Enforce Lawful Usage of S/w

Managing the configuration of computers and the licenses of software on a network is a tough task. For software licensing brings in legal issues as well. There are instances when such software is used by users for which the company has not even a purchased license for, or the software is being used by more users than the number of licenses purchased. This makes your organization liable for litigation. To help you enforce lawful usage of software, there is OCS (Open Computers and Software) Inventory, a free and open-source software. It lets network administrators manage basic hardware configuration and comply with software licensing. We'll see here how to install and use it.

First download the program from www.ocsinventory.sourceforge.net. Now install the program on your server. The installation creates a hidden share on the server with the name Inventory$. Access the hidden share and edit the file RUN_OCS.BAT. In the file, set the SERVER_SHARE variable to  \\address_of_the_server\Inventory, where address_of_the_ server is the IP address or name of the server on which the program is installed.

To query software and configuration of client computers, OCS Inventory uses agents, which need to be run on the client machines. To make them run on the client machines, copy the RUN_OCS.BAT file from the hidden share, to all users' startup folders. This way, whenever the users log on to their machines, the batch files will get executed. 

The batch file accesses the hidden share on the server and executes the agent. While it is a good idea to run the agent, as it does not require the agent to be installed on the client machines, it has got its disadvantages too. Before the batch file can execute the agent from the server, the user on the client machine needs to be authenticated with the server. 

A single screen shows whether there is any software license violation on the network

The agents store software and computer configuration on the client machine itself in comma separated values files, which the administrator will need to manually import in the software's management interface. To automatically upload information to the server, install 'DAO for OCS Inventory program,' downloadable from

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=58373

, on all the client machines.  

For managing software licenses, you need to download 'OCS Inventory Vendors and Apps,' comma separated values file from

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=58373

, and import it in the software using the management interface. The file contains a comprehensive list of software vendors along with their products and versions. If any particular software that you use is not listed in the file, you can add the information to the program manually. Then add the number of licenses that you have purchased for each software and OCS will keep a count of the number of copies of any software installed on client systems.

Anoop Mangla