Dell Asset Manager 9.5 Release Notes

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1 Dell Asset Manager 9.5 May 2014 These release notes provide information about the Dell Asset Manager 9.5 release. About Asset Manager 9.5 New features Enhancements Resolved issues Known issues System requirements Product licensing Getting started with Asset Manager 9.5 Globalization About Dell About Asset Manager 9.5 Asset Manager allows you to manage software and hardware assets along with the underlying purchase contracts and license agreements in one comprehensive asset management solution. Discover software inventory data from Windows and Mac computers and automatically recognize and categorize software packages. Compare software packages to what has been purchased as well as what is actually in use, eliminating overspending and helping to ensure license compliance. Asset Manager works seamlessly with Active Directory, SCCM, and Altiris and also supports identifying software used in Citrix, VMware and Microsoft virtual environments. Asset Manager 9.5 is a minor release, with enhanced features and functionality. See New features and Enhancements. New features New features in Asset Manager 9.5: Separation Inventory and Entitlement Inventory and License Entitlement are separated. This means that licenses can be purchased and entered into the Asset Manager solution without having the software installed. When software installations are required, it can automatically be assigned. Quick Jumps & Views The new quick jumps and views speed up navigation. Often used pages in Asset Manager can be stored in a quick jump menu and accessed with a single click. 1

2 See also: Microsoft App-V support Applications that are deployed and used on the Microsoft App-V platform are fully supported. Asset Manager can report what users/devices have access to what application and who is using the application. With the App-V Connector, you can see what users are able to access what applications streamed from the Microsoft Application Virtualization Server (App-V Server) and how these applications are being used (metering). You will also know what users are running what applications and how: locally or streamed. This helps save on software license costs by properly managing their licenses, even in virtual environments. Support for New Platforms All recent Microsoft OS platforms, including Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 are supported. Baseline Import The new Generic Baseline Import functionality enables you to cleanse and rationalize inventory data from many sources. As long as your data contains the software title and version and on what computer it is installed, Asset Manager can give you, for instance, a complete Microsoft Inventory Report. Once you have software usage data in your inventory file, Asset Manager can even tell you where to uninstall software and re-harvest the licenses. With this new functionality, Asset Manager now supports all inventory and deployment solutions platforms that can deliver raw inventory data. Report Host/Virtual Instances In virtual environments, it is important to know the relationship between hosts and virtual instances. Through new reports, Asset Manager enables you to get a complete overview. The column chooser and easy export functionality is available on these reports. Migration Reports With an extension to the Asset Manager Software DNA, you can generate migration reports. You can easily see Win 7 compatibility and End of Support of applications installed on your computers. New Native Windows and MAC Agent Asset Manager Native Agent for Windows and MAC collects extended hardware information for improved determination of CPU manufacturer, Number of CPU's and CORE's. Enhancements Resolved issues 2

3 Enhancements The following is a list of enhancements implemented in Asset Manager 9.5. Table 1. General enhancements Enhancement Issue ID Global search: Area headlines now show number of hits The agent was transmitting changes every 30 seconds. Now the agent is only transmitting changes on process scans Information in the Citrix log has been refined Compliance Recalculation: To speed up recalculations, you can now limit a compliance recalculation to a specific manufacturer View Software speed optimization Software - Identification: It was not possible to create more than one file identification. It is now possible to use several files for identification. Software Report/Compliance Report: The reports could time out on large databases. The reports have now been optimized and are created much faster Reports - Compliance Report: Feature: License Type column added Software - Specific Software - Formula: When adding/changing a formula, a background process runs to update the system. Administration - Settings - Import/Export: You can now import "Upgrade Expiration Date" and "Structure Allocation". Users - View Users - Specific User - Software tab: Sorting the column "Application Usages Frequency" was not possible. It is now possible to sort this column. Administration - Settings - Import/Export - Import Assets from File: It was not possible to import CSV-file when including fields containing empty strings. This is now possible. Administration - System Users - View System Users: You can now sort on the column "Type" DE DE DE491 Reports - Software Report: Column "Not Installed Count" added Software - Advanced - View Families - Family created through DNA: Users were not told that a family created through DNA is not editable. Now a text informs the user that DNA must be disabled in order to edit a software package. Compliance Report now has two more columns available: "Total CPU Count" and "Total Core Count" Administration - System User: Two new function rights have been created: "Administration_View" and "Administraton_Update" Changed the way we obtain the computer name on Mac OSX Administration - Settings - Import/export - Import Licenses from File: When importing it is required that the Software is already created in the system. Now the user is informed if trying to import a license for a software title that does not exist. Administration - Settings - Import/export - Import Assets: User and Unit fields can be imported. Install process: SQL Express was bundled with the installer. This is now removed from the installer. View Assets: The Asset Tag field gets data directly from the agent (SMBIOSAssetTag) DE DE DE DE631 3

