Introduction This article is for anyone who uses FlexNet Manager Suite to inventory Citrix XenApp and/or XenDesktop. Note that Citrix has re-branded these from Citrix XenApp to Citrix Virtual Apps, and from Citrix XenDesktop to Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop. However, for the sake of matching the current FlexNet Manager Suite user interface terminology, this article retains the XenApp/XenDesktop terminology.  The article applies to FlexNet Manager Suite cloud implementations and on-premises implementations. And it is designed to help you properly set up FlexNet Manager Suite in order to inventory XenApp and/or XenDesktop. Most questions relating to XenApp or XenDesktop evidence recognition within FlexNet Manager Suite will most likely be answered or resolved by properly configuring FlexNet Manager Suite so that it can correctly inventory XenApp or XenDesktop within your organization. One of the most basic questions some users have is, what is the difference between XenApp and XenDesktop? The easiest answer is this: if you just want to use an individual application and nothing more, XenApp is the choice. Conversely, XenDesktop lets users access physical machines (and have access to all applications on that machine) from anywhere. You just login to the Citrix from your device in either case. Related Information For more information, refer to the “XenApp Server Adapter” chapter of the FlexNet Manager Suite Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference PDF, available on HelpNet. Also see the “Discovery and Inventory Rules” topic within the online help. How to Inventory Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp using FlexNet Manager Suite Delivery of XenDesktop is backed by machines, physical or virtual, that exist in a data center. End users remotely log into one of these machines and have access to all applications on that machine. Delivery of XenApp is through applications installed on machines that exist somewhere in a data center. When users launch an application, a session on these machines is launched, and the application is then delivered to the client device and users can use it just as if the app were installed on their own machine. Users can launch multiple applications assigned to them but do not always have access to all the applications installed on the machine. Quick Steps This section provides quick steps about how to configure FlexNet Manager Suite to inventory XenDesktop and XenApp. Most of the steps include a hyperlink to a section providing more details.   Important! These steps are not required as long as you are collecting inventory from the machines. FlexNet Manager Suite needs to receive inventory data, but the mechanism itself is not important. With respect to inventory of the Citrix servers "serving up" the applications, FlexNet Inventory, SCCM, and ADDM are the most common. These steps provide one way to collect the inventory.  Note: If you only need to inventory XenDesktop (and not XenApp), perform steps 1 through 3. If you need to inventory XenApp only or both XenDesktop and XenApp, perform steps 1 through 4. To configure FlexNet Manager Suite to inventory XenDesktop and XenApp: Create a discovery and inventory rule to inventory XenDesktop. Import all Active Directory data. This import provides FlexNet Manager Suite with AD group GUIDs that provide a mapping of users assigned to each AD group. Create a discovery and inventory rule to inventory all delivery groups. For XenApp inventory collection only—In addition to completing the previous three steps, you must also do the following to collect XenApp inventory: Create the staging database. For more information, refer to the “Creating the Staging Database” section of the “XenApp Server Adapter” chapter in the FlexNet Manager Suite Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference PDF, available on HelpNet. Install XenAppAgent and define its schedule. Note: The XenAppAgent was released in 2019 R1.3 for cloud implementations and will be released in FlexNet Manager Suite 2019 R2 for on-premises implementations. For more information, refer to the “Installing the XenApp Server Agent” section of the “XenApp Server Adapter” chapter in the FlexNet Manager Suite Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference PDF, available on HelpNet. Also see XenAppAgent Information in this document. Create a scheduled task. For more information, refer to the “Installing the XenApp Server Agent” section of the “XenApp Server Adapter” chapter in the FlexNet Manager Suite Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference PDF, available on HelpNet. Connect the XenApp Server connector to the staging database. This will send XenApp inventory data to FlexNet Manager Suite. For more information, refer to the “Create Connections for Data Upload” section of the “XenApp Server Adapter” chapter in the FlexNet Manager Suite Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference PDF, available on HelpNet. Important! Keep in mind that FlexNet Manager Suite’s discovery and inventory rules are static, so when something changes within your Citrix server farm, you must update the corresponding discovery and inventory rules within FlexNet Manager Suite in order to keep your XenApp or XenDesktop evidence recognition accurate.  