The following figure shows the procedure for collecting offline machine information.

Figure 7-20 Procedure for collecting offline machine information

1. Prepare an offline machine information acquisition medium.
   At the central manager, create an offline machine information acquisition file for collecting offline machine information from the offline machine. When you create this file, JP1/Software Distribution outputs an offline machine acquisition program at the same time.
   For details about how to prepare an offline machine information acquisition medium, see (2) Preparing an offline machine information acquisition medium.
   
2. Send the inventory acquisition medium to the offline machine.
   Save the offline machine information acquisition file and offline machine acquisition program to a medium such as an FD, CD-R, or MO disk, and then send it to the offline machine. If the central manager and offline machine are connected on a network, you can also send the file and program as email attachments.
   
3. Collect offline machine information.
   When the offline machine acquisition program is executed at the offline machine, that machine's inventory and operation information are output to an offline machine information file.
   For details about how to collect offline machine information at an offline machine, see (3) Collecting information from an offline machine.
   
4. Send the offline machine information file to the central manager.
   Save the offline machine information file to a medium such as an FD, CD-R, or MO disk, and then send it to the central manager that manages the inventory and operation information. If the offline machine and central manager are connected on a network, you can send the file as an email attachment.
   
5. Enter the offline machine information.
   At the central manager that manages the inventory and operation information, enter the offline machine information file acquired at the offline machine. All inventory information from offline machines is managed in an offline folder.
   For details about how to enter offline machine information, see (4) Entering offline machine information.
   

Prepare an offline machine information acquisition medium at the Remote Installation Manager of the central manager that manages inventory and operation information. Three files will be saved to this medium:

• Offline machine information acquisition file (file name: DMINV.BIN)
• Offline machine acquisition program (file name: DMINV.EXE)
• Manifest file for offline machine acquisition program (file name: dminv.exe.MANIFEST)

The method for creating an offline machine information acquisition file is described below. The offline machine acquisition program is created automatically when you create the offline machine information acquisition file.

To create an offline machine information acquisition file:

1. In the System Configuration, Destination, Package, Job Definition, Job Status, List of Software Information, or Directory Information window, from the File menu choose Offline Machine Management, and then Create Media for Acquiring Offline Machine Information.
   The Create Media for Acquiring Offline Machine Information dialog box appears.
   
2. From Offline machine information to be acquired, select the inventory and operation information that you want to acquire and then set the specific items to be acquired.
   The inventory and operation information whose check boxes are selected will be acquired. You must select at least one check box. Also select the specific items within each category selected from Offline machine information to be acquired.
   

   System information

   Collect system information for the offline machine.

   Figure 7-21 Create Media for Acquiring Offline Machine Information dialog box (System information)

   
   

   Select the Notify registry collection items check box to send predefined registry collection items to the offline machine and acquire those items. For details about how to create registry collection items, see 3.1.2(1) Creating registry collection items.

   Installation package information

   Collect information about the software installed on the offline machine.

   To use a file name to search for software or to collect information on Microsoft Office products or anti-virus products, select the check box for Software inventory information.

   Figure 7-22 Create Media for Acquiring Offline Machine Information dialog box (Installation package information)

   
   

   For details about the search methods that can be selected in Software to be searched, see 2.2.2(1) Available software information in the manual Description and Planning Guide.

   Software inventory information

   Uses a file name to search for software installed on an offline machine. Also collects information on Microsoft Office products and anti-virus products.

   Figure 7-23 Create Media for Acquiring Offline Machine Information dialog box (Software inventory information)

   
   

   When the Search for a file check box is selected, the system searches for files within the specified search-target drive. However, you cannot collect information from folders for which you do not have access permission.

   Clicking the Specify File button opens the Specify File dialog box. For details about the Specify File dialog box, see 3.2.2(1) Specify File dialog box. However, you cannot collect differing component information from an offline machine.

   When the Search for Microsoft Office products check box is selected, the system collects information on Microsoft Office products.

   When the Search for anti-virus products check box is selected, the system collects information on anti-virus products.

   Note that you can collect information on Microsoft Office products and anti-virus products only when the client version of the offline machine is 08-00 or newer. For details about Microsoft Office products and anti-virus products from which information can be collected, see 2.2.2(1) Available software information in the manual Description and Planning Guide.

