<%@ Language=VBScript %> OCS Inventory Setup Instructions
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Upgrade Instructions

If you already have OCS Inventory installed, MAKE A COPY of your database (and, if you have modified it, the Global.asa file of the Web Manager folder).

Follow the installation instructions and select the same setup folder as your previous installation.

Then, run OCS Inventory Manager, log in under an Administrator account and import your old configuration to the new database with the command "Import from another DB" of the "File" menu.

If your are using Web Manager, restore your previous Global.asa file if needed and restart the web server.


Setup Instructions

Unzip the OCSInventory_Setup.zip file in a folder and run setup.exe on a file server (web server if you want to use the Web Manager) of your network.

OCS Inventory Setup will create the following sub folders.

  • Application : agent OCSInventory.exe, manager OCSInventoryManager.exe and database OCSInventory.mdb.
    • AccessLogs : CSV format computers access logs.
    • BIOS : CSV format computers BIOS informations.
    • Drivers : WinIO driver and tools.
    • Graphics : CSV format computers graphic adapters informations.
    • Hardware : CSV format computers hardware informations.
    • LogicalDrives : CSV format lcomputers ogical drives informations.
    • Network : CSV format computers network adapters informations.
    • Printers : CSV format computers printers informations.
    • Results : CSV format computers softwares informations.
  • Docs: documentation files in HTML format.
  • Web Manager: ASP 2.0 files for Web Manager application.
  • DAO 3.5: DAO 3.5 dependancy files for some case... (see HELP FAQ). Because of the size of the package, it's now available as a separate download.

OCSInventory.mdb, OCSInventory.exe, OCSInventoryManager.exe files MUST be kept in the same directory ! This is because when the Agent or Manager runs it uses the current path to attach to the database.

 

1. Running the Agent.

The Agent is a simple application that runs on all of the clients.

NB. The Agent was hard coded to only run once per day ! This is so you can leave it in a login script and it only runs in the morning, Not after every re-boot or login.

Share the Application folder and make sure it is accessible to everyone (Authenticated users if you are running Windows NT4 SP 4 or higher or Windows 2000/XP) and that everyone has Read/Write access. If, for example, you put the files in \\MYSERVER\MYSHARE\INVENTORY, then all you need to do to run the agent is put \\MYSERVER\MYSHARE\INVENTORY\OCSInventory.exe in the default login script !
If you don't want to do it that way you could e-mail the users a link and ask them to run it.
Another way is to put a shortcut in the "Startup" folder of "Start" menu.
Or do it yourself by hand.

Their may be a lot of hard disc activity for 1 or 2 minutes when the agent run. Once the Agent has run open the OCS Inventory Manager or Web Manager file and check the reports to see what it has found.

CSV support requirements

OCS Inventory Agent is able to check computers that doesn't have up to date MDAC or DAO 3.5 components. Agent configuration is stored by OCS Inventory Manager in the agent folder on the CSV files Config.csv and Apps.csv. The results are stored in CSV files on the following sub folders of the Agent folder (created by Setup).
  • AccessLogs
  • BIOS
  • Graphics
  • Hardware
  • LogicalDrives
  • Network
  • Printers
  • Results

If check results are stored using CSV support, each of these folders will contain a file called ComputerName.csv (except perhaps Results and/or AccessLogs folders if there is no application detected or access log required). When you import CSV results to the database, all the files are deleted, except those on the Hardware sub folder which control the frequency of checks on client computers.

Its as simple as that. So let me know what you think !

NB: If you encounter error while running the Agent, see HELP - FAQ page.

 

1.1. Using Daniel Arbour's BiosInfo tool to retrieve informations from BIOS.

Daniel Arbour (Daniel.Arbour@Abbott.com) has build a 16 bits tool in DOS mode to bypass Win32 protected mode to access the BIOS. You can use this tool to retrieve informations from BIOS and store them to a CSV file.

You can call this with the following without argument, and it will display informations to screen, or you can call it with the computer name as first argument, and optionally a filename as secong argument and it will store BIOS informayions to a CSV file. If called without filename as argument, the file is created in the current execution folder with the name "ComputerName.CSV", otherwise the tool uses the filename passed in the command line to store the informations.

Next, you just have to call the Agent with the "/BIOS" or "-BIOS" command line switch to tell it to import the results (see the Usage page).

