The Inventory wizard is a primary tool of scanning for software and hardware assets on existing devices and services.
There are different inventory methods which are offered by RayVentory Scan Engine and which will generate data that can be imported by the RayVentory Server for further processing and reporting.
Starting the Wizard
You can start the Inventory wizard from the start / home screen by pressing the tile Inventory devices... or from the context menu or the right side-bar of the Devices + Services screen. You may also run an inventory as part of the discovery on newly found
devices / hosts and services.
Introduction to Inventory Methods
RayVentory Scan Engine supports Zero-Touch inventory for all inventory target types. Zero-Touch is a general term for number of techniques which use exposed APIs and management functions without executing own code on the target system. Using Zero-Touch inventory usually involves faster scans, simplistic configuration, and zero impact on the target device (no leftovers, no code execution). As a trade-off, some functions must be enabled and some permissions must be set on the target device in order for the remote zero-scanning being possible at all.
Alternatively, RayVentory Scan Engine offers remote-execution based inventory methods for device / OS and Oracle inventory. Remote-Execution denotes that custom scan utilities must be executed on the scanned environment. This already implies a certain impact on the target device, even though all temporary files are gone once the process is done. Remote scans are more complex to configure, but may deliver more precise scanning results, as by executing a code locally there is usually a better access to lower-level features and APIs.
What inventory methods may be applied to the targets, can be restricted per device or for all devices in general. Restriction on a per-device base is done implicitly by disabling what technologies / capabilities of the target devices may be used. For example: Disabling the capability Windows Service Manager for a device will disable all remote-execution based inventory methods that use the Windows service manager. For completely excluding a device / service from inventory, disable all capabilities.
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Hint: For the current set of OS / device inventory and Oracle inventory methods, it is sufficient to disable the capabilities ‘Zero-touch’ and ‘Remote-execution’ to disable all respective inventory methods. |
The restriction of inventory methods for all devices / services is done explicitly, by disabling methods in the Settings > Inventory > Inventory Methods.
If an inventory is started and multiple inventory methods are available for a target, RayVentory Scan Engine will try each inventory method until it succeeds or runs out of available inventory methods.
Currently, RayVentory Scan Engine offers only one inventory method (zero-touch) for Oracle Audit, vSphere, and SNMP.
The inventory / discovery method Oracle Auto Discovery and Inventory is a remote-execution based discovery and inventory method. This method tries to find all available Java installations and determines their versions in order to pick the right version of ORATRACK for the combinations of Oracle DB versions and Java that are to be expected on a target device. This method is not restricted by capabilities and cannot be disabled in the Settings screen as it is not part of the inventory methods that will be automatically applied by RayVentory Scan Engine. This inventory / discovery method can only explicitly be triggered by the context menu in the Devices list or during discovery by enabling the option Use Remote-Execution based Oracle discovery.
Usual Precedence of Inventory Methods
The inventory methods for device / OS inventory and Oracle inventory are tried in a specific order. They are usually sorted by their impact on the target device (for example Zero-Touch Inventory considered to have the least impact on the target devices are always tried first, unless they are disabled or incompatible).
Operating System Inventory Methods for Windows Devices
•Zero-Touch by WMI / WINAPI on Windows
•Remote Execution by ServiceManager upload HTTP(S) on Windows
•Remote Execution by WMI upload HTTP(S) on Windows
•Remote Execution by ServiceManager upload SMB on Windows
•Remote Execution by WMI upload SMB on Windows
•Remote Execution by WMI / SMB local files on Windows
•Remote Execution by ServiceManager / SMB local files on Windows
Operating System Inventory Methods for UNIX Devices
•Zero-Touch by SSH on Linux / Unix
•Remote Execution by SSH / SCP local files on Linux / Unix
Oracle Inventory Methods
•Zero-Touch by ORATRACK
•Remote Execution by ServiceManager upload HTTP(S) on Windows
•Remote Execution by ServiceManager upload HTTP(S) on Windows
•Remote Execution by ServiceManager upload SMB on Windows
•Remote Execution by WMI upload SMB on Windows
•Remote Execution by ServiceManager / SMB local files on Windows
•Remote Execution by WMI / SMB local files on Windows
•Remote Execution by SSH / SCP local files on Linux/Unix
Special Precedence of Inventory Methods
RayVentory Scan Engine remembers which inventory method worked for a each scanned device. If the previous scan was successful and RayVentory Scan Engine is able to determine which method worked for a device, that method is going to be preferred in the future and overrides the precedence outlined in the above lists. If the last successful method fails, then all other methods will be tried in the usual precedence. You can see the technical name for that method in the column Last successful inventory method. The column is hidden by default and must be selected from the column chooser. Similarly, technical names of failing methods are available in column Last failed inventory methods. The columns can be shown in the respective views in the Devices + Services screen.
Optimization on Consecutive Runs
Certain inventory methods for device / OS inventory and Oracle inventory are platform-specific. If an inventory succeeds for a target of undetermined type, then the implied target type is set for its respective device. The next time an inventory is run, certain checks that are needed to determine which of the available inventory methods are considered (like which ports are open) will be skipped.