Inventory Listings Property Reference
The following table describes properties (listed alphabetically) displayed in columns on the following Inventory pages:
note
Most lists in IT Asset Management only show a selection of the properties in the underlying database. Some columns are displayed by default and others can be displayed using the column chooser control, including any custom properties that you have added. For information on using the column chooser, see Managing Columns in a Table.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Assigned user | The user assigned to this inventory device. This assignment overrides the Calculated user . Editable in the Assigned field in Ownership tab of the inventory device properties. |
| Calculated user | The name of the most frequent user of this inventory device, over the previous 10 inventory collections. This value is calculated as follows: If there is only one primary user linked to the inventory device, this user is recorded If there are multiple primary users linked to the inventory device, the most frequently logged in user is recorded If there is no primary user associated with the inventory device, the last user to logon is recorded. The value of this field is automatically generated by IT Asset Management. Not available when any of the following is true: You are manually creating a new record for an inventory device The inventory device is a VDI template There is no inventory source (or the inventory source is Manual) reporting this inventory device. |
| Category | The category of this device. IT Asset Management enables you to create customized categories to group inventory devices logically. These categories are additional to Inventory device type and Device role categorization. For example, you can create categories to differentiate database servers, network servers, or firewalls. The custom categories have no impact on license consumption. Editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties. |
| Clock speed (MHz) | The maximum clock speed (in MHz) of the processor that is installed in the inventory device. Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). If the value is gathered from inventory, it cannot be edited; however, it can be overridden. |
| Cluster Name | The name of the cluster to which a host or virtual machine (VM) is associated. Editable in the Hosts tab of the Cluster properties. |
| Compliance status | The compliance status of an inventory device. It can have any of the following values: Changed —Indicates a change in the compliance status of an inventory device. This value is changed automatically when the following conditions are met: The inventory device has a linked asset. You have defined the device compliance settings to track any changes in the hardware properties of this device. There is a change in the hardware properties for which the device compliance settings have been defined. This change can be manual or a result of a new inventory import. Compliant —The inventory details reported in the last inventory import match those of previous imports, or any changes to those details have been approved. For details about reviewing or approving changes to assets, see Viewing and Accepting the Changes to a Device Asset. New —The default value for all newly imported devices. This value is not changed until there is a change in the hardware configuration or an asset is linked to this device. Not tracked —Indicates that the device is no longer tracked for compliance. This may happen when an inventory import leads to a duplicate device record with some change in its properties. The value is calculated by IT Asset Management and can be manually set on the General tab of the inventory device properties. |
| Connection name | The name of the connection through which IT Asset Management received the last inventory for this inventory device. Not editable. |
| Cores | The total number of processor cores available in a physical inventory device; or the number of cores assigned to an inventory device that is a virtual machine. Populated and (by default) updated by inventory imports, the number of Cores can be manually overridden in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (see Inventory Device Properties / Hardware Tab). |
| Corporate unit | The corporate unit responsible for the inventory device. Editable in the Corporate Units page under the Enterprise tab. |
| Cost center | The cost center responsible for all costs incurred for this inventory device. Editable in the Cost Centers page under the Enterprise tab. |
| Created | The date when this inventory record was created in IT Asset Management. New inventory device records are created during a full import to the compliance database, as new inventory is identified. Therefore it's quite possible to have a creation date that is later than the inventory date, with the difference being due to scheduling, such as the scheduling of imports from third-party tools, or delays between the upload of FlexNet inventory and the full import and compliance calculations (for example, if your full imports are scheduled weekly, or the like). Not editable. |
| Creation method | The method used to create the inventory device record. The possible values: Automatic —the inventory device was discovered in incoming inventory Manual —the inventory device was manually created VM Host —the inventory device is a virtual machine that was discovered while taking inventory of a host server. IT Asset Management generates the value of this field. |
| Disk (GB) | The total space of all hard drives installed on the inventory device, in Gigabytes. Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). The value is overwritten (permanently) by incoming inventory, and thereafter is read-only. Not editable for existing inventory devices. |
