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INSTALLATION GUIDE Product Snow External Data Provider Version 4.2 Release date 2014-10-29 Content Prerequisites Installation Configuration Import provider settings Document date 2014-10-29

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INSTALLATION GUIDE

Product Snow External Data Provider

Version 4.2

Release date 2014-10-29

Content Prerequisites

Installation

Configuration

Import provider settings

Document date 2014-10-29

Page 2 of 29

CONTENT ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT .................................................................................................................................. 3

PREREQUISITES ................................................................................................................................................ 3

INSTALLATION .................................................................................................................................................. 4

CONFIGURATION .............................................................................................................................................. 7

GENERAL ............................................................................................................................................................... 7 INVENTORY FILE HANDLING ........................................................................................................................................ 8 PROVIDER OPTIONS ................................................................................................................................................ 10

Provider specific options – Symantec Altiris 6/7 ........................................................................................... 11 Provider specific options – FrontRange Discovery ........................................................................................ 12 Provider specific options – HP Discovery & Dependency Mapping Inventory .............................................. 13 Provider specific options – LANDesk ............................................................................................................. 14 Provider specific options – Microsoft Hyper-V .............................................................................................. 15 Provider specific options – Microsoft SCCM 2007/2012 ............................................................................... 17 Provider specific options – Snow Inventory File Forwarder .......................................................................... 19 Provider specific options – Snow Inventory Oracle Scanner ......................................................................... 20 Provider specific options – Snow ServiceNow Connector ............................................................................. 21 Provider specific options – Snow Xml ........................................................................................................... 22 Provider specific options – VMware vSphere................................................................................................ 23 Provider specific options – Citrix XenServer .................................................................................................. 24

LOGGING ............................................................................................................................................................. 29

IMPORT PROVIDER SETTINGS ......................................................................................................................... 29

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ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT This document describes how to install and configure Snow External Data Provider.

PREREQUISITES Very important! Read before beginning the installation.

Verify that the server meets the system requirements for this product; see the document System Requirements for all Snow products, which is available for download at www.snowsoftware.com/int/download

For configuration of the providers, a user account with read-only access rights to the database or on the server is normally required. If additional access rights are required for a specific provider, these will be described in detail in the section of that particular provider.

Download the latest version of Snow External Data Provider from ftp.snowsoftware.com.

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INSTALLATION Make sure that the requirements listed in System Requirements for all Snow products are fulfilled before continuing with the installation.

1. Uninstall any previous versions of the Snow External Data Provider prior to the installation of version 4.2.

2. Double-click on the file SetupEDP.exe to begin the installation.

3. The Snow External Data Provider Setup Wizard is started.

4. Click Next to continue.

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5. Read and accept the terms of the End User License Agreement.

6. Click Next to continue.

7. Select destination folder and which plug-ins to install.

8. Click Next to continue.

9. Click Install to start the installation.

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10. The Snow External Data Provider is installed.

11. Click Finish to exit the Setup Wizard.

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CONFIGURATION To configure, start the Snow External Data Provider Properties, which is located in the start menu under Snow Software/External Data Provider.

GENERAL Select global settings for Site id and aggregation scheduling.

The global Site id setting can be overridden using the Site id setting in the provider specific options.

NOTE: The global setting for aggregation scheduling will affect all providers. If providers are to be scheduled separately, do not enable this setting.

1. In the Site id text box, enter the name provided by the Service Provider (SPE platforms only), or the default site name used in the Snow Inventory installation (Enterprise).

2. In the Scheduling section, schedule an aggregation interval (or disable it).

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INVENTORY FILE HANDLING Select method for handling of inventory data.

1. When Snow Inventory Server is running on the same server as the Snow External Data Provider, select the Save to local inventory server option and specify the incoming folder in the Inventory incoming file folder field.

Example: C:\Program Files\Snow Software\Snow Inventory\Data\Incoming

2. When sending the inventory data to a remote server, select the Save to remote inventory server option (i.e. Snow Inventory Data Receiver) and enter the complete URL in the Url text box.

Example: http://myserver.com.

Click the Proxy button to enter Proxy settings.

Check the Use proxy option to activate the proxy functionality.

In the Settings section, use the default proxy configured in Internet Explorer by checking the Use default proxy option, or configure manual proxy settings in the text boxes below.

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3. In the Software filtering section, folder paths and file types which by default are excluded from/included in the inventory are listed.

NOTE: Software filtering is only applicable for the Microsoft SCCM 2007/2012 and LANDesk plug-ins.

