FAQ: Snow Frequently Asked Questions regarding Files per Computer Report

Issue

This article answers and runs through some test scenarios that cover the frequently asked questions about the Files per Computer report:

What Files per Computer Report will show? Will it show if a user moves an application to different directory, example: From /opt/snow/java to moving to be /opt/snow/backup/java, will it show in Files per Computer Report two rows one row for /opt/snow/java and another row for /opt/snow/backup/java ?
If an application is being updated, will the Files per Computer Report show the earlier version as a row and another row for the new version it updated to?
If an application for example, Amazon Corretto application is uninstalled (via Control Panel) how will this be presented in Files per Computer Report?
If the Application Amazon Corretto that was uninstalled then after some time, it was installed again but on a newer version, what will the Files per Computer Report show?

Environment

Solution

Question: What does the Files Per Computer report shows if a user moved an application to a different directory?

If a user moves an application to different directory, example: From /opt/snow/java to moving to be /opt/snow/backup/java. Will the Files per Computer Report show two rows such as one row for /opt/snow/java and another row for /opt/snow/backup/java?
At the initial step, java is in the directory /usr/bin/ I perform snowagent scan to capture the current state of the machine, gathering and to produce the snowpack
You can see below, highlighted in yellow, the current path of java and it produces the snowpack:

Process the snowpack to Snow Inventory Server then run the Data Update Job.
You can check in the Snow License Manager (SLM) Web Portal that the Files per Computer will show that it is on /usr/bin/ which is correct:

Then in our example, change the directory from /usr/bin/ to now /usr/bin/backup/
Perform a Snow Agent scan then process the snowpack:

After running the DUJ, going to the Files per computer Report will show that, there will be no /usr/bin record but it will reflect as /usr/bin/backup now:

Question: If a user moves an application to different directory, example: From /opt/snow/java to moving to be /opt/snow/backup/java, will it show in Files per Computer Report two rows one row for /opt/snow/java and another row for /opt/snow/backup/java
Answer: Since the java file is same file as it was reported before, even if it changes the folder or added a subfolder within, it will still represent the same file and will not add a separate row on the Files per Computer Report as shown in the example.

If an application is being updated, will the Files per Computer Report show the earlier version as a row and another row for the new version it updated to?
If an application for example, Amazon Corretto application is uninstalled (via Control Panel) how will this be presented in Files per Computer Report?
If the Application Amazon Corretto that was uninstalled then after some time, it was installed again but on a newer version, what will the Files per Computer Report show?

Before answering these questions we created a scenario with an example environment where the following applications are installed:
- Amazon Corretto version 17 (https://corretto.aws/downloads/latest/amazon-corretto-17-x64-windows-jdk.msi)
- Note++ version 8.6.0 (https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/v8.6/)

Looking at the Computer - Applications tab, you will see both Applications are shown:

To answer these questions:
- If an application is being updated, will the Files per Computer Report show the earlier version as a row and another row for the new version it updated to?
- If an application for example, Amazon Corretto application is uninstalled (via Control Panel) how will this be presented in Files per Computer Report
In our test scenario the application Amazon Corretto is uninstalled, while the application Note++ will be updated from version 8.6.0 to version 8.6.7.

Question: If an application is updated, will the Files per Computer Report show the earlier version as a row and another row for the new version it updated to?
Answer: If an application is updated, there will only be one row in Files per computer Report and that is the latest version.
- Important!: The recognition of Snow depends on the file properties, for example for Windows PowerShell, since the powershell.exe are located in two different paths, that will of course have two separate entry in the Files per Computer Report since the file is on two.

Question: If an application for example, Amazon Corretto application is uninstalled (via Control Panel) how will this be presented in Files per Computer Report?

The examples depend on whether application has not been used. For example when an application is installed but has never been used and is then uninstalled.
However if the application has been used and has software metering usage captured, then the situation will be different.
In this scenario we opened and used the Notepad++ application for 15 minutes then performed Snow Agent scan, then run the Data Update Job (DUJ).
Below, you will see that for application Notepad++ we can see usage metering of 15 minutes and ran once:

In our scenario we then uninstalled Notepad++.
After uninstalling the Notepad++, we gathered the snowpack and run the DUJ.
On the Applications tab under the Remark column, you will see it is indicated as UI.
- UI means uninstalled.

We can see that if an application has metering usage, then in the portal it will show as Uninstalled.
If the application has no metering usage and been uninstalled without running or using it, then it won’t show as UI (Uninstalled) both in the Files per computer Report and in the Applications tab.

Question: If the Application Amazon Corretto was uninstalled then after some time it was installed again, but on a newer version, what will the Files per Computer Report show?
For this scenario we uninstalled version 21.x.x of Amazon Corretto and now a newer version was installed.
We performed a Snow Agent scan and then run the DUJ.
Below you can see that Amazon Corretto version 21 is not in the list.
In this scenario Snow has not yet created a Data Intelligence Service (DIS) rule for the newest version of the application.
- If this happens, contact Support so that a necessary application DIS rule will be created.