4 Windows 8 and Server 2012 operating systems now supported. Metering string comparison operations was case sensitive. Now string comparison operations are not case sensitive. View Software: The time displayed in the column "Avg. Usage Time" was formatted like 2 01:23:12 (first number being the number of days). Now it is formatted as 2d 01:23:12. Reports: Timeout could occur on large datasets. Timeout now increased. Support for Win8 and Win Microsoft AppV Connector Quick Jumps & Views. You can create quick jumps to pages in the application. Views (formerly known as Favorites) can be created on grid views. Improved history functionality makes it possible to use the browser's Back and Forward buttons - grid settings (filters, grouping, columns etc.) are remembered. Inventory and License entitlement are now separated Baseline Import functionality Enhanced Virtual License Types Virtual Host/Guest Report Administration - Settings - Import/Export - Import Assets: Allow the ability to leave purchase date blank when importing. Licenses - Add License - Attachments tab: When File was chosen as Type it was unclear what type of files could be attached and where they should be located. A text now informs that the user must have access to the given file path. View Software - Specific Software - Identification tab: It was not possible to add/edit/delete identifications. Now it is possible to do when DNA is disabled. Migration Report (Windows) - All installations Migration Report (Windows) - All software DE DE DE DE DE DE DE451 Resolved issues The following is a list of issues addressed in this release. Table 2. General resolved issues Resolved issue Synchronizing with the SPID website is now limited to an interval of 7 days Global search: Wrong results regarding Licenses Software - Advanced - Manufacturer - Specific Manufacturer: When clicking on the number of the software titles for the specific manufacturer, View Software is shown (all manufactures). Now only software related to the specific manufacturer is shown. Software - Computers: Sorting on Avg. Usage Time (Inst.) was not possible Manual import of SPID database is not possible (HTTP Error Not Found) when using Server License - Attachments - Edit specific Attachment: When the Type of attachment is set to File, the browse button is missing next to the file path input field. This has been fixed and it is now possible browse for the attachment. Issue ID

5 Software - Advanced - Families - Add Family: When having created an Edition named "1" and a version named "1" and applying this to a software title, the corresponding fields on the software title's detail view was left blank. Import Assets/Licenses: Import is only possible when using the date format DD-MM- YYYY. This has now been fixed and alternative date formats can now be used when importing Assets and Licenses. License - Attachments: Main content box it too narrow causing an unnecessary scrollbar to appear. Administration - System Overview - View Server Task Scheduler: Scheduling a task did not save the new settings. Changes in the schedule settings are now being saved. Licenses: When upgrading from LW 7 to LW 2012 SP1 custom field data disappeared. This has been fixed and License custom field data is now present when upgrading. Reports: It was possible to delete standard reports. This has been changed and it is now only possible to delete custom reports Licenses/Assets/Agreements: The edited item was not saved when clicking Save View Software - Specific Software - Computers tab: Same computer may appear multiple times. Dashboard: "Software Cost by Manufacturer" not showing the correct top 5 manufacturers. File Metering: Max. 9 entries could be added. This has now been fixed allowing more entries SQL Server 2012 upgrade from LW2012 not possible Reports - Compliance Report: Number of licenses not shown in certain conditions View Structures - Specific Structure Unit - Unit Tab: Custom fields regarding licenses displays. The custom fields regarding the structure unit is now correctly shown. View Licenses - Specific License - Attachments: Attachments were not upgraded to the right ID when coming from 2011 to 2012 sp1. Administration - System Overview - View Processed Packages: Compliance Calculation could be marked as failed. View Licenses: Upgrade Expiration Date column is now added to the column chooser. The column Upgrade Rights showed check marks in all licenses even though they did not have upgrade rights. Now only licenses with check mark in Upgrade Rights are checked Schedulers: User defined start time was not saved - current time was used instead Software - Advanced - Families - Add Family: Empty rows were created when adding a version or edition. Software - Add software: When finishing the creation of a software title, and clicking yes when prompted to make a corresponding license, the user was routed to an existing license in view mode. View Licenses - Specific License - Attachment Tab: Edit and Delete buttons were missing even if there were items in the grid. Software - Advanced - Families - View Families: Links in the Manufacturer column were wrong. The links are now removed View Software: Adding the Release Date column to the grid causes an error Software - Advanced - Categories - View Categories - Specific Category - Sub Categories Tab: An error occurred when trying to create a sub category. The selection type custom fields lagged validation. The user was able to enter data not present in the selection list. Agreements - Specific Agreement - Related Agreements tab: When the grid contained data an error could occur

