Software Reclaim

Earlier you very briefly observed (in the Summary tab of a Product's properties) that AppClarity classifies each Installation of a Product as Used, Rarely Used, Unused or no usage recorded. Earlier you learned how to configure entitlements to identify non-compliance due to license deficits.

In this lab, you will learn how to use the Software Reclaim feature to actively remove unused Installations to reduce the license requirement, with the aim of achieving compliance without purchasing more licenses.
The Software Reclaim component is agentless but needs to be executed regularly on clients. Where clients are managed by ConfigMgr, this can be achieved using reclaimer deployments with a recurring schedule.

Schedule Software Reclaimer with ConfigMgr

In this exercise, you will prepare the Package, Program and Deployment to run the Software Reclaimer on workstations every day.

Copy the Software Reclaimer files to the ConfigMgr Package Source

The AppClarity setup installed the Software Reclaimer files on the AppClarity server. For convenience, you will now copy these to the ConfigMgr software source library on 1ETRNDC

1. Log on to 1ETRNDC as 1ETRN\Administrator
2. From the Start screen, type \\1ETRNAP\C$ and press Enter. This will open the disk on the AppClarity server (where the reclaimer is installed) in a Windows Explorer window. In this window, browse to the Program Files (x86)\1E\AppClarity folder
3. Copy the SoftwareReclaimer folder to E:\ConfigMgrSource\Software on 1ETRNDC

Create the ConfigMgr Package and Program

Note that the Software Reclaimer is not actually installed on the client in the traditional sense, it is agentless. However, an executable does need to run to invoke the client making a call to the server to query for reclaim policies. In this task, you will create a package that contains the required files and a program to run the Software Reclaimer. The files in the package will be downloaded locally to the ConfigMgr cache on the client and then executed from that location. The execution of the reclaimer on the clients will invoke a call back to the AppClarity service, which will then provide a reclaim policy to the machine making the call. 
In this task, you will create a program that runs the reclaimer in the logged-on user's context in opt-out mode, which simply presents the logged-on user with some options. In the next task, you will add a program that runs the reclaimer in mandatory mode, which is the mode that actually removes the software.

4. Log on to 1ETRNCM as 1ETRN\SCCMAdmin and open the Configuration Manager Console from the task bar
5. Select the Software Library workspace (bottom-left of the console)
6. Expand the Application Management node (left side of the console), then select Packages
7. Right-click Packages and select Create Package to open the Create Package and Program Wizard
8. On the Package page, enter AppClarity Software Reclaimer as the name
9. Check the box labelled This package contains source files then click the Browse… button. In the Set Source Files dialog box, click the Browse… button, type
   1ETRNDC, and then browse to the UNC path \\1ETRNDC\ConfigMgrSource\Software\SoftwareReclaimer. Click Select Folder when you have browsed to the folder
10. Click OK on the Set Source Folder dialog box, then click Next
11. On the Program Type page ensure Standard Program is selected (default) and click Next
12. Complete the Standard Program page as follows and click Next
Name: Reclaim software (Opt-out mode)
Command Line: AppClarity.SoftwareReclaimer.exe -mode OPTOUT -service http://1etrnap:8335/AppClarity/services/softwarereclaimer -nowait
This command line is entered as a single line. There is a space between –service and the URL for the AppClarity reclaimer service. The -nowait option has been added to speed things up in this lab environment. By default, the Software Reclaimer will wait a random duration before querying the AppClarity server in order to spread the load on the server. For lab environments with only a handful of clients, the process can be expedited by removing this wait. This option should never be used in a production environment as it has the potential to overload the AppClarity server.
Startup folder:(leave blank)
Run: Normal
Program can run: Only when a user is logged on
When the software reclaimer runs in Opt-Out mode it is set to run only when a user is logged on because it presents a dialog box for the user to interact with. It would not make sense to run the command if a user was not logged on.
Run mode: Run with user's rights
Drive mode: Runs with UNC name
13. On the Requirements page, click Next to accept the default settings
14. On the Summary page, review the settings and click Next. When the wizard completes, click Close to return to the Packages folder in the ConfigMgr console
15. With the new AppClarity Software Reclaimer package selected in the top half of the console, select the Programs tab in the lower half and double-click the Reclaim software (Opt-out mode) Program to edit its properties
16. In the Reclaim software (Opt-out mode) Properties dialog box, select the Advanced tab
17. From the drop-down list labelled When this program is assigned to a computer, select Run once for every user who logs on and click OK

