What's New in Server Inventory

ZfS 3 Server Inventory provides the following new features to achieve higher scalability:

• Supports Windows NT/2000 server as Inventory server.

  You can install ZfS 3 Inventory server components on Windows NT/2000 servers.

• Provides roll-up of inventory information across servers for large networks.

  ZfS 3 supports roll-up of scan data in large networks with a central database. The scan data is compressed and only the compressed scan data is transferred to the next-level Inventory server. The inventory data is sent across the Inventory servers to the centralized database.

• Simplifies configuration and management of servers through using Inventory policies. For more see Configuring Inventory Servers for Server Inventory in Setting Up Server Inventoryin the Administration guide.
• Supports the Inventory database on Oracle* 8i.

  Allows the Inventory database to be configured for any existing Oracle setup in your network. For more information, see Setting Up the Inventory Database for Oracle in Setting Up the Inventory Database in Setting Up Server Inventory in Server Inventory in the Administration guide.

• Provides a database export wizard for using the inventory data in external databases, reporting tools, and other applications.

  ZfS lets you export the inventory information in to a comma-separated value (CSV) file format. For more information, see Exporting the Inventory Data to a CSV File in Managing Inventory Information in Server Inventory in the Administration guide.

• Supports the Desktop Management Interface (DMI) and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) scanning for Windows servers.

  The Inventory scanner, if configured, collects hardware data from Windows NT 4.0/2000 servers based on DMI specification 2.0 and WMI specification. For more information on DMI scanning, see DMI-Compliant Scanners and for WMI scanning, see WMI-Compliant Scanners in Understanding the Server Inventory Componentsin Server Inventory in the Administration guide.

• The NetWare server scanner that ships with ZfS 3 uses System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) for scanning hardware Inventory.
• Supports Inventory database schema implemented using the Common Information Model (CIM) 2.2 of Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF).

  ZfS 3 Server Inventory scanner maps the scan data to the CIM 2.2 schema. For more information, see Inventory Database Schema in ZfS in Understanding the ZENworks for Servers Inventory Database Schema in Server Inventory in the Administration guide.

• Provides for removal of unwanted inventoried servers from the Inventory database through using a simple utility.

  You can use ZfS 3 Server Removal service to remove the unwanted inventoried servers from the Inventory database. This synchronizes the server objects stored in the Inventory database with the server objects in eDirectory. The excess servers in the Inventory database exist because these servers could have been deleted from eDirectory; however, the corresponding servers were not removed from the database. For more information, see Understanding the Server Inventory Componentsin Server Inventory in the Administration guide.

• Provides predefined inventory reporting through using Crystal Reports.

  You can use the set of predefined reports to filter the inventory information and generate the reports from the Inventory database. For more information, see Running Inventory Reports in Viewing the Inventory Information in Managing Inventory Information in Server Inventory in the Administration guide.

• Provides status reporting (status reports, export, XML status report).

  ZfS provides a status reporting mechanism that indicates success or failure of inventory scanning for troubleshooting. You can export the status reports to a CSV file or tab-delimited file, or view the status reports in any third-party XML browser. For more information, see Monitoring Server Inventory Using Status Logs in Server Inventory in the Administration guide.