6 Reports: The following reports failed when specific columns was added to the grid. Audit Report: Software Run and First Used. Computers Report: Last Login Details. Hardware Report: Last Login Details. Software Report: Potential Savings Administration - Settings - Import/Export - Import Software: Software Import fails Software - Advanced - Families - Add Family: Manufacturer drop down box lacked validation. It was possible for the user to write something not in the list. It seemed that the manufacturer was created but it was not. View Computers - Specific Computer - Software tab: When expanding a software title that has a "+" next to it, it was impossible to change the sorting of the column "Application Usage Frequency". Agreements - Add Agreement: The Manufacturer field lacked validation. It was possible to write a Manufacturer name not in the listed and save the agreement. Now it is verified that the Manufacturer name entered by the user is in the list of manufacturers. Agreements - Add Agreement - Contacts wizard step: The Manufacturer and Vendor fields lacked validation - the user was able to write anything in the fields. Now it is validated that the values must be contained in the drop down lists. Agreements - Add Agreement: The field "Legal Entity" lacked validation - the user was able to write anything. Now it is verified that only legal entities in the list can be used. View Computers: When selecting some computers and clicking "Add or Move to Unit" the computers could be assigned to the wrong units. Software - Inventory - View files / View Computers - Specific Computer - Files tab: The column choosers on each page did not contain the same columns DE DE518 Hyper-V Connector: Spelling error. Hyper-V and Xen Configuration windows were resizable. Now they have a fixed size. Administration - Settings - Blocked files: Add blocked file when THIS Module is not granted by license: incorrect lay-out and behavior. Structures - Specific Manual Structure - Specific Structure Unit - Patterns tab: The Pattern Type drop down said "Computer Name" regardless of which Pattern Type was previously defined. Action bar buttons: Disabled buttons were not shown correctly in IE 6/7/8. Disabled buttons are now shown as semi-transparent. View Software - Specific Software - Identification tab: The identification types in the Identification Type column regarding Files was shown as Add/Remove. Software - Inventory - View Files: When clicking on a file name in the File Name column nothing happened. Now clicking on a file name brings the user to file details. Compliance Recalculation pop-up: The information informed the user that the operation could take a while - but not which specific operation. Now the user is informed that the Compliance Recalculation may take a while. Linux Redhat Solaris scripts do now work correctly View Assets: Warranty Expire was missing in the column chooser Administration - System Users: When granting a user group access to a specific structure unit the change was not saved. Administration -> System overview -> server task scheduler, when switching from one scheduler type to another, the values "start time" and "start date" are empty, should contain default values. When creating a new Structure Unit, it was possible to enter any text in the IP range pattern input boxes. It is now validated that the fields contains only ip-address information. Structures - Add Structure Unit: You could create a structure unit with the same name as an existing structure unit under the same parent unit. A validation is now 2785 DE DE DE DE DE DE DE DE