Add the Reclaimer Mandatory Mode Program

In this task, you will add a Program to the AppClarity Software Reclaimer that runs the reclaimer in Mandatory mode. In the next task, you will create deployments that run the reclaimer in Opt-out and Mandatory mode each day.

18. Right-click the AppClarity Software Reclaimer Package in the top half of the console and select Create Program to start the Create Program Wizard
19. On the Program Type page, ensure Standard Program is selected and click Next
20. Complete the Standard Program page as follows and click Next
Name: Reclaim software (Mandatory mode)
Command Line: AppClarity.SoftwareReclaimer.exe -mode MANDATORY -service http://1etrnap:8335/AppClarity/services/softwarereclaimer -nowait
Startup folder:(leave blank)
Run: Normal
Program can run: Whether or not a user is logged on
No dialog box is presented when the software reclaimer is run in Mandatory mode. Therefore, it can be executed whether or not a user is logged on, unlike what you saw previously when configuring the software reclaimer program for Opt-Out mode.
Run mode: Run with administrative rights
Drive mode: Runs with UNC name
21. On the Requirements page, click Next to accept the default settings
22. On the Summary page, review the settings and click Next. When the wizard completes, click Close

Schedule the Opt-out and Mandatory Programs to run daily

When the Reclaimer is run in opt-out mode, any Installations marked for optional removal will be presented to the user through a dialog box, and the user can decide what action to take. If they opt to have the software removed, it will not actually be removed until the Reclaimer is run in Mandatory mode. For this reason, we typically schedule the Opt-out program to run in the morning (when users are most likely to be at their computer) and schedule the Mandatory program to run later in the day. In this task you will use ConfigMgr Deployments to schedule the two programs to run accordingly.

23. With the AppClarity Software Reclaimer Package selected in the Software Library workspace of the ConfigMgr console, select the Programs tab in the lower half of the console
24. Right-click the Reclaim Software (Opt-out mode) Program and select Deploy to start the Deploy Software Wizard
25. On the General page, click the Browse… button to the right of the Collection field
26. In the Select Collection dialog box, ensure Device Collections is selected in the top-left drop-down, select Lab Workstations in the right-hand side and click OK. Click Next
27. On the Content page note that the Package content has not yet been added to any Distribution Points. Click the Add button and select Distribution Point from the context menu
28. In the Add Distribution Points dialog box, select 1ETRNCM.1ETRN.LOCAL and click OK, then click Next on the Content page of the Deploy Software Wizard
29. On the Deployment Settings page, ensure Purpose is set to Required and click Next
30. On the Scheduling page click the New… button to add a new assignment schedule

32. Click OK to close the Custom Schedule dialog box, then again to close the Assignment Schedule dialog box to return to the Scheduling page of the Deploy Software Wizard
33. From the drop-down labelled Rerun behavior, select Always rerun program. Click Next
34. On the User Experience page, select Allow users to run the program independently of assignments and click Next
This is a useful option in a test lab as it allows us to run the program on demand from the Software Center interface on a client rather than waiting for the scheduled time. In production environments, it is unlikely that you would use this option, as end users would not be executing the reclaimer manually.
35. In the Distribution Points page, ensure Download content from distribution point and run locally is selected in both drop-downs and click Next
36. On the Summary page, review the settings and click Next
37. Repeat the steps in this task to create a Deployment that will run the Reclaim Software (Mandatory) Program every day at 11:30PM (23:30)
Since we already distributed content in creating the Opt-out deployment, you don't need to select a distribution point again.

