G.2 Collecting software information from agents for UNIX and agents for Mac

This section describes how to collect software information from agents for UNIX and agents for Mac.

Organization of this subsection

(1) Collecting software information
(2) Setting up the Search Target page
(3) Notes on receiving software information
(4) Creating a software search list
(5) Checking received software information
(6) Deleting received software information

(1) Collecting software information

To collect software information, execute a Get software information from computer (UNIX)) job from Remote Install Manager. The following explains the software information collection procedure, focusing on screen transitions.

To collect software information:

In the Job Definition window, select File and then Create Job.

The Define New Job dialog box appears.
In the job type selection list, select Get software information from computer (UNIX) and then click the OK button.

The Create Job dialog box appears.
On the Search Target page, specify the software for which software information is to be collected.

For details about how to set up the Search Target page, see G.2(2) Setting up the Search Target page. The types and setting details of other pages in the dialog box are as follows:

Job page

Specifies the job name. For details about how to set up the Job page, see 9.2.3 Setting up the Job page.

Destination page

Specifies the hosts from which software information is to be collected. You must specify at least one host. For details about how to set up the Destination page, see 9.2.4 Setting up the Destination page.

Schedule page

Specifies the dates and times of jobs to be executed on the managing server and managed computer. For details about how to set up the Schedule page, see 9.2.5 Setting up the Schedule page.

Client Control page

Specifies whether to use the Client Control function. For details about how to set up the Client Control page, see 9.2.6 Setting up the Client Control page.
On the Job page, click the Execute, Save, or Save and Execute button to save or execute the job.

The job is saved or executed.

If you save a job, you can re-execute the job when it fails, or you can edit the job to create a new job. We recommend that you save a job (after creating it) by clicking the Save or Save and Execute button.
Check the job status.

From the File menu of Remote Install Manager, select New and then Job Status to display the Job Status window.

If you select a job that you executed, the corresponding execution status is displayed in the right pane.
After the job has been completed, check the software information that you received.

Use the JP1/IT Desktop Management 2 device window to check the software information that you received. For details about how to check software information, see G.2(5) Checking received software information.

To Page Top

(2) Setting up the Search Target page

The Search Target page is used to select the software for which software information is to be collected from UNIX or Mac computers.

Figure G‒2: Search Target page

Software to be searched

Specify the software for which software information is to be collected. You can select either of the following items:

Software installed by remote install

Collects information about the software installed by JP1/IT Desktop Management 2 - Manager.
All software

Collects software information as described below.

Search list

If you specify All software from the Software to be searched drop-down list, you can use software search lists (described below) to search for software installed on UNIX or Mac computers.

To use a software search list, you must select either the search list stored on the manager or the search list stored on the agent.

If you perform searches by using the search list stored on the manager, the specified search list is sent to and stored on the destination agent. If a search list already exists on the agent, it will be overwritten by the sent search list. If you want to perform searches by using the same search list as last time, use the search list stored on the agent.

The default is Search list in the agent.

Search list in the agent

If you select this item, you will use the search list that was saved on the agent when you performed software searches by using a search list last time.
Optional software list

If you select this item, you will use a search list that enables you to optionally register the software to be searched.

You can create multiple optional software lists, such as those prepared for each group or OS of agents where searches are to be performed. If you specify an optional software list directly in the field, you cannot enter the following characters: \ / * " : ! | < > ' . ? single-byte space.

For details about how to create software search lists, see G.2(4) Creating a software search list.
Do not use

Select this item when you want to perform searches without using a search list.

If you perform a job with this item selected, all the search lists stored on the target agent will be deleted.

If you want to use a search list for the next and subsequent searches, perform searches by using the search list stored on the manager.

If software information is collected periodically by using a search list, different information will be collected if a different search list is used. To prevent this problem, we recommend that you customize the Create Job dialog box to set the search list to be used every time to the default.