Example:

By default, all content of the folder

_:\WINDOWS\*

will be excluded except for the folder

_:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\SPOOL\DRIVERS\*.

By default, only .exe and .dll file types will be included in the inventory, but more file types can be added.

To remove a filter, select filter in the list and click the Remove button.

To create a new filter, click the Add button.

4. To exclude a folder, enter a path in the Filter text box and check the Excluding option.

Click Save.

5. To include a folder in an already excluded path, enter a path in the Filter text box and leave Excluding checked off.

Click Save.

6. To include a new file extension, enter the extension in the Filter text and check the Is extension option.

Click Save.

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PROVIDER OPTIONS 1. To add providers, click on the provider in

the Available providers list and then click the Add button.

2. To remove providers from the Active providers list, click on the provider and then click the Remove button.

3. The Settings button is used for Provider specific options, see the sections that follow.

4. Configure a schedule for a selected provider by clicking the Schedule button.

5. To rename an Active Provider, click the Rename button.

6. Click Aggregate selected to immediately start aggregation for a selected provider. This option is mostly used for testing purposes.

7. In the Missing metadata reporting level drop-down list, select how to handle reporting of missing metadata.

8. Check the Include software with missing metadata option to include software that lacks description. Filename will be used as placeholder for the description.

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PROVIDER SPECIFIC OPTIONS – SYMANTEC ALTIRIS 6/7

1. In the Server text box, enter the SQL server name.

2. Enter user credentials for the Symantec Altiris database in the User id and Password text boxes

- or –

Check the Use integrated security option.

3. In the Database drop-down list, select database.

4. Click the Test connection button to verify the connection.

5. In the Initial aggregation length field, select number of months for initial aggregation of

inventory data.

6. Click the Clear Last Aggregation Date button to reset an ongoing incremental aggregation.

7. Optionally, enter a Site Id for this provider.

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PROVIDER SPECIFIC OPTIONS – FRONTRANGE DISCOVERY

1. In the Server text box, enter the SQL server name.

2. Enter user credentials for the FrontRange Discovery database in the User id and Password text boxes

- or –

Check the Use integrated security option.

3. In the Database drop-down list, select database.

4. Click the Test connection button to verify the connection.

5. In the text box Organizations that start with, specify an organization filter which will be used to select computers that are connected to those organizations. Use % as a wildcard.

6. In the Initial aggregation length field, select number of months for initial aggregation of inventory data.

7. Click the Clear Last Aggregation Date button to reset an ongoing incremental aggregation.

8. Optionally, enter a Site id for this provider.

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PROVIDER SPECIFIC OPTIONS – HP DISCOVERY & DEPENDENCY MAPPING INVENTORY The HP Discovery & Dependency Mapping Inventory (HP DDMI) plug-in opens each of the HP DDMI scan files (.xsf) and converts the inventory data to a standard Snow inventory file that can be integrated with the Snow database.

1. In the XSF scan file folder text box, enter the folder where the HP DDMI plug-in will look for HP DDMI XSF scan files.

2. Optionally, enter a Site id for this provider.

3. In the Initial aggregation length field, select number of months for initial aggregation of inventory data.

4. Click the Clear Last Aggregation Date button to reset an ongoing incremental aggregation.

NOTE: Due to high CPU and memory usage the recommendation is to use a server with higher performance than the recommended minimum EDP server requirements, or there is a risk that the HP DDMI aggregation will underperform.

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PROVIDER SPECIFIC OPTIONS – LANDESK

1. In the Server text box, enter the SQL server name.

2. Enter user credentials for the LANDesk database in the User id and Password text boxes

- or –

Check the Use integrated security option.

3. In the Database drop-down list, select database.

4. Click the Test connection button to verify the connection.

5. In the Initial aggregation length field, select number of months for initial aggregation of

inventory data.

6. Click the Clear Last Aggregation Date button to reset an ongoing incremental aggregation.

7. Optionally, enter a Site id for this provider.

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PROVIDER SPECIFIC OPTIONS – MICROSOFT HYPER-V SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

When running EDP from Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008, Windows Management Framework 3.0 must be installed.

Logon credentials:

o Standalone Hyper-V servers:

The credentials must have access to the server’s WMI interface.

o VMM servers:

The user must be an Administrator on the VMM server.

The user must also be added to a role with read rights in Virtual Machine Manager Console on the VMM server (in the console, go to Settings|User roles).