Create Policies to remove software

You have now prepared everything to enable removal of software on the clients. However, there are currently no policies in the AppClarity console to define applications that should be removed. In this exercise, you will create a policy to remove an application in mandatory mode and another to allow the user to choose to remove an application.Create Policies to remove software

Configure iTunes to be reclaimed regardless of Usage

In this task, you will create a Policy that defines iTunes as a mandatory reclaim. Mandatory reclaims are removed without any interaction with the user.

38. On 1ETRNAP, open the AppClarity console and open the Products page
39. Set the Management Group filter to Global View
40. Ensure the view filter includes Non-licensable Products (refer to steps 302-309 for a reminder on how to do this)
41. Select iTunes from the list of Apple Inc. Products then select the Policy tab (bottom of the console)
With AppClarity 5.x, reclaim policies can be enforced on individual releases (versions) or across all releases. This is useful if specific releases are not certified for an environment.
42. Select the Mandatory uninstall option for all four usage categories. This will create a mandatory policy to remove any Installations of iTunes in the entire estate, regardless of whether the Installation is used or not
43. Ensure the Policy cannot be overridden in other management groups checkbox is checked. Click Apply
On the Global View management group, you can apply policies and enforce them throughout the environment. This allows global admins to dictate policy for the entire estate which cannot be changed by admins of lower level management groups.
44. Change the management group to Lab Computers. Notice that the policy is completely greyed out. That is because at the top level, we defined the policy as one which cannot be overridden, so it's not editable at any other lower management group

Configure Notepad++ to be optionally reclaimed

In this task, you will create a Policy that defines Notepad++ as an optional reclaim.

45. On 1ETRNAP, open the AppClarity console and open the Products page
46. Set the Management Group filter to Global View
47. Ensure the view filter includes Non-licensable Products (refer to steps 306-309 for a reminder on how to do this)
48. Select Notepad++ from the list of Don Ho Products then select the Policy tab (bottom of the console)
49. Select the Optional uninstall option for all four usage categories. This will create an optional policy to remove any Installations of Notepad++ in the entire estate, regardless of whether the Installation is used or not
50. Ensure the Policy cannot be overridden in other management groups checkbox is unchecked. Click Apply
51. Change the management group to Lab Computers. Notice that the Use Global box is checked. Uncheck this box, and notice you can override the global policy. Cancel out of this and leave the policy as it is

Configure Software Reclaim Automation

The Software Reclaim feature is enabled and configured from the Automation  page in the AppClarity Console. By default, Automation is paused, which means that reclaim activity will not occur, even though the policies have been defined and the Reclaimer is running on clients every day (the clients will simply determine that there is nothing to do).

In this exercise you will review the Policies that have already been created and also view the Policies suggested by AppClarity to achieve the biggest savings in the environment (based on license cost and the amount of usage of the Products).

Review configured and suggested policy

52. In the AppClarity Console click on the automation icon to open the Automation page
53. Select Policy Configuration

55. Note that the two Products that you previously created Policy for are listed here
56. Change the Management Group to Production Computers and select the Suggested view. This view shows the 'biggest offenders' - applications that have a large number of unused or rarely used installations, or are particularly expensive. Policies for these Products can be defined from this screen rather than individually working through each Product in the Products screen

Define a Custom Command Line to uninstall Notepad++

Many applications use Windows Installer technology, and the Reclaimer can take care of making the uninstalls run silently using a modified version of the uninstall string defined in the registry key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall on the client. However, some applications do not use Windows Installer and will require some kind of custom command line to uninstall them silently without the need for a user to be logged on. In this task, you will define the command line necessary to uninstall Notepad++ silently.

57. From the Automation screen, select the Custom Command Lines tab. Each Product that has a Policy defined is listed under Reclaimable Products
We will deal with the Custom SCCM Uninstall in the next lab.
58. Select Don Ho Notepad++ 6.9.2 from the Reclaimable Products list then enter the following into the Uninstall Command Lines text box (ensure this is entered as a single line in the console and that you have use the double quotes as indicated.)

