Upgrading 2014 or earlier, or installing new inventory beacons
The process for installing and configuring inventory beacons starts from the web UI for FlexNet Manager Suite.
Note: Any computer on which you will install an inventory beacon must have at least version 3.0 of PowerShell
installed. For more information, see Upgrade PowerShell on Inventory Beacons.
Use this same process for both upgrading an inventory beacon from version 2014 or earlier, and installing a new one.
To upgrade or install an inventory beacon:
- Log in on the computer where the FlexNet Beacon is to be installed, and start a web browser there to access the URL server-name-or-IP-address/Suite/.
- In the Discovery & Inventory menu, under the Network group, select Beacons.
-
Click Deploy a beacon.
The Deploy a Beacon page appears. Ensure that the default Download a beacon section of the page is open.
-
Click Download a beacon.
Tip: This button is displayed only to members of the Administrator role.
-
Use the web browser dialog to save the installer to a convenient
directory (such as
C:\temp).Tip: If you have not downloaded directly to your intended inventory beacon, you should now move the downloaded installer to that intended device. - In Windows Explorer, navigate to the saved file on your inventory beacon, and double-click it to run the installer.
- Step through the installation wizard, using the summaries in the accordion section Beacon setup or the more detailed online help available through the web interface to assist as necessary.
-
Does this inventory beacon act as a parent to any other
inventory beacons (lower in your hierarchy of beacons)? And
if so, it is using Microsoft IIS as its local web server? If both of these are
the case, you need to update parameters set for IIS as follows:
-
In the inventory beacon interface, in the Beacon configuration group in the navigation bar, click Local web
server.
The Web Server Settings page opens.
-
Select No local web server (will not allow any incoming web
requests).
This turns off the settings for IIS.
-
Select IIS web server.
The settings needed for child inventory beacons are now passed to IIS.
-
In the inventory beacon interface, in the Beacon configuration group in the navigation bar, click Local web
server.
-
Is this an upgrade of an inventory beacon that previously
collected third-party inventory, such as Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (previously Microsoft SCCM), in your 2014 system? If not,
continue to the next step.
In 2014 (or earlier), third-party inventory collection was triggered by Windows Scheduled Tasks, and the account used for data access was the account running the scheduled task (often the SYSTEM account). In 2024 R2, all scheduling is managed by the inventory beacon engine (with settings controlled through the inventory beacon interface). This means that previously operating adapters will no longer work until you specify credentials under which they should run under the new scheduling system. To do this:
- In the inventory beacon interface, navigate to the Inventory systems page.
-
Select a connection to update from the list, and click
Edit....
The Edit SQL Source Connection dialog appears (or a similar dialog according to your chosen connection). All details of your previous connection should be preserved, but the authentication details must be set up for the new architecture.
- Typically, choose the Window (specific account) option, and provide the Username and Password that allows access to the data source.
- Click Save to close the dialog (which only writes the change to the inventory beacon interface).
- Repeat this for all other connections in the list that need updating.
- Finally, click Save again on the Inventory systems page to commit all your changes.
- When the configuration of this inventory beacon is complete, relocate to the next inventory beacon (or proposed beacon), and repeat this process.