Can someone explain the software catalog and why I should use it?
Title. There are like a million entries, and each software has a version tied to it. It's chaos. How do you clean it? How do you manage it? It takes 10 minutes to even open the webui when clicking on it. I just don't fully understand it when the actually software inventory pushes way more frequently, and has a really robust custom inventory system.
From what I've read, it doesn't even prevent Kace from uninstalling newer versions because you forgot to disable a previous version. What is it's purpose other than take up huge amounts of space?
Answers (2)
There are two ways the KACE SMA tracks software in your environment. The first is at the time of agent inventory. All applications "known" to your OS will be listed. For Windows.. think apps listed in Add/Remove Programs (or Programs and Features). These records will populate in the "Software" section under Inventory & will display the precise version of each piece of software ever detected in your environment. You can remove the stale records by selecting them and pulling the choose action drop down > delete (recommended when the device count is zero). The second method occurs when the agent slow crawls across your computer's drive (and any connected drives via USB, Thunderbolt, Etc.) looking for loose programs (about once a day). When it detects a program (.exe for Windows) it will flag it and check it against a list of known applications and write the record to the "Software Inventory" section under Inventory. "Software Inventory" differs from "Software" in several ways. Software Inventory will roll up by major version of an application (15.1, 15.3, 15.x will all display under a single record). It will also be able to detect single file programs that don't necessarily need to install on the PC (think BitTorrent on a USB thumb drive). You can also use the "Software Inventory" record to configure Application Control and Metering as well as assign a license to the title. Hopefully this was helpful.
So the think of the Software Inventory as every bit of software ever found on any machine in your environment.
Think of the Software Catalog as a distilled version of the software inventory that shows you which pieces of software are “licensable” software.
Software license compliance has two sides to the equation, one side is what you have installed (software catalog) and the other side is what you know you own or are entitled to (Licenses).
So the software catalog is used to show you what products you are compliant in and if you are not, what that financial risk may look like to your company.
Alternatively the Software catalog will shoo you products that you are over licensed on, so where you may save cash by reducing support and maintenance, for example.
Two tips I would give if starting license compliance project, first pick one or two software publishers or products that you want to get under control and start there.
Second, go to the software catalog and remove every product from the compliance view and reporting, adding back in only the products you are starting with. That will give you a simpler, clearer view of compliance that will make it easier to start with.
