Summary

When FlexNet inventory agent schedule settings are changed on a managed device, a new partial inventory NDI file is generated and uploaded by the next IBM PVU inventory scan event, despite no change in hardware configuration taking place.

Details

When the an IBM PVU inventory scan is performed, the agent checks whether various hardware details in the inventory have changed. A partial inventory NDI file is generated and uploaded when a change is detected.

This issue results in a partial inventory NDI file being unnecessarily generated and uploaded when inventory agent schedule settings (as represented by the MGS_AgentEvent WMI pseudo-class in the NDI) are changed, despite there being no change in the computer's hardware configuration.

When this occurs, logging in the tracker.log file produced by the inventory gathering ndtrack process shows output indicating changes have been detected related to the MGS_AgentEvent hardware item. For example:

[Fri 10 Dec 2021 12:43:10 AM CST (G, 0)] {74693} Searching for changes in hardware inventory...
[Fri 10 Dec 2021 12:43:10 AM CST (G, 0)] {74693} Previous hardware item 'MGS_AgentEvent;Upload Client Files;ScheduleModified;20211209T104813Z' not found in latest inventory
[...]
[Fri 10 Dec 2021 12:43:10 AM CST (G, 0)] {74693} Started generating inventory '/var/opt/managesoft/tracker/inventories/system on wkstn102.ndi'

This issue does not directly result in inaccurate data being reported, but may place additional unnecessarily load on server infrastructure to process the additional inventory NDI files.

Fix details

This issue has been fixed by adding the following class to the default value for the HardwareChangesClassPropertyBlacklist preference: MGS_AgentEvent

Related information

See the following other known issues which have some similarities to this one:

• Unnecessary high-frequency PVU inventory NDI file uploads may be triggered from devices running Windows by variations in processor clock speed details (IOJ-1852613)
• Unnecessary high-frequency PVU inventory NDI file uploads may be triggered when Win32_OperatingSystem.LastBootUpTime or InstallDate changes (IOJ-2247786)
• Unnecessary high-frequency PVU inventory NDI file uploads may be triggered from devices running Unix-like operating systems by variations in processor clock speed details (IOJ-2258785)
• Unnecessary high-frequency PVU inventory NDI file uploads may be triggered when network adapter details change (IOJ-2244446)

Fix status

This issue has been fixed in the following FlexNet Manager Suite releases: 2021 R1.4 / Mar 2022 (Cloud), 2022 R1 (On Premises)

Other information

Affected components: Agent, Inventory, SAM for IBM

Master issue ID: IOJ-2236677

Also known as: FNML-74877