Also keep in mind that in order for the Discovery and Inventory rules to work, you must add  a Citrix admin account to the FlexNet Beacon.     Create a discovery and inventory rule to inventory XenDesktop Inventorying XenDesktop requires creating a discovery and inventory rule comprising: A Target defining the XenDesktop Delivery Controller server. An Action corresponding to its XenDesktop environment. Ensure that you click the Discover Citrix XenDesktop environments and Gather Citrix XenDesktop environment inventory checkboxes. A Rule that can target a specific machine or set of machines. The rule performs the action you created on the target you created. The XenDesktop inventory discovery rule is then triggered on the FlexNet Beacon by remotely executing commands on the delivery controller.     Import all Active Directory data An Active Directory (AD) typically consists of a list of all users as well as a list of all AD groups. In the case of AD groups, FlexNet Manager Suite needs a way to determine which users are in which groups. Consequently, FlexNet Manager Suite requires an import of all Active Directory data. This import provides FlexNet Manager Suite with AD group GUIDs that provide a mapping of users assigned to each AD group.     Create a discovery and inventory rule to inventory all delivery groups This section contains information about creating a discovery inventory rule to inventory delivery groups. For information about creating delivery groups, refer to the Citrix Delivery groups product documentation. At a minimum, each unique machine from every delivery group must be inventoried. In FlexNet Manager Suite, a discovery and inventory rule can be created to perform this; however, keep in mind that the machines to target are dependent upon how the machines were derived, as follows: Machines derived from a base image—If a catalog contains multiple machines from the same base image, then just one of those machines needs to be inventoried (assuming all machines derived from the base image are not unique). Any unique machine needs to be inventoried. Machines NOT derived from a base image—If a catalog contains multiple machines not derived from a base image, then each unique machine needs to be inventoried. Inventorying machines from every machine catalog can be done in FlexNet Manager Suite by creating a discovery and inventory rule comprising: A Target containing all unique machines that need to be scanned for installed software. Note : In this example, the Adoption options section is set to Allow these targets to be adopted . If you do not want to allow the targets to be adopted, there is no need to adopt and install the agent on these machines because the inventory can be done remotely (zero touch). In that scenario, you would choose the Do not allow these targets to be adopted radio button in the Adoption options section. An Action for general hardware and software inventory. A Rule that can target a specific machine or set of machines. Note: There is no need to adopt and install the agent on these machines, because the inventory can be done remotely (zero touch).       XenAppAgent Information This section provides supplemental information regarding the XenAppAgent. For information about how to set up FlexNet Manager Suite to inventory XenApp, refer to How to Inventory Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp using FlexNet Manager Suite. Note: The XenAppAgent was released in 2019 R1.3 for cloud implementations and will be released in FlexNet Manager Suite 2019 R2 for on-premises implementations. Beginning with FlexNet Manager Suite R1.3 (for cloud implementations) and FlexNet Manager Suite R2 (for on-premises implementations), support for XenApp Applications Groups was added. To take advantage of support for Application Groups and the collection of user filters, you must use the new XenApp server agent, XenAppAgent. In addition, a one-time staging database update is required to use XenAppAgent to collect Application Group data and user filters from Application Groups. Note: The XenAppAgent installer can be found within the XenAppAgent folder of the Citrix XenApp Server Agent subdirectory that is provided in the Adapter Tools for FlexNet Manager Suite archive. For on-premises implementations, the Adapter Tools for FlexNet Manager Suite is available in a zip archive in the Product and License Center. For cloud implementations, the zip archive can be downloaded from the Flexera Community. FlexNet Manager Suite’s XenApp server agent, XenAppAgent, is run on a Delivery Controller, which reads application assignment and populates a staging database. Then XenApp server adapter on FlexNet Beacon reads data from this staging database and uploads it to FlexNet Manager Suite, where it is processed with data from other components. The XenAppAgent requires that the machines in the machine catalog are power-managed (so they can be powered on), and their Windows Admin share is not disabled (by default it is enabled). ... View more