"C:\Program Files\Notepad++\uninstall.exe" /S

You must ensure that the /S in the command above is entered using an upper case 'S', otherwise when the uninstall is executed the AppClarity reclaimer log will indicate success, but the uninstall will not occur.
59. Click Apply to save the uninstall command

Start Software Reclaim Automation

Now everything is configured and it just remains to start the automation engine, which is paused by default.

60. From the Automation screen, select the General tab. Click Start Automation to start the automation engine. Do not start the Custom SCCM Uninstall automation
From this point on, any clients that run the Reclaimer will receive the policies defined and will start to reclaim software. If for any reason, you need to stop all reclaim activity quickly (while you investigate a rogue policy or Management Group perhaps) you can simply pause the Automation.
61. At this stage, return to the Products page, and select Apple iTunes
62. Navigate to the policy tab, and set the policy to Do not uninstall for all 4 usage profiles
We will enable the iTunes policy again later, after we've run through the optional reclaim of Notepad+. If the iTunes policy is enabled at the same time at Notepad, the mandatory reclaim execution will reclaim iTunes first, and we want to see how the optional reclaim of Notepad+ works on its own.

Reclaim software optionally

In this exercise, you will see the results of the Policy and what is presented to the user when the Opt-out reclaimer program runs.

63. Log on to 1ETRNW72 as 1ETRN\User
64. Start Software Center from the Start menu
65. Select the AppClarity Software Reclaimer – Reclaim software (Opt-out Mode) Program and click Install at the bottom of the Software Center screen
66. Note that the Reclaimer window appears offering the user the opportunity to remove Notepad++
The logo and message displayed on the reclaimer window can be customized by modifying the AppClarity.SoftwareReclaimer.xml and logo.png files in the SoftwareReclaimer source folder.
67. At this stage the user can take one of four courses of action
• Ignore the dialog box – it will close after 2 hours if it hasn't received any response and will open again the next time the reclaimer is executed in Opt-out mode
The 2 hours that the Reclaimer remains running is defined by Maximum allowed run time (minutes) in the ConfigMgr Program Properties, which defaults to 120, after which the ConfigMgr client will terminate the process.
• Click the I still need this…link. They will then be prompted to provide a justification for retaining the software. More on this later
• Click the Remove Software button, at which point the Policy will become mandatory and the software will be uninstalled next time the Reclaimer runs in Mandatory mode
• Click the Remove Software Later button, after which the user will not be presented with the same software title for removal for 7 days. After 7 days, the next time the Reclaimer runs in Opt-out mode the user will then be presented with the same options for the software title. If after 21 days of initially clicking Remove Software Later the user has not selected Remove Software Now or I still need this, the Policy will become mandatory and the software will be uninstalled next time the Reclaimer runs in Mandatory mode
68. In this exercise, click the Remove Software button, which will also close the dialog box. Note that the software will not get removed at this point. It will be removed the next time the AppClarity Reclaimer is executed in Mandatory mode
69. Review the reclaimer activity in %TEMP%\AppClarity.SoftwareReclaimer.log
When the reclaimer is executed in OPTOUT mode, it is run under the context of the user that is logged on, and the log file is written to that user's TEMP folder.
70. Validate that Notepad++ is installed on the machine via the start menu or in Programs and Features
71. From the Software Center interface, select the AppClarity Software Reclaimer – Reclaim software (Mandatory mode) Program and click Install
72. You may have to click Reinstall in the lab environment
73. Review the activity in C:\Windows\Temp\AppClarity.SoftwareReclaimer.log
When the reclaimer is executed in MANDATORY mode, it is run under the Local System context and the log file is written to the system TEMP folder.
74. Check in Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features and observe that Notepad++ has been removed
75. Review the activity in C:\Windows\Temp\AppClarity.SoftwareReclaimer.log
Note the log file executing the custom command line defined in the AppClarity console. The Notepad++ uninstall program may leave some traces behind, such as an empty folder on the Start menu, but it will be removed from Control Panel\Programs and Features.
When software is removed by the reclaimer, it is not reflected in AppClarity License Compliance until AppClarity has processed new inventory data from ActiveEfficiency that indicates the software is no longer installed on the device (i.e. the Install Count is not affected directly by the reclaimer, only by subsequent inventory data from the client).

