Advice Needed: Collecting Non-Persistent VMs (Microsoft Azure/Citrix Cloud)

[davidle]

Would anyone happen to have any recommendations on how we can collect software inventory data for Non-Persistent VMs?

I believe the approach is to include the latest FlexNet Inventory Agent in the VDI Template. Will Flexera One - ITAM clean up stale inventory records for Non-Persistent VMs that are "Terminated"?

[JohnSorensenDK]

@davidle 

Normally you would install the inventory agent on the master (template) image and then connect to the Citrix broker service to get the list of templates and users/security groups that have access to the templates.

It's not completely clear to me what you refer to by "...clean up stale inventory records for Non-Persistent VMs that are "Terminated"..." but do you refer to retired templates or...?

Thanks,

[davidle]

Since new Virtual Desktops are being created from a Master VDI Template with a different serial number, would ITAM be able to differentiate between active and inactive?

I.E.

VM123 may have serial no. 1234-5678 today, but tomorrow it may have a different serial no.

Please let me know if more clarification is needed on my question.

[WStephans]

I believe only a "lite" version of the Flexera agent should be installed on the Master VDI template. That way, individual inventory records are not created for every "clone" or non-persistent VDI that is created from that Master VDI template and you don't need to worry about managing inventory records for the non-persistent VDIs themselves.

The applications that each user has access to (via the Citrix broker service) are then linked to a "Remote Device" record created for each user.

[davidle]

Is there a "lite" version of the FlexNet Inventory Agent specific for VDI?

Or are you referencing the specific components (i.e. Inventory Agent/ScheduleAgent/Installation Agent) within the ManageSoft package?

[kclausen]

@davidle - The idea here is that you DO NOT want to have the full agent installed in the golden image.  Once you have an image, you want to manually run the agent so that you have the full inventory of what is installed on that image, and this is then imported into Flexera to create a new Inventory Device.  You would do this for each of your golden images.

You then run a separate adapter on the Beacon that connects to the Citrix Broker that tells us which users have access to which Template image.  Each of these relationships are created in Flexera as a Remote Device and on the remote device you would have the inventory from the golden image VDI Template from the agent.  We then have inventory to calculate license consumption.  If a user has "access" to a specific VDI Image that all of the commercial applications installed on that image have to be licensed for that user, even if they never launch the VDI Image.

Going forward, if you make a change to a golden image or create a new image, manually run the agent so that current inventory for the Template VDI Image is current within Flexera.

There is a similar process that is supported for VMware Horizon VDI.

[davidle]

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

"Once you have an image, you want to manually run the agent so that you have the full inventory of what is installed on that image, and this is then imported into Flexera to create a new Inventory Device.  You would do this for each of your golden images."

So if I understand you correctly, the process would be as follows:

1. Copy Inventory Agent (Tracker folder) to Temp Directory on Master Golden Image.
2. Manually execute ndtrack.exe to collect software inventory, which will then have IT Asset Management create the image as an "Inventory Record".
3. Execute Citrix Cloud Inventory Adapter on Beacon to provide inventory details on users that currently have access to the template image. 

[kyle_wolff]

You MAY require additional files other than the Tracker folder from an agent installation for the "lite" agent. What I would recommend is using the Remote Execution binaries take from a Beacon server (as this is what's used if executing a full device inventory remotely, sometimes referred to as "Zero Touch"). Specifically, the \Program Files (x86)\Flexera Software\Inventory Beacon\RemoteExecution\Public\Inventory directory.

[kyle_wolff]

Hi @kclausen , I think Flexera's documentation around this (on docs.flexera.com) would need to be updated to specify NOT installing the FULL agent on a Gold Image. It reads like you are to install the full agent and could definitely use some distinction/clarification/specificity.