Note the following important information regarding upgrading to macOS 10.15 (Catalina).   If you have machines that have FlexNet inventory agents already installed, these need to be upgraded to version 14.0 of the   FlexNet inventory agent   before the OS is upgraded   to macOS 10.15. If the OS is upgraded without first upgrading the installed   FlexNet inventory agent s, the existing   FlexNet inventory agent   will no longer be able to run on the inventory device. As a result it would not be possible to use policy to upgrade the   FlexNet inventory agent   in this scenario. Such a case would require manually upgrading the   FlexNet inventory agent .   In the event a Mac is updated to 10.15, and it has a 13.0.x or older inventory agent installed, the agent can be manually removed using the following command from the Terminal: /opt/managesoft/bin/uninstall-managesoft.command -force   Note: The above command will encounter an error when attempting to remove agent configuration data.  To completely remove the agent configuration, also run: sudo rm -rf /var/opt/managesoft     ... View more

With FlexNet Manager Suite 2019 R2, after a 14.0.x or later version of the FlexNet Beacon or inventory agent is installed, attempting to then downgrade to an earlier version (13.8.x or earlier) will result in the  application unexpectedly quitting, related to FlexNet Beacon or inventory agent processes after the downgrade completes. To work around this behavior, remove the following file from the machine: 32-bit machines: C:\Windows\System32\mgscmn.dll 64-bit machines: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\mgscmn.dll After removing this file, repair the FlexNet Beacon or inventory agent installer though Add or Remove Programs, or by launching the MSI installation again and selecting Repair. ... View more

Summary This article applies to FlexNet Manager Suite cloud and on-premises implementations and provides help with utilizing the Unified Spend Analytics feature. Specifically, this article is tracking evolving details about how to obtain OAuth tokens for both cloud and on-premises implementations in order to export data to Unified Spend Analytics, and also provides information for obtaining a new license file for on-premises implementations that is required for using Unified Spend Analytics. Note : Contact Flexera Support to initiate the onboarding process in order to use Unified Spend Analytics.  Cloud implementation details Note: Unified Spend Analytics is available starting with the FlexNet Manager Suite 2019 R2.1 release. For cloud implementations, the  following prerequisites must be met in order to export spend data to Unified Spend Analytics:   You must generate an OAuth token and paste it into the Unified Spend Analytics section on  the  Integrations   tab (of the  System Settings  page) .  You will be provided a script to generate the OAuth token. A license file will be automatically added for you. Note : Contact Flexera Support for the license file and the script to generate the OAuth token.  On-premises implementation details Note: Unified Spend Analytics is available in a FlexNet Manager Suite 2019 R2 special feature release that was made available on December 31, 2019 in the Product and License Center as FlexNet Manager Suite Update 2019R2-02. When you complete the installation of FlexNet Manager Suite Update 2019R2-02, the following prerequisites must be met in order to export spend data to Unified Spend Analytics: You must install FlexNet Manager Suite Update 2019R2-02 or later. You must obtain and install a new license file. You must obtain an OAuth token and paste it into the Unified Spend Analytics section on  the  Integrations   tab (of the  System Settings  page) .  You will be provided a script to generate the OAuth token. Note : Contact Flexera Support for the license file and the script to generate the OAuth token.  This article will be updated as new details become available.   ... View more

This article is targeted to Managed Service Providers (MSPs) of FlexNet Manager Suite to help c loud customers who are unable to share reports and dashboards with other users because they can only save content within the My content folder.  FlexNet Managaer Suite provides the ability within cloud implementations to share reports and dashboards from within the Team content folder. Users are able to copy , save, and move content within their respective custom tenanted folder using the Team content folder.  