Configuration Installation Operation - Snow Software · Product Snow Inventory Client for Linux Version 1.6.01 Release date 2014-04-24 Content Overview Configuration Installation

Product Snow Inventory Client for Linux

Version 1.6.01

Release date 2014-04-24

Content Overview

Configuration

Installation

Operation

Appendix: Configuration file example

Document date 2014-04-24

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Copyright © 2013 Snow Software AB Page 2 of 132 Snow Inventory Client for Unix 1.0 – User Guide

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

OVERVIEW ....................................................................................................................................................... 3

OPERATING SYSTEMS SUPPORTED ............................................................................................................................... 3

CONFIGURATION .............................................................................................................................................. 4

CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS ................................................................................................................................... 4

INSTALLATION .................................................................................................................................................. 8

INSTALLATION FROM A PREPARED RPM PACKAGE .......................................................................................................... 8 INSTALLATION FROM A PREPARED DEB PACKAGE ........................................................................................................... 9 MANUAL INSTALLATION ............................................................................................................................................ 9 DEFAULT LOCATION OF FILES ................................................................................................................................... 10

OPERATION .................................................................................................................................................... 11

ORACLE DATABASE INVENTORY ................................................................................................................................ 11 SCAN SCHEDULING ................................................................................................................................................. 12 COMMAND ARGUMENTS ......................................................................................................................................... 12

APPENDIX A ................................................................................................................................................... 13

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This document describes how to configure, install, and run the Snow Inventory Client for Linux.

The Snow Inventory Client for Linux is part of the Snow Inventory solution and is used for

inventory of Linux computers. The Linux client scans the computer and saves the collected data

to an inventory file, which is sent to the Snow Inventory server.

For information on supported operating systems, see the document Snow System Requirements.

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Prior to the installation of the Snow Inventory Client for Linux, a configuration file needs to be

created. The name of the configuration file must be snowclient.conf and it should be stored in

the folder /etc. Change the configuration file path by using the -C argument, see section

Command arguments.

The settings in the configuration file define how the Snow Inventory Client for Linux should

operate. Some settings are mandatory, such as the connection settings, while others are used for

defining other values than the default ones.

An example of a configuration file is presented in Appendix A.

Connection settings Description

DestinationWebService [url] Full URL to the Snow Inventory Data Receiver web service.

If the client is unable to connect to IDR and transfer the file, it will be

saved under /etc/snow. Next time the client runs and is able to connect

to IDR, it will send all inventory files in this directory.

DestinationFile [path] Path to the output inventory file generated by the client.

If you specify a path to an existing folder or a path which ends with

"/", the client will put a file with a generated unique filename in that

path.

If you specify a full file path, the client will put the data in a file with

that name. If the file is already there it will be overwritten.

If you only specify a file name, it will be put in the storage folder.

DestinationSMBShare [path] Path to an SMB share where the output inventory file generated by

the client will be placed. To use this functionality, smbclient must be

installed.

Settings Description

ID Specify one of the following: Mandatory

guid - The client creates a GUID (/etc/.snowguid), which is always

used as ID

localhostname - Use the first found hostname as ID

hostname - Use the manually set hostname as ID

filewave - Use filewave settings to find the ID

SiteID [SiteID] Name of the site – Mandatory

ConfigurationName [name] Name of the configuration

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CollectHardwareInfo yes - Collect hardware information about the computer.

Default value = no

CollectSoftwareInfo yes - Collect information about software installed on the computer.

Default value = no

RunJarScanner yes - Scan Java ARchive files.

Default value = no

This function needs the unzip-package installed on the machine to work.

ReportAllJarFiles yes – Send meta information about all Java ARchive archives, even if the

meta data doesn’t specify the package type as an application.

This option is only used if RunJarScanner = yes

ScanFolder [path] Recursive binary scan from this folder.

Default value is ”/”.

If ScanFolder is declared in the configuration file the default scan folder

above will not be used.

Multiple ScanFolder= can be used in the configuration file.

SkipFolder [path] Do not scan this folder.

By default, the following folders are excluded:

/net/, /panfs/, /sys/, /dev/, /tmp/, /boot/, /usr/include/, /usr/share/,

/usr/src/, /var/.

SkipFileSystemType [type] Do not scan folders mounted on this file system type (if not

explicitly added with the ScanFolder option). By default, the following file

system types are excluded: smbfs, nfs, vmhgfs, panfs, rpc_pipefs,

vmblock, tmpfs, binfmt_misc, devpts, sysfs, proc.

If SkipFileSystemType is declared in the configuration file then the above

default exclusions will not be applied.

Multiple SkipFileSystemType= can be used in the configuration file.

It is highly recommended to always add the default exclusions declared

above when configuring this setting through the configuration file.

SkipScripts yes - Do not report executable script files in the list of software.