Reclaim software optionally with request to keep

In this exercise, you will see how an admin can override an end user's request to keep software which is being requested for reclaim via the opt-out method.

76. Log onto 1ETRNW71 as 1ETRN\User
77. Start Software Center from the Start menu
78. Select the AppClarity Software Reclaimer – Reclaim software (Opt-out Mode) Program and click Install at the bottom of the Software Center screen
79. Note that the Reclaimer window appears offering the user the opportunity to remove Notepad++
80. Within the Reclaimer window, select I still need this
81. In the Confirm software use window, type in I really do need this. Hit OK

82. Open the AppClarity console to the Products page, ensuring Lab Computers management group is selected, and select Notepad++
83. Navigate to the policy tab. Notice there are 2 Jobs completed. 1 shows as Succeeded and the other as User Rejected
84. Scroll down to the bottom to the Reclaim override management section

87. From Software Center, run the mandatory mode reclaimer
88. Open the mandatory reclaimer log at C:\Windows\Temp\AppClarity.SoftwareReclaimer.log
89. Verify once completed that Notepad++ has been uninstalled

Reclaim software mandatory

In this exercise, we will reclaim software without giving the end user an option to opt out or defer. This method is useful for software that is prohibited, or possibly for software that hasn't been used by users in a long time.

90. Return to the AppClarity console and navigate to the Products page
91. Set the Management Group filter to Global View
92. Ensure the view filter includes Non-licensable Products (refer to steps 306-309 for a reminder on how to do this)
93. Select iTunes from the list of Apple Inc. Products then select the Policy tab (bottom of the console)
94. Select the Mandatory uninstall option for all four usage categories. Click Apply
95. This will create a mandatory policy to remove any Installations of iTunes in the entire estate, regardless of whether the Installation is used, and without any user interaction

96. From Software Center, run the mandatory mode reclaimer
97. Open the mandatory reclaimer log at C:\Windows\Temp\AppClarity.SoftwareReclaimer.log

Reclaim Software using SCCM

In this exercise, we will use an actual uninstall deployment set up in SCCM to remove an installation from a machine using the reclaimer. Rather than AppClarity figure out an uninstall string from the registry, or executing a custom command line defined in the AppClarity console, AppClarity will add a computer to a collection that has an uninstall program deployed to it.

Configuring ConfigMgr for Reclaim

In order for AppClarity to execute a reclaim via ConfigMgr, the AppClarity service needs to have rights to manage collections and deployments in ConfigMgr. This is managed via roles assigned to different users/groups in ConfigMgr

99. Log into 1ETRNCM as 1ETRN\SCCMAdmin
100. Open the SkyTap Shared Drive shortcut on the desktop navigate to 1E App Clarity v5.2 – Course Content and download and copy AppClarity_Reclaim.XML to c:\temp
101. Open the ConfigMgr console and navigate to the Administration workspace
102. Expand the Security node
103. Right-click on Security Roles and select Import Security Role
104. In the Import Security Role dialog box, browse to c:\temp\AppClarity_Reclaim.xml and click Open
105. Right-click the Administrative User node and select Add User or Group
106. In the Add User or Group dialog box, click Browse… Enter svc_AppClarity and click OK
107. Click the Add… button to the right of the Assigned security roles list, and select AppClarity Reclaimer role from the list
108. Click OK and OK to close out the wizard
This process has added the AppClarity service account to SCCM, and also assigned it a specific security role which limits it to rights required specifically for the SCCM reclaimer to work.

