Creating a Target

FlexNet Manager Suite 2022 R1 (On-Premises)

A target is a part of a discovery and inventory rule that identifies devices on which the rule actions are to be performed. Each rule has one target, although targets may be re-used in multiple rules. (Targets may also be used for other purposes, for which see Targets.)

To create a discovery and inventory target:

1. Navigate to Discovery & Inventory > Discovery and Inventory Rules.
   The Discovery and Inventory Rules page appears.
2. Click the Targets tab.
   The Targets page appears, listing targets that have been defined so far.
3. Click Create a target.
   The page changes to display the Create a Target page.
4. Enter a Target name (of up to 40 characters) and Description for the target.
5. Use the Define machines to target controls to specify one or more conditions that identify devices in this target. Use the Include or Exclude option to specify how each condition should be interpreted, and then choose from the following drop-down list. When you specify multiple target conditions, the discovery and inventory rule targets any device that satisfies one or more of the specified conditions. In other words, a logical OR is applied on the target conditions. If a device is identified in both an Include and an Exclude condition, the exclude takes precedence, and the device is not included in the target.

   Specify subnet or IP address

   An additional field appears where you can enter a subnet (such as 10.1.209.0/16) or IP address (such as 10.1.209.32) that identifies the device(s).

   Important: The inventory ping sweep process pings each device in an included subnet. To improve discovery performance, include smaller subnets in your targets. Keep in mind that each included subnet must be assigned to an inventory beacon. For more information, see Adding a Subnet to an Inventory Beacon

   All machines with name like..

   Use the additional field to specify a text pattern (of up to 256 characters) that identifies all the required device names. In this pattern, you may use the following special characters:

   • ? stands in place of any single character. For example, the pattern ME? matches machine names like MEL and MEX.
   • * (asterisk) stands for any zero or more characters. For example, the pattern ME*8 matches MENT5678, MELB08, ME8, and so on.
   • You must match the entire name. Use a leading and trailing asterisk when you pattern is in the middle of the names. For example, the pattern *ME?8* matches ACME682398D and Yme48-SYS. Matching for alphabetic characters is case insensitive.

   Tip: This pattern matching is applied only to machines that have been discovered by the exercise of the same rule (that is, it is not applied to devices previously discovered). A rule including discovery must have a target that uses device, IP address, or subnet; or must use Windows browser. This means that the pattern matching is useful in two scenarios:

   • In an Exclude pattern. You may have used an IP range for discovery, and then exclude certain servers based on their names matching the pattern you create.
   • When Windows browser is used as the discovery mechanism for this rule.

   Specific device

   A search field appears where you can enter any part of the device name, IP address, or site to identify the desired device(s). For more information about using the search facility, see To Use a Fly-Down.

   Note: Using either an IP address or site, it is possible to select devices that do not have a value for the device Name. When the device Name is empty, this list of target devices displays the first available of:

   • The first part of the DNS full name value (available in the column chooser of listings such as the All Discovered Devices page)
   • The IP address listed for the selected device.

   Tip: If you select multiple devices from the search results and then click Add, the system automatically adds multiple conditions, one for each of the devices you selected.

   Site or subnet

   A search field appears where you can find any site or subnet recorded in your operations databases. The data may result from:

   • An Active Directory import (see Importing from Active Directory)
   • Manually creating a site (see Creating or Updating a Site)
   • Manually recording a subnet (see Creating or Updating a Subnet).

   Cloud service provider or region

   A search field appears where you can enter part of the cloud service provider's name, or (in the case of Amazon Web Services) part of the name of one (or more) of its region(s). Once you click Search (or type Enter), the list of cloud service providers appears, with matching entries highlighted. Use the check boxes to the left of each entry to select one (or less commonly, a few) rows from the results list, and then, below the list, click Add. The search area and results list disappear, and your selections are added as separate rows in the Define machines to target set.

   Note: You can use the + button to add multiple conditions. For example, you can first create a condition to identify all devices within a subnet, and then exclude a device with a particular IP address, using this process:

   1. You can use the Define machines to target field to specify the devices identified by this target. Select Include and select Specify subnet or IP address.
   2. Enter the subnet address and click OK.
   3. Click + to add another condition. You can also select All machines with name like and specify a string pattern with wildcards (? and *). For example, a string pattern 'Quality?server*' would match the device names like Quality1serverMelb, Quality2serverNY, QualityFserver and so on.
   4. Select Exclude and select Specify subnet or IP address.
   5. Specify the IP address that you need to exclude and click OK.
6. Select one of the following Connection options:
   • Attempt connection by name, falling back to IP address: FlexNet Manager Suite tries to connect to the identified targets by name. If the connection is unsuccessful, it tries to connect to target by an IP address.
   • Attempt connection only by name: FlexNet Manager Suite attempts to connect the target only by name.
   • Attempt connection only by IP address: FlexNet Manager Suite attempts to connect the target only by IP address.
7. Select from the following CAL inventory options:
   • Not specified: Means that this target has no impact on Client Access License (CAL).

