By Don Retallack [bio]
Posted: Jul. 21, 2008

• Illustration: Asset Inventory Service Operation

The following is the full text of an article published by Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy & technology. More samples of our content, as well as a list of upcoming articles and reports are also available.

The Asset Inventory Service (AIS), part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), provides an easy to deploy and maintain system for inventorying software (such as OSs, Office, commercial applications, and custom software) installed on desktops and mobile devices and, in the case of Microsoft software, reconciling the data with actual purchases. This information is helpful for assessing desktop software license compliance, utilization, and conformance to corporate policy (e.g., discovering instances of unsanctioned software), as well as assisting in software purchase forecasting and budgeting. However, several limitations prevent AIS from providing a complete software inventory and license compliance assessment.

Overview of AIS

Gained in Microsoft's 2006 acquisition of AssetMetrix, the AIS consists of a client agent application that collects detailed information about the software on desktop PCs and mobile devices in an organization, uploads this information to a Microsoft-hosted service (System Center Online), and adds it to an inventory database as well as to a dynamic software catalog that contains signatures (including the reported software name, version, and publisher) of more than 430,000 applications. An organization can access this information from the service to help licensing compliance, forecasting, and budgeting.

AIS performs an inventory function similar to System Center Configuration Manager, formerly known as System Management Server (SMS), Microsoft's software management tool for enterprises. However, the AIS inventory is stored online rather than on-premise. AIS is accessible from the Internet, which may be attractive for companies with large numbers of laptops and mobile devices that seldom connect to the company network and would be inventoried less often by Configuration Manager. AIS is relatively easy to set up and maintain, which may be important for branch offices without IT support or after acquisitions when companies want a quick inventory in order to plan software licensing and management actions.

The next version, AIS 1.5, planned for release in the second half of 2008, will perform the following functions:

• Reconcile installed Microsoft software with purchased volume licensing information and provide an automated report of discrepancies
• Support 11 languages, an improvement over the current English-only version
• Allow up to 100,000 client entries in a single inventory database; the previous limit was 20,000.

AIS Architecture and Capabilities

Before AIS can accumulate inventory data and generate reports, organizations must first register with the service online and install client agent software on PCs. The AIS process is usually begun by an IT administrator who registers with the service through the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service (MVLS) Web site, downloads and customizes the client agent software (for example, by assigning custom group names for identifying PCs, such as "accounting" or "marketing"), and chooses a client deployment method. Administrators can then grant access to reports to others, such as business managers who need detailed information at software license renewal time. Users access reports through a Web browser so no management console software needs to be installed and IT staff does not need to be involved in producing reports.

AIS Client

The AIS client is deployed via Microsoft Installer packages that are distributed to PCs using Group Policy Objects, Configuration Manager, or other means. The client is supported on any Windows OS in Mainstream or Extended support. It will keep itself up to date using Windows Update if connected to the Internet, or organizations may update the client using Windows Server Update Services or SMS/Configuration Manager.

Once deployed, the clients then begin the inventory and uploading tasks.

The RunOnce task enrolls in the online service, scans the computer for installed software, and uploads the inventory to the Microsoft-hosted site. The RunOnce task is staggered across the clients to avoid network congestion and, presumably, to avoid overloading the online servers.

The Full task is a monthly inventory and upload. Administrators can change the default period to run the inventory scan more frequently and can also manually start an inventory at any time. Manually starting an inventory will repeat the inventory scan on all machines that use the AIS client; there is no provision for selecting a subset of PCs to inventory. However, a single PC can be forced to scan and upload its inventory by starting the Full task from its Windows task scheduler.

The Heartbeat task checks daily with the service for changes, such as a new request for inventory data. It can therefore take up to 24 hours to perform a complete inventory for all enrolled PCs. However, if a computer does not report, AIS will not alert the administrator that the inventory is incomplete. When a PC is retired, the administrator should remove it from AIS, which will notify the PC client to stop reporting inventory.

(For an illustration of the operational process, see the diagram "Asset Inventory Service Operation".)

The client collects information about the software on the computer using history from the Microsoft Installer, the Add/Remove Programs section of the Registry, the Program Files folder, the Start menu, and the Quick Launch menu. If multiple entries with similar names are found from these sources, as is likely for normally installed applications, the client merges the inventory information to create a single record. It also adds minimal hardware information (such as processor type, memory, and disk size).

The inventory is reported to the online service using XML and secure Web transport (HTTPS). The XML file is typically less than 100KB per client, so the impact on computer or network operations is minimal.