| Display adapters | The total number of display adapters installed in the inventory device. Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). The value is overwritten (permanently) by incoming inventory, and thereafter is read-only. Not editable for existing inventory devices. |
| Domain name | The name of the domain to which the computing device belongs. Displays flexera.com if this is a dummy device record created for imports through your connector to SaaS Manager. Editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties for manually created records. The value is overwritten (permanently) by incoming inventory, and thereafter is read-only. |
| Hard drives | The total number of hard drives installed in the inventory device. Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). The value is overwritten (permanently) by incoming inventory, and thereafter is read-only. Not editable for existing inventory devices. |
| Host | The name of the host server where this VM is a guest. Editable in the VM properties tab of the inventory device properties. As long as incoming inventory does not identify the host for this virtual machine, your manual entry is preserved (that is, a null value in inventory never overwrites a manually-entered value). However, once inventory returns a known host for this virtual machine, your value is overwritten with the data from inventory. Should it happen that future inventory again returns no value for the host name, the previous inventory value in this field is cleared, matching the current inventory data. |
| Hosted in | Shows whether the inventory device is on-premises (the default, meaning the device is within your enterprise), or in a cloud operated by a particular service provider. For some cloud service providers, the Hosted in value is set automatically through inventory (AWS is supported from version 13.1.0 of Inventory Agent, and Azure is supported from version 13.2.0). For other cloud service providers, you must make a selection manually. Editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties. |
| Hosted in cloud | Indicates No if the inventory device is hosted on-premises (within your enterprise). Indicates Yes if the inventory device is hosted in the cloud by a cloud service provider. Most inventory devices hosted in the cloud are virtual machines; but this value is available for all inventory devices, because some cloud service providers also rent entire machines (for example, AWS provides dedicated hosts and bare metal instances). This is a convenience column for grouping/filtering inventory devices that are hosted in the cloud. The name of the cloud service provider for each inventory device is available in the Hosted in column. Not directly editable; but the cloud service provider can be specified in the Hosted in field in the General tab of the inventory device properties for a virtual machine. When that property is set to any value other than On-premises, this Hosted in cloud column displays Yes. |
| Inventory chassis type | The chassis type for an inventory device, as reported by the inventory process. This value cannot be edited, however you may override it with the Assigned chassis type setting. |
| Inventory device type | Specifies the type of the inventory device, which may be any of the following values: Computer —A computing device like a desktop, laptop, workstation, or a non- virtualized server. Mobile device —A mobile device like a tablet or smart phone. Product —Not a device type, but a pseudo-value used only in IBM VPC licenses to identify rows showing the licensed IBM product. This value may appear only if the Bundle consumption rules (in the license properties Use Rights & Rules tab, under License consumption rules ) have the option Consume for each product on a device selected. Remote Device —The device is a remote device (not appearing in inventory) known to have accessed virtualized applications. This value is created automatically. VDI Template —The VDI template used to create the virtual desktop instance that was accessed from an inventory device (see Virtual Desktop Templates). This value is created automatically. Virtual Machine —A virtual machine running on a physical host machine. A physical host can run multiple virtual machines using virtualization technologies from VMWare, Oracle, Microsoft, and so on. VM Host —A physical virtual host running one or more virtual machines using any virtualization technology, such as VMWare. Editable in the Inventory device type field in the General tab of the inventory device properties. The value may be overwritten by incoming inventory. |
| IP address | The IP address of the inventory device. For inventory devices with multiple IP addresses (for example, those with multiple network cards), a comma-separated list (up to 256 characters) is shown. IP addresses in the IPv6 address family are not reported in FlexNet inventory for devices running UNIX-like operating systems. Editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties. |
| Last inventory date | The date when the last inventory information was collected by the Last inventory source for this inventory device. The inventory process generates the value of this field. |
