Deployment Overview: Where to, and How

FlexNet inventory agent

FlexNet inventory agent must always be installed on the target inventory device. There are two main deployment options:

Automatic deployment through FlexNet Manager Suite, managed by the inventory beacons, in accordance with the targets you declare in the web interface. This process is called "adoption", since it 'adopts' the target device into a closely managed environment.
Deployment that you manage, using your existing tools and infrastructure. For convenience, we label these approaches "third-party deployment", meaning that you likely use tools/methods from a company other than Flexera. Installable packages are available through the web interface of FlexNet Manager Suite for use in third-party deployment. Under this loose heading, we include, for example:
- Deployment with a tool such as Microsoft SCCM or Symantec IT Management Suite (formerly Altiris)
- Pre-installation on the gold image for new device configuration
- Logon scripts used in conjunction with domain controller(s)
- Active Directory Group Policy Objects
- Manual installation by a local administrator on the target device.

Provided that, in your deployment process, you identify a 'bootstrap' inventory beacon from which the FlexNet inventory agent can collect its initial policy, schedule, actions and so on, there is no significant difference in outcomes of these two methods (although you may want to configure your targets and rules differently; and for adoption, there is additional reporting and troubleshooting information available in the web interface).

FlexNet inventory core components

There are three ways that the FlexNet inventory core components are available for use within your enterprise:

On inventory beacons (for zero footprint inventory collection)
In a self-extracting executable format (separately named as the FlexNet Inventory Scanner)
As a 'code folder' available for third-party deployment.

Each of these ways is further explained below.

FlexNet inventory core components on inventory beacons (zero footprint inventory collection)

The FlexNet inventory core components are always installed as part of each inventory beacon (no separate deployment or installation is required). As discussed in What Can Be Used for FlexNet Inventory Collection, the fact that it is the FlexNet inventory core components explains why usage tracking is not available from inventory beacons (usage tracking is only available in the full FlexNet inventory agent).

However, its co-location on the inventory beacon provides a special use case, because the FlexNet Beacon code provides some of the functionality normally found only in the full FlexNet inventory agent. For example, provided that the target device is not included in any target configured for adoption, FlexNet Beacon invokes the FlexNet inventory core components in line with the rules you declare in the web interface for FlexNet Manager Suite, and honors the targeting and schedules used in those rules (a level of integration that is not available to the FlexNet inventory core components in any other context). FlexNet Beacon also manages uploads of the collected data; and [self-]updates to FlexNet Beacon include the latest version of FlexNet inventory core components.

Perhaps the most significant additional functionality provided by the inventory beacon is the ability to remotely install, execute, and subsequently remove the FlexNet inventory core components on a target inventory device. Since there is no permanent agent installation on the target device either side of the inventory collection event, this model can be called "zero footprint" inventory collection. (It has previously been called 'remote execution' and 'zero touch', both of which are deprecated because of resulting misunderstandings.) This method is completely controlled by the inventory beacon, in accordance with the targeting and rules you declare in the web interface; but the code execution still occurs in the context of the target inventory device. The method details are different on different platforms:

On Microsoft Windows, the inventory beacon creates a service on the target inventory device. This service then invokes the FlexNet inventory core components installed on the inventory beacon (using the inventory beacon as a file share), with command-line options to cause an immediate upload of the collected data to the inventory beacon. Finally, the service removes itself, leaving "zero footprint" after the inventory collection process is completed.
On UNIX-like platforms (which includes various UNIX varieties and OS X), the inventory beacon connects to the target device (using ssh), and copies (scp) the FlexNet inventory core components to the target device, executing them there and uploading the resulting data. It then removes the copied files, and logs out.

Obviously, these different methods impose different requirements on the various platforms, all of which are detailed in later topics. For the moment, it is enough to understand that the zero footprint inventory collection is the primary reason for the inclusion of the FlexNet inventory core components on each inventory beacon.

If you intend to collect inventory from your FlexNet Manager Suite application server(s), they must be treated as target device(s) in either of the following ways:

Install FlexNet inventory agent on each application server and configure it to transfer the inventory file(s) to a separate standalone server before uploading it back to the central application server.
Use remote inventory collection, known as zero-footprint, by targeting application server(s). This method temporarily installs an agent on the target device(s) and removes the agent afterward collecting and uploading inventory.

