Flexera usage agent is able to support automatic usage tracking of applications installed via standard installers

[#1]

Summary

This knowledge base article describes the capability of Flexera usage agent to track application usage installed via a certain type of installation technology and its limitation.

Synopsis

From Flexnet Manage Suite version 2014 +, the Flexera usage agent is able to support automatic usage tracking of applications installed via standard installers (eg. MSI, RPM etc). There is currently no practical way to enable usage tracking of applications installed via other means.

Inventory Manager 9.2 used to handle this via Manual Mapper packages or usage tracking integrated with the licensing portal which is now deprecated. There is no official product guideline to how to configure this feature. Hence Manual Mapper is not officially supported in v2014+.

Discussion

MSI is an installer package file format used by Windows. Its name comes from the program's original title, Microsoft Installer, which has since changed to Windows Installer. MSI files are used for installation, storage, and removal of programs.

From the inventory ndi file, you can particularly look for <Key Name="WindowsInstaller" Value="0x00000001 (1)"/> appearing in the body of a software installation evidence collection.
See below as an example.


<Key Path="{1D8E6291-B0D5-35EC-8441-6616F567A0F7}">
<Key Name="AuthorizedCDFPrefix" Value=""/>
<Key Name="Comments" Value="Caution. Removing this product might prevent some applications from running."/>
<Key Name="Contact" Value=""/>
<Key Name="DisplayVersion" Value="10.0.40219"/>
<Key Name="HelpLink" Value="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=146008"/>
<Key Name="HelpTelephone" Value=""/>
<Key Name="InstallDate" Value="20170201"/>
<Key Name="InstallLocation" Value=""/>
<Key Name="InstallSource" Value="d:\fddad678d4681047dd7281dbf6bf\VC_Red_x64\"/>
<Key Name="ModifyPath" Value="MsiExec.exe /X{1D8E6291-B0D5-35EC-8441-6616F567A0F7}"/>
<Key Name="NoModify" Value="0x00000001 (1)"/>
<Key Name="NoRepair" Value="0x00000001 (1)"/>
<Key Name="Publisher" Value="Microsoft Corporation"/>
<Key Name="Readme" Value=""/>
<Key Name="Size" Value=""/>
<Key Name="EstimatedSize" Value="0x00003777 (14199)"/>
<Key Name="UninstallString" Value="MsiExec.exe /X{1D8E6291-B0D5-35EC-8441-6616F567A0F7}"/>
<Key Name="URLInfoAbout" Value=""/>
<Key Name="URLUpdateInfo" Value=""/>
<Key Name="VersionMajor" Value="0x0000000a (10)"/>
<Key Name="VersionMinor" Value="0x00000000 (0)"/>
<Key Name="WindowsInstaller" Value="0x00000001 (1)"/>
<Key Name="Version" Value="0x0a009d1b (167812379)"/>
<Key Name="Language" Value="0x00000000 (0)"/>
<Key Name="DisplayName" Value="Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable - 10.0.40219"/>
</Key>

Workaround

An existing product enhancement is raised:

IOJ-1664037 Usage tracking of applications not installed via a standard installer