASSNAME=DMI_class_pathname_for_asset_tag

   DMI1_ATTRIBUTEID=DMI_attribute_ID_for_asset_tag

   DMI2_CLASSNAME=DMI_class_pathname_for_asset_tag

   DMI2_ATTRIBUTEID=DMI_attribute_ID_for_asset_tag

   DMI3_CLASSNAME=DMI_class_pathname_for_asset_tag

   DMI3_ATTRIBUTEID=DMI_attribute_ID_for_asset_tag

   DMI4_CLASSNAME=DMI_class_pathname_for_asset_tag

   DMI4_ATTRIBUTEID=DMI_attribute_ID_for_asset_tag

   DMI5_CLASSNAME=DMI_class_pathname_for_asset_tag

   DMI5_ATTRIBUTEID=DMI_attribute_ID_for_asset_tag

   The scanner will processes DMI1 and if the values of DMI1 are valid, the scanner will not process the remaining DMI classes.

4. Click OK.

5. Run the scans on the inventoried servers.

   Verify that the inventory information is in the Inventory Summary window.

Customizing the Software Scanning Information of Vendors and Products

The software information of the same vendor may sometimes have different vendor names or product names. For example, if the software scan data contains information of more than one product for the same vendor, and if the vendor name differs, the inventory display windows will display the software information under different vendor names.

By default, the software information is displayed for each unique vendor name in the Inventory Query window, Inventory Summary window, and the Inventory reports. If the vendor or product names differ, you can merge the software information.You can also prevent the display of specific vendors and products in the inventory windows. You customize these settings in the Software Rules.

To customize the vendor and product names for display:

1. In the Server Inventory policy, click the Configuration Editor tab.

   For more information, see Configuring the Server Inventory Policy .

2. Click the SWRules suboption > click Set Defaults.

   The default values are displayed.

   [vendor]

   Novell=Novell Incorporated

   Novell Inc=Novell Incorporated

   Novell Corporation=Novell Incorporated

   Novell Corp=Novell Incorporated

   Microsoft=Microsoft Corporation

   ..

   [PRODUCT]

   Microsoft® Windows Operating System=NULL

   Microsoft ® Windows(TM) Operating System=NULL

   Microsoft(R) Windows NT(R) Operating System=NULL

   Microsoft(R) Windows (R) 2000 Operating System=NULL

   ..

3. Add or modify the entries.

   The format of SWRules is as follows:

   [vendor]

   scanned_vendor_name_reported_by_scanner= vendor_display_name_you_specify

   scanned_vendor_name_reported_by_scanner= vendor_display_name_you_specify

   [product]

   scanned_product_name_reported_by_scanner= product_display_name_you_specify

   scanned_product_name_reported_by_scanner= product_display_name_you_specify

   You should follow these rules while editing SWRules:

   • Ensure that blank lines do not exist between the sections.
   • The section should end with a carriage return.
   • Ensure that spaces and symbols in the scanned_vendor_name_reported_by_the_scanner and scanned_product_name_reported_by_the_vendor do not exist. The scanners compare the scanned_vendor_name_reported_by_the_scanner and the scanned_product_name_reported_by_the_scanner with the scanned data that they collect. Ensure that names that you use are not case-sensitive.

   If you specify incorrect entries, the entries preceding the incorrect entry will be used and the other entries will be ignored.

   • To modify the vendor name, specify the details for scanned_vendor_name_reported_by_scanner and the vendor_display_name_you_specify.

     For example, to display the software vendor information for Novell, Novell Inc., Novell Corp, and Novell Inc as Novell Inc., edit the following section:

     [vendor]

     Novell=Novell Inc.

     NOVELL INC=Novell Inc.

     NOVELL CORP=Novell Inc.

     NOVELL Inc=Novell Inc.

   • To modify the product name, specify the Scanned Product Name and the Product Display Name.

     For example, to display the product information: Novell NetWare (TM) Operating System, Novell NetWare^®, Novell NetWare (R) Operating System as Novell NetWare^®, edit the following section.

     [product]

     Novell NetWare (TM) Operating System=Novell NetWare®

     Novell NetWare=Novell NetWare®

     Novell NetWare (R) Operating System=Novell NetWare®

   • To specify that the scanned information for a product or vendor should not be reported by the scanners, add the following entry:

     [vendor]

     others=null

4. Click OK.

Customizing the Hardware Scanning Information of Jaz and Zip Drive Vendors

The scan information of the vendors for devices such as backup and floppy devices is usually unavailable on the inventoried server. Also, if the information is available, the vendor information does not usually contain the details. You can customize and update information about the vendors of these devices in Server Inventory policy > Configuration Editor > Zipped Names. The scanners read this data during the hardware scanning process for these devices.

To customize and update the vendor information for display:

1. In the Server Inventory policy, click the Configuration Editor tab.

   For more information, see Configuring the Server Inventory Policy .

2. Click the ZIPPED NAMES suboption > click Set Defaults.

   The default values are displayed.

   [Identifier]

   iomega ZIP 100=Iomega 100MB Backup Device

   iomega jaz 1GB=Iomega 1GB Backup Device

   IOMEGA  ZIP 100         D.13=Iomega Corporation

   IOMEGA  ZIP 1GB         D.13=Iomega Corporation

   ...

3. Add or modify the entries.

   The format of each entry in the section is as follows:

   [Identifier]

   device_id=vendor_display_name_you_specify

   where device_id is the unique ID generated and updated in the registry by the vendor during the installation of the device on the inventoried server.

   For example, the contents of the section are as follows:

   [Identifier]

   iomega ZIP 100=Iomega 100MB Backup Device

   This entry is for a 100 MB Zip* drive installed on the inventoried server.

   If you specify incorrect values for the device ID entry, the device will not be displayed in the Inventory windows.

4. Click OK.