Dynamic Software Catalog

Once uploaded to the System Center Online service, the XML inventory file is transformed for entry into an inventory database, separate for each organization, and the software signatures are checked against Microsoft's dynamic software catalog database which contains information on more than 430,000 software names and variants. Misspelled names, changed titles, or similar version numbers, such as 9.2.1000.4 or 9.2, can be resolved, and titles or publishers can be rationalized (for example, Microsoft itself uses several different publisher names, including "Microsoft" and "Microsoft Corporation"). This helps simplify an organization's inventory reports since multiple entries for the same software are eliminated.

Microsoft librarians examine newly reported software signatures to find out what the software is, and they categorize software into 8 major and 40 minor families such as "browsers" or "networking software." This helps organizations that would like reports on, for example, OSs or hardware drivers in order to plan updates. The librarians also mark software as either public (well-known commercial or open source software) or private (line-of-business applications that may be unique to a particular organization). Information on the public software is visible to all AIS users (and to Microsoft), while only the owning organization can see the private ones.

Reports Help with Compliance

Users who have been given access to AIS can generate reports via the Web, and can export those reports in various file formats, including spreadsheets, XML, images, or PDF files. Reports can be tailored for specific purposes, such as reporting only Microsoft applications, reporting graphics utilities, reporting financial software packages, or listing OEM-installed software (which often has a different signature than the retail product). This allows users to filter possibly huge inventory reports to suit their immediate requirements. For example, reports can show how many PCs do not yet have an updated security application or which computers are running unapproved or nonstandard software. Inventories for individual computers are also available. The inventory database is searchable by keyword as well as by the categories of software defined by Microsoft. Change reports can be generated to show how installations vary with time—users can compare today's inventory with last month's, for example.

Entering Microsoft license agreement information, such as agreement numbers, into the AIS site begins the license reconciliation process. The AIS retrieves entitlement information from the MVLS database and compares license information to inventories for Microsoft software. Administrators can assign agreements to groups for use with reporting, for example, grouping by subsidiary or branch office.

Microsoft says that an organization's AIS inventory data is not linked to the organization name, that license compliance reports are confidential, and that neither the inventory nor reports are shared with anyone inside or outside Microsoft. It has issued some assurances and instituted an access process and auditing that is overseen by Jefferson Wells, a leading privacy firm.

AIS and Other Management Products

The AIS has several notable limitations as an inventory and management tool for large organizations. It provides only minimal information about hardware assets, does not do license metering (restricting use of software when license limits are exceeded), cannot distinguish between software that's installed and that is actually used, and may miss applications that are not installed—for example, a stand-alone executable that is not in the Microsoft Installer database, Add/Remove Programs, the Program Files folder, or the Start menu. AIS inventories software, not licenses, which have no electronic footprint, so it cannot help with compliance for Client Access Licenses (CALs) and Management Licenses (MLs) required for various Microsoft server software products. A large amount of information important for full licensing compliance will have to be gathered in other ways. Finally, AIS is unable to inventory virtualized applications, but Microsoft says that the AIS and SoftGrid teams are working to add this capability in the future.

Hence, AIS might be used as a complement to Configuration Manager, especially for organizations with many roaming PCs that seldom connect to the company network and so are not regularly inventoried by Configuration Manager. Configuration Manager has all of the features of AIS, except that it maintains a local rather than online inventory database. Configuration Manager 2007 R2, planned for the second half of 2008, will contain a feature called Asset Intelligence that connects to the same System Center Online service that AIS does, in order to download the latest software signature files from the dynamic software catalog database. But the AIS inventories themselves are not directly accessible to Configuration Manager, which has its own tools for gathering information about installed software and hardware.

Available Only with SA

AIS is available only to customers as part of the MDOP, a bundle that requires them to buy Software Assurance (upgrade rights) on the Windows desktop OS. In this fashion, Microsoft uses the lure of an inexpensive bundle, the Desktop Optimization Pack, which costs US$10.58 per year per computer (for Select A customers, or lower with greater volume discounts), to encourage customers to purchase the more costly Software Assurance at US$54 per year per computer on the Windows desktop.

However, the MDOP contains other management tools, such as application virtualization, that (if used) might help justify that cost.

Availability and Resources

Volume License customers can download the Desktop Optimization Pack from the Microsoft Volume License Service at https://licensing.microsoft.com/eLicense/L1033/Default.asp.

The Desktop Optimization Pack is covered in more detail in "Desktop Management Applications Become Subscriptions" on page 36 of the Nov. 2006 Update.

The acquisition of AssetMetrix was described in "AssetMetrix to Be Acquired" on page 21 of the June 2006 Update.

An overview of Configuration Manager can be found in "Configuration Manager 2007 Updates SMS" on page 21 of the Nov. 2007 Update.