Book Image

IT Inventory and Resource Management with OCS Inventory NG 1.02

Book Image

IT Inventory and Resource Management with OCS Inventory NG 1.02

Overview of this book

OCS Inventory NG is a cross-platform, open-source inventory and asset management solution. It brings more than plentiful features to the table to satisfy the business needs of small-to-large organizations with up to tens of thousands of computers. However, to put this inventory solution to optimum use requires a lot of skill.This book will lead you through the steps of implementing OCS-NG until you master working with it. This book aims at reducing efforts involved in resource management. The solution gives a robust foundation on top of which we can implement other third party applications, plugins, and much more.This book begins with the basics—it explains what IT inventorying needs are to be met in the real-world. Then, it covers a step-by-step approach to everything you need to know to set up and implement OCS-NG as a centralized inventory solution to meet all these requirements. It delves deeper into carrying out inventory tasks with every chapter.You will learn how to choose the best agent type and deployment method. We discuss the process of gathering inventory data and cover techniques for creating and deploying packages. You will also learn how to acquire added benefits with the use of plugins. We discuss best practices on inventorying and troubleshooting agent-related problems. The book presents real-world inventorying scenarios along with their solutions. You will basically learn how to use OCS-NG to get the most out of it.As a conclusion, if you want to learn about a free solution that fulfils inventorying necessities of the real-world, this is the book for you.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
IT Inventory and Resource Management with OCS Inventory NG 1.02
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgement
About the Reviewer
Preface
Keeping Pace with Version Updates—Glancing over the changelog of the Latest Release

Chapter 3. The Zen of Agent Deployment

So far, we have set up the OCS Inventory NG central management server, but its database is lacking in content. The database without information is just as worthless as a deserted factory without employees and work to do. Agents will be serving the purpose of gathering inventory data, and then providing them to the OCS-NG management server.

In this chapter, our sole focus will be on agents. Thanks to the rather diversified operating system compatibility range, we have numerous scenarios to look into. There are also more than a few techniques to get these agents on the client machines. It is important to realize the key differences in order to make the right decision that best fits the situation.

Throughout this chapter, we will learn how to accomplish the following tasks:

  • Rationalize what happens behind the scenes of agents

  • Understand the differences between agent types

  • Find out about the deployment modalities on various operating systems

  • Decide the right...