FlexNet Manager Suite
2022 R1
(On-Premises)
This procedure includes some separate sub-processes to complete the set-up of the
adapter executable on your staging server, and arrange for regular upload of staged
data.
To install and configure the staging tool:
-
Install the adapter executable along with its configuration file.
-
Create a folder (suggested: ADDMAdapter) to contain the
adapter executable and its configuration file.
Location is not critical: a suggested path is under C:\Program
Files\Flexera Software (this path already exists if you have
chosen to use an inventory beacon as your staging server).
-
From the FnmpADDMStage\ folder within your unzipped
archive, copy both FnmpADDMStage.exe and
FnmpADDMSettings.xml to your newly created folder (such
as C:\Program Files\Flexera Software\ADDMAdapter). Both
files must be in the same folder.
-
Update the configuration file (at the very minimum, correct the IP address of your
BMC Discovery server).
-
Open your copy of FnmpADDMSettings.xml in a text editor
of choice, and review the self-documenting comments within that file.
-
BMC has changed the permission required to access the XML API. You need to
grant the new API access permission (api-access group), or update group
permissions to include the api-access permission for users who require
access to the XML web API.
Important: Existing integrations will fail if you do not add the
permission.
-
Update values in the first element describing the downstream connection to
the BMC Discovery server, including the IP address, the account name and
password for access.
Keep a record of the account name and password for registering with BMC
Discovery (see
Account Configuration for Adapter). The default
values are:
<server protocol="http" address="10.200.20.138" username="exportuser"
password="Pa$$w0rd" timeout="3600"/>
Tip: If you do not wish to record the password in the plain text
configuration file, you can use a script to retrieve the password from an
encrypted store, and supply it as a command-line option when starting the
FnmpADDMStage.exe tool.
-
Update the second element for the connection to the staging database.
The default values are:
<database connection-string="Server=.;Database=ADDM_Staging;Trusted_Connection=yes;"/>
This
default assumes that the database is running on this same staging server
(represented with the dot character). If not, modify to suit your situation,
using either of the server name or its IP address.
-
Update the third element to configure whether, and where, the executable
should save XML files of the inventory collected from BMC Discovery.
The default value stores any XML files below the location of the executable
(but turns off storage anyway):
<staging path="." method="stream"/>
You may wish to
redirect the path setting for easier access for human inspection. The
method
parameter may have any of the values
stage
,
staged
(these are two distinct
values),
prestaged
, or
stream
(for details,
look back to
The Adapter Executable).
-
Save your modified settings file.
-
Assuming that you do not wish to trigger the adapter manually every time it needs
to run, start Windows Task Scheduler, and create a basic task to run the adapter.
The command line for the scheduled task (assuming that you have saved your
preferred settings, as described above) is simply to invoke the executable. Any
parameters not specified on the command line are taken from the settings file in the
same folder as the executable.
Important: It is critical that you schedule
the adapter to run at times which cannot overlap with the inventory beacon
uploading the results to the central compliance server. Check the schedule for the compliance reader on the compliance server, and
avoid this time slot.
By default, the inventory import is triggered
around
2am. Therefore you might consider scheduling this task for some time such as
10pm daily. Remember to allow sufficient time for inventory collection from BMC
Discovery, followed by extraction from the staging database, and upload to the
central
application server.
-
Select an inventory beacon with a good network connection to the server
hosting your staging database, and configure data extraction and upload.
-
Log into the FlexNet Beacon interface as an administrator, and
navigate to the Scheduling page.
-
Either identify, or create, a schedule appropriate for data uploads from the
staging database to the central application server.
For details about creating a schedule on the inventory beacon, see
FlexNet Manager Suite Help > Inventory Beacons > Scheduling
Page > Creating a Data Gathering Schedule.
-
In the navigation pane on the left, select the Inventory
systems page.
-
Click New... (choosing the SQL
Server option if you opened the drop-down) to open the
Create SQL Source Connection dialog.
-
Add a Connection Name that is easily recognized within
the first few characters (for when it is later displayed in narrow
columns).
-
For Source type, choose BMC Atrium
Discovery and Dependency Mapping.
-
Enter the Server name (or IP address) where the
staging database is running. (If it is running on this inventory beacon,
use the special value
(localhost)
including the
parentheses.)
Tip: If the database instance you need is not the default one on
the server you identify, add the instance name, separated with a backslash
character. Example:
(localhost)\myInstance
-
Choose the authentication method, and if required add the
Username and Password for
accessing the database.
-
Enter (or choose) the Database name.
-
Click Test Connection. For more information, see the
online help for this page.
Tip: Your batch server (or, in a
single-server implementation, your application server) also requires files to
help the inventory reader process the data uploaded from the staging database. There
are at least 10 XML files, and a reader configuration file. However, you do not need
to do any set-up or configuration for these files, as they are installed as part of
the standard implementation of your batch (or application) server. You can validate
the existence of these files at C:\ProgramData\Flexera Software\Compliance\
ImportProcedures\Inventory\Reader\ on that server.
This completes
the configuration of the adapter executable itself, and of the upload from the staging
database to the central
application server. Now we can turn our attention
downstream, to possible installations on target UNIX-based machines. You also need to
configure enhancements to BMC Discovery itself (as discussed earlier in
Configuring BMC Discovery).
FlexNet Manager Suite (On-Premises)
2022 R1