Jan 31, 2022
01:16 AM
1 Kudo
Hi Oliver, there is an official BDNA Data Platform API reference document released in 2017 which I could share with you. (and all other community members interested - just send me a short notice). Although the specifications aren't really detailed it gives valuable hints on how to use the REST API calls and includes some rudimentary examples on how to create, modify and delete private catalog entries. However, support for the REST API has been discontinued by Flexera. So API calls may no longer work in newer versions of Flexera Data Platfom and only community help is available. Like Weylin and Penny we quite heavily use the private catalog and would indeed benefit from an active interface. So far we've been rather reluctant to impement such a solution because its future looks very incertain. Any findings on this issue and working examples are most welcome! Best regards, Stephan
... View more
Jun 08, 2021
02:21 AM
1 Kudo
Hi Penelope, AFAIK, there is no way to set the status of an unmatched item to something like "ignored". Because it is quite a nuisance to evluate the same items again and again whenever the unmatched report is analyzed, we ended up with a "black list" where we add those software installations that are considered irrelevant. This "black list" is implemented as a database table. Joining the table with the appropriate BDNA_Publish table gives us a filtered list of all items still to be evaluated. In addition we use this list as the source for our input to Flexera's Gap Fill process. After several iterations the number of items still to be tracked dropped dramatically and the effort to handle unmatched items is minimized. Most importantly, we are able to detect new installations which are candidates for the Private Catalog rather quickly. Regards, Stephan
... View more
Feb 15, 2021
01:46 AM
1 Kudo
Hi community members, we are considering to discover the software installed within Docker containers and implement an additional normalize schedule. Here we face some challenges and we are wondering if anyone from the community has additional ideas how to tackle them. Container and container images Since the container instances are deployed and shut down on demand we'd rather focus on the container images as a source for software inventory information. Incorporating every (probably short-lived) container instance into our software inventory doesn't seem to make much sense to us: all instances stemming from the same instance are more or less identical and share the same content. However, data platform cannot properly display the images because it sticks to the concept of a host computer. We might handle container images as special hosts but are not sure if that works out in the end. Or shall we better manage the individual container instances? Here we might run into deduping issues if multiple similar containers run on the same host. Inventory The software within the container images will be deployed by various ways. In some cases even preconfigured contaier images (i.e. from dockerhub) might be used. So we don't have real control on how the installations are made, e.g. add/remove software entries don't really exist. We think we have to incorporate a full software scan of the container images to get the full picture. Fortunately enough we've already got an analysis software in place (JFrog XRay) which scans the containers for vulnerabilities and license compliance issues. It lokks as if this software can also produce a list of all software found in the container image. This list could in turn be imported into data platform. But will data platform properly recognize the data? We don't really want to enter every software into the private catalog. Has anyone done that already and could share her/his experiences? Any other ideas? Any other input? Thanks, Stephan
... View more
Feb 15, 2021
12:34 AM
Hi Penelopej, if you don't mind using an unsupported approach you could add the private catalog entries either via an insert to the relevant data base tables or use the REST-API interface to data platform. However, you should exactly know what you are doing and conduct some thorough testing. Stephan
... View more
Latest posts by stephanhh
Subject | Views | Posted |
---|---|---|
932 | Jan 31, 2022 01:16 AM | |
401 | Jun 08, 2021 02:21 AM | |
469 | Feb 15, 2021 01:46 AM | |
781 | Feb 15, 2021 12:34 AM |
Activity Feed
- Got a Kudo for Re: Create new software products via API / REST API for Data Platform. Jan 31, 2022 01:28 AM
- Posted Re: Create new software products via API / REST API for Data Platform on Data Platform Forum. Jan 31, 2022 01:16 AM
- Got a Kudo for Re: Ignore Unmatched items. Jun 13, 2021 06:51 PM
- Posted Re: Ignore Unmatched items on Data Platform Forum. Jun 08, 2021 02:21 AM
- Got a Kudo for Containerized Applications and Data Platform. Feb 16, 2021 09:28 AM
- Posted Containerized Applications and Data Platform on Data Platform Forum. Feb 15, 2021 01:46 AM
- Posted Re: Private Catalog on Data Platform Forum. Feb 15, 2021 12:34 AM