Bulk FNMS agent Installation on Windows Server

[Sunera]

Hi All,

We need to install FNMS agent on around 250 windows servers out of total 1000 windows server in the customer environment.

Could you kindly advise of any Powershell script we have, or an alternative to perform this, please?

The customer isn't willing to modify the GPO, so it is not an option.

Thanks.

[durgeshsingh]

Hi

You have two option for windows server 

1:-Use SCCM to deploy Agent in Windows devices.

2:-Use Adoption method given by flexera as a fantastic feature. Details documentation is available on below.

https://docs.flexera.com/FlexNetManagerSuite2022R1/EN/WebHelp/PDF%20Documents/On-

Prem/GatheringFlexNetInventory.pdf

1. Prerequisites are below
2. You must have service account , which have admin privileged to install agent.
3. No Certificate error while opening managesoftDL or RL page from browser.
4. Network Port 445,135,139 must be open bidirectional 
5. Clear list of Server IP or subnet to create target.
6. Another documentation source which is helpful for understanding port requirements is the Ports and URLs for Inventory Beacons online help page.

[mag00_75]

Hi

My best recommendation is really GPO/SCCM, those that had other methods usually only solved the current estate and missed out new servers or when they did large migrations. I have attached a script that show how you can trigger a remote process for all devices within an OU, it will not work out of the box and you need to tweak it for your needs.

[Sunera]

Hi @mag00_75 ,  Thanks for the script.

The customer is not willing to make the changes across environment and only want a list of servers to update with the package (forcefully).

Currently, in the environment, these 250 server originally mentioned has got corrupted for some reasons and we recommended to re-install the agent. However, the customer advised that their GPO will skip the re-install if it would find the "Managesoft" folder in the 'Program files' (or x86) structure.

So, can we add a command to this so the script check for the version, if below than in the package, it re-installs. Otherwise, it skips.

And, Thanks to all for their valuable responses.
1. Customer doesn't have any 3rd-party tool.

2. the 250 servers have corrupted agent but installed. So, I think, the adoption can't target these again. Can it (I believe, adoption is preferable for new installs only)? However, the customer wont share the rootDomain credentials to store in the beacon. Can service account do this, if so, what are the - 

 a. Role Based access control?

b. Policies?

required for the service account to install agent into those servers.

3. Manual is the only fall-back option; however because of high number, they are not much supporting us here.

Thanks.

[ChrisG]

Common approaches for installing the FlexNet inventory agent are:

1. Deploy using whatever tooling and process the organization normally uses for deploying and installing software (for example, SCCM is widely used in Windows environments).
2. Manually install the agent, possibly with the assistance of some scripting and/or tooling to remotely execute msiexec on each target computer.
3. Use remote execution functionality built into FlexNet Manager Suite.

In general option #1 is likely to be the path of least resistance as it aligns with current processes and tooling that exists within an environment. All the other options involve some kind of exceptional process. In most organizations that will end up being more difficult to get approvals for and execute.

If a manual/scripted installation is used, a typical command line for installing an MSI package is normally sufficient:

msiexec /i "FlexNet inventory agent.msi" /qn

[anjanmajumdar]

Hi ChrisG,

Thanks for the reply.

what is the powershell command to install the FNMS Agent on windows.

Thanks

Anjan

[ChrisG]

You can execute msiexec command lines like the one I suggested in PowerShell.

[anjanmajumdar]

Hi ChrisG,

I am using the same command but it is not installing. I think i need to pass some parameters.

when i check Get-Service | findstr "Flex" it dont show any services.

Can you please guide me with the document or the entire command to install the FNMS Agent from powershell.

Thanks

Anjan

[ChrisG]

For doing a manual install and troubleshooting, try dropping the "/qn" command line option to have Windows Installer display a UI showing details of the installation. It may also help to have Windows Installer write a log file which could tell you more about what is going on. For example:

msiexec /i "FlexNet inventory agent.msi" /l*v install.log

You may find the following page useful to learn about msiexec command line options and how to install Windows Installer packages: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/command-line-options

[anjanmajumdar]

Thank ChrisG

Appreciated.

[Sunera]

Thanks everyone for their valuable responses. @durgeshsingh , @ChrisG, @mag00_75 

1. Customer doesn't have any 3rd-party tool.

2. the 250 servers have corrupted agent but installed. So, I think, the adoption can't target these again. Can it (I believe, adoption is preferable for new installs only)? However, the customer wont share the rootDomain credentials to store in the beacon. Can service account do this, if so, what are the - 

 a. Role Based access control?

b. Policies?

required for the service account to install agent into those servers.

3. Manual is the only fall-back option; however because of high number, they are not much supporting us here.

Thanks.

[durgeshsingh]

Hi

Even  in manual installation/ reinstallation, you will required admin credential. Also check in some server in tracker log & try to find out reason for not reporting. if at all old agent need to remove then you have to follow script, policy for removal.

[mag00_75]

Hi @Sunera

For agents that are not working you can try to remote schedule/remote trigger task to update the policy. Mgspolicy.exe and some suitable arguments

Another way is to export a functional registry and push that to the servers and wait for a restart or trigger restart of the services