1. MDOP 2010: Asset Inventory Service Speaker Fabrizio Grossi V-fabrig@microsoft.com

2. v-fabrig@microsoft.com AIS Features and Characteristics Delivered through online service Small unobtrusive client Automatically collects Software inventory Microsoft software and volume license reconciliation reports Export reports data to XLS, XML, and PDF Ideal for branch offices and roaming users

3. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Benefits of AIS Effectively manages your software asset inventory to ensure compliance and optimize IT budgets Identifies applications and installations that are contrary to your corporate policies Produces browser-based reports that help you forecast future needs Enhances application standardization within your IT infrastructure Analyzes how Microsoft volume license agreements are deployed

4. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Supported browsers (for online service management) AIS Client minimum hardware requirements AIS Requirements 133 MHz or higher Pentium-compatible CPU 64 MB memory Internet Explorer 6.0 Internet Explorer 7.0 Additional support notes: Supports multiple languages Small size ~1.5MB Non-memory resident when not in use Monitors state to support self healing Supports 32-bit and 64-bit platforms Windows Server 2008

5. v-fabrig@microsoft.com AIS Usage Flow (after purchasing SA + MDOP) Sign-in: Sign in through passport Download agent: MSI package Deploy agent: Client machines send inventory to Web service View reports: Sign in for reports software assets Registration: Activate the service from MVLS website

6. v-fabrig@microsoft.com How AIS Collects Inventory Catalog Data Inventory Data Report Web Service Transformation Service Information Web Service Researcher Service Client Protocol (HTTPS).xml Inventory Analyzer Inventory Collector MSI ARP Start Menu

7. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Sample XML Output MSI ARP Start Menu

8. v-fabrig@microsoft.com AIS Catalog Customer benefits Aggregation – Minor variants of the same software are aggregated based on version number Categorization – By type of software Accuracy – E.g., rationalizing conflicting names for the same publisher across different software titles Categorization progress Over 150,000 signatures categorized Researchers categorization done continuously, prioritized by software popularity

9. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Categorization Examples ProvidesReason/Example Publisher name72 varieties of Microsoft Corporation all show up as a single publisher (Microsoft Corporation) Title nameRepackaging can alter title, catalog can fix this Version nameAdobe Acrobat 7.0 CategoryProductivity & Viewers/Browsers

10. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Agent Deployment Manual Deploy (download from Internet + Install) MSI package for easy deployment (e.g., via GP, WSUS) Deploying the AIS Client Using SMS/SCCM GP admin template for agent settings Group membership Additional non-authenticating proxies Automatically self-update from MU Secure enrollment Company-specific certificate in MSI package Enrollment operation obtains client cert from company cert Company-specific cert removed from client after enrollment

11. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Default installation path for the client is: C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center Online Client\folder Diagnostic and troubleshooting information is found in: C:\Windows\sconlineclient.log C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center Online Client\Diagnostic Tools\ Task Scheduler automatically schedules the client to run every 30 days Inventory data is gathered from WMI, MSI information, Start menu, and ARP AIS Deployment Details

12. v-fabrig@microsoft.com AIS Computer Groups There are two ways to assign a computer to an AIS group: AIS can create logical computer groups Using Group Policy with sconline.adm Adding the following registry key: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies \Microsoft\SCOnline\ClientG roup

13. v-fabrig@microsoft.com AIS Deployment Details As part of the agent install: The customer certificate is stored on the system. Installation runs the agent directly after installation has successfully finished. The registration component detects that the machine is not registered with the service. The registration component accesses the customer certificate. The registration component connects to the service and makes a registration request, providing a set of identifying properties. The registration component stores a unique identifier representing that system, to use in subsequent communications (Agent ID).

14. v-fabrig@microsoft.com AIS Deployment Details If Agent fails to register: Task Scheduler periodically invokes the agent and attempts to register. If Agent renews registration: Agent determines that the registration will expire soon, and renews the registration with the service. Agent attempts to re-register when: Agent determines that the underlying hardware has changed or certificate has expired, and initiates a new registration request. If an Agent tries to register when all seats in the account are already taken: - The service will refuse the agent. - The customer will be notified in the Admin UI that the limit has been reached.

15. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Agent Operation Implemented as tasks in Windows scheduler No resources consumed when not running AIS 1.5 agent tasks Run-once task for initial enrollment Daily check for inventory now message Can be run at most once/week from the service May add other service-initiated policies in a future version Monthly automatic inventory upload Scheduled to run on day of install (or 28th if install on 29th-31st) Reschedules itself to 28 days later after successful scheduled run Retries failed uploads within 20 minutes with incremental back-off Retries missed tasks within an hour of boot

16. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Performance Can typically get inventory within a week Service typically available for login within 1 day of activation on MVLS portal Agent deployment time depends on the tool. E.g., WSUS within a day or two, GP-SI within a couple of weeks (next reboot) Client inventory data available in reports typically within one hour of agent install Negligible Impact on end-user machines No overhead when agent isnt running Typical inventory collection time is about a minute Typical inventory upload size is under 50 kbytes UI support up to 20,000 clients per account UI responsiveness deteriorates after that Recommend using multiple accounts to manage more clients We will increase this limit in a future version of AIS

17. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Verifying Client Deployment Client should report within 15 minutes If client has not reported within one hour, verify it has installed properly

18. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Protecting Your Data Your inventory data remains confidential Public privacy statement verified by leading privacy firm Jefferson Wells Privacy Redundant systems Backup Hosted by MS.COM Availability Datacenter with restricted physical access Multi-tenant service with account specific certificate in MSI ensures only your clients upload data to your partition SSL provides server authentication and secure data upload Live ID login provides authorized access to data Security

19. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Inventory Inventory: Windows Management Interface (WMI) is used for limited operating systems and system inventory. Application Compatibility Toolkit library is used for software inventory.

20. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Integration with Microsoft licensing service Break-down by license channel Detailed License Statement Report Manage License agreements by groups Licence Reconciliation Overview

21. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Managing Computers Reporting to AIS AIS Computer Management Tasks Viewing Computers by Various Properties Retiring a Computer Running Computer Reports

22. v-fabrig@microsoft.com AIS Computer Management Tasks Provides information about software installed on a computer Report on computer Disable the computer from reporting to the AIS service Retire computers FeatureDescription View computers View computers in the enterprise Search for computers Search for a specific computer using any criteria in the details section

23. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Computers can be sorted by several properties: Viewing Computers by Various Properties Machine name Last user log on Group (if defined) Last reported date Date discovered Client version

24. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Retiring a Computer Computer stops reporting to AIS AIS client must be re-installed to again enable reporting Deactivates reporting by disabling the scheduled task

25. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Report Details: Types of reports: Running Computer Reports Operating system information Service packs Base system details (RAM, hard disk, manufacturer) Program Name Publisher Version Category Language

26. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Managing Software Inventory Options View software installed on all clients Update software inventory Search for specific software

27. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Software can be sorted by several property types Viewing Software by Various Properties Name Version Publisher Installations Category

28. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Forcing a Software Inventory Update Launches from the home page Forces clients to report back to the AIS Web service within 24 hours Can only be executed once every 7 days

29. v-fabrig@microsoft.com What Is the Software Application Catalog? Identity (what you see in reports): ComponentDefinition Identity The formal definition of an application, e.g. Microsoft Word Signature The actual definition of an application, e.g. Microsoft Word Annotation Related information, e.g. www.microsoft.com Categorization Grouping information, e.g. Family/Category ProvidesReason/Example Publisher name10 varieties on Company Name Title nameRepackaging can alter title Version nameVersion 9.2.1000.4 becomes 9.2 or 9.x Family/CategoryProductivity and Viewers / Browsers

30. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Reports can do the following: Running Software Reports Provide information about installed software Provide information on all software Provide information on software for a given period of time Reports can: Be filtered Be exported into multiple formats

31. v-fabrig@microsoft.com Generating Program Reports In Program Report, enter reporting constraints: Publisher Asset group Categories End date

32. v-fabrig@microsoft.com What are Change Reports? Change reports are a summary of your inventoried programs, and any application installations that occurred between two specified dates

33. ©2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. v-fabrig@microsoft.comhttp://blogs.technet.com/italy