Posts by Erwin Richard

  • Octoscan2 - Group Policy (GPO), Internet Explorer Zone Settings

    These are the recommended and tested settings for simple Installations. Complex sites may have different requirements or standards.
    When you want to start the OctoSAM Inventory scanner from a central share, you have to make sure that:


    The 'Downloaded from the Internet' Flag on Octoscan2.exe is not set



    Depending on how you downloaded OctoSAM software, octoscan2.exe might be marked as 'downloaded from the Internet'. Make sure to clear that flag when you copy Octoscan2.exe to the central network share.


    The Central Share is in the Intranet Zone



    If the central share is not already in the "Local intranet" zone, add the server to the Intranet Zone through Group Policy. In the example, all servers within the lab.octosoft.net domain are in the local intranet zone.

    Note that these GPO settings are NOT applied on servers where Internet Explorer is in 'Enhanced Security Mode'.

    See: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-…s537181%28v=vs.85%29.aspx


    Also make sure that all parts of the path to Octoscan2.exe are readable. Bypass Traverse Checking is not supported for the start of Octoscan2 due to a bug in the Windows 7 TCP stack.


    Start the Scanner Through GPO



    There are several ways where to configure the scanner start. Recommended is through User Policy -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Logon ->Run these programs at Logon

  • OctoSAM 1.8.9 / 1.8.10 Releases

    Release 1.8.10 centers around usage metering on Terminalserver / Citrix. A new immediate metering mode has been added to the inventory scanner to accurately report software usage in terminal server farms.


    The machine object has been extended with new fields for easier querying of hardware related information.


    All 3rd party components have been updated to current versions


    Release 1.8.9 adds many new features to the active directory interface. Integration in complex AD architectures is easier with many new configuration options for connecting to AD via LDAP or LDIF files. New queries make it easier to find discrepancies between Active Directory and the OctoSAM Repository.


    1.8.9 also rebrands visible product names from Octopus to OctoSAM.


    Both releases add a lot of significant improvements to queries, the user interface and diagnostic messages.

  • Octopus 1.8.6 Release

    Features:

    • Hardware and Configuration:

      • Installed Services
      • SQL Server Instance Information
      • WMIMonitorID replaces X_VesaDisplay for Windows 7 and later
      • History of IP Addresses


    • Performance:

      • Loading of filtered Software tree re-engineered


    • Stability Updates / Bugfixes


    Notes:


    Octoscan2.EXE and OctoDump.EXE are no longer delivered with the .msi because of virus false positive alerts. The two executables are available in the Support Files download.


    OctoscanLicenseManagerServerObserverService needs to be uninstalled before update and re-installed afterwards. There was a typo in the executable name.

  • Using the Context Menu

    Octopus provides 3 different context menus:


    Object context menu on object nodes in trees


    and in the header of an object document window


    The grid data display has two different context menus depending on the position within the grid:
    Column Header Section:


    Details Section:


    Context menu items I'd like to point out:

    • Save Layout / Reset Layout
      Allows to memorize your grid layout including grouping, sorting, visible columns, filters etc. so that you have the same layout when you open the same grid next time.
      For Queries, one layout per query can be stored.
    • Cell Range Selection
      If checked, you can select any rectangular portion of the grid. This can be useful if you want to copy and paste to Excel or other applications
    • Database
      Contains basic database operations such as deleting the object(s)

  • Charts Zoom and Pan

    Starting with Octopus 1.8.5 you can zoom and pan all line and bar charts.


    Use the ctrl key and the mouse wheel to zoom into a chart. Once zoomed in, you can pan the chart with your mouse.
    This way you can see all details of the chart, even if you selected a large amount of data.

  • Octopus 1.8.5 Release

    Octopus 1.8.5 Release available in the Filebase


    New Features:


    - Flexera FlexLM licensemanager monitoring
    - Support for SWID tags
    - New and improved queries
    - Local push Installation of the scanner module for laptops
    - Automatic cleanup of local data at end of monitoring period
    - Additional hardware information on the Machine object for easier reporting and simpler queries:
    Machine.BiosSerialNumber
    Machine.Processor
    Machine.PhysicalMemory
    Machine.OperatingSystemLanguage
    Machine.OperatingSystemInstallDate
    Machine.ChassisTypes


    - Improved graphs - zoom/pan
    - Syntax highlighting for XML and SQL code
    - Performance impovement in the GUI
    - Improved Excel export, native .xlsx export
    - Imporoved signature import and export handling
    - Support for Windows 8.1
    - Support for Server 2012
    - Various Bugfixes