How to inventory stand-alone systems | v8+
Certero allows for an inventory of a disconnected and/or standalone system using the command-line agent.
Download the command-line agent
If your infrastructure configuration is such that some of your devices will not be accessible to a Certero Endpoint Server, you now have the option performing an inventory by using a stand-alone command-line agent. One of the useful aspects of Certero is the ability the Certero Agents to be download one a user has logged in. Use the right hand menu to select the Downloads option:
1. Navigate to your Certero Platform
2. Click the burger icon.
3. Click “User”.
4. Click "Downloads"
5. When you click the Downloads option, you will see a screen that looks like this:
From here, you can select the command-line agent variant to download.
Overview on how to use the Command-Line Agent
The steps to follow for all agents are all the same:
Get the command line agent to the machine
Schedule the command line agent to run
Getting its output to a Certero Endpoint Server for processing
They have been created to allow you to run them directly on a target machine. You will first have to ensure the agent is placed onto the target machine where you want it to run. You then need to get the agent to run, which will generate output into a compressed file. This file will reside on the target machine and remain there until you transfer it to a Certero Endpoint server for processing.
Getting the Command-Line Agent to the target machine
By design, the agent does not attempt to self-deploy so that you can use your preferred method of delivery. Different organisations have different tools and methods for doing this which range from a manual delivery method of your choice, to a fully integrated management tools that have the capability to place the agent on target machines.
Scheduling Command-Line Agents to run
Once on the target machine, you can invoke the agent manually or you could schedule it to run using a your preferred scheduling tool on the relevant platform. Here are some examples of the built-in operating system tools that can be used to achieve this:
Task Scheduler (Windows)
at (Windows)
cron (Linux/Unix)
launchd (Mac OS X)
Getting Command-Line Agent output back to Certero
Once any of the agents have run, they will generate an output file which, again by design, will remain on the target machine until you arrange for its transfer back to a Certero Endpoint server for processing. By default, these files are generated in the folder from which the agent is run. Similar to your chosen method of delivering the agent to the target machine, you could consider using the same to return the output file to a Certero Endpoint server.
To do this, on the target Endpoint Server, you need to ensure the output file is returned to the following folder:
A way to do this is to set up this folder as an SMB share so that the tool you are using to transfer the files can place them in the correct folder of the preferred Endpoint Server.
Once the output files is placed in the folder, the Certero Endpoint Server Data Collection service periodically (at least once every 5 minutes) processes any files placed in this folder.
By specifying the data path parameter (-d) when the command-line agent is run, the files output by the agent can be directed to an alternative folder, such as the SMB share created for the nearest Endpoint Server.
Command-Line Agent parameters
Agents on all platforms can take the number of parameters - please refer to the platform specific page to learn more about available command line parameters.
Platform specific details
This standalone agent is available in the following flavors:
- (AIX, HP-UX and Solaris)How to inventory a stand-alone Unix system | v8+
If available, click on the link above for your chosen platform for additional information.