Default value = no

SetTemporaryFolder [path] Put all temporary files in this folder.

The default folder is /tmp/snow/.

SetStorageFolder [path] Put all non-temporary data files in this folder.

The default folder is /etc/snow/.

NumberOfLogFields [number] - Number of saved time stamps in the log.

Default value = 6

AnonymousUsers yes - Replaces all usernames with SHA1 hashes.

Default value = no

AnonymousIP yes - Replaces all IPs with SHA1 hashes.

Default value = no

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TrunkSoftwarePackages yes - Makes sure there is only one executable file, determined by Name,

Version and Language, reported for each package.

Default value = no

AddLatency [number of μseconds] When reading or processing large amounts of

data/objects, add some extra latency between the objects to prevent the

system from spending too much resource on this process. This might

also be a good solution when scanning exceptionally fast drives, to keep

the CPU usage down.

UseCronFile [path] Use this crontab file for cron scheduling, instead of the root

crontab file. If no filename is entered in the path, the filename “snow” is

automatically added to the path.

Since cron is configured differently for different distributions, Snow

Inventory Client for Linux will not add the cron file to the system crontab.

It is expected that the cron scheduling is setup for the folder specified in

the UseCronFile setting.

Note: This setting is only read during the installation of Snow Inventory

Client for Linux. If you change this setting, use the uninstall and install

arguments to reinstall Snow Inventory Client for Linux.

CronTimeSettings [standard cron time setting] Use this time setting instead of the default

one.

Note: This setting is only read during the installation of Snow Inventory

Client for Linux. If you change this setting, use the uninstall and install

arguments to reinstall Snow Inventory Client for Linux.

Note: You should only write the time setting here, not the command part.

ex: CronTimeSettings=0 14 * * *

schedules the client to run daily at 2PM

UseGetHostDomain Normally the getdomainname() function is used to retrieve the domain

name of hosts. However, sometimes the response written by NIS or

DHCP is not what you want reported. Setting UseGetHostDomain=yes

will instead attempt to use the domain part of gethostname() as domain

name.

DisableRootCheck yes - Adds the possibility to execute without using the root account.

DisableRpmScan yes - The client does not gather any software meta data from the RPM

database.

RPM scan is enabled by default.

UseExternalRpmScan This option is deprecated and should be removed from any existing

snowclient.conf. Setting this value to ‘no’ might affect reported results.

SMBUsername Use this if you want to connect to the SMB share with a username.

SMBPassword Use this if you want to connect to the SMB share with a password.

SMBDomain Use this if you want to connect to the SMB share using a domain.

SMBWorkgroup Use this if you want to connect to the SMB share using a workgroup.

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Oracle settings Description

CollectOracleInfo yes – Activates scanning of Oracle databases through the Snow Inventory

Oracle Scanner.

SiosBinaryPath Full path to the Snow Inventory Oracle Scanner.

If the whole filename isn’t specified, it will assume the file is named

sios.jar.

By default Snow Inventory Client for Linux will search for sios.jar in the

same folder as Snow Inventory Client for Linux is located in.

SiosConfigurationPath Full path to the configuration file for Snow Inventory Oracle Scanner.

Snow Inventory Client for Linux will overwrite the SIOS settings

OutputPath” and SiteName.

Default value is /etc/snow/sios.xml.

JavaBinaryPath Full path to the java binary which should be used to execute the Snow

Inventory Oracle Scanner. Example: JavaBinaryPath=/usr/bin/java

By default it will look for the java binary in $PATH.

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Prior to the installation of the Snow Inventory Client for Linux, a configuration file called

snowclient.conf needs to be created, see chapter Configuration.

During the installation of the client an application argument will be automatically added to the

CronTab file:

nice 10 /usr/bin/xClient 01010011011011100110111101110111

The argument is used for initiating a scan of the computer. If the argument is missing, no scan

will be performed.

This section describes the procedures for installation, uninstallation, and update of an RPM

package using a terminal. If some kind of distribution system or package manager is used, take a

look at the documentation of that system instead.

Execute the rpm command with the argument -i:

rpm -i xClient-1.6.01-1.i386.rpm

Execute the rpm command with the argument -e:

rpm -e xClient

1. Uninstall the old package, see the section Uninstall above

2. Install the new package, see the section Install above.

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This section describes the procedures for installation, uninstallation, and update of a DEB

package using a terminal. If you use some kind of distribution system or package manager, take a

look at the documentation of that system instead.

Execute the dpkg command with the argument -i:

dpkg -i xClient-1.6.01-1.i386.deb

Execute the dpkg command with the argument -r:

dpkg -r xClient

1. Uninstall the old package, see the section Uninstall above.

2. Install the new package, see the section Install above.

This section describes the procedures for manual installation, uninstallation, and update.

