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Simplify Asset Inventory
In a Software Asset Management (SAM) program, maintaining accurate software and hardware deployment
records is key to making strategic business decisions. The SHI Polaris IT Asset Management (ITAM) team
offers a wide array of tools to collect software and hardware inventory from your unique environment. The
extracted data can then be integrated with SHI’s Polaris InstallPosition cleansing process for a clear view of
your organization’s licensable software deployments. As a result, you will be able to easily track all IT assets
deployed across your environment, analyze the data, mitigate risk, and realize greater cost-savings.
Inventory Tools
Polaris Discovery: An agent-based application that enables devices to transmit inventory data securely over
TCP/IP. Polaris Discovery is a great option for business with a large mobile workforce that do not regularly connect to the
home network.
AD Connect: A quick to run application that collects relevant data from Active Directory, including machine name, last
logon, last DC, AD Container, and others. Although AD Connect data is not incorporated into a Polaris GapAnalysis of
your software compliance position, it does provide the context necessary to help you understand which devices have
been, and have not been, inventoried.
RVTools: Collects critical data from a VMware environment, including VM-to-Physical Host associations, resource
provisioning and usage, and clustering congurations.
Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP): An agentless, free of charge application created by
Microsoft that can scan and collect data from an environment that is not already managed by another product. MAP
does not install agent software on target devices. MAP also generally does a great job of collecting the Edition (Express,
Standard, Developer, Enterprise, etc.) information for SQL Server and Exchange Server products. If for some reason
there are missing Editions, a Polaris Engineer will also provide you with the SQL Editions PowerShell Query and/or the
Exchange Management Shell Query.
Polaris Connect for MAP:
Same as Polaris Connect, but written specically to pull data from the
MAP database.
SQL Editions PowerShell Query: Most Conguration/Inventory Management products do not collect the Edition
(Express, Standard, Developer, Enterprise, etc.) information for SQL Server products. This query leverages a server list
custom-built for your company by the Polaris team to collect Edition information. This tool comes into play after the
primary data has been collected. If missing data has been identied, a Polaris Engineer will contact you and provide
the query.
Exchange Management Shell Query: Similarly to SQL Server, most Conguration/Inventory Management products
do not collect the Edition (Express, Standard, Developer, Enterprise, etc.) information for Exchange Servers. The Polaris
team will show you how to use the Exchange Management Shell Query to collect Edition information for Exchange
Servers. This tool comes into play after the primary data has been collected. If missing data has been identied, a Polaris
Engineer will contact you and provide the query. If your company has a small number of Exchange Servers, the Engineer
will suggest you ll in the blanks manually.
Depending on your specic scenario, below is a list of the tools that SHI would deploy in your environment.
Polaris Connect: A small, simple executable application that uses connectors to extract data from a variety of
common Conguration/Inventory Management products. SHI currently has connectors for BMC Marimba, Dell
Kace, Express Metrix, FrontRange Centennial Discovery, Intel LANDesk, Lansweeper, ManageEngine AssetExplorer,
ManageEngine Desktop Central, Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP), Microsoft SMS/SCCM, Novell
ZenWorks, Numara TrackIT, OCS NG Inventory, Polaris Discovery, Quest Desktop Authority, Scalable WinINSTALL, Snow,
and Symantec Altiris.
DISCOVERY TOOLS
©2013 SHI International Corp. All rights reserved. • Version A • July 24, 2012
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Contact Us: 877-999-7301 or [email protected]
Common Inventory Scenarios
1. Your company has fully deployed a Conguration/Inventory Management solution.
If your organization already has a conguration or inventory management solution in place, SHI prefers to
leverage the databases already built by these products to collect the bulk of the inventory data. Provided we
have a connector for the solution your organization has deployed, Polaris Engineers will typically deploy:
Ù AD Connect
Ù Polaris Connect
Ù RVTools
Ù SQL Editions PowerShell Query
Ù Exchange Management Shell Query
2. Your company has partially deployed a Conguration/Inventory Management solution.
Many customers have deployed a Conguration/Inventory Management product to a portion of their
environment. Most commonly, these customers will have deployed the product to workstations only, leaving
servers unmanaged, though the inverse of this is occasionally true. Provided that SHI has a connector for the
product you have partially deployed, Polaris Engineers will typically deploy:
Ù AD Connect
Ù Polaris Connect (for the existing inventory product)
Ù Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP)
Ù Polaris Connect for MAP
Ù RVTools
Ù SQL Editions PowerShell Query
Ù Exchange Management Shell Query
3. Your company has not deployed any Conguration/Inventory Management solution.
The last common category involves customers who either do not have any conguration/inventory
management product in place or are using a product for which SHI does not have a connector. In this
scenario, Polaris Engineers will typically deploy:
Ù AD Connect
Ù Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP)
Ù Polaris Connect for MAP
Ù RVTools
Ù SQL Editions PowerShell Query
Ù Exchange Management Shell Query
DISCOVERY TOOLS