| Last inventory source | If you have multiple overlapping inventory sources that report on the same device, it is possible for some inventory details to come from one source and other details from another source. This column identifies the most recent source of inventory that reported the majority of the hardware properties for this device. If you have declared a primary inventory connection and this device appears in inventory from that primary connection, it is likely that your primary connection is supplying the majority of hardware properties, and so is shown here. If your primary source reported the majority of hardware properties some time ago, and since then one or more secondary sources have updated a minority of additional properties, this value still shows the primary source (source of the majority of hardware properties). Tracking the primary source is particularly valuable if you have a variation from IBM allowing you to use Inventory Agent and IT Asset Management as replacements for IBM tools (such as ILMT) in the calculation and reporting of sub-capacity licensing for IBM PVU licenses. That agreement requires that you can demonstrate that the Last inventory source is IT Asset Management, and that this source is reporting every 30 minutes. The values are system-provided, and cannot be modified. Most values are self- explanatory; some less obvious ones include: Data Platform —The inventory was imported from Flexera Normalize (previously BDNA Normalize, part of BDNA Data Platform) Flexera SaaS Manager —This is a dummy device created for linking with imports through your Flexera SaaS Manager connector ManageSoft —The inventory was collected by legacy versions of the Inventory Agent, and saved in a separate inventory database Manual —You created this inventory device record manually, and no matching inventory has been received yet. SMS— The inventory was imported from Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (previously Microsoft SCCM or SMS). Tivoli Endpoint Manager —Inventory was imported from IBM Big Fix, or one of its earlier renamings (IBM Endpoint Manager, Tivoli Endpoint Manager). If you have custom inventory adapters, entries for these may also appear in this column as appropriate. Not editable. |
| Last logged on user | The name of the user that was discovered to be the last logged on user on this device. Click the linked full name to open the General tab of the user properties pages, and for details see User Properties / General Tab. Not available when any of the following is true: You are manually creating a new record for an inventory device The inventory device is a VDI template There is no inventory source (or the inventory source is Manual) reporting this inventory device. |
| Linked asset | The name of an asset, if any, that the device is linked to. If the status of the linked asset is set to Retired (in the asset properties), the linked inventory device remains visible in the All Inventory list, but is suppressed in the Out-Of-Date Inventory list, regardless of how long it is since the device reported inventory. The link between an inventory device and an asset is editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties. |
| Location | The location within your enterprise that is responsible for the device. Editable in the Ownership tab of the inventory device properties. |
| MAC address | The Media Access Control (MAC) address of the inventory device. If a device has multiple network interface cards, this field displays a comma-separated list of MAC addresses. Editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). |
| Manufacturer | The manufacturer of the inventory device. Editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). |
| Model | The manufacturer’s model name or number for this device. Editable in the Model field in the General tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). If the value is gathered from inventory, it cannot be edited, but it can be overridden by entering a new value in the Overridden field in General tab of the inventory device properties. The original value continues to display on the General tab, alongside the overridden value, and may be restored at any time. |
| Network cards | The total number of network cards installed in a physical inventory device; or the number of network cards accessible by the virtual machine. Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). |
| Operating system | The operating system running on this device. Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). Under certain conditions, this value may be blank. For more information, see Conditions When Operating System Value of Inventory is Blank. |
| Overridden | Indicates whether the operator has manually changed one or more properties discovered in inventory, or if the inventory details are unchanged for this inventory device. IT Asset Management generates the value of this field. |
| Partial number of processors | The equivalent number of full-time processors set by the time-sharing controls on the hardware console. Some virtualization technologies (such as on IBM's AIX operating system) report this setting in inventory. You may override an incorrect inventory value for this field. Populated and (by default) updated on virtual machines by inventory imports, this field in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (only for virtual machines) can be overridden with a manually entered value. An overridden value is no longer updated by incoming inventory. |
| Pool | The name given to the pool of resources to which this virtual machine belongs. Populated and (by default) updated by inventory imports. |
| Processor type | The type of processor installed in the inventory device. Populated and (by default) updated by inventory imports, this value can be manually overwritten in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (see Inventory Device Properties / Hardware Tab). |
| Processors | The total number of processors installed in a physical inventory device, or logical processors assigned to a virtual machine. Populated and (by default) updated by inventory imports, this field in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties can be overridden with a manually entered value (see Inventory Device Properties / Hardware Tab). Overridden values are no longer updated by incoming inventory. |
| RAM (GB) | The size of Random Access Memory (RAM) installed in the inventory device, in gigabytes. For manually-created records, this is editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties. The value is overwritten (permanently) by incoming inventory, and thereafter is read-only. |
