Inventory Agent Schedule

IT Asset Management (Cloud)

Manage the timing of inventory collection by locally-installed FlexNet Inventory Agents.

The schedule in the Inventory agent schedule section controls inventory collection on all policy-driven computers in your fleet. Here, 'policy-driven' means that the FlexNet Inventory Agent is installed on the computer and uploads locally collected inventory to its preferred inventory beacon. These installed agents also check with any accessible inventory beacon for any change to their existing device policy, asking early each morning at a time randomized across a one-hour window. Schedule changes are delivered through device policy.

Tip: There are two exceptions where the schedule you define here does not apply:

1. The schedule for remote inventory collection (also called zero footprint inventory collection) is separately controlled in inventory rules (go to the Discovery and Inventory Rules page). The same rules also control the timing of the adoption process, where the FlexNet Inventory Agent can be automatically installed on a computer for local inventory gathering. Once it is installed, however, each FlexNet Inventory Agent executes local inventory gathering on the schedule you set here.
2. The schedule for inventory collection from worker nodes (computers) within a Kubernetes cluster is separately specified within the configuration file (in the YAML language, as described in Download Flexera Kubernetes Inventory Agent and subsequent topics) that is loaded by the installation script into each OCI container registry. The default timing for inventory from worker nodes is once each 24 hours, and this is not affected by settings on this page.

The controls in this section change, based on the choices you make. Notice that in all cases, you do not set a precise execution time. Instead, you choose a time window by nominating a start time and a Commence within period. Each inventory agent across your computer estate then randomizes its operations within the nominated period, thereby spreading the network loads for uploaded inventory.

To schedule inventory collection using installed FlexNet Inventory Agents:

1. Choose a value from the Frequency drop-down list.

   This control sets the style of scheduling. For example, the Daily option lets you make further choices about a pattern of days, and does not enforce inventory collection every day.

   Once

   A single-shot trigger for inventory collection the next time the declared time window occurs (you cannot nominate a future date). For example, if it is 4pm when you set a Once schedule for 8am, commencing within 4 hours, inventory collection normally occurs next morning. Compare with As soon as possible. Keep in mind the propagation delays for your changed instructions, as described there.

   Daily

   An additional drop-down list, Every, appears so that you can choose the pattern of days you want, extending the time intervals between inventory collection in multiples of 24 hours. For example, you may wish to trigger inventory collection every second day. The starting time is within the Commence within time window following the next occurrence of your Start time setting after the changed schedule is distributed (and received by each installed FlexNet Inventory Agent). For example:

   • Start time is set to 8:00 am.
   • Commence within is set to 2 hours.
   • The schedule is saved at noon today, and by default the inventory beacon policy is distributed every 15 minutes.
   • By default, each FlexNet Inventory Agent chooses a random time within a one-hour window from 5am local time to request any policy (and schedule) changes. Most devices therefore start using the changed schedule tomorrow morning.

   In short, the setting applies individually to each installed FlexNet Inventory Agent, and does not synchronize the activities of all agents across your enterprise to identical days.

   Weekly

   New check boxes appear that allow you to choose specific days within the weekly cycle when inventory should be collected. For example, you may want collection on Sunday and Wednesday every week. Select (check) the boxes for the days you prefer.

   Monthly

   New controls appear that allow you to specify a pattern within the month:

   • Choose the option for On day to nominate a particular day within the month (such as the third Saturday). Make your choices from the two drop-down lists adjacent. Notice that the option Last chooses the fifth occurrence in months long enough to have one, and otherwise takes the fourth occurrence.
   • Choose the option for On date to nominate the calendar date within the month.

   As soon as possible

   This is a single shot trigger which causes each FlexNet Inventory Agent to randomize an inventory collection within the time window starting when it receives this setting and lasting for the interval you specify in the Commence within controls.

   Tip: Any change you save to these settings is first collected by the inventory beacons on the schedule specified by the Beacon settings (further down this web page), by default checked every 15 minutes. Each inventory beacon then prepares new instructions for any installed FlexNet Inventory Agents that request an update to device policy (the operational FlexNet Inventory Agent checks for updated policy once per day, randomized across a one-hour window in the early morning; but newly installed agents seeking their first policy make a request once every 12 hours on UNIX-like platforms, or once every system restart on Windows). Because of these propagation periods, As soon as possible typically means starting early tomorrow morning.

   At startup/logon

   No further controls are needed for this option. Once this setting propagates, inventory is collected from adopted devices at each start up, or each time a different user logs in to the computer. Use this setting with restraint if it is typical in your enterprise for users to leave machines running overnight.

   When connected to network

   No further controls are needed for this option. Each time a new network connection is successfully established, the FlexNet Inventory Agent starts gathering inventory, and uploads the results shortly afterward.
2. If you chose Daily, Weekly, or Monthly, complete the additional settings for these patterns, using the additional controls that appear and as described in the table above for each option.
3. For any of the first four options described above, edit the Start time value appropriately.
   You may either type the value in the field, or use the spinner controls. These work independently on any selection (hours, minutes, or am/pm) within the field. Keep in mind the likely propagation times for your new schedule.
4. When available, use the two Commence within controls to define the time window within which each FlexNet Inventory Agent should randomize the collection of inventory.
   You may define a period in either minutes or hours. Obviously, make this period appropriate for your settings: there is no point establish a schedule to collect inventory every day, with a time window of 24 hours or more.
5. When available, use the controls for Do not rerun after success for period to limit the number of repetitions of inventory collection.
   Values are editable only when you select the check box. You might use this control, for example, if your Frequency setting is When connected to network, when it may be kinder to road warriors to delay further inventory gathering for seven days. Another example might be a weekly schedule with collection on Sunday and Tuesday, with no re-runs for 4 days. Here, all computers left running on Sundays would have inventory collected in these off-peak hours, with a Tuesday catch up only used for machines not running on Sunday.

   Tip: This control only affects normal inventory collection. The high-frequency inventory required for sub-capacity licensing with IBM PVU licenses is not affected (see IBM High-Frequency Scanning).
6. Use the Run last missed event setting as follows:
   • Clear the check box if the installed FlexNet Inventory Agents should always look forward, and never attempt to catch up on a missed trigger.
   • Setting the check box means that, on start-up of the FlexNet Inventory Agent (for example, if the adopted computer is powered up or rebooted), it looks back for a trigger specified by its current rules and, if it finds any that have not been run yet, it runs one inventory gathering now. Only one catch up is used, regardless of the count of missed triggers.
   This setting is useful, for example, when you have a scheduled inventory collection on Sundays. With this check box set, any machine powered down on Sunday will catch up as soon as it is restarted.
7. Don't forget to click Save to commit your changes (although you may edit multiple sections of this web page in one session, and then Save them all).