Gather Oracle Database Environment Inventory

IT Asset Management (Cloud)
The Gather Oracle database environment inventory option allows a direct connection from the FlexNet Beacon engine on an inventory beacon to collect inventory from each Oracle Database within its 'sphere of management' (that is, either its assigned subnet, or its AWS region). This direct connection is useful when:
  • You cannot install FlexNet Inventory Agent on every Oracle server. (When locally installed, the FlexNet Inventory Agent automatically collects Oracle inventory.)
  • Your Oracle Database is running in Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), when local inventory collection is not possible and direct collection is the only option.
  • Access restrictions prevent inventory beacons connecting to all devices present within their assigned subnet to discover Oracle Database installations.
The Gather Oracle database environment inventory setting does not prescribe any method for discovery of Oracle Database installations. Making the direct connection requires details of the Oracle listener and services for each installation, and these details can be made available in any of a variety of ways:
  • You can manually add listener and service details to IT Asset Management on the Databases tab of the discovered device properties page. For more information, see Creating Listeners and Services.
  • You may use a TNSNames.ora file, which may be generated by the OEM adapter, or copied from an Oracle output, and by default saved in C:\ProgramData\Flexera Software\Repository\TNSNames\ on the inventory beacon.
  • Within the Action tab of your discovery and inventory rule settings, you can select Discover Oracle database environments in conjunction with Network scan to discover the Oracle Database instances (where there are no access restrictions that prevent this). With both these settings, be sure to adjust the values for Ports as needed in your environment.
  • For instances of Oracle Database running in the Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), you can use the Amazon connector to discover the required details that allow your chosen inventory beacon to connect directly to each active instance (for details, see Configuring Connections to AWS using IAM Roles). Each inventory beacon can then be assigned to a specific AWS region to limit the amount of inventory collection on the shared schedule (see Cloud Regions Tab for details).
    Tip: If you take the less common approach of installing Oracle Database on an AWS EC2 instance, notice that there is no automation for either discovery or direct inventory of Oracle Database installations on EC2. This functionality applies only to Amazon RDS.
  • Your inventory rule may specify using previously-discovered devices. In many cases (for example, in your on-premises data network), that previous discovery might have used any of the available discovery methods. For Oracle Database in Amazon RDS, the discovery must be through the Amazon connector, or (in the worst case) using manually-entered details.

To configure direct Oracle inventory gathering through an inventory beacon:

  1. Configure a Discovery and inventory (or an Inventory only) action in your rule declaration.
    Either choice of action type requires that you also choose one of the discovery methods described above, as appropriate for where your Oracle Database is running. If you choose an Inventory only action, and use a discovery method that normally links with Use previously discovered devices, there is no need to also select this option, as it is used by default.
    Tip: For Oracle Database running in the Amazon cloud, first use the Amazon connector to do the discovery work for you – while this connector does discover EC2 'devices', it separately also discovers Oracle Database instances running on Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) (for connection details, see Configuring Connections to AWS using IAM Roles). When the resulting RDS data is imported, it automatically creates a discovered device record that is used for gathering inventory by direct connection to installed Oracle Databases; and it also creates an inventory device record to represent the device where the database is installed. Next, you can use the Cloud regions tab of the properties for your chosen inventory beacon to specify which Amazon RDS region it should address (see Cloud Regions Tab). While working with the inventory beacon, also ensure that the credentials for relevant Oracle Database instances are entered in the password store. Because all this discovery and preparation happens away from the Discovery and Inventory Rules page, either select Use previously discovered devices in your Discovery and inventory action, or choose an Inventory only action, which automatically uses those previously discovered devices.
  2. Expand the Oracle database environments section on the Actions tab, select the Gather Oracle database environment inventory option in the action definition, and include this action in the rule definition.
  3. When the rule executes, the FlexNet Beacon engine on each inventory beacon connects to every active Oracle Database present within its target, and collects only Oracle Database inventory.
    Tip: This method of direct connection from the inventory beacon only permits connection to active database instances. If you need to collect inventory from standby database instances in your local environment, use a locally-installed FlexNet Inventory Agent. (Inventory of standby instances is not possible in Amazon RDS.)
  4. Each inventory beacon uploads Oracle Database inventory to IT Asset Management.
    Tip: Some Oracle licenses are based on hardware configuration like the number of processor cores. This general inventory is not normally available through the direct access to the Oracle Database. To get accurate information about consumed licenses, Flexera recommends that, where possible, you (also or instead) install the FlexNet Inventory Agent locally on the Oracle server, and then select the Gather hardware and software inventory from all target devices option in the General hardware and software inventory section of the action definition. (This is not possible for Amazon RDS, for instance; but in this case, IT Asset Management automatically collects the count of Threads – or, in Oracle terms, vCPUs – by direct connection to Oracle Database running in Amazon RDS. This special functionality allows IT Asset Management to fabricate, for example, an inventory device record that includes the number of Threads (or vCPUs) in the Hardware tab of the device properties. This factor can then be used in license consumption calculations.)