7 ensuring unique unit names within a branch. Structure - Default Structure - Structure Properties: It was possible to turn off the Default setting in the default structure properties. This has been changed as there always needs to be one default structure. Structures - Structure Unit: Description input box was not multi line resulting in a horizontal scrollbar on large text amounts. The input box is now made multi lined supporting large text amounts. Software - Add Software - Identification tab: Choosing WMI, and entering something in the input box and clicking Next or Finish creates the wrong entry in the system. View Software: Problem filtering on columns containing numeric values resulting in no records being shown. Software - Advanced - Categories - Add Category: You could create a new subcategory with the same name as existing subcategories. Software - Advanced - Categories - Add Category: You could create a new category with the same name as existing categories. Software - Advanced - Manufacturers - Add Manufacturer: You could create a new manufacturer with the same name as existing manufacturers. Software - Advanced - Name Conversions - Add Name Conversions: You could create a new name conversion with the same name as existing name conversions. Software - Advanced - Families - Add Family: You could create identical families for the same manufacturer as well as a different manufacturer. Software - Advanced - Name Conversion - View Name Conversion: Link to the name conversion was in the second column. The link is now moved to the first column. Agreements - Specific Agreement: The button "Delete Last Period" has been removed if there is only one period in the grid. View Assets: The links in the first column "Manufacturer" leads to the same view as the links in the second column "Product Name". The link in the column "Manufacturer" is now removed and the column "Product Name" is now placed first. Assets - New Asset: The drop down boxes "Manufacturer", "Category" and "Agreement" lacked validation. The user was able to write anything and was able to finish creating the asset or continue to the next wizard step. The fields are now validated. Administration - Settings - Hardware Rules - Add Hardware Rule: The connection drop down on the General tab lacked validation as well as the Format drop down on the Details tab. The fields are now validated. Licenses - Add License - Attachments tab: Earlier created attachments could disappear when new attachments were created. Software - Advanced - Families: It was possible to create editions/versions with the same name within a specific family. Now every edition/version must be unique within a specific family. Software - Advanced - Manufacturers - View Manufacturers: The deletion confirmation pop-up text was not translated. Software - Advanced - Manufacturers: It was possible to create manufacturers with identical names. Now it is no longer possible to create a manufacturer with the same name as an existing manufacturer. View Software: Sorting on the columns "Unused Value" and "Total Value" did not work Assets: Computer assets scanned by the client were not created View Users - Specific User - Software tab: Data in columns "First Used" and "Last Used" was not correct. Administration - Settings - Import/Export - Import Licenses: Import failed when using special characters like "æ","ø" or "å". The system now accepts special characters

8 View Computers: Custom field column information was not shown. The information was stored in the database and could be accessed from the Computer detail view. This is now fixed and custom field columns contain data. Structures: The application could time out on very large structures. The timeout has now been removed. Reports - Hardware Report: Primary User information was wrong. Showed database id instead of Primary User name. Now shows the correct data. View Computers - Specific Computer - Hardware tab: When clicking one of the items in the list the resulting pop-up was too small making it difficult to view the data. Pop-ups sizes and formatting is now adjusted. The Click Thru / TPA Agreement updated. DNA-database access: Problems could occur when trying to download DNA database through a proxy. Reports - Custom Report: When creating a custom report to show computers with/without a CD ROM drive no data was shown in the report. Software: When the software was upgraded to a newer version, the old version of the software was not automatically removed from the system. Documentation - Installation Manual: Some links to internal bookmarks were broken. Outlook becomes unresponsive due to AMclient process. View Software: Filtering the Metering column did not work for software with suite members - the metering flag was now shown. Exception thrown when attempting to synchronize software DNA database on some machines. Administration - Settings - Import/Export - Import Assets from File: If the date format was changed and the user clicked "Update" to view example data from the import file, the Date Format was automatically changed back to its default. Reports - Compliance Report: A license with downgrade right did not cover previous versions. Software - Advanced - Categories - View Categories: The link on the category Ungrouped lead to "View Category". Now it leads to the ungrouped software titles. Software - Add Software: When selecting a DNA controlled Family, the user was able to create new Editions and versions on the fly. This is now only possible when selecting a Family not controlled by the DNA DE DE DE DE DE DE647 DE658 DE DE DE DE Known issues The following is a list of issues, including those attributed to third-party products, known to exist at the time of release. Table 3. General known issues Known issue Software - Advanced - Categories - View Category Deleting a previously created subcategory will not remove it from the grid view. Report Hardware report wizard fails when Manufacturer is used in the query Issue ID

9 System requirements Before installing Asset Manager 9.5, ensure that your system meets the following minimum hardware and software requirements. Table 4. System requirements Requirement Screen Resolution Backend Operating System Requirements Details 1280 X 1024 for both backend and client Supported server platforms Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2003, Service Pack 1 or later Frontend Operating System Requirements Supported SQL servers SQL Server 2012 (all editions) SQL Server 2008 (all editions) SQL Server 2005 (all editions) Supported Windows operating systems Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2003 R2 Windows Server 2003 Windows 8 Windows 7 Windows Vista Windows XP Agent Requirements Supported MAC operating systems Mac OS X Mountain Lion (version 10.8) Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5) AMAgentService.msi (agent service) installation requires.net Framework 2.0 AMAgent.msi (offline agent) installation does not require.net Asset Manager Agent (AMClient) with user login script (AMPreloader.exe) does not require.net 9

10 Product licensing To activate a license 1 Select Start All Programs Dell Software Asset Manager Asset Manager Configuration. 2 Select the License Key tab, paste the key in the License key box, and click Apply, Getting started with Asset Manager 9.5 Contents of the Release Package The release package contains the following products: 1. Asset Manager version Product Documentation, including: o o o Installation Guide Administrators Guide Quick Start Guide Installation instructions Refer to the Asset Manager Installation Guide Globalization This section contains information about installing and operating this product in non-english configurations, such as those needed by customers outside of North America. This section does not replace the materials about supported platforms and configurations found elsewhere in the product documentation. This release is Unicode-enabled and supports any character set. It supports simultaneous operation with multilingual data. This release is targeted to support operations in the following regions: North America, Western Europe and Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Far-East Asia, Japan. This release has the following known capabilities or limitations: Asset Manager Setup program is not ready for localization. Neither is Reporting or Online Help. 10

11 About Dell Dell listens to customers and delivers worldwide innovative technology, business solutions and services they trust and value. For more information, visit Contacting Dell Technical support: Online support Product questions and sales: (800) Technical support resources Technical support is available to customers who have purchased Dell software with a valid maintenance contract and to customers who have trial versions. To access the Support Portal, go to The Support Portal provides self-help tools you can use to solve problems quickly and independently, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition, the portal provides direct access to product support engineers through an online Service Request system. The site enables you to: Create, update, and manage Service Requests (cases) View Knowledge Base articles Obtain product notifications Download software. For trial software, go to Trial Downloads. View how-to videos Engage in community discussions Chat with a support engineer 11

12 2014 Dell Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This guide contains proprietary information protected by copyright. The software described in this guide is furnished under a software license or nondisclosure agreement. This software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the applicable agreement. No part of this guide may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording for any purpose other than the purchaser s personal use without the written permission of Dell Inc. The information in this document is provided in connection with Dell products. No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property right is granted by this document or in connection with the sale of Dell products. EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AS SPECIFIED IN THE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR THIS PRODUCT, DELL ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER AND DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTY RELATING TO ITS PRODUCTS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL DELL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION OR LOSS OF INFORMATION) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS DOCUMENT, EVEN IF DELL HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. Dell makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this document and reserves the right to make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time without notice. Dell does not make any commitment to update the information contained in this document. If you have any questions regarding your potential use of this material, contact: Dell Inc. Attn: LEGAL Dept 5 Polaris Way Aliso Viejo, CA Refer to our web site (software.dell.com) for regional and international office information. Trademarks Dell, the Dell logo, and Asset Manager are trademarks of Dell Inc. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. Legend CAUTION: A CAUTION icon indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if instructions are not followed. WARNING: A WARNING icon indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. IMPORTANT NOTE, NOTE, TIP, MOBILE, or VIDEO: An information icon indicates supporting information. 12