Looking at the Snow Agent log, the getSoftware step is consuming lot of time when scanning software in the machine. Below is an example screenshot where it is taking 34 minutes in performing getSoftware:

Snow Agent for Unix 7.3.0 or earlier

There are many factors why Snow Agent scan will take longer than usual. Some factors but not limited can be any or combination of the following:

• There are valid folders and files that need to be scanned.
• Too many folders or files to be scanned and improperly configured in the snow agent configuration file.
• Not enough CPU, disk or RAM to accomplish the task.
• Using an old version of the Snow Agent.
• Using an old version of Java.
• The Snow Agent configuration is not properly configured.

However, for this article, we will focus the last point: wrong configuration in the Snow Agent configuration file. Below is a snippet of the Snow Agent configuration file:

<Software>
<!-- Only if Include is specified a disk scan will be initiated. -->
<Include>
<Path recursive="true" unconditionally="false">/bin</Path>
</Include>

That configuration will make the scan longer. To correct, ensure that you add /* at the end of the folder path as shown below:

<Software>
<!-- Only if Include is specified a disk scan will be initiated. -->
<Include>
<Path recursive="true" unconditionally="false">/bin/*</Path>
</Include>

The /* is important to ensure it will only scan the defined folder in this case the bin and will only traverse inside /bin.

As an illustration, see the before and after below which illustrates the difference in time taken:

Before:

After: