Collector
Detection requests are handled by the Collector, a standalone program which periodically searches the database and attempts to execute any new requests. If any machine cannot be detected, e.g. it may be switched off, the request will be postponed and the Collector will return to that request later. Executing the detection and evaluation requests can be planned. This means, you can set up the Collector in such a way that it does not put excessive load on your SQL server or on your computer network during your business hours and works at night instead.
The Collector can run as a system service (recommended), or interactive application. The shortcut for running the Collector in the interactive mode is added to the Windows Start menu during the Console installation process.
The system's service mode is usually used on servers, but it can be used on workstations too. The advantage of the system service mode is the fact that the Collector is launched automatically at each computer start-up. The Collector then runs in the background even if no interactive user is currently signed in to the respective computer.
The Collector can run on multiple machines in the network simultaneously. In this case, the Collector instances will share all detection requests and will handle these together.
Another Collector feature is the automatic software products library (SwLib) update. The Collector periodically checks for new libraries and if a new library is found, the Collector will download it from the Internet and loads it into the database. Please note that the Collector must be running on a machine that is connected to the Internet for this feature to work correctly.
The Collector also allows to search for new computers in the network using the Network Scan feature. This feature is used to search for new machines connected to the corporate network. Any new machines are created in a special folder – Computers found – in the Asset Management tree. The network scan configuration can be edited in the Admin Settings using the Manage – Servers... – Add (Edit) command in the Network Scan tab. You can configure multiple Collectors to scan only a certain part of your computer network. This may speed up the regular scanning process of large corporate networks. The scanning period can be set up individually for each range. The time settings specify the time elapsed between two consecutive scans of a certain part of your corporate network.
The Collector also contains a feature named Automatic loading of manual detection files. It automatically loads manual detection files (*.CXM) from a specified folder on your hard drive. The detections that are loaded will be either moved to the "Processed" subfolder, or deleted from the hard drive. This can be selected in the Loading files settings.
The Collector also sends requests with unrecognized software and add new product requests to the library (if this feature is enabled). Please note that this feature requires active Internet connection in order to work correctly.
Settings
Use the Actions – Settings command to set up the database connection of the Collector in the interactive mode (Start – ALVAO – Asset Management Collector).
You can find more Collector settings in ALVAO Admin under Manage – Servers.
AMCollector.config Configuration File
All local configuration settings from the Collector settings are saved in the configuration file:
- The database connection string
- Launch automatically after system start
- Logging into file configuration
You can thus set the Collector without restarting the service, if you edit this configuration file.
Configuration File Elements
| Element |
Description |
Allowable values |
Default value |
| database\connectionTimeout |
Database connection timeout in [s]. |
INT number |
300 |
| database\connectionStrings\add[@name="Collector"] |
Database connection string set via Collector settings. |
connection string |
- |
| ui\autoStart |
Automatic application launch after the OS start. |
0 = no,
1 = yes |
0 |
| log[@active] |
Enabling/disabling the log into file. |
0 = enabled,
1 = disabled |
0 |
| log\filePath |
Path and name of the file for log. |
STRING |
- |
| log\detailLevel |
Logging detail. |
0 = status and errors,
1 = normal,
2 = detailed |
0 |
| log\useCache |
Use the buffer for writing into the log. |
0 = no,
1 = yes |
1 |
| log\writeProcessAliveHours |
Write the detection and scanning process status every N hours. |
INT number |
12 |
Launching Collector interactively
Go to Start – ALVAO Asset Management Collector to launch the Collector in the interactive application mode. A status icon  will appear in the Windows Taskbar in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Double-clicking the status icon will open the Collector main window containing a list of detections being carried out, including any error messages.
Tip: Once the Collector has processed all requests in the database, it will switch over to the stand-by mode. In this status, the Collector will check the database for any new requests every two minutes. You can skip the waiting period by clicking the  button.
Tip: Once the Collector has finished scanning all network ranges that were configured for a particular machine, the "NetScan" feature will switch over to the stand-by mode until the scan of the next range is due. You can skip the waiting period by clicking the  button.
The Collector can only detect data from Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 based machines without the Agent if it runs under a Windows user account with administrator authorizations for the machines that you wish to detect. In other words, the user who runs the Collector must be the administrator of the machines which will be detected. The second method to launch the Collector as a different user is to hold the Shift key, right-click on the Collector item in the Start menu and select - Run as in the context menu. You can then enter the login name and password of the respective user.
Another way is to use ALVAO Admin, go to the Manage – Servers – Edit command on the Passwords tab and create a list of user accounts to be used by the Collector to detect data from the machines. The account list is especially suitable in situations where different administrator accounts are used for different computer groups in the network. The Collector then goes through the accounts in the list one by one and uses the first account that allows to perform the detection.
Note: If you want to detect hardware of IBM AIX operating systems via SSH, the list of accounts must include the login information of a user authorized to execute commands on remote computers via SSH.
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