For details about how to customize the Create Job dialog box, see 9.6.2 Customizing the Create Job dialog box.

File system to be searched

If you select All software from the Software to be searched drop-down list, select the target file system for searches from either of the following:

Local file systems

Select this item when you want the local file system to be the search target.
Local file systems and Network file systems

Select this item when you want the local file system and the network file system to be the search targets.

To Page Top

(3) Notes on receiving software information

Note the following when collecting software information:

To collect software information from UNIX or Mac computers and manage it in the JP1/IT Desktop Management 2 windows, you must edit the configuration file (jdn_manager_config.conf). For details about how to edit the configuration file, see the section that describes the procedure for changing the settings for managing software information from agents for UNIX or agents for Mac in the JP1/IT Desktop Management 2 Configuration Guide.
If you collect software information first and then change the settings on the Search Target page and execute a job again, both pieces of software information collected will be merged.
You might not be able to collect software information containing any characters that cannot be converted to characters in the current code page.

To Page Top

(4) Creating a software search list

You can use the Software Search List dialog box to check the contents of software search lists.

Use either of the following methods to display the Software Search List dialog box:

Select a desired search list in the List of Software Information window, right-click, and then select Edit from the context menu that appears.

In the List of Software Information window, select File and then Create Search List.

Figure G‒3: Software Search List dialog box (Optional Software page)

The Optional Software page displays the contents of optional software lists. You can also edit the contents of the optional software list that you created.

Creating an optional software list

To create a new optional software list:

In the List of Software Information window, select File and then Create Search List.

The Software Search List dialog box appears.

Click the Add button.

The Add Software to List dialog box appears.

Figure G‒4: Add Software to List dialog box

Enter information about the software to be searched. You must specify the following items:

Package name

Enter 1 to 50 single-byte characters (or 1 to 25 double-byte characters). You cannot use backslashes (\) or semicolons (;).
Package ID

Enter 1 to 44 single-byte characters. You can use the following characters: A to Z, 0 to 9, underscores (_), and hyphens (-).
File name

Enter 1 to 256 single-byte characters (or 1 to 128 double-byte characters). You cannot use backslashes (\) or semicolons (;).

If you click the Browse button and specify a file, information about the corresponding software is set automatically. At this time, the Last update section is set to the local time on the managing server.

Click the Add button.

The specified items are added to the Optional Software page. You can continue adding other items.
Click the Cancel button.

The Add Software to List dialog box closes.
Click the Save button.

The Specify Search List Name dialog box appears.
Specify a name and click the OK button.

The settings are saved, and the Software Search List dialog box closes. The search list that you created appears in the List of Software Information window.

Creating an optional software list with a file

You can create an optional software list by using the Software Search List dialog box as well as a file specifying search list items. You can also output the optional software list displayed in the List of Software Information window to a file.

File format of optional software lists

The file format of optional software lists is shown below. An optional software list specifies a single line of information for each software program to be searched, in the following format. The file is in text format.

Entering a hash mark (#) in the first column of a line causes the line to be treated as a comment.

Format

information-map;program-identifier;file-name;package-ID;[version]; package-name;[last-file-update-time];[file-size];[generation-number]

Description

information-map (Required)

You must specify single-byte 001.
program-identifier (Required)

Specify a program ID as the corresponding single-byte character shown below.

P: Hitachi program products

I: Other companies' software

Space: User programs and data

Any specification other than the above is treated as if there were no specification.
file-name (Required)

Specify one of the files making up the software to be searched, by using up to 256 single-byte characters (or up to 128 double-byte characters). To ensure more accurate searches, we recommend that you specify a representative file of the software to be searched.
package-ID (Required)

Specify a unique string for the software to be searched, by using up to 44 characters. You can use the following single-byte characters: A to Z, 0 to 9, and hyphens (-). When you register new software information in an optional software list, specify information that is not used in the existing search list on the agent. For programs, we recommend that you specify them as below.