1. Copy the following files to the client computer:

xClient Copy this file to any folder, typically /usr/bin

snowclient.conf Copy this file to the folder /etc

2. As super user, start a terminal.

3. Install the Snow inventory Client for Linux with the command line:

xClient -install

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1. As superuser, start a terminal.

2. Uninstall the Snow Inventory Client for Linux with the command line:

xClient -uninstall

3. Delete all installed files, data files, and temporary files with the following

command lines:

rm [full path to xClient] rm /etc/snowclient.conf

1. As superuser, start a terminal.

2. Uninstall the Snow Inventory Client for Linux with the command line:

xClient -uninstall

3. Overwrite the old xClient file with the new file.

4. Ensure the configuration file snowclient.conf is still correct.

5. Install the new Snow inventory Client for Linux with the command line:

xClient -install

Client binary files are stored in the folder /usr/bin/:

xClient Snow Inventory Client for Linux binary file

Client output files are stored in the folder /etc/snow/:

*.inv inventory data file

client.lg Snow Inventory Client for Linux log file

Temporary files are by default located in the folder /tmp/snow and will be deleted when no

longer needed.

If the client’s ID is a generated GUID, it will be stored in a file called /etc/.snowguid.

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After installation, the Snow Inventory Client for Linux is fully automated and operates without any

user interaction. There are, however, also commands for manual control, see section Command

arguments.

The Snow Inventory Client for Linux scans the computer regularly, which by default is once every

24 hours. When the scan is completed, the client sends the inventory file with all scan data to the

Snow Inventory Server.

If the Snow Inventory Client for Linux for any reason cannot send data to the server, it will by

default try again every 15 minutes. The inventory data file is stored until the data has been sent

successfully.

If the Snow Inventory Client for Linux for any reason cannot scan a binary, it might (by choice of

the internal logics) add the binary as a SkipFile in the configuration file. This means that the

binary will be excluded from future scans. If the client receives a new configuration file, the

SkipFile setting in the new file will apply. For information, see section Configuration file options.

To perform inventory of Oracle database products, version 1.6 of the Snow Inventory Client for

Linux is required.

The inventory of Oracle database products is performed by the Snow Inventory Oracle Scanner

(SIOS) 2.0 which is integrated into the Snow Inventory Client for Linux 1.6 and later. SIOS requires

Java Runtime Environment 6 or later to be installed to be able to inventory Oracle database

products.

To enable inventory of Oracle database products the following configuration option needs to be

added to the configuration file of the Snow Inventory Client for Linux.

CollectOracleInfo=yes

This will trigger the client to run Snow Inventory Oracle Scanner (SIOS) 2.0 or later as part of the

Inventory process and automatically inventory all Oracle database instances found. Please see

the user guide for SIOS 2.0 for information on advanced configuration options for the Oracle

database inventory.

If multiple versions of Java is installed on a machine and the default Java version available in the

path is not version 1.6 or higher, the setting JavaBinaryPath in snowclient.conf can be used to

specify the location to the Java installation to use. The client will then try to run java using the

specified path.

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By configuration, it is possible to schedule when the client should scan; for example at 01:00 am

every day, at 4:05 am every Sunday, or at 00:30 am on the first of every month.

Before the scanning starts, the Snow Inventory Client for Linux checks when the last scanning

was performed. If that was less than 24 hours ago, the scanning will not be performed. This

means that scanning will never be performed more frequently than once every 24 hours.

The scan scheduling is defined in the crontab file

From a terminal, you can control the Snow Inventory Client for Linux with commands followed by

an argument (see table below).

Example:

xClient -version

Some command lines require superuser privileges. To temporarily gain superuser privileges, you

can send the command line as an argument to the command sudo.

Example:

sudo ./xClient –test

xClient arguments Description

-v or

version Get client version

-C [filename] or

ConfigFile [filename] Run client with this configuration file instead of the default one

-ZF or

ZeroFootprint Zero footprint scan. No files are stored after scan.

-stop Stop a scanning client.

-test Test connection to the selected Snow IDR server. Works only with IDR

versions that contains the GetServerDate function.

-force Force the client to run a scan in manual testing mode

-delay [seconds] Start working in [seconds] number of seconds

-findconfiguration Print (on the terminal) the full path to the configuration file that will be

used

-findstorage Print (on the terminal) the full path to the storage folder

-copyright Print (on the terminal) the copyright notices

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Example of snowclient.conf configuration file:

DestinationWebService=http://idr.company.com

SiteID=COMPANY

ID=guid

ConfigurationName=MyConfigurationName

CollectHardwareInfo=yes

CollectSoftwareInfo=yes

RunJarScanner=yes

ReportAllJarFiles=yes

CronTimeSettings=0 14 * * *

Documents

Configuration Installation Operation - Snow Software · Product Snow Inventory Client for Linux Version 1.6.01 Release date 2014-04-24 Content Overview Configuration Installation