VMM servers: Make sure that PowerShell Remoting is enabled on the server. Example of PowerShell script:

o Enable-PSRemoting –Force

If the connection fails to a server that is not a member of the domain, or if connection by IP address is used, the server’s IP address (or name) might need to be added to “TrustedHosts” on the local computer. Example of PowerShell script:

set-Item wsman:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value “xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx,

xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, …”

NOTE: The recommendation is to either install the Snow Inventory Client for Windows on the virtual machines or gather inventory data from the virtual machines using another EDP plugin. The Hyper-V plugin does not perform software scan on the virtual machines.

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1. In the Site name text box, enter the site name for this collection of Hyper-V servers.

This setting will override the Global site id.

2. Click the Add button to add one or more Hyper-V servers to scan for virtual machines.

3. In the Server name or IP text box, enter the hostname or IP address of the server (“.” for localhost).

4. Specify whether this is a single Hyper-V server or a VMM server controlling one or more Hyper-V hosts.

o For a VMM server, select whether HyperThreading is enabled on the hosts to ensure that the correct processor core count is reported to Snow License Manager.

5. Enter logon credentials (username or DOMAIN\username) in the User and Password textboxes.

6. By default, each virtual machine’s name is its Fully Qualified Domain Name (computer name + domain; MYCOMPUTER.mydomain.local). If only the computer name is needed, check the Remove domain suffix… option.

7. Click the Test button to verify the connection.

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PROVIDER SPECIFIC OPTIONS – MICROSOFT SCCM 2007/2012 DATA CONNECTION

1. In the Server text box, enter the SQL server name.

2. Enter user credentials for the SCCM database in the User id and Password text boxes

- or –

Check the Use integrated security option.

3. In the Database drop-down list, select database.

4. Click the Test connection button to verify the connection.

5. In the Initial aggregation length field, select number of months for initial aggregation of inventory data.

6. Click the Clear Last Aggregation Date button to reset an ongoing incremental aggregation.

7. Select Identifier.

8. Optionally, enter a Site id for this provider.

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DATA SOURCE OPTIONS The SCCM data source options gives a better overview of the SCCM setup and what views and fields the Snow External Data Provider is able to aggregate from. It is also possible to apply filters to collections and clients.

1. Collection filter (SiteID) In the Collection filter text box, enter the Site ID’s that clients will be aggregated from. Use semi colon as separator.

2. Client filter In the Client filter text box, enter the names of the clients that will be aggregated. Use semi colon as separator.

A wildcard (* or %) can be used to match several clients. Example: Enter STO-* for all clients with a name beginning with “STO-“.

3. Enable Apply software exclusion filters to metering data by checking this option.

4. Press the Preview button to test the filters.

Check the Use config value option to use the last aggregation date. Note that this will either be the last aggregation date if such a value exists, or todays date subtracted with the number of months specified for initial aggregation.

Check off the Use config value box to enter a manual date for the preview.

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PROVIDER SPECIFIC OPTIONS – SNOW INVENTORY FILE FORWARDER

1. In the Inventory file folder text box, enter the folder where the provider will look for inventory files.

2. In the Data receiver url text box, enter the complete URL to the Inventory Data Receiver.

3. Click the Test button to verify the connection.

4. Optionally, enter a Site id for this provider.

5. Check the Use proxy option to activate the proxy functionality.

6. In the Settings section, use the default proxy configured in Internet Explorer by checking the Use default proxy option, or configure manual proxy settings by using the text boxes.

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PROVIDER SPECIFIC OPTIONS – SNOW INVENTORY ORACLE SCANNER This plugin is used for import of Snow Inventory Oracle Scanner 2.x output xml files.

It is also used for processing of inventory result xml files generated by the Snow Inventory Client for Unix.

1. Add one or more folders where Snow Inventory Oracle Scanner will look for xml files.

2. Optionally, enter a Site id for this provider.

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PROVIDER SPECIFIC OPTIONS – SNOW SERVICENOW CONNECTOR

1. In the SLM Web API URL text box, enter the URL to the Snow License Manager Web API.

2. In the User Name and Password text boxes, enter credentials for a user account with administrative privileges in the Snow License Manager platform.

3. Click the Test connection button to verify the SLM connection.

4. For SPE platforms only In the Customer dropdown list, select the customer for whom information will be replicated.

5. In the ServiceNow URL text box, enter the URL to the ServiceNow instance

6. In the User Name and Password textboxes, enter user credentials for an administrative account in the ServiceNow platform.

7. Click the Test connection button to verify the ServiceNow connection.

8. Disable the option Include Users to exclude replication of inventory information on users (the option is enabled by default).

