ZfD 4 introduces the following new features for Workstation Inventory:
ZfD 4 allows the Inventory database to be configured for an MS SQL Server 2000 setup in your network. For more information, see Setting Up the Inventory Database for MS SQL Server 2000 in Setting Up Workstation Inventory in the ZENworks for Desktops 4 Administration Guide.
ZfD 4 lets you collect workstation information that is not part of the default hardware inventory. The Inventory scanner uses the Inventory database to store the user-defined attributes and the corresponding values along with the non-user-defined inventory attribute of the class in the Inventory database. For more information, see Customizing the Hardware Inventory Scanning of Inventoried Workstations in Customizing the Inventory Information in Managing Inventory Information in the ZENworks for Desktops 4 Administration Guide.
The Inventory scanner scans for the approximate installation path of the product executables that are installed on the workstations and stores the scan data in the Inventory database as the product location. If an application has more than one component and the components are installed to many levels of subdirectories, the Inventory scanner will scan for the path that is common to all the components.
If the Inventory scanner is scheduled to collect the inventory for a workstation that is registered to eDirectory but not connected to the network, the Inventory scanner will wait until the workstation is reconnected to the network. After the workstation is reconnected, the Inventory scanner will collect the inventory of the workstation and will update the information to the Inventory database.
This helps the administrator to gather the inventory for the users who connect to the network less frequently but want their machines to be inventoried.