Discovering and Inventorying Devices in Your Network
The Inventory menu contains pages related to discovery and inventory of devices in your organization. This menu also enables you to define discovery and inventory settings.
Data Sources
IT Asset Management can collect discovery and inventory information from a number of sources. The following list provides a brief introduction about each of these sources:
| 1. | Inventory Agent—You can install Inventory Agent on the computers in your enterprise. When IT Asset Management installs Inventory Agent on a computer, it is called an adopted computer. This agent collects and reports discovery and inventory data according to the schedule defined in the Inventory Settings page. The agent sends discovery and inventory information to the inventory database from where it is imported into IT Asset Management. For more information about configuring the inventory agent schedule, see IT Asset Management Settings: Inventory Tab. The adopted computers are not affected by discovery and inventory rules. These rules are found on the in Discovery and Inventory Rules page. |
| • | Remote inventory collection—You can use an inventory beacon when you cannot install Inventory Agent on every computer in your network. The inventory beacon collects discovery and inventory information according to the schedule set for an applicable rules. The inventory beacon remotely collects discovery and inventory information for the computers within its assigned subnet. |
| • | Third-party data sources—Inventory adapters extract data from third-party systems like Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (previously Microsoft SCCM) and upload it to the compliance database directly. |
| • | Spreadsheet inventory—You can create an XLSX or a CSV file with the inventory information and upload it to IT Asset Management. This can be a one-time activity or a recurring activity through FlexNet Beacon. For details, see Importing Inventory Spreadsheets and CSV Files in the System Reference. |
Discovery and Inventory Rules Page
The remote inventory collection process is directed by rules on the Discovery and Inventory Rules page. A rule is a combination of one or more targets, an action, and a schedule. When discovery rules are run, it identifies devices based on the target definition and performs the actions specified in the action definition on those devices. The underlying action properties determine the actions to perform and the underlying targets' properties determine the devices to perform the action onto. Once a computer is adopted by installing the Inventory Agent, it is no longer affected by tasks on the IT Assets Inventory Tasks Discovery and Inventory Rules page. For more information on rules, see Discovery and Inventory Rules.