connecting two FNMS instances

[jan_milkovic]

Hi,

Is it possible to connect two FNMS on-premises? 

One as a child and one as a parent. Child pushing data to parent or parent pulling data from child.

Mainly interested in HW and SW data.

Thanks

[mfranz]

Hi Jan,

It depends on what exactly you are looking for.

• You should be able to attach multiple Inventory databases to one FNMS system for compliance calculations. In that case, simply add another compliance connection targeting FNMSInventory.
• If you want to import "compliance level" data, you'll  have to write your own import.

Maybe you can describe your business case a bit more in detail?

Best regards,

Markward

[jan_milkovic]

Hi Markward,

we need to gather inventory in our shared environment to "child flexera" add host information and filter some data out (such as irrelevant hosts/clusters) and if we are satisfied push those information to "parent flexera" running in our customer environment. Parent flexera should not be able to see any other data than those we allowed.

Br

Jan

[mfranz]

Hi Jan,

Sounds like you don't want to import raw data from your child instance, but rather already filtered/processed data. I guess you'll need a custom import/adapter for this.

You could start with a list of objects and attributes you would like to bring over. A SQL script, a Business Import or an Inventory Adapter could all work for this. If you ar enot familiar with the FNMS database schema, the HelpNet has the details.

Best regards,

Markward

[kclausen]

Instead of maintaining two environments, why not one?

For those hosts and inventory devices that are imported via inventory that you do not want to manage, just update the Status of those inventory devices to "Ignored".  These devices are then filtered out of your Active Inventory view and any software installed on these will not consume against your Software Licenses.

[jan_milkovic]

Hi kclausen,

We will have no access to parent Flexera. We need to somehow filter (host/cluster/internal systems) data before sending them out of our environment to customer. They are not supposed to view it so we cannot send all information gathered straight to parent Flexera.

Br

Jan

[mfranz]

Hi Jan,

This surely sounds like a service provider situation where you don't want to disclose data of other customers. Am I right?

Best regards,

Markward

[jan_milkovic]

Hi Markward,

You are right.  Some systems are running on shared environment so we must filter out unnecessary hosts and cluster data. It seems there is no easy out of the box solution.

Br

Jan

[mfranz]

Hi Jan,

As mentioned before, it is technically possible. Good planning is the key to success.

• You should start with defining the data you want to move (on a high level).
• If you don't have access to the target system, you should clarify on how the data need to be transfered.
• Then step by step build the ETL process: Extract - Transform - Load

Best regards,

Markward

[Garth_Honey1]

I would be hesitant to import host and cluster information from a shared/multi-tenant environment into FNMS. I would suggest removing all references to physical hosts and clusters before sharing data with your customer unless they have dedicated physical hosts.

Depending on how your hosting infrastructure and customer tenants are implemented, you could use a range of filters such as:

- Unique naming convention identifying the tenant/customer each VMs belongs to would allow easy filtering,

- Using different IP ranges for each customer tenant,

- Using different Locations, Cost Centers, or Business Entities for each customer tenant and assigning each instance to the appropriate location.

Depending on how you've set up FNMS you could have one or more ways to filter the data easily.