FlexNet Manager Suite
2024 R1
(On-Premises)
Oracle inventory collected by the
FlexNet Inventory Agent locally installed on the
target inventory device (the Oracle server) must now successfully navigate a
multi-part process:
- The compressed .ndi.gz files (and for Oracle inventory,
an uncompressed .disco file) are uploaded from the
target inventory device to an inventory beacon of its choosing. Keep
in mind that this is attempted first by the tracker
(ndtrack, the inventory component) and, if a
transient problem causes a failure, it is retried overnight by the uploader
(ndupload), each of which has its own log
file.
- If there is a hierarchy of inventory beacons, the first must upload to
its parent, and so on.
- The 'topmost' inventory beacon uploads to the
central application server (or, in a
multi-server implementation, the inventory server), where the
receiving web service attempts to 'resolve' the uploaded files into the
inventory database. (If the resolver is overloaded, the uploaded files may
be temporarily staged on the disk on the same server, and resolved a few
minutes later when the load subsides.)
- At the next full inventory import (typically scheduled overnight,
immediately preceding the license compliance calculations), the latest
inventory is imported from the inventory database into the compliance database.
Symptoms
Problems with the upload process may result in these shortcomings visible in the
web interface for FlexNet Manager Suite:
- Device records for your Oracle servers missing from
- Hardware inventory records (or, in the case of a problem emerging later that
disrupts ongoing operations, recent inventory records) missing from
- Known database instances (that you have verified are still in existence and
running/runnable) missing from .
Keep in mind that inventory devices that disappear from imported inventory are
assumed to have been decommissioned, and after a period may be automatically removed
from the
compliance database and therefore the
web interface. So
to start with, be sure that the Oracle server and its associated database instances
that you thought were in place are still operational — otherwise, their absence from
the record is an accurate depiction of the conditions in your computing estate.
To troubleshoot uploads of Oracle inventory:
-
On the target inventory device (the Oracle server), quickly identify whether
the first stage of upload to an inventory beacon is failing.
-
Check the upload of .disco files by seeing whether
the staging folder is empty (it is cleared after a successful
upload):
- On Windows, check $(CommonAppDataFolder)\ManageSoft
Corp\ManageSoft\Common\Uploads\Discovery
- On UNIX-like platforms, check
/var/opt/managesoft/uploads/discovery/
The presence of a
.disco file here (more than
a few minutes after inventory collection has run) means that upload is
failing, at least for this file type (and typically then, for all file
types).
-
Check the upload of .ndi.gz files from their
staging folder:
- On Windows, check $(CommonAppDataFolder)\ManageSoft
Corp\ManageSoft\Common\Uploads\Inventories
- On UNIX-like platforms, check
/var/opt/managesoft/uploads/Inventories
The presence of a
.ndi.gz file here also means
that the first stage of upload is failing. For failing uploads, continue
with the next step, looking for problems reported in the log file(s). On
the other hand, if both the
Discovery and
Inventories folders are empty, this indicates
that the first stage of upload (to a selected
inventory beacon)
has succeeded; and if there is an upload problem, it may be further
upstream. You also need to review the log files on this device (details
in the next step), but in this case looking to identify the
inventory beacon selected for the inventory upload, so that you can
follow the chain.
-
Review the appropriate log files for problems with previous uploads, or to
identify the inventory beacon that was selected for the upload.
Remember that the
FlexNet Inventory Agent has two ways to attempt uploads:
- The inventory tracker component (ndtrack) attempts
an upload immediately after completing inventory collection. Any issues
with this attempt are logged in tracker.log.
- To recover from transient issues, the uploader component attempts a
catch-up overnight, and any issues here are logged in
upload.log.
Both these log files are saved in the same platform-specific location:
- On Windows:
$(TempDirectory)\ManageSoft\
(provided that the tracker is running as LocalSystem
,
this expands to C:\Windows\Temp\ManageSoft\)
- On UNIX-like platforms:
/var/opt/managesoft/log/.
-
Review at least the first and possibly both of these log files.
Look for the following markers of success (examples shown for the
Oracle inventory file, but you may also find results for the general
inventory, where the file name starts with
system
:
-
Uploading file 'deviceName at dateTime (Oracle).ndi.gz' to
'http://192.53.15.139/ManageSoftRL/Inventories'
Important: Take note of the URL, which is one of the
few ways to identify the inventory beacon used for any
given upload (keeping in mind that FlexNet Inventory Agent
chooses the optimum inventory beacon for each upload,
and that it may select different servers at different times,
depending on networking conditions). Identify the inventory beacon server from this IP address, as you may
need to troubleshoot that server next.
Upload successful
File 'deviceName at dateTime (Oracle).ndi.gz' removed from upload directory
These
indicate that the error is not local on this device, so that you
need to troubleshoot further along the upload chain.
If the log files indicate any networking or other problems for
uploading, try to remedy these; and continue with the next substep. On
the other hand, if this stage has been successful, move to the next
server in the upload chain (skip to step
3).
-
After making any corrections, re-run the tracker to collect updated
inventory (and database discovery data), and monitor the staging folders
(identified in step 1)
for the creation and (after upload) removal of the files there.
The platform-specific commands are:
- For Windows:
ndtrack -t machine
(when run from the install
directory)
- For UNIX-like devices:
/opt/managesoft/bin/ndtrack -t machine
When inventory gathering is complete, repeat the review of logs for
evidence of upload problems.
-
Switch to the inventory beacon identified in step 2a, and check
that files aren't backed up in the incoming inventory folder %CommonAppData%\Flexera
Software\Incoming\Inventories.
An empty folder is a good sign, as each inventory beacon is scheduled to
check for and try uploads from this folder to its parent device every minute
throughout the day.
-
Review C:\Windows\Temp\ManageSoft\uploader.log on this
inventory beacon for details of any networking issues, and note the
URL of the next server in the upload chain. If this is another inventory beacon, repeat these reviews there, and so on until you exhaust the
hierarchy of inventory beacons.
-
Once you have reached your application server (or inventory server, in
a multi-server implementation), check C:\ProgramData\Flexera
Software\Compliance\Logging\WebResolvers\dispatcher.log for any
issues in resolving the inventory.
-
If you are unable to resolve upload problems, collect your logs together to
seek further help (see Requesting Further Assistance).
FlexNet Manager Suite (On-Premises)
2024 R1