To share reports and dashboards in cloud implementations: Send a request to Flexera Support to request a custom reports folder to be created under Team Content. The folder will be aptly named based on the tenant you belong to. For example, Tenant Name Custom Reports folder. Flexera Support will notify you after the custom reports folder is available for use. You will see a new folder under Team content. The following screenshot shows an example. You now have the ability to copy, move, or save a report or dashboard into the new custom reports folder. To copy or move a dashboard or report from My content to the custom reports folder, click the ellipsis (three dots) besides the dashboard/report and select Copy or move. A pop-up window displays prompting you to to select the target location. Choose the tenant custom reports folder within Team content. Click Copy to or Move to. Note: In order to retain a copy, it is best advised to select Copy to so that you have a copy saved in your My content folder. To save a dashboard or report, click Save As from the top menu bar and select the tenant custom reports folder within Team content. The content now resides under Team content from where it can be viewed by other users. Tip: Provide a unique name for your dashboard or report rather than a generic name that may overwrite another user's dashboard or report.  Important! Note that you have the ability to delete a report or dashboard from the custom reports folder. Proceed with caution. ... View more

Summary This article applies to FlexNet Manager Suite cloud and on-premises implementations 2019 R2 and later. With FlexNet Manager Suite 2019 R2, new functionality has been added to FlexNet Beacon 14.0.x and later that can be invoked with the use of the SQL file attached to this article in order to reduce FlexNet Beacon engine’s DNS lookups  so that there are limited reads outside a particular FlexNet Beacon’s assigned subnet.  As background, FlexNet Beacon executes DNS read calls when a FlexNet inventory agent requests a policy file, and when a discovery rule runs. There are two settings in the compliance database that control FlexNet Beacon engine’s DNS lookups: BBeaconScopeDiscoveryToBeaconSubnet—The default value is false, meaning the beacon will still go outside of its subnet to do the DNS query. This is the current behavior of FlexNet Manager Suite.  BBeaconDNSCacheRefreshTimeIntervalMinutes—The default is 1440 minutes (24 hours).  The value in this property controls the time span in minutes before it will consider the data stale and thus refresh the values in the DNS cache. If you wish to use the default values shown above, you can skip the following instructions that allow you to set different values in order to take advantage of reducing Flexnet Beacon engine's DNS lookups. The following steps need to be executed on the database server. To reduce FlexNet Beacon engine's DNS lookups: Ensure that you are using FlexNet Beacon 14.0.x or later.  Download the BeaconPolicyUpdate.sql file included in the ATTACHMENTS section of this article. Edit the BeaconPolicyUpdate.sql file: Set the @scopeToBeaconSubnet variable to 'True': set @scopeToBeaconSubnet = 'True' Define the time span in minutes when data should be considered stale and a refresh of the DNS cache should occur (or retain the default 1440 minutes / 24 hours):  set @cacheRefreshtime = 60 Save changes to the BeaconPolicyUpdate.sql file. Run the BeaconPolicyUpdate.sql file against the compliance database. This updates the database with your new values for the settings that control FlexNet Beacon engine’s DNS lookups.   ... View more

This article is for FlexNet Manager Suite cloud customers experiencing issues with FlexNet Beacons 13.5.x through 13.8.x. FlexNet beacon 14.0.x (released with 2019 R2) corrects an issue with FlexNet Beacon installers included with FlexNet Manager Suite releases 2019 R1.3 through 2019 R1.8 that create an incorrect BeaconMode registry entry. This entry results in issues with the Flexnet Beacon for any customers who had auto-upgrade enabled or who manually upgraded their inventory beacon to version 13.5.x through 13.8.x. Note that those inventory beacons will work with a one-time manual fix to delete the BeaconMode registry key after upgrade from: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\ManageSoft Corp\ManageSoft\Beacon\CurrentVersion. Besides reviewing the registry of the inventory beacon machines to see if this BeaconMode registry key appears, there are other symptoms that can help you identify the inventory beacon issue. Affected inventory beacons stop uploading data, the Beacon status column (on the Discovery & Inventory > Beacons page) displays as Not reporting normally, and  inventory beacon-related errors begin appearing in the UI.  To delete the BeaconMode registry key, perform the following steps on the affected inventory beacon machine: On the bottom left of the taskbar, click the   Start    (Windows logo key) icon, type Run, and hit Enter.  In the Open field of the Run dialog, enter regedit and click OK. The Registry Editor opens. Navigate to the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\ManageSoft Corp\ManageSoft\Beacon\CurrentVersion Right-click BeaconMode, click Delete, and then click Yes. ... View more