You can find a sample script to run OCSInventory with this tool in the file named "run_ocs.bat". Just edit the first lines to match your needs and call it from your logon script with a command like "Call run_ocs.bat".

 

1.2. Setting up the WinIO driver to retrieve informations from BIOS.

Caution ! This is an experimental tool. It does not work on all computers, especially under Windows 95 and Windows NT4. However, it works great on my LAN with Windows 98 SE and Windows 2000 SP2. I recommend that you ensure it is working on all your computers type and/or configuration  with the DumpDMI.exe tool before you deploy it.

OCS Inventory V2.00 is able to retrieve informations from DMI tables of a DMI/SMBios compliant BIOS. Because of Win32 protected mode, it requires a system level driver to be setup on the client computer. OCS inventory uses "WinIO" Version 2.00 driver from Yariv Kaplan (http://www.internals.com).

Setup of the WinIO driver is done by "SetupWinIO.exe" tool in the "Application\Drivers" folder. Use "SetupWinIO.exe -h" to display usage of this tool.

Under Windows 9X/Me, just run on each computers the "SetupWinIO.exe" executable from "Application\Drivers" folder. This will copy the file "WinIO.VxD" to the system directory. You can use the login script to deploy this driver on computers with the following commands:

REM Check if Windows NT 2000 XP
if exist "C:\WinNT\System32\$winnt$.inf goto NEXT
REM Windows 9X
\\MYSERVER\MYSHARE\INVENTORY\Drivers\SetupWinIO.exe

:NEXT

Under Windows NT4/2000/XP, the driver must be setup under an Administrator account, because it is launched at system startup as a Windows NT driver service. So, run on each computers the "SetupWinIO.exe" executable from "Application\Drivers" folder. This will copy the file "WinIO.sys" to the system directory  and register the driver in the system level services.

NB : There is 2 way to get DMI tables.

  • Searching in 0xF0000 to 0xFFFFF low memory address range the PnP header of the BIOS to get DMI tables address. This way is used in the current version of OCS Inventory, but does not work on all computers.
  • Using the 51h BIOS function to retrieve the DMI tables. This way is not yet build in OCS Inventory.

Once you've setup the driver, you can use the "DumpDMI.exe" tool in "Application\Drivers" folder to display in a console the content of DMI tables. Use "DumpDMI.exe -h" to display online help for this tool. This tool works like SMBios2 tool from IBM Corp.

 

2. Viewing reports and managing configuration.

There is 2 way to view database content.

  • OCS Inventory Manager, the Windows graphical user interface.
  • An ASP 2.0 enabled web server (Microsoft IIS/PWS 4 or higher, ChiliSoft ASP...) if you want to use the Web Manager.

 

2.1. Running OCS Inventory Manager Windows GUI.

Just run the OCSInventoryManager.exe file and enter authentication informations (default is "Admin" as Operator ID and "Admin" as Password). You can run OCS Inventory Manager from a client computer by running \\MYSERVER\MYSHARE\INVENTORY\OCSInventoryManager.exe.

OCS Inventory Windows Manager require DAO 3.5 to be setup. See HELP - FAQ page on how to setup DAO 3.5.

 

2.2. Running OCS Inventory Web Manager through an ASP 2.0 Enabled Web Server.

OCS Inventory Web Manager has been tested on Windows NT 4 + IIS 4 web server. It's buid in ASP 2.0 and must work on ASP 2.0 compliant web servers. Following instructions applies to IIS 4 and higher web server.

  1. With the Internet Service Manager, add a virtual folder called Inventory at the top of your web site which point to the Web Manager folder and then create a new application for this virtual folder (this can be done in the properties of the virtual folder).
  2. Be sure that the Application folder has Read/Write Access for the web server account (IUSR_MACHINE with IIS and Windows NT/2000).
  3. Open your favorite web browser and browse the URL http://myserver/Inventory. You will be prompt for authentication informations (default is "Admin" as Operator ID and "Admin" as Password).

NB:

  • OCS Inventory Web Manager cannot yet export CSV configuration, or import CSV check results (this will be done in the 2.00 release i hope). Also, OCS Inventory Web Manager will not be able to import your old configuration from another database. You have to use OCS Inventory Manager.
  • If you encounter error while running Web Manager, see HELP - FAQ page.