| Recommended asset link | Displays a link to an asset that is recommended for this inventory device. If you click the link, IT Asset Management connects this inventory device to the recommended asset. Not editable. |
| Role | The role assigned to the inventory device, such as Development , Test , and Production . Device roles (where permitted by the product use rights on a license) can exempt devices from consuming entitlements on a license to which they are (and remain) attached. For example, some license agreements may grant an exemption for devices used exclusively for testing. For more details, see Allocations and Exemptions. Editable in Device role field in the General tab of the inventory device properties. |
| Serial number | The serial number of the device, attempting to uniquely identify either the hardware (for a stand-alone device) or the virtualization container (for a virtual machine), as reported in inventory. This displays Flexera SaaS Manager with a numerical suffix in the special case where the inventory device is a dummy record created for linking with imports through your SaaS Management connector. For manually-created inventory device records, this value is editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties. This value is not editable for records created or updated from collected inventory. |
| Server | A Yes/No flag indicating whether the operating system is a server OS or not (for example, Windows Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE, etc). Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties (for manually-created records). |
| Service pack | The service pack number or ID reported by the operating system. For manually-created records, this is editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties. The value is overwritten (permanently) by incoming inventory, and thereafter is read-only. |
| Sockets | The total number of mounting sockets for central processing units (CPUs) available in a physical inventory device. For a Virtual machine, this may be the number of virtual sockets assigned to the VM. Editable in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties. If it is not available from your inventory, or if the value is inaccurate, you can permanently override with a manual value. |
| Status | Indicates the current state of a device. It can have any of the following values: Active —A device for which the inventory information is received from an inventory source. Archived —There are two different scenarios that lead to an inventory device entering the Archived status: The device is in transition pending deletion, but is currently held because of its historical impacts on IBM PVU sub-capacity retrospective calculations. The device is linked to an asset which is set to retired or disposed, and has installs of software which are covered by an IBM PVU or VPC license. Awaiting Inventory —This device is a place-holder that has not yet appeared in imported inventory from any source. Ignored —The device that is not managed. An ignored device is not considered in license consumption calculations. If an inventory device is linked to an asset record, and that asset is given a status of either Retired or Disposed , and the device does not have installs of software which are covered by an IBM PVU or VPC license, this Ignored value is automatically set for the linked inventory device. Provided that the inventory device has not [yet] been linked to an asset record, this value is editable in the General tab of the inventory device properties (although Awaiting Inventory is no longer available once inventory has been collected for the device, and Archived can never be set manually). |
| Threads | The total number of threads available in a physical inventory device; or the number of logical processors (virtual processors in a virtual machine, or threads assigned to a partition) assigned to an inventory device that is a virtual machine. Populated and (by default) updated by inventory imports, this field in the Hardware tab of the inventory device properties can be overridden with a manually entered value (see Inventory Device Properties / Hardware Tab). |
| VM name | The name of the virtual machine that is recognized by the host server. This value is visible in the properties of the VM host, in the Virtual Machines tab, in the VM name column. Editable in the Friendly name field in the VM properties tab of the inventory device properties for the virtual machine. The compliance calculation updates this field with the machine name returned in inventory (matched by serial number). |
| VM type | The type of the virtual machine. Editable in the VM properties tab of the inventory device properties for the virtual machine (for manually-created records). The value may be overwritten by incoming inventory. Applicable only to inventory devices of the type Virtual Machine . |
Conditions When Operating System Value of Inventory is Blank
The Operating system field may be blank under the following conditions:
- The device is recently discovered. The operating system can only occasionally be populated during first discovery, and is often backfilled once inventory is returned for this device.
-
The device is a VM host that is a hardware frame that may not be running its own operating system. In this case, the computer Name field is set to a serial number associated with the hardware (because, without an operating system, there is no host name). In fact, no inventory of any kind is possible without an operating system, so IT Asset Management synthesizes the VM host record from common data reported by its guest VMs. The virtual machines in these cases may typically be partitions like:
- LPARs running on IBM PowerPC servers
- Solaris zones on either x86 or SPARC architectures
- nPar or vPar partitions running on HP Integrity servers.