9. Click the Clear Last Import Date button to reset an ongoing incremental import and perform a full import instead.

NOTE: A user account is required to run the ServiceNow web services. The user account needs to be associated with the soap and import_transformer roles.

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PROVIDER SPECIFIC OPTIONS – SNOW XML Snow XML is an open xml format that enables integration of data from any other hardware and/or software inventory system. The Snow XML plug-in reads data from a structured xml file and converts it to the standard Snow Inventory format.

1. Enter a folder where Snow Xml will look for xml files.

2. Optionally, enter a Site id for this provider.

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PROVIDER SPECIFIC OPTIONS – VMWARE VSPHERE

1. In the Site name text box, enter a site name for this collection of vSphere servers.

This setting will override the Global site id.

2. Click the Add button to add one or more vSphere servers to scan for virtual machines.

3. In the Name text box, enter a name for the

server.

4. Check the Use this name as default name for data center option to use the entered name instead of vSphere’s default “ha-datacenter” name.

5. Enter the Webservice url and user credentials to access the server’s VMware vSphere Web Services SDK.

6. Click the Test button to verify the connection.

NOTE: To have the complete license key for each vSphere host displayed in Snow License Manager, the entered user account needs to be assigned a vCenter Server Role with the granted privilege License of the Global privilege category.

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PROVIDER SPECIFIC OPTIONS – CITRIX XENSERVER

1. In the Site name text box, enter a site name for this collection of XenServer servers.

2. Click the Add button to add one or more XenServer servers to scan for virtual machines.

3. In the Name text box, enter a name for the

server.

4. Check the Use this name as datacenter name option to use the entered name instead of the default name of the server.

5. Select whether HyperThreading is enabled on the hosts to ensure that correct processor core count is reported to Snow License Manager.

6. Enter IP address, Port, and user credentials to access the server. XenServer uses port 80 by default, so use that port on a default installation.

7. Click the Test button to verify the connection.

8. Click OK to save settings and close the Citrix XenServer dialog.

9. Click OK to save the settings.

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XENSERVER TOOLS The plugin will be able to extract more information from virtual machines with XenServer Tools installed. Install XenServer Tools on all VMs to retrieve the maximum amount of information.

HOSTS AND VIRTUAL MACHINES If a VM is not running, it is not necessarily associated with any host. It is only when a VM is running that a host is defined. This means that a VM that is not running may in fact be associated with *no* host.

When the plugin is trying to figure out which host a VM is associated with, the following logic is used:

1. If the VM is running, the host is known and we use that. 2. If the VM is not running, the host is inferred by the VM's affinity field (the preferred starting

host). 3. If the host could not be inferred, the VM is ignored.

XENSERVER PLUGIN AND SSL

1. Configure the plugin to communicate over HTTPS by specifying port 443 in the server settings.

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A default XenServer installation uses a self-signed certificate for TLS/SSL.

To make the plugin work over HTTPS, either replace the default certificate with one from a trusted certificate authority, or add XenServer’s self-signed certificate to the client machine’s trusted certificate store.

To replace XenServer’s default certificate, refer to the XenServer documentation.

To trust the self-signed certificate, follow the steps described below on the machine that the plugin is running on.

1. Start Internet Explorer using the running as administrator option.

2. Navigate to the XenServer over HTTPS.

3. If this warning is displayed, XenServer is not using a trusted certificate.

4. Click Continue to this website.

5. Click the Security report icon in the URL and click View certificates.

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6. In the Certificate dialog, click the Install Certificate... button.

7. The Certificate Import Wizard is started.

8. Select Local Machine and click Next.

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9. Select Place all certificates in the following store.

10. Click Browse and select Trusted Root Certification Authorities. Click OK.

11. Click Next.

12. Click Finish to start the import.

13. A message box should be displayed informing that the import was successful.

14. Restart Internet Explorer and verify that it is possible to navigate to the XenServer over HTTPS without getting a certificate warning.

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LOGGING

On the Logging tab specifications can be made on what information to append to the log files, how the files are formatted, where they are located, and allowed number and size of the files (default settings are recommended).

IMPORT PROVIDER SETTINGS From Snow External Data Provider version 4.1 it is possible to import the active provider settings from an earlier External Data Provider 3.x installation, if installed on the same computer. All existing settings on the General tab (company name, site name, schedules) for the External Data Provider will remain the same as in the earlier installation.

The External Data Provider Properties application presents the user with an option to import the settings the first time it starts.

Note that this message will be displayed only once regardless of the answer being Yes or No.