   User inventory information

   Collect user inventory information at the offline machine. You must have defined the user inventory items in advance.

   Figure 7-24 Create Media for Acquiring Offline Machine Information dialog box (User inventory information)

   
   

   For details about the settings for acquiring user inventory information, see 3.3.3 Distributing user inventory items. Note that you cannot transfer the user's own-assets information.

   Software Operation Information

   Before collecting the client's operation information, you must apply an operation monitoring policy to the client and accumulated suppress history and operation history.

   Figure 7-25 Create Media for Acquiring Offline Machine Information dialog box (Software operation information)

   
   

   To start and stop monitoring of software operations at an offline machine, select the Set the software monitoring policy check box and then specify the details.

   To acquire offline machine operation information, select the Get software monitoring information from the client check box.

3. When you finish setting the inventory and operation information to be acquired, click the OK button.
   A dialog box requesting confirmation of the offline machine information to be acquired is displayed.
   
4. Check the offline machine information to be acquired, and then click the Yes button.
   If you want to make a change to the offline machine information to be acquired, click the No button.
   When you click Yes, a Browse for Folder dialog box appears.
   
5. Select a folder for storing the offline machine information acquisition file and offline machine acquisition program, and then click the OK button.
   A dialog box reports that the offline machine information acquisition medium is being created. The offline machine information acquisition file and offline machine acquisition program are created in the folder you selected.
   

Insert the prepared offline machine information acquisition media in the offline machine from which offline machine information is to be collected, then collect the information by executing the offline machine acquisition program.

To collect offline machine information from an offline machine:

1. At the offline machine, first check that the offline machine information acquisition file and offline machine acquisition program are in the same folder, and then run the offline machine acquisition program.
   The Acquisition of Offline Machine Information dialog box is displayed while the offline machine information is being collected.
   

   Figure 7-26 Acquisition of Offline Machine Information dialog box

   

   Alternatively, you can execute the offline machine acquisition program from a command. For details about the offline machine information acquisition command, see (5) Offline machine information acquisition command (dminv command).
   
2. If you are collecting user inventory information, enter the user information in the Software Distribution - Update User Information dialog box, and click Exit when you have finished.
   If you click the Cancel button instead, no user inventory information will be collected.
   After collecting the information, JP1/Software Distribution outputs an inventory information file (file name: host-ID.DAT) to the same folder as the program for inventory acquisition. If a file of the same name already exists in the output folder, its contents are overwritten.
   

   Figure 7-27 Output offline machine information file

   

Send the offline machine information file collected from the offline machine to the central manager that manages the inventory and operation information. Enter the offline machine information at the central manager.

Remote Installation Manager can be used to enter offline machine information; the procedure is described below. For details about using the dcmstdiv command to enter offline machine information, see 4.21 dcmstdiv.exe (loading offline machine information) in the manual Administrator's Guide Volume 2.

1. In the System Configuration window or Directory Information window, from the File menu, choose Offline Machine Management, then Enter Offline Machine Information.
   The Browse for Folder dialog box appears.
   
2. Select the folder that contains the offline machine information file, and then click the OK button.
   A dialog box appears indicating that the offline machine information is being entered, and the offline machine information file in the folder you selected is input to the central manager.
   All the inventory information collected from the offline machine is managed in an offline folder.
   

   Figure 7-28 System Configuration window

   

The following describes the dminv command, which you can execute at an offline machine.

Function

The dminv command collects inventory and operation information from an offline machine according to the information defined in the offline machine information acquisition file (file name: DMINV.BIN). The collected offline machine information is output to the offline machine information file (file name: host-ID.DAT).

Format

dminv.exe [/I directory-for-offline-machine-information-acquisition file]
          [/O output-directory-for-offline-machine-information-file]
          [/S]

Options

• /I
  Specifies the full path of the directory that contains the offline machine information acquisition file (file name: DMINV.BIN).
  If you omit this option, the offline machine information acquisition file is read from the same directory as the offline machine acquisition program (file name: DMINV.EXE).
  
