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Hardware and Software Detection

Before hardware and software detection in computers connected to a network can be run for the first time, the administrator has to issue software and hardware detection requests for the selected computers in the console. These requests are then stored in the database. The Collector, a standalone program, will handle those requests and save the detection results in the database where they can be viewed from within the Console.
What detection method to choose is based among others on the operating system capabilities.

Hardware and Software Detection in Computers Connected to a Network

The hardware and software detection in computers connected to a network can be run automatically and remotely, without the need to install Agents on the individual machines, or Agents can be installed, see detection methods. The "no Agent" method requires that the system administrator (or another user with a relevant permission) is granted remote access to the following services in the machines to be scanned:

  1. WMI
  2. remote registry
  3. administration access to hard drives (\\computer_name\C$)

In standard Windows network domain environments, it should be enough to go to Group Policy of Windows Firewall and to enable the "RemoteAdmin" service.
If detection without Agents is not possible, we recommend installing Agents on all machines using Group Policy (see e.g. here for more instructions)

Detection Settings

When creating a request for hardware and software detection (see Create detection requests), you can set up the detection range (e.g. hardware only or automatic detection scheduling) and the detection method (with or without Agent etc.), or use the Apply saved settings option. The detections global settings option will be used by default for the saved settings. The detections global settings are common for all computers in the database. Individual detection settings can be used for individual machines too. If individual detection settings exist for a machine, then these will be used instead of the global settings.

Detections global settings will be valid for all computers which do not use their own individual detection settings. Global settings will also be used for all new machines entered in the database. Detections global settings can be set up in the Admin program.

You can define individual detection settings for individual machines. These settings will be used instead of the global settings. If you wish to create the individual settings, go to the Objects tree, right-click on the machine for which you wish to change the settings and select the following command from the context menu – Detection settings. The Detection settings command can be also used on a computer in the list of computers on the Objects tab.

Note:
The detection settings will be used to create detection requests. Any later changes to the detection settings will not affect the requests created earlier.
Tip:
If, for any reason, you do not wish to run detection for a particular machine (e.g. the machine may run on Linux, Novel or Apple), go to the Detection method window and uncheck both hardware and software detection. These detection settings mean that no detection requests will be created for that particular machine when mass detection requests are created.

Create Detection Requests

Use the following procedure to create detection requests for multiple machines:

  1. Go to the Objects tree and select an organizational part where you want to detect software.
  2. In the upper-right corner of the main window select the Objects tab and then the tab Computers.
  3. The tab will display a list of all computers available in the selected organizational unit. Use the list to select the computers that you want to detect. (Press Ctrl+ A to select the entire list.) Then right-click and select - Detect from the context menu.
  4. The New detection – Basic window opens where you can specify the detection range and the detection method. In most cases, you can leave the option Apply saved settings enabled and continue by clicking on OK. This will use the global or custom detection settings, (for more information see Detection settings).
  5. You can follow the progress of request processing in the Status column in the Detection tab in the upper-right corner of the main window. The tab shows all requests related to all computers in the organizational unit currently selected in the tree.
Tip:
The -Detect command can be also used in the Objects tree on a specific machine.

Creating Request for Immediate HW and SW Detection

If you want to perform immediate HW or SW detection, use the following procedure:

  1. Select a computer in the AM Console Objects tree.
  2. Select Detect from the context menu.
  3. The New detection window will appear, where enable the Detect and evaluate immediately option.
    Note: The option is enabled automatically when selecting one computer.
  4. Finish the detection settings and select OK.
  5. On the Detection tab, a new request for detection will be created now and the Collector will attempt to execute and evaluate it as quickly as possible. If the computer had an open request (e.g. automatically scheduled one), this request will be replaced with the newly created one.
Note:
You can also select the whole organizational unit and multiple computers at the same time on the Objects tab.
Note:
The requests created in such manner are executed from the oldest. If the computer is turned off, the detection will be postponed according to the settings in Admin – Manage – Servers – Settings on the Detection tab.
Warning:
Immediate detections can be guaranteed only for Without agent, Agent over TCP/IP and Automatically detection methods. If you need immediate detection using the Autonomous agent and Agent over shared folder methods, you have to shorten the interval of queries sent to WebService from the Agent.

Creating a Request for Immediate Detection Evaluation

If you want to evaluate the detection immediately, use the following procedure:

  1. Select the specific computer or organizational unit in the tree and go to the Detection tab.
  2. Select the required detections and then select Evaluate immediately from the context menu.
  3. Detection status will change to "waiting for the detection evaluation".
  4. The Collector will now attempt to resolve the request as quickly as possible, even outside schedule for detection evaluations.