   • Allow CAL access evidence collection on these targets: Allow the relevant inventory beacon or the FlexNet inventory agent (if installed) to collect access evidence required for CALs. The access evidence is collected in a separate (.swacc) file, in addition to discovery (.disco) and inventory (.ndi) files. FlexNet Manager Suite uses access evidence to determine whether a server application was accessed through a client device. For more information on CALs, see How To Manage CALs in the FlexNet Manager Suite System Reference PDF, available through the title page of online help.

   • Do not allow CAL access evidence collection on these targets: Do not allow the relevant inventory beacon or the FlexNet inventory agent (if installed) to collect access evidence required for the CALs.
     Note: When a device is targeted by multiple targets, a selection of Do not allow CAL access evidence collection on these targets (in any of the targets) overrides the Allow CAL access evidence collection on these targets selection, and the CAL inventory is not collected.
8. Select from the following Adoption options:
   • Not specified: Means that this target has no impact on device adoption.
   • Allow these targets to be adopted: Allows the relevant inventory beacon to attempt installing FlexNet inventory agent on computers identified by this target. You cannot adopt a VMWare host.
     Note: A computer can be included in multiple targets. Installation attempts require that all of the following conditions are met:

     • This option, Allow these targets to be adopted, must be selected in an applicable target.
     • No other applicable target has the Do not allow these targets to be adopted option selected (a 'deny' always overrides an 'allow').
     • At least one rule applying (through any target) to the selected machines must have an inventory-gathering setting in its action (see Creating an Action). Adoption (installing the FlexNet inventory agent) is only attempted when some kind of inventory gathering is required, using at least one of the following settings in the Actions tab:
       • Gather hardware and software inventory from all target devices
       • Gather Microsoft SQL Server hardware and software inventory
       • Gather Microsoft Hyper-V hardware and software inventory.

     If the inventory beacon finds that FlexNet inventory agent is already installed on a computer targeted for adoption, it takes no further action on that device (for example, it does not attempt an update or repair). If the installation has been through an earlier adoption by an inventory beacon (using the standard FlexNet inventory agent package), the inventory beacon reports that the device is adopted, so that it is included in lists of adopted devices. (This does not apply to deployment of the FlexNet inventory agent by any third-party deployment tool.)
     Tip: When the FlexNet inventory agent is deployed on Windows platforms, it requires local Administrator privileges to operate. When it is deployed on UNIX-like platforms (including OS X), it requires root privileges.
   • Do not allow these targets to be adopted: Stops any inventory beacon installing the FlexNet inventory agent on computers identified by this target, even if they are also specified in other targets that allow adoption.
     Note: When a device is targeted by multiple targets, a selection of Do not allow these targets to be adopted (in any of the targets) overrides the Allow these targets to be adopted selection, and the target device is not adopted.
9. Select one of the following Application usage options for tracking application usage using FlexNet inventory agent:
   • Not specified: Means that this target has no impact on application usage tracking.
     Tip: This is the normal setting when the Adoption options setting is Do not allow these targets to be adopted, because the installed FlexNet inventory agent is a requirement for the usage tracking. However, it is still possible to choose either of the remaining options to cater for devices where the FlexNet inventory agent has been installed by some means other than installation through the inventory beacon (such as manual installation, or deployment with another tool). When the FlexNet inventory agent on these devices requests a policy, the choice of these usage options is included in the delivered policy.
   • Allow application usage tracking on these targets: Enables application usage tracking on devices with FlexNet inventory agent installed. On Microsoft Windows platforms, to identify the names of running applications, the FlexNet inventory agent compares the paths of executing processes against either:
     • Paths in the MSI repository for Microsoft Installer installations
     • Paths registered in Add/Remove Programs for other installations.
   • Do not allow application usage tracking on these targets: Disables application usage tracking by FlexNet inventory agent on the devices identified by this target. Once again, if a device is identified in overlapping targets, any one specification with this "deny" setting overrides any number of settings to "allow" usage tracking.
     Tip: As an alternative to usage tracking with the installed FlexNet inventory agent (controlled with these settings), you can track application usage using a third party inventory tool like Microsoft SCCM. Configuring usage tracking is then done in the external tool, and imported into FlexNet Manager Suite as part of the inventory import.
10. Click Create to create the target.

The target now appears in the list of targets. You can edit, copy, or delete an existing target by clicking the corresponding icon on the target list.

Note: You can delete a target only if it is not being used in a rule.