• /O
  Specifies the full path of the output directory for storing the acquired offline machine information file (file name: host-ID.DAT).
  If you omit this option, the offline machine information file is output to the same directory as the offline machine acquisition program (file name: DMINV.EXE).
  
• /S
  Specifies that display of any dialog boxes other than the Software Distribution - Update User Information dialog box is to be suppressed while JP1/Software Distribution is collecting offline machine information. If an error occurs, JP1/Software Distribution outputs log information and terminates.
  

Execution example

In this example, the storage location for the offline machine information acquisition file is C:\Program Files\Hitachi\NETMDMP\DMPRM and the output destination of the offline machine information file is A:\:

dminv.exe /I "C:\Program Files\Hitachi\NETMDMP\DMPRM" /O "A:\"

The notes in this subsection apply to collecting offline machine information from an offline machine.

(a) Notes about collecting inventory information

• You may wish to collect system information, registry information, or software information from ordinary clients after entering inventory information collected from an offline machine. If so, define the jobs as follows:
  
  • Get system information from client job
    On the Options page, select Acquire all information for both System information and Registry information.
    
  • Get software information from client job
    In the Specify File dialog box, select the Update the software inventory information check box.
    
• When you collect system information from an offline machine, the administrator role is required in order to collect some of the items. For details, see 2.2.1(4) System information that cannot be obtained without administrator permissions in the manual Description and Planning Guide.
• To detect patch information on an offline machine, log on as a user having Administrator permissions.
• You cannot set an offline machine from which inventory information has been collected as the copy source when using the pre-installation facility for distributing JP1/Software Distribution Client. This is because computer-specific information is created when inventory information is collected from an offline machine. To delete this computer-specific information and use the offline machine as the copy source, you must change the setting for the host name or IP address of the connection destination to an asterisk (*).
• If the client version of the offline machine is 07-50 or older, only system configuration information is collected from an inventory collection medium for which only the Search for Microsoft Office products and Search for anti-virus products check boxes are selected. In this case, no inventory information is collected.
• If a client is set up to automatically report updated inventory information to the managing server and if WUA is used to detect patch information from the client, execution of an inventory information collection program may take a while before it is completed.
• An offline machine is also subject to automatic maintenance of system configuration information. Because the inventory information in an offline machine is not updated periodically, system information may be deleted during automatic maintenance of the system configuration file. To prevent this, you should copy inventory information from each offline machine onto a medium and store the medium. Alternatively, you could maintain the system configuration information manually so that it will not be deleted from the offline machine.

(b) Notes about collecting operation information

• The size of an offline machine information file increases by the amount of information collected from the client. When you collect operation information, you should use a medium with sufficient capacity to store all the operation information that could be accumulated at the client. For example, the capacity of operation logs increases by about 4 megabytes per day when file operation logs are collected and by about 1 megabyte when file operation logs are not collected.
• If the operation information collected from the offline machine is imported to the central manager, any data that exceeds the maximum size of operation information set on the Operation Monitoring page of the manager setup will be discarded. For this reason, you should collect operation information from offline machines before the set maximum size is exceeded. For details about the volume of operation information (number of logs), see 2.5.10 Guidelines for the number of days to save operation information in the manual Description and Planning Guide.
• In the operation monitoring policy that is applied to the offline machine, clear the Notify result information check box. If offline machine operation information is reported online, that client's operation information can no longer be imported from the offline machine information acquisition medium.
• If the offline machine's connection destination is * or ?, neither the Set the software monitoring policy option nor the Get software monitoring information from the client option for software operation information can be executed.
• If you execute the following of the software operation monitoring facility for the offline machine, you must have Administrator permissions on the offline machine.
  
  • Set the software monitoring policy
  • Get software monitoring information from the client

(c) Notes about contention with information collection by jobs

• If contention occurs between entry of offline machine information and information collection by jobs, processing delays will occur. For this reason, you should enter offline machine information while information collection is not being performed, such as at night.
• If you use Remote Installation Manager to enter offline machine information, you cannot use the Remote Installation Manager until the input operation is completed. If this might cause contention with information collection by jobs, use the dcmstdiv command to enter offline machine information. For details about using the dcmstdiv command to enter offline machine information, see 4.21 dcmstdiv.exe (loading offline machine information) in the manual Administrator's Guide Volume 2.