Review SCCM collections and deployments

109. In the ConfigMgr console, navigate to the Assets and Compliance workplace
110. Click on Device Collections. Review the collections. Note 2 collections in particular:
APC – Install XML Notepad
APC – Uninstall XML Notepad
111. Note that there is a machine in the Install collection. Remember the machine name

112. Log into 1ETRNW101 as 1ETRN\User
113. Validate that XML Notepad is installed on the machine. Note there is a desktop icon for the application
114. Launch the application via the desktop icon to ensure it works

Enabling SCCM Reclaim in AppClarity

115. From the Automation screen, select the General tab. Click Start Custom SCCM Uninstall to start the SCCM automation engine
116. Navigate to the Products page. Set the Management Group filter to Global View
117. Ensure the view filter includes Non-licensable Products
118. Select XML Notepad from the list of Microsoft Corporation Products then select the Policy tab (bottom of the console)
119. Select the Mandatory uninstall option for all four usage categories. This will create a mandatory policy to remove any Installations of XML Notepad in the entire estate, regardless of whether the Installation is used or not
120. Ensure the Policy cannot be overridden in other management groups checkbox is checked. Click Apply
121. Navigate to the Automation workspace in the AppClarity console and click on the Custom SCCM Uninstall tab
122. Select Microsoft Corporation XML Notepad 2.3.0.0
123. In the right pane, with application selected, scroll down in the Application dropdown and select XML Notepad 2007. Click Apply
124. Click Yes in the dialog box that prompts about associating Microsoft Corporation XML Notepad 2.3.0.0 with the XML Notepad 2007 SCCM Application

Validate the SCCM reclaim

125. In the ConfigMgr console, navigate to the Assets and Compliance workspace
126. Click on Device Collections. Click the refresh button on the top right
127. Notice the membership in the APC – Install XML Notepad collection change from 1 to 0
128. Note that the membership in the APC – Uninstall XML Notepad collection changed from 0 to 1
129. Double-click the APC – Uninstall XML Notepad to view the collection membership. Note that 1ETRNW101 is now a member of the uninstall collection
130. Navigate to the Software Library workspace, and go to Applications

133. Open c:\programdata\1E\AppClarity\AppClarity.ServiceHost.ConsoleService.log

135. Log into 1ETRNW101 as 1ETRN\User


136. Note a Windows Installer window pop up with Are you sure you want to uninstall this product?


137. From the Configuration Manager applet on the desktop, run the Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation Cycle from the Actions tab if the uninstall pop up is not displayed


138. Click Yes. Validate that the XML Notepad installer uninstalls the product

Lab Summary

In this lab, you have learned how to implement Software Reclaim to remove unused software (although the examples used for the purposes of demonstration in this lab were not actually licensed or unused software). You have identified the key steps that are:

• Schedule the reclaimer to run in opt-out mode, and later in mandatory mode, each day
• Define policies for software removal
• Define custom command lines for applications that do not use standard MSI uninstall commands
• Configure integration with SCCM for automated uninstalls using deployments

You have seen that by default, policies are defined globally (on the Global Management Group), but Global Policy can be overridden for specific Management Groups. 
You observed the behaviour of the reclaim agent first in opt-out mode and then in mandatory mode, and saw that when executed in mandatory mode, only one piece of software is removed at a time. Further, you saw that if an end user opts to keep the software, they must provide a reason for keeping the software. That is recorded in the AppClarity database, and exposed to the AppClarity administrators within the console. The admins have the ability to accept the reason, which will allow the user to keep the software, or reject the reason, which would cause the reclaim policy for the application to turn into a mandatory reclaim. This will cause the application to be reclaimed the next time the Reclaimer is run in mandatory mode. Lastly, you configured the Custom SCCM Uninstall feature to reclaim software using existing SCCM deployments. This allows for complex uninstalls to occur via specifically packaged uninstall deployments. In our example, we used a simple uninstall which prompted the user to initiate the uninstall, but in a production environment this would typically be a silent operation.