For Hitachi program products: product-name (such as P-2642-78BL)

For other companies' software: (company-name)-(product-name)
version

Specify the version of the software to be searched, by using up to six characters. You can use the following single-byte characters: A to Z, 0 to 9, and forward slashes (/). If you do not specify a version, the version is retrieved from the version resource of the file to be searched. If the version cannot be retrieved, 000000 is set automatically.
package-name (Required)

Specify the name of the software to be searched, by using up to 50 single-byte characters (or up to 25 double-byte characters). However, you cannot use backslashes (\).
last-file-update-time

Specify the time when the file specified in file-name was last updated. Specify this item when there are multiple versions of the software to be searched.

Use the YYYY/MM/DD/hh/mm/ss format to specify up to the required item:

YYYY: Year (1900 to 2100)

MM: Month (01 to 12)

DD: Day (01 to 31)

hh: Hour (00 to 23)

mm: Minute (00 to 59)

ss: Second (00 to 59)

(Example)

File created on October 1, 2015 at 11 o'clock: 2015/10/01/11
file-size

Specify the size of the file specified in file-name in bytes. Specify this item when there are multiple versions of the software to be searched. Specify the file size by using a number with up to 10 digits from 0 to 2,147,483,647.
generation-number

Specify the generation number of the software to be searched, by using up to four characters. You can use the following single-byte characters: A to Z and 0 to 9. If you do not specify this item, 0000 is set automatically.

Example:

001;I;oracle;ORACLE-DATABASE;0920;Oracle Database;2007/08/09/18/45;66146800;

Creating an optional software list from a file

To create an optional software list from a file specifying search list items:

In the List of Software Information window, select File and then Create from File.

The Load Search List dialog box appears.
Select a file, and click the OK button.

The Specify Search List Name dialog box appears.
Specify a name, and click the OK button.

The specified file is loaded to create a search list.

If there is an error in the file specification, a dialog box is displayed indicating the location of the error. In such a case, correct the file specification, and then retry.

Outputting an optional software list to a file

To output the contents of the optional software list displayed in the List of Software Information window to a file:

In the List of Software Information window, select the optional software list to be output.
Select File and then Save to File.

The Save Search List dialog box appears.
Specify a file name, and then click the OK button.

The contents of the optional software list are output to a file

Editing items in an optional software list

To edit items in a registered optional software list:

On the Optional Software page, select the item to be edited.
Click the Change button.

The Add Software to List dialog box appears.
Edit the registered contents.

In the Add Software to List dialog box, edit the registered contents.
Click the OK button.

The edited contents are reflected in the optional software list.

To Page Top

(5) Checking received software information

You can use the following methods to check the software information that you received.

If the software information of agents for UNIX and agents for Mac is set up so as to be managed in the configuration file (jdn_manager_config.conf)

You can use the Installed Software Details tab of the JP1/IT Desktop Management 2 device window to check the software information that you received. To do this:

In the Device List tab of the device window, select the host whose software information is to be displayed.
Select the Installed Software Details tab at the bottom of the window.

Information about the software installed on the selected host appears.

If the software information of agents for UNIX and agents for Mac is set up so as to be not managed in the configuration file (jdn_manager_config.conf)

You can use the Installed Packages page of the System Configuration or Destination window of Remote Install Manager to check the software information that you received. To do this:

In the left pane of the System Configuration or Destination window, select the host whose software information is to be displayed.
In the right pane of the window, select the Installed Packages tab.

Information about the software installed on the selected host appears.

To Page Top

(6) Deleting received software information

Assume that software information is collected on a managing server by executing a Get software information from computer (UNIX) job, and then unnecessary software programs are deleted from an agent. In such a case, the software information collected on the managing server might not match the software information on the agent. If this happens, temporarily delete the software information from the managing server.

You can delete software information from the managing server in the same way as deleting installed package information. For details, see 7.5 Deleting installed package information. Note that you must read the term package as software.

To Page Top