How to set the agent to scan upon start up and to check whether a short instance is still live

[bmaudlin]

Hi Guys,

I have the requirement to inventory short live instances which maybe up for 4>6 hours however there is no guarantee these instances are terminated after this time. 

I have noticed in the following documentation, the agent can be configured to scan on start up and to check the instance is still live after a defined period  > https://docs.flexera.com/fnms/EN/InvAdapConn/index.html#adapters/Azure/tasks/Azure-ScheduleInstance.html

However it is not practical to ask platform teams to copy folders and files over to the instances, is there any guidance how we should be able to automate this process please ? 

Ben

[mfranz]

Hi Ben,

I have some questions:

• Is this about a specific provider, like Azure?
• How deep are these instances integrated in existing management systems, e.g. AD?
• What operating systems are used?

You mentioned "whether [...] is still live". In most cases, inventory is a poor indicator for that. If there was something managing these instances, like a vCenter, Azure, or even a disposal process, I'd prefer that.

Best regards,

Markward

[bmaudlin]

Hi @mfranz,

I probably should have been more clear, I'm specifically really referring to Cloud based environments. Where there is the potential for short lived instances, and there is typically no other 3rd party data source to determine whether the instance is live. Such as vCenter.

Ben

[mfranz]

Hi Ben,

Does the cloud provider offer some kind of overview, maybe an API, to identify live VMs?

What would you do with this information? Do these short lived instances somehow consume license entitlements?

Best regards,

Markward