Configuring ndtrack.ini for UNIX-like Platforms

IT Asset Management (Cloud)

The optional configuration file ndtrack.ini can be used:

• To disable specific parts of inventory gathering (although doing this places at risk your ability to calculate consumption for licenses that rely on the inventory being available)
• To store run-time preferences that would otherwise be required on the command line at each invocation.

All the specifications embedded in the default ndtrack.ini file are also embedded in the ndtrack.sh executable, so that when the .ini file is omitted, default functionality is preserved. When the tracker is first invoked, it checks for the presence of an ndtrack.ini file in the same directory where the executable is running. If present, the external file takes precedence, in its entirety. This means that if, for example, your copy omits a provider statement that is present in the default file, this is equivalent to turning off that part of inventory gathering. For this reason, it is critically important to always start customization with a complete copy of the latest default file from your inventory beacon (see FlexNet Inventory Scanner: Implementation on Unix-Like Platforms), and to change only those elements that are essential, preserving all other values.

Disabling a part of inventory

Find the appropriate section in the ndtrack.ini file, and remove or comment out the provider details. For example, the following change prevents collection of the physical memory size on Solaris platforms:

[ManageSoft\Tracker\CurrentVersion\SunOS\Hardware\MGS_PhysicalMemory]
#provider=SolarisPhysicalMemory

Note: A line commencing with the hash character (#) is commented out. This character is also known as the pound character, or number sign.

Be cautious about what you comment out, since an unusual variety of hardware attributes can affect consumption calculations on different kinds of licenses.

Storing a run-time preference

The behavior of the ndtrack.sh executable can be conditioned by a large number of preferences. When the parallel executable on Windows, ndtrack.exe, is operating within the locally-installed, complete FlexNet Inventory Agent, it can read these preferences either from the command line or from values saved in the Windows registry (in contrast, the Windows version of the light FlexNet Inventory Scanner does not check registry entries, simplifying its deployment and operation). On UNIX-like platforms, there is (of course) no Windows registry, so that preferences are either:

• Read from the command line as parameters, which parameters are common for both Windows and UNIX-like platforms (see FlexNet Inventory Scanner Command Line for details)
• Saved in a configuration file that acts as an alternative storage medium on these non-Windows platforms.

On UNIX-like platforms, the configuration file is different in these two cases:

• When the complete FlexNet Inventory Agent is locally installed on the target device running a UNIX-like operating system, the file is called config.ini.
• When ndtrack.sh is being deployed alone as a light inventory scanner, the file is called ndtrack.ini.

The naming difference keeps clear their different purpose and differences in content; but these two files have one thing in common — their ability to store preferences for use by ndtrack.sh (acting as a 'virtual' registry). Furthermore, this common functionality is achieved in exactly the same way:

• The equivalent of the Windows registry key is listed inside square brackets
• The following lines under each key show the registry value (or values) set under that key.

For example, suppose that you want the collected inventory from your UNIX-like device uploaded to your inventory beacon. One way is to use the following two preferences on the command line (this example shows an IPv4 address for the UploadLocation, and IPv6 addresses may also be used if appropriate in your environment):

./ndtrack.sh -o Upload=True -o UploadLocation=http://198.51.100.3/ManageSoftRL

Another way is useful when you want to deploy the lightweight inventory scanner but by default have it regularly upload inventory. To achieve this, you can customize the ndtrack.ini file with the following addition, and simply deploy this into the same directory as the executable ndtrack.sh (the UploadLocation can alternatively be the fully qualified server name):

[ManageSoft\Tracker\CurrentVersion]
Upload=True
UploadLocation=http://FQServerNameOrIP/ManageSoftRL

Such customizations require that you know the equivalent registry paths used on Microsoft Windows (as well as the name/value pairs). Many preferences, complete with the relevant registry paths, are documented in the Preferences chapter of this document.

For our previous example, that chapter shows the registry path for the computer-based preference Upload in this manner:

[Registry]\ManageSoft\Tracker\CurrentVersion

Here, the placeholder [Registry]\ stands for one of the following values, as appropriate for the context:

• The registry base path on Windows 32-bit devices
• The registry base path on Windows 64-bit devices
• The config.ini file for the full FlexNet Inventory Agent locally installed on the device
• The ndtrack.ini file for the lightweight deployment of ndtrack.sh as a stand-alone inventory scanner.

In the case of the lightweight FlexNet Inventory Scanner, the placeholder [Registry]\ should be read as "add the following path inside square brackets to your ndtrack.ini file". This reading, together with the information in the Value/range entry in the relevant topics, produces the example shown above, which is good for anonymous authentication on the upload. The standard URL construct can also be used where an account name and password are required for the upload, although you may prefer this format on a transitory command line rather than in a plain text file:

[ManageSoft\Tracker\CurrentVersion]
Upload=True
UploadLocation=http://AccountName:Password@FQServerNameOrIP/ManageSoftRL

In a similar manner, you can include in your ndtrack.ini file any other preferences for ndtrack from this PDF that are relevant to UNIX-like platforms.

Note: Any preference setting in ndtrack.ini is over-ridden by a different value for the same preference given as a command-line parameter. The priority order is: default (built in) values are over-ridden by settings in ndtrack.ini, which are over-ridden by command-line parameters.