FlexNet Inventory Scanner: System Requirements

FlexNet Manager Suite 2021 R1 (On-Premises)

The following details apply to the FlexNet inventory core components when deployed as a self-extracting executable to a target device (or where applicable to a file share).

Supported platforms

The FlexNet inventory core components operate on the following platforms (inventory targets):
Microsoft Windows UNIX-like platforms
  • Windows Server 2003 SP1 and SP2, 2008 R2 x64, 2012, 2012 R2, 2012 R2 SP1, 2016, 2019
  • Windows Server Core 2008, 2008 R2 x64, 2012, 2012 R2
  • Windows Server Standard (previously known as Windows Server Core) 2016, 2019
  • Windows Vista x64, 7 x64, 8 x64, 10 x64
  • Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10.
  • AIX 7.1 LPARs, 7.2
  • Amazon Linux 2
  • CentOS (x86, 32-bit and 64-bit): 6-7.5; (x86 64-bit only): 7.6-7.9 (lower versions); 8.0-8.3 (higher versions)
  • Debian Linux 7–10.9 (x86 32-bit and 64-bit)
    Note: For Debian Linux 9.4, 9.5 and 10 (both 32-bit and 64-bit), minimal installations of the OS core omit the ifconfig command. This prevents collection of the IP address and MAC address in inventory. The root user can use the following command to restore this functionality:
         apt-get install net-tools  -y
  • Fedora Linux 25-30 (x86, 32-bit and 64-bit); 27-34 (x86 64-bit only)
  • HP-UX 11i v3, vPars/nPars
  • macOS 10.6–11
    Note: To run on an Apple M1 processor ("Apple silicon"), the FlexNet inventory agent requires that Rosetta 2 is installed and running. This is Apple's solution for transitioning most Intel-based applications to run on Apple silicon. There are two possible command formats for installing Rosetta 2:
    • Interactive installation that asks for agreement to the Rosetta 2 license:
      /usr/sbin/softwareupdate --install-rosetta
    • Non-interactive installation:
      /usr/sbin/softwareupdate --install-rosetta --agree-to-license
  • OpenSuSE Leap 42.2, 42.3 (x86, 32-bit and 64-bit); 15-15.2 (x86 64-bit only)
  • Oracle Linux 4.5–6.10 (x86, 32-bit and 64-bit); 7.0-8.4 (x86 64-bit only)
  • Photon OS 3.0-4.0
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) (x86, 32-bit and 64-bit) 5.0–6.10; (x86 64-bit only) 7.0-7.9 (lower versions); 8.0-8.4 (higher versions)
  • Red Hat Linux 8–9 (x86 only)
  • Solaris 8–11.4 (SPARC), Zones for versions 10–11
  • Solaris 9–11.4 (x86), Zones for versions 10–11
  • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (x86, 32-bit and 64-bit); 12 SP3, 12 SP4, 12 SP5, 15, 15 SP1, 15.2 (x86 64-bit only)
  • Ubuntu 12–17.04 (x86, 32-bit and 64-bit); 17.10-21.04 (x86 64-bit only).

Disk space requirements

On target inventory devices in the FlexNet Inventory Scanner case, the following are platform-specific disk space requirements:
  • Windows: Where the target device is a typical workstation, in the order of 2MB; and for an Oracle server, in the order of 5MB.
  • UNIX-like platforms: The downloaded code is approaching 23MB, and it then looks for an additional 16MB of working disk space in either (in priority order):
    1. The home directory of the account running the inventory (unless that directory is /)
    2. /var/tmp.
    Where this space is not available, inventory collection is not attempted.
After inventory collection in the FlexNet Inventory Scanner case, the following (non-executable) files are left on the target inventory device as a potential aid to process validation or trouble-shooting, and are all replaced at the next iteration of the same process:
  • An uncompressed inventory (.ndi) file is left:
    • For Windows devices, in %TEMP%\FlexeraSoftware (that is, in a subdirectory of the temporary directory for the account running the FlexNet Inventory Scanner)
    • For UNIX-like devices, when inventory collection is (as usual) run as root, in /var/tmp/flexera/tracker; or if inventory collection is run as another user, in /var/tmp/flexera.userName/tracker.
  • Log files are saved on the target inventory device:
    • For Windows devices, in C:\Windows\temp\ManageSoft
    • For UNIX-like devices, when inventory collection is (as usual) run as root, in /var/tmp/flexera/log; or if inventory collection is run as another user, in /var/tmp/flexera.userName/log.
The following log file is available on the target inventory device in the FlexNet Inventory Scanner case:
  • tracker.log — Generated by the inventory component, ndtrack

Memory requirements

On target inventory devices, the memory requirements are:

  • Minimum RAM: 512 MB
  • Recommended RAM: 2 GB
In general, through a cycle of inventory gathering and upload, the memory demand is in the order of 5-30 MB.

Communications protocols and ports

In the network layer, both IPv4 and IPv6 formats are supported for communications between the FlexNet Inventory Scanner and an inventory beacon. This applies across both Windows (with FlexeraInventoryScanner.exe) and UNIX-like platforms (with ndtrack.sh). For details on the architectural impacts, see Support for IPv6 Networks.

When the FlexNet inventory core components execute on the target device (in the FlexNet Inventory Scanner case), the only ports required are the standard ports for communication with the inventory beacon:
  • Windows and UNIX: From FlexNet inventory core components on target device inbound on the inventory beacon — File upload using HTTP protocol: port 80
  • Windows only: From FlexNet inventory core components on target device inbound on the inventory beacon — File upload using HTTPS protocol: port 443
    Tip: HTTPS is not supported for UNIX-like platforms in the FlexNet Inventory Scanner case.

Supported packages to inventory

FlexNet inventory can include data from most package technologies supported by the operating systems, and some additional third-party packaging technologies:
Platform Supported package technologies

All platforms

InstallAnywhere (IA), InstallShield Multiplatform (ISMP), BEA/Oracle Installer (BEA), Oracle Universal Installer (OUI), IBM Installation Manager (IIM)

AIX

LPP, RPM

HP-UX

Software Distributor SD-UX Package

Linux

RPM (Red Hat, CentOS, Oracle, SuSE, Fedora, etc), DPKG (Debian, Ubuntu).

Mac OS X

Mac Application Bundle, Mac Package Bundle

Solaris

Sys V Package (pkg), IPS

Windows

MSI, Add/Remove Programs Registry Key
However, FlexNet inventory cannot collect data from some of the less common or newer operating system technologies and many third-party technologies. Some known examples include:
  • All platforms — IBM InstallStream, IBM Tivoli Netcool Installer
  • Mac OS X — Mac flat package.

System load benchmarks

The following notes reflect observed behavior on sample target inventory devices during collection of FlexNet inventory:
Task Run duration (seconds) CPU usage (seconds) CPU usage (% of single core) Memory usage Network load

Inventory collection

13 to 240 s

5 to 130 s

10% to 50%

4 MB to 20 MB

 10 KB to 200 KB per upload

FlexNet Manager Suite (On-Premises)

2021 R1