Viewing Requests for Immediate Detections

  1. In the AM Console, go to the Objects Tree and select the required organization.
  2. Go to the Detection tab.
  3. View the Immediately column determining whether the request should be processed immediately (the Detect and evaluate immediately option when created manually).
  4. If you order the requests list by the Immediately column, you may easily find all requests for immediate detections.

Automatic detection planning

We recommend to check the computers regularly using the automatic detection planning. Determine the period (number of days) after which a new detection and evaluation should be executed, according to the required recency of the information. As soon as the system finds a detection older than the number of days you determined, it creates a request for new detection. The default period is set in Alvao Admin – Manage – Asset Management – Settings – Detection tab – Detections global settings – Set – Scope tab – Automatic detection planning – Hardware and software detection period.

Tip:
We recommend to void older detection as soon as the new detection is created and evaluated. You can set that in Alvao Admin – Manage – Asset Management – Settings – Detection tab by enabling the Keep only one valid detection per machine option.
Note:
In the server settings you can determine when the detections and their evaluation will be performed: Alvao Admin – Manage – Servers – Edit the specific server – Detection tab.

Local Settings for Automatic Detection Planning

You can set the automatic detection planning for specific computers in the following manner:

  1. In the AM Console select specific computer or organizational unit from the tree and then select the Detections setting from the context menu.
  2. Select the Scope tab.
  3. In the Automatic detection planning section set the Hardware and software detection period value.
  4. As soon as the age of the last valid detection exceeds the time set by you, a new detection will be scheduled automatically.

Hardware Detection

Entering a new computer in the Registry will only create the pair of objects Computer Set – Computer. Once the hardware detection has been completed, both the set and the computer will include other objects representing other set components, in other words the computer components.

If you detect the computer hardware later again using the default detection settings, the current computer components will be removed and replaced with the newly detected ones. Such objects that are updated automatically based on the hardware detection are highlighted with a yellow triangle in the list. Computer set components will not be updated. If you connect e.g. a printer to the computer, this will only create new objects in the list.

You can define for each object in a computer set whether or not you wish to update this object automatically. Double-click the object in the Objects Tree. The Object – Basic window will open where you can enable or disable the Update automatically based on detection option.

The image shows a standard setup based on the settings of object templates. All components in the computer will be updated automatically. Computer set components will not be changed.

Any objects that are not updated automatically must be updated manually. If you right-click on a computer in the tree and select Hardware – Details from the context menu, the Detail – Hardware detection window will open containing a detailed overview of the last hardware detection which can be used as a hint.

Warning:
Since the objects are updated by removing existing and creating new objects, do not use any notes or create any Links to documents etc. for objects that are updated automatically. If you do so, you will use this information next time the hardware detection is started. If you wish to keep a component, e.g. a hard drive, as a standalone asset including any notes and documents, make sure to disable the Auto update feature for this object first.
Note:
If the computer includes two or more hard drives and you disable the Auto update feature for any of them, the remaining hard drives will not be updated either. The reason for this behavior is the fact that the system cannot assign detected drives to the drives in the records. Thus, the system does not recognize which drives should be updated and which should not.
Note:
The objects in the tree will be updated automatically based on the hardware detection, only if the Update objects in the tree option in the Detection settings is enabled.
Note:
If the key components of a computer have a serial number that contains duplicate or nonsensical values (e.g. multiple motherboards with the S/N: 000000), you can add these values to the HW Blacklist.

Software Detection

If the Update installation registry option is enabled in the Detection Settings, the detection result will be evaluated automatically once the detection has been finished according to the software products library and records about newly installed or uninstalled products are automatically saved in the Installation Registry so that the registered status corresponds to the detected status. The records are created with the detection processing date.

If you disable the option Update installation registry, you will be able perform the Installation registry updates manually: go to the respective software detection on the Detection tab in the upper-right corner of the main window, right-click on the detection and select Software – Compare to installation status from the context menu. The Installation registry vs. Software detection window opens and contains all records that need to be created in the Installation Registry. Select the individual items as necessary and have them created by the system.

For correct software detection evaluation it is therefore advisable to load the updated software products library before entering a new detection request. You can do this in Software – Software products library – Load updated library command. If you execute this command after the software detection has been finished, the last detections will be re-evaluated for computers based on the updated library and the Installation registry will be updated too, if necessary.

Tip:
If the system does not detect some applications and unrecognized records are displayed on the Software tab, select the unrecognized records and select Send SW for identification... from the context menu. A wizard will open where you can provide additional information regarding the unrecognized records. Once the wizard is completed, a new request will be created which will be sent by the Collector to our technicians. They will add the unrecognized products to the standard library. The updated library will then be available for download from the Internet in the Software – Software products library – Load updated library menu. Once the new library has been downloaded, the respective records will be recognized.
Tip:
To view details about the last computer detection (Software detection details), right-click the computer in the tree and select Software – Details from the context menu.

 

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