Likewise, if you intend to collect inventory from your inventory beacon, it must be treated as a target device and you must use remote inventory collection, known as zero-footprint, by targeting inventory beacon.

Self-extracting executable (the FlexNet Inventory Scanner)

The FlexNet inventory core components are also available as a self-extracting executable. This format has been called the lightweight FlexNet Inventory Scanner ('lightweight' because of its relative ease of deployment and execution). For Microsoft Windows, this a separate executable (FlexNetInventoryScanner.exe), and on UNIX-like platforms, it is wrapped as a shell script (ndtrack.sh). If you copy the FlexNet Inventory Scanner to a target device (or for Windows, to a share accessible by target devices), and execute it with optional command-line preferences (or even by double-clicking the Windows EXE, for test purposes), the following actions occur:

The executable extracts the FlexNet inventory core components (on UNIX-like system, it first determines the current operating system, and then writes the files appropriate to that platform).
The ndtrack inventory component is immediately executed. If you provided any command line options, these are passed directly through to ndtrack.
If your command line included an option for an upload location, the resulting data is uploaded; and if not, the data file(s) are saved locally for your inspection and management.
All extracted FlexNet inventory core components are then removed (only the FlexNet Inventory Scanner is left, in the folder where you had copied it originally).

The process, then, is not greatly different from the zero footprint inventory collection driven by the inventory beacon. The main differences are:

The FlexNet Inventory Scanner is independent of any inventory beacon, so that you control its deployment, updating, and so on.
The FlexNet Inventory Scanner does not respond to schedules or rules set in the web interface of FlexNet Manager Suite, so you control its operational behaviors, uploads, and so on.
On Windows, the FlexNet inventory core components are extracted on the target device and later deleted, rather than being run from a file share as in the Zero-footprint case. (On UNIX-like systems, both approaches temporarily save the appropriate executable on the target device.)
The FlexNet Inventory Scanner remains in the location where you placed it, so that there is a small disk footprint (documented later).
By default, the FlexNet Inventory Scanner has less specialized functionality than the zero footprint inventory collection managed by the inventory beacon (and, of course, less than the complete FlexNet inventory agent). FlexNet Inventory Scanner cannot collect Oracle Database inventory, for example, or some details about Microsoft SQL Server. However, as described later, you can enable this specialized additional functionality by deploying an auxiliary InventorySettings.xml control file.

The FlexNet Inventory Scanner meets the requirement (particularly for Windows) of a single executable that can be copied or shared, and just run. However, it incurs the overhead of installing the FlexNet inventory core components each time it is run (or on UNIX, writing the appropriate files per platform). If you wish to avoid that overhead, we have the third deployment option.

Code folder for third-party deployment

This approach is conceptually very simple. You simply take the folder of FlexNet inventory core components, and use your preferred method to deploy this. It is feasible to deploy it directly onto target inventory devices running Windows, but impractical (and unsupported) for the complexities of UNIX-like environments. As before, your deployment options for Windows include:

Deployment with a tool such as Microsoft SCCM or Symantec IT Management Suite (formerly Altiris)
Pre-installation on the gold image for new device configuration
Logon scripts used in conjunction with domain controller(s)
Active Directory Group Policy Objects
Manual installation by a local administrator on the target device.

When you use this approach, you take responsibility for management (such as version control, updates and compatibility) and operations (such as scheduling, command line options, and uploads). If you require advanced inventory functionality, you must also deploy and manage the InventorySettings.xml file.

This option is simply referred to as Core deployment, meaning third-party deployment of the FlexNet inventory core components.

Summary

This discussion leads us to the following matrix of what is deployed, how, and where, with each combination given a unique case name. Subsequent topics provide more details for each of these cases.

Case name	What	Where	How
Adopted	FlexNet inventory agent	Target inventory device	Automatically by FlexNet Manager Suite
Agent third-party deployment	FlexNet inventory agent	Target inventory device	Third-party deployment
Zero-footprint	FlexNet inventory core components	On an inventory beacon	Not applicable (installed with the inventory beacon)
FlexNet Inventory Scanner	FlexNet inventory core components (in self-installing wrapper)	Target inventory device, or a network share	Third-party deployment
Core deployment	FlexNet inventory core components	Target inventory device running Microsoft Windows	Third-party deployment