Before setting up the ZENworks 6.5 Server Inventory, you should understand the inventory components that interact together to perform inventory functions.
Server Inventory uses the following components:
Platform-dependent scanners determine the hardware and software configurations of the inventoried servers. These scanners are located at the inventoried servers. When executed on the inventoried servers, the scanners collect the inventory information. The inventory information is subsequently transferred to the Inventory server and processed.
Using the Server Inventory policy, you can configure the scan settings for scheduling the scan on the inventoried servers and customize hardware scanning. From the Inventory Service object (Inventory Service_server_name), you can specify the location of the inventory information, and also customize software scanning using the Software Dictionary snap-ins.
For more information about the Inventory scanner, see Understanding the Inventory Scanner.
The Inventory server components process the inventory information. The following components are Java* programs that work identically on NetWare and Windows Inventory servers:
The Scan Collector collects the inventory information from the Inventory agent and stores them in an appropriate directory at the Inventory server. The inventory information is transferred using the XML-RPC protocol.
The Selector processes the inventory information and places the information in appropriate directories. For more information, see Understanding the Selector.
The Sender on the Inventory server compresses the inventory information and then transfers it from the lower-level Inventory server to the Receiver on the higher-level Inventory servers. By using the Roll-Up policy, you can configure the next level destination Inventory server for roll-up, and also schedule the roll-up time. For more information, see Understanding the Sender - Receiver.
The Storer stores the collected inventory information into the Inventory database. By using the Database Location policy, you can configure the properties of the Inventory Database object (Inventory database_server_name) and associate the database object to an Inventory server. For more information, seeUnderstanding the Storer.
All Inventory servers run the Dictionary Provider and Dictionary Consumer services.The Dictionary Consumer downloads the dictionary updates from the Dictionary Provider. For more information, see Understanding the Dictionary Provider - Dictionary Consumer.
The Inventory database is a repository of inventory information of the inventoried servers. In Server Management, the database is a Common Information Model-based database and is implemented in Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). The database is maintained in Sybase, Oracle, or MS SQL. For more information, see Setting Up the Inventory Database.