Editing Inventory Agent Options

The Inventory Agent Options section controls the version of the agent to be deployed and lets you specify many agent configuration options such as whether to:

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Collect file evidence or Include and Exclude file evidence

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Collect CAL (Client Access License) Evidence

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Collect usage data or to collect device connectivity data from Windows and Linux devices to enable business service identification

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Deploy the agent manually, automatically, or automatically by platform.

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Scan Oracle Audit Data for Oracle Fusion Middleware and/or Oracle Java

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Scan Containers

Tip:If an inventory device is already running a version of Inventory Agent earlier than the one you specify in these steps, the Inventory Agent is automatically downgraded at the next policy update, to match your specification. This technique can be used to roll back a version of Inventory Agent on selected platforms. In short, the version you select in this control is the only version permitted on your chosen platforms, and the installed Inventory Agent works to match your specification as received through device policy.

To configure Inventory Agent options

Go to Agent Configurations (Data Collection > IT Visibility Inventory Tasks > Agent Configurations).

The Agent Configurations screen appears.

Click an agent configuration tile to edit its configuration.

The selected agent configuration appears.

Click Edit at the far right of the Inventory Agent Options section.

The Inventory Agent Options section expands.

To manage file evidence inventory collection on a selected platform types, do the following:

Tip:For supplemental information about file evidence that is not shown here, also see File Evidence Reference for Inventory Agent Options.

In the Collect File Evidence section, click a platform check box (Windows, Mac, Linux/Unix) that you want to collect file evidence from. You can choose more than one platform.

When you click the check box of a platform, additional options appear that allow you to choose to either include All Files (and add excludes) or choose to Specify Folders for Include or Exclude. Note the following for each option:

Option

Description

All Files

Include all files and specify excludes. If you specify All Files, it is recommended that you add excludes to avoid large volumes of traffic. To add an exclude, click the Add Exclude button. An entry field opens. In the entry field, type a path to a directory you want searched for file evidence.

Note the following:

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To add additional exclude paths, click Add Exclude. An entry field opens. In the entry field, type a path to a directory you want searched for file evidence.

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To delete an exclude path, remove that setting by clicking the Remove icon to the right of the field.

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Optionally, to sort the list of paths, click View Alphanumerically.

For additional information about exclude paths including the use of variables, wildcards, platform-specific path syntax, and more, refer to Considerations for Exclude or Include Paths.

Specify Folders for Include or Exclude

Opens an additional workspace on the page, where you can specify as many individual paths to directories as you want included or excluded for this platform. To add an exclude or include, click the Add Custom Include or Exclude button. An entry field opens. In the entry field, type a path to a directory you want searched for file evidence. Choose Include or Exclude from the dropdown to the left of the path to customize appropriately.

Note the following:

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To add additional include or exclude paths, click Add Custom Include or Exclude. An entry field opens. In the entry field, type a path to a directory you want searched for file evidence.

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To delete an exclude path, remove that setting by clicking the Remove icon to the right of the field.

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Optionally, to sort the list of paths, click either View Alphanumerically or View by Include Exclude.

For additional information about exclude and include paths including the use of variables, wildcards, platform-specific path syntax, and more, refer to Considerations for Exclude or Include Paths.

Note:An inclusion starts from the folder you specify, and continues down through all child folders (it is recursive). To fine-tune this recursive behavior for all target inventory devices, you can create exclusions for any child folders that should be ignored. Locally on an individual inventory device, you could instead edit the Recurse preference, preventing recursion on all the inclusions specified for this platform type.

To choose whether to collect evidence required for Client Access Licenses, click to select the Collect CAL (Client Access License) Evidence check box. This allows the 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. Flexera One uses access evidence to determine whether a server application was accessed through a client device. For more information on CALs, see Introduction to Client Access License in the System Reference guide.

Note:If you do not select the Collect CAL (Client Access License) Evidence check box, CAL inventory is not collected.

To enable software usage tracking or connectivity data tracking, click any of the following checkboxes:

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Collect usage data—Collects information regarding what applications on a machine (tied to an installed product) are being used by whom and for what length of time.

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Collect connectivity data—Collects device connectivity data from Windows and Linux devices to enable business service identification.

To specify how to deploy the inventory agent, choose one of the following values from the Manage version dropdown list.

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Manually—Choosing this option means that there are no automated self-upgrades of Inventory Agent on any platform. You take responsibility for upgrades using separate technologies or methods. For more information, refer to Manual Inventory Agent Download.

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Automatically—Performs automatic deployment of Inventory Agent on newly-discovered devices, regardless of platform. For situations where automatic upgrades are not recommended, see Inventory Agent Automatic Deployment Considerations.

Note:Currently, Inventory Agents on Debian or Ubuntu Linux do not include self-update functionality. On these platforms, you can deploy new versions of the Inventory Agent manually, use your preferred third-party deployment tool to publish updates to Inventory Agents, or uninstall the old version(s) of Inventory Agent, and once again target the devices for adoption through IT Asset Management.

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Automatically by platform—Choose this to expand and select from a list of the platforms on which the Inventory Agent will automatically upgrade at the next policy update. Upgrade packages are distributed to inventory beacons automatically as soon as they are available in Flexera One, typically after each product upgrade. In the list of platforms, select the check box for one or more platforms. Selecting all platforms is sensible when you want to globally limit the deployed versions of Inventory Agent to some version prior to the latest. For situations where automatic upgrades are not recommended, see Inventory Agent Automatic Deployment Considerations.

Tip:Instances of Inventory Agent installed on platforms that you do not select are unchanged through policy, and remain at their current installed versions, neither upgraded nor downgraded. Because non-selected platforms are completely unaffected by the current setting, you can use (and re-use) these controls to work through a scenario such as the following example: Release version X to Windows devices when the team administering Windows has completed their testing. Weeks later perhaps, when the Linux team finishes their testing, a new setting on this page authorizes version X for the Linux platform, while other platforms are unaffected.

To enable scanning of Oracle audit data, for Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Java, click the checkboxes:

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Enable Collection of Oracle Fusion Middleware Audit Data

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Enable Collection of Oracle Java Audit Data

For additional information about collecting Oracle Fusion Middleware inventory, see Scanning Oracle Fusion Middleware Inventory Reference for Inventory Agent Options.

To enable detection when running an inventory agent inside of a Docker container, click Enable Detection.

10.

Click Save.

Your changes are saved to a database, over-writing the previous settings. At the next request for any updated beacon policy (inventory beacons check for updates by default every 15 minutes), the latest settings are deployed, along with any new update packages. Thereafter, when an inventory device checks for updated policy (which happens daily at a random time between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. local time for operational agents), affected platforms receive the changed policy and download any new upgrade packages required. Once Inventory Agent has both the policy update and the required package available, it waits for any of its current processes to complete, and then launches an installation of the specified package, which results in its version being either upgraded or downgraded. On successful completion of the process, Inventory Agent resumes normal processing to ensure that it meets the requirements specified in its device policy. Its next uploaded inventory reports the newly-installed version of itself.

These process cycles suggest that, for scenarios that require a series of changes to these settings, you should leave an interval of at least 48 hours between changes.

Note:For policy-based upgrades, the method of originally deploying Inventory Agent, whether by the Adopted method or by Agent third-party deployment, is not relevant. If it uploads to a connected inventory beacon, it is controlled by policy, and managed from this page. If you have a disconnected inventory beacon, or if you have separately deployed core components rather than the full Inventory Agent, you must manage their upgrades separately. For more information, see Gathering FlexNet Inventory.