Identify all installation files associated to a package - Software Identification Tags?

[Ralph_Crowley]

Looking for an option to identify all files installed as part of a package. (Use case is to identify unapproved software on corporate devices). Using the Flexnet ARLs gets us close, but we have some gaps especially with internally developed applications. Do Software Identification Tags 'stamp' every installable file (of a imported package) with the UniqueId or only some files? And if only some files, which ones?

[moconn · Accepted solution]

Hi @Ralph_Crowley

Software Identification Tags (ISO Standard 19770-2) is meant to provide additional evidence of what software is present on that device.  This SWID tag is an XML file that contains information on the application (i.e. name, version, edition, version, etc.) that the tag was included with at the time that application was installed. More info from the ISO ITAM Standards website here: http://www.itamstandards.org/iso-iec-19770-1-2/

These tags would not stamp each file that was installed as part of an application, rather it stamps the machine with the application that resides on that machine, whether that application is made up of 1 file or 1,000 files. This adds additional file evidence that FlexNet Manager Suite can use to determine what applications are installed.

Determining how a file made it on a machine is tricky at best; it's why there is not a tool to accurately recreate an installer for an application that's already installed.

AdminStudio can create these SWID tags as part of the preparing the application for eventual deployment through methods including creating a transform file for each MSI and including the tag in any repackaged MSI created. This tag will be installed along with the rest of the application. It doesn't affect the installer itself nor does it affect the application's execution but instead adds additional file evidence that's more definitive that trying to piece together what's installed just by the files and registry entries present on that machine.

Finding unapproved software typically means looking at the executables on a machine and determining what applications they go with (and which can be ignored as part of the operating system). In this, FlexNet Manager can pull in machine inventory and identify unrecognized file evidence from applications it does recognized (this is rate is improved thanks to the SWID Tags). This would allow you to focus time on the unrecognized file evidence and determine what application the executable is associated with, and then if that application is approved software or not.

More info on FlexNet Manager Suite Unrecognized Evidence here: Cloud and On-Premises