Inventory Solution Troubleshooting Tips and Tricks 7 - Inventory Types

Inventory Types

On the main page there are four general Inventory types. Each type may include additional break-down in what is gathered.

How each type works and is configured varies as each has a unique method or properties. 

Hardware and operating system

This option contains a myriad of inventory data classes and data points. Under the data classes tab in the

Advanced options you see all of the data classes represented by this check box. These Advanced options allow you to select and deselect data classes as needed.

All data classes under the Inventory data classes section apply to the first checkbox, even the Software category. Consider this software category specific for hardware and operating system elements, such as bios data, Fonts, and Anti-virus. Any data class unchecked will not be gathered during the inventory process when the policy executes. This is useful when wanting to capture just certain data and excluding what isn’t needed. For example memory can be checked for frequently, with all other options not included so the policy can run frequently, catching any change in memory levels.

The only items not applying to this checkbox is the bottom category: Server Inventory data classes.

Software – Windows Add / Remove Programs

The configuration for this item is simple: Delta or full. This is determined under the Advanced options, under the Run Options tab.

This option does affect the entire policy. The Software checkbox runs the Software Discovery, which is actually a Software Management component. Inventory makes the call to this component to run it, since it falls within Inventory’s typical use-cases. Take the following considerations when dealing with this checkbox:

• The largest consideration is that the data returned from this inventory component is large. Typical NSEs of this data is 2000kb, when a full is run. Delta is considerably smaller.
• Verbose Logging does not apply to this option, since the code being run is part of Software Management and not Inventory Solution. For logging on this component, use Agent Trace only.
• Software Resources are created from this, so it is an essential part of the Software lifecycle and should be treated accordingly (run fairly regularly to ensure accuracy). Audits of Software depend on accurate data from this.
• This process also gathers file information for installed software. This means we do get File Resources created and linked to Software Resources at this time.

File Properties

This option has the largest impact on the time it takes for Inventory to complete. Due to the nature of a File Scan, it can take system resources and time to gather and filter all the data. Conversely the amount of File Resources created can be significant depending on how the scan is configured. Please take the following considerations when running the File Scan as part of your Inventory Policies:

1. For System Resource issues, including high CPU or Memory consumption, please use the System resource usage: option in Advanced settings. Low is the default, but Very Low can be selected. Keep in mind that lowering the resource usage will prolong the duration of the Inventory Policy.
2. Only include file types you need. Too many file types will not only bloat the data transmitted up to the Notification Server, it creates many File Resources that can create load or timeout problems for any data selecting from the associated tables.
   
3. Do not scan network drives by type. Use an include to pinpoint where on the network location you wish to scan. Scanning network locations can cause the following issues:
    
4. 1. Too much data – if the network location contains a lot of files, like a file server, the results will significantly bloat the file results.
   2. Extended Policy run time – Scanning network locations takes time, significantly in cases where the target has a lot of files. Multiple network shares compounds the problem.
   3. Many clients accessing the network location at the same time can cause the file server to become unavailable or even crash. If the data on the server is vital for business operations, this is a serious issue.
5. Question to ask: Are you using this data? This data is not used to automatically associate files under the File Inventory tab of a Software Resource. Unless you have a specific report you are using on files, this data remains as collected inventory only. If you are not using it, you could consider disabling this option until it is needed.
6. Exclusions override inclusions – If you are including a drive, but want to only scan specific files, adding exclusions will be messy. It is easier to remove the inclusion of the drive, and only add inclusions for the specific locations you want to scan.

Server Applications

This option requires that the Inventory Pack for Servers Plug-in is installed. It is an extension of Inventory for Server-class operating systems, but is not required for standard inventory. The same configuration considerations apply to these data classes as with the Hardware and Operating system ones discussed earlier (in that they can be unchecked to not gather them). If a system does not have the plug-in, these data classes will be skipped when the policy executes. In other words it doesn’t hurt to have it checked when targeting both servers and workstations.