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Way to force FNMS2019R2 agent to always report as Virtual Machine

Ronny_OO7
By Level 8 Champion
Level 8 Champion

Hello,

I would like to force a set of Linux based computers to be reported as an Virtual Machine.

Currently the machines are being reported as computer type, but this is wrong.  Of course I can make a script to correct this type. But this is unwanted as every time when a computer reports back the computer type is reverted back.

So instead of writing a script, I would like to somehow manipulate the agent when doing a scan. Is there perhaps a way to force the agent in the config.ini or ndtrack.ini to always hardcoded report as VM or other type? I am looking for something simmular as the  ComputerDomain paramater that can be included, but then instead ComputerType paramater

 

Thanks and Regards

Ronald

(2) Solutions

Hi Ronald,

As far as I know, being a VM is not an attribute the agent collects or the ndi contains. It is really the conclusion from one or more findings. As Kirk mentioned, Manucfacturer and Model are usually part of the logic. Also mentioned, the connection between host an guest mark hosts as "VMHost" and guests as "VM".

I guess there might be ways to place data in the DB to create a "sustainable" way of changing the effective inventory type. Do you have something to automatically identify the affected VMs?

Best regards,

Markward

View solution in original post

Various heuristics are used during the inventory import process to identify the type of inventory device records. It isn't really something that is intended or open for being changed, and it is only intended that the "virtual machine" type be used for virtualization technologies which FNMS directly supports and can detect itself. You can see some of the heuristics that are used by looking at the WriteVirtualMachines writer procedure in ImportProcedures/Inventory/Writer/VirtualMachine.xml. (This is one of the more intractable procedures, so put on your steel capped boots and hard hat on before entering!)

I would not be nervous about trying to do something outside of the import process to change inventory device types. If you really wanted to give it a shot, I would do a lot of testing to look out for strange and unexpected side effects occurring from such an approach. Consider possibilities like types being flipped back and forth between different values based on which batch process has run most recently, the impact on custom properties (you can have different custom properties for different computer types), and maybe other things.

(Did my reply solve the question? Click "ACCEPT AS SOLUTION" to help others find answers faster. Liked something? Click "KUDO". Anything expressed here is my own view and not necessarily that of my employer, Flexera.)

View solution in original post

(8) Replies

@Ronny_OO7  - What type of Hypervisor technology is in place for these Linux machines? 

 

FlexNet Manager normally determines this from the Manufacturer Name of the device.  For example, if the Manufacturer Name is 'microsoft' or 'vmware', it knows that these devices are virtual machines.

Hi

It is Linux KVM. Do you know where this information is stored and translated?

Do you know if there is such a paramater as I am searching for?

Regards

You must run the agent on each Linux server that is a Virtual Machine, and you also must run the agent on the Linux server that is the KVM Hypervisor.  FNMS will then use all of this information to link the VMs to the Host.

Hi,
Thanks but this doesn't answer my question and solves my issue.the KVM RHEV From RedHat at the customers is kind of built on KVM but not the out of the box KVM that Flexera supports.

Because of this I am looking for a command to include in the ini file so that is always reporting as the set computer type like VM.

Hi Ronald,

As far as I know, being a VM is not an attribute the agent collects or the ndi contains. It is really the conclusion from one or more findings. As Kirk mentioned, Manucfacturer and Model are usually part of the logic. Also mentioned, the connection between host an guest mark hosts as "VMHost" and guests as "VM".

I guess there might be ways to place data in the DB to create a "sustainable" way of changing the effective inventory type. Do you have something to automatically identify the affected VMs?

Best regards,

Markward

Various heuristics are used during the inventory import process to identify the type of inventory device records. It isn't really something that is intended or open for being changed, and it is only intended that the "virtual machine" type be used for virtualization technologies which FNMS directly supports and can detect itself. You can see some of the heuristics that are used by looking at the WriteVirtualMachines writer procedure in ImportProcedures/Inventory/Writer/VirtualMachine.xml. (This is one of the more intractable procedures, so put on your steel capped boots and hard hat on before entering!)

I would not be nervous about trying to do something outside of the import process to change inventory device types. If you really wanted to give it a shot, I would do a lot of testing to look out for strange and unexpected side effects occurring from such an approach. Consider possibilities like types being flipped back and forth between different values based on which batch process has run most recently, the impact on custom properties (you can have different custom properties for different computer types), and maybe other things.

(Did my reply solve the question? Click "ACCEPT AS SOLUTION" to help others find answers faster. Liked something? Click "KUDO". Anything expressed here is my own view and not necessarily that of my employer, Flexera.)
Hi Chris

Thanks for your response. I guess I got on the the wrong foot. Ill try to solve it with the writers instead at the agent level.

Best Regards

Ronald
Hi Markward,

Thanks for your response. I guess Kirk was right then and I got on the the wrong foot. Ill try to solve it with the writers instead at the agent level. Perhaps Model can be used to identify the VMs.

Best Regards

Ronald