Dell World User Forum
UFIL513: Inventory Tips & Tricks
Ron Colson, Senior Trainer
Peter Doerfer, Senior Trainer
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Agenda
• Agent Overview
• Inventory Overview
• Relationship between Inventory-Assets
• Custom Inventory and why we need it
• Inventory that isn’t computers
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Agent Executables
• What executables?
• AMPAgent
• AMPKickstart
• AMPTools
• Inventory
• Kcopy
• Kdeploy
• Kinventory
• KLaunch
• KLaunchSvc
• KSWMeterSvc
• KUserAlert
• runkbot
• Executables folder locations– Win (x86) – C:\Program Files\Dell\KACE
– Win (x64) – C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\KACE
– Linux - /opt/dell/kace/bin
– OS X - /Library/Application Support/Dell/KACE/bin
*Not all executables present on all OSes
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Agent - runkbot
• runkbot commands
• Windows
– runkbot.exe 1 0 – Bootstrap
– runkbot.exe 3 0 – Update KBot Scripts
– runkbot.exe 4 0 – Inventory
› runkbot.exe -s 4 0 (as local system account)
– runkbot.exe 5 0 – Upgrade Agent
– runkbot.exe 6 0 – MI’s and FS’s
• OS X & Linux
– sudo ./runkbot 2 0 – Inventory
– runkbot 3 0 – Update KBot Scripts
– runkbot 6 0 – MI’s and FS’s
– runkbot 7 0 – Upgrade Agent
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K1000 Agent and SSL
• SSL impacts the agent, too…
– SSL ‘instructions’ sent to agent after it is enabled on the appliance
– Agent uses port 80 to communicate until first check-in after SSL is implemented
– SSL Certificate MUST be trusted by the client machines
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Managed Installs
• kcopy.exe copies files from K1000 or Replication Share
• Agent Copies File
• KUserAlert.exe alerts user that an MI is in progress (also used for additional optional alerts)
• Agent Alerts User
• kdeploy.exe handles running the install command for the MI
• Agent Installs Software
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Scripting
• runkbot.exe runs the script and leverages klaunch.exe for ‘run as’ functionality
• runkbot
• kdeploy.exe is used if software is being deployed with a script
• kdeploy (installing software)
• runkbot.exe handles other scripting tasks (processes, registry, file manipulation, etc.)
• runkbot (other tasks)
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Patching
• kpatch.exe runs to detect the need for patches
• Patch Detection
• kcopy.exe runs to copy patch files to the local machine
• Copy Patch Files
• kpatch.exe runs to deploy patches, KUserAlert.exe runs if alerts are defined.
• Patch Deployment
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Agent Logs
• What Logs? Is there a configuration file, too?
• amp.conf
• amp.log
• kcopy.log
• kdeploy.log
• kinventory.log
• klaunch.log
• kpatch.log
• ksmeter.log
• kuseralert.log
• runkbot.log
• Log Files folder locations
– Windows – C:\programdata\dell\kace
– Linux – /var/dell/kace
– OS X – /Library/Application Support/Dell/KACE/data
• KAgent.log
– ‘Master’ client log for 6.0 agent
*Additional logs created during agent install
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Agent Logs - Debug
• What does debugging do for me?
• More verbose logging
– Why did it fail?
• Troubleshooting
– Replication Shares
– Managed Installs
– Patching
– Scripting
– Custom Inventory
• Log file locations
– Windows – C:\programdata\dell\kace
– Linux – /var/dell/kace
– OS X – /Library/Application Support/Dell/KACE/data
• To enable:
– From command-line: amptools.exe debug=true
OR
– Add debug=true to amp.conf file and restart Dell KACE Agent
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Inventory Process Overview
Upload Task Results
Perform File Sync Tasks
Upload Inventory
Custom Inventory
Perform Managed
Install Tasks
Apply Smart/LDAP
Labels
Default Inventory
Clear Smart/LDAP
Labels
Agent Update
Check-in
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Two Software Inventories?S
oft
ware
Cata
log
So
ftw
are
• Discovers Software
• Updated once a day (by default)
• Scans for executable files from
local drives
• Compares against Dell catalog
• Ability to add to local catalog
• Is used for license compliance,
metering and application control
• Installed Programs
• Runs at every inventory cycle
(every 2 hours by default)
• Lists applications registered with
the OS (Registry, plist, WMI, etc.)
• Is used for software distribution
• Ability to define custom inventory
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Custom Inventory Rules
• Why do we need them?
• Allow us to capture items in inventory that are not picked up by traditional methods.
• Doesn’t show up at all…
OR
• Doesn’t show up the way you want it to….
• Makes Virtually Anything Display in Inventory:
• Software Related…ORHardware Related….
• If the Machine Knows it….You can use Custom Inventory to detect & display it!
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Agent Executables
• Why do we need them?
• Allow us to capture items in Inventory that: – Don’t show up at all…
OR
– Don’t show up the way you want it to….
• Makes Virtually Anything Display in Inventory:– Software Related…
– OR
– Hardware Related….
• If the Machine Knows it….You can use Custom Inventory to detect & display it!
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Custom Inventory Rule (CIR) ~ Custom Inventory Field (CIF)
CIRBoolean in nature
…Exists,
…Equals
…Less Than,
…Greater Than
Software Title
Conditionally Displayed
CIFDisplays returned values
…Return
TEXT, NUMBER, DATE
Software Title
Always Displayed
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CIR - General Rules about Rules
• Each value MUST be separated by commas
• Commas are not allowed anywhere else in the string
• No quotes, single or double
• Key must exist under LocalMachine, like the other tests
• Failure to specify everything correctly will result in the test evaluating to FALSE
• All comparisons happen as strings, testing other registry value types may or may not work as you'd expect.
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CIR - General Rules about Rules
• Type can be: TEXT, NUMBER, or DATE
• attribute on Windows can be: – Comments, Language, CompanyName, LegalCopyright, FileBuildPart, LegalTrademarks, FileDescription,
OriginalFilename, FileMajorPart, PrivateBuild, FileMinorPart, ProductBuildPart, FileName, ProductMajorPart, FilePrivatePart, ProductMinorPart, FileVersion, ProductName, InternalName, ProductPrivatePart, IsDebug, ProductVersion, IsPatched, SpecialBuild, IsPreRelease, CreatedDate, IsPrivateBuild, ModifiedDate, IsSpecialBuild, AccessedDate
• Linux/OS X can be: – device_number, inode, number_links, owner, group, size, access_time, modification_time, creation_time,
block_size, blocks
• AND/OR Statements are acceptable
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Agentless - There’s a DWUF class for that!
• The agentless capability in K1000 v6.0 can help you…
• Use your K1000 to collect info from devices broadcasting SNMP data –routers, switches, printers, etc…
• Use your K1000 to collect info from devices that can be communicated with using SSH or Telnet.
• Report against more than what the agent can provide on its own or what you input via asset management.
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KACE Support Portal Migrating to Dell Software Support Portal
• Starting in November, all KACE Support Portal material will be migrated to the Dell Software Support Portal
• All service requests will be submitted online or by phone
• Same great content
– Knowledge base articles
– Video tutorials
– Product documentation
– JumpStart training
• Check out the Support Portal Getting Started videos