VMware Device and Infrastructure Inventory

With the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product, IT Asset Management can generate a license compliance position for applications installed on virtual machines created and managed by VMware virtualization products. To generate a complete and accurate license compliance position for some publishers, IT Asset Management also collects VMware infrastructure inventory (clusters, pools, hosts, and virtual machines), in addition to the standard hardware and software inventory of virtual machines.

The software and hardware configurations of VMware virtual machines can be collected using Flexera inventory or third-party inventory data sources. For more information about Flexera inventory collection, see Gathering FlexNet Inventory.

VMware infrastructure hierarchy information, including clusters, pools, hosts, virtual machines, is required for calculating license positions for certain software publishers.

To collect VMware infrastructure inventory from vCenter or stand-alone ESXi:

1.

Configure credentials on the inventory beacon.

On the inventory beacon, configure the credentials for connection to each vCenter or ESXi in scope for that inventory beacon to scan. For more details, see Using Password Manager When Collecting Specialized Inventory.

Note: 

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If the provided credential is an email address, leave the domain field blank.

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If connecting to vCenter, you do not need to separately connect to ESXi servers managed by that vCenter.

2.

Ensure subnet coverage.

a.

In the Flexera One UI, go to Inventory > Network Discovery > All Subnets.

b.

Ensure that the IP addresses of your vCenter or stand-alone ESX machines are covered by an existing subnet or subnets. If necessary, add a site for your vCenter or ESXi machines, and add each machine's IP address to the site with a /32 subnet mask (CIDR format). For example, 171.24.54.234 and 172.18.120.45.

Note:If connecting to vCenter, you do not need to separately connect to ESXi servers managed by that vCenter.

3.

Configure a discovery and inventory rule.

It is recommended to create a dedicated rule to gather VMware inventory rather than combining it with other discovery or inventory functions. For more information, see Discovery and Inventory Rules.

a.

Create an action by following the steps in Creating an Action.

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If you know the names or IP addresses of your vCenter or ESXi servers, you may leave Discover VMware infrastructure unchecked. This will ensure that VMware connection activity is only attempted on known VMware servers.

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Select the Gather VMware infrastructure inventory, with advanced recognition of VMware applications checkbox.

b.

Create a target for VMware infrastructure inventory following the steps in Creating a Target.

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Select the site name configured on the All Subnets page that contains the vCenter or ESXi machines.

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Select Attempt connection only by IP address.

c.

Go to Data Collection > IT Assets Inventory Tasks > Discovery and Inventory Rules and configure the rule to use the new VMware action and target.

For more information about creating, scheduling, and executing a rule, see Creating a Discovery and Inventory Rule.