Summary

An introduction to 1E Catalog and how to access and use the feature.


1E Catalog provides the following capabilities within the Inventory and other applications:

  • Have a consistent view of your estate
  • Uniquely identify software products deployed in your estate
  • Identify device types (laptop, desktop, virtual machine), operating system, device family, device manufacturer and maximum number of processors
  • Normalize processor information like processor model, processor family, vendor name, and number of cores of processors running on your devices
  • Define and apply bundling rules to identify suites and their components
  • Define and apply entitlement rights, such as  version upgrade/downgrade, edition downgrade, and software assurance rights which are used during license demand and compliance calculations
  • Apply autofill entitlement information using software SKU.

1E Catalog and SLA are components of the Inventory application. Other applications such as AppClarity access it directly and many Catalog related operations are carried out within these companion applications and features. Therefore you will rarely need to directly access the Catalog UI, but it can be used for the following:




Connecting to the CatalogWeb UI


The Catalog UI can be reached directly using the following URL:

https://<tachyon DNS Name FQDN>/CatalogWeb

where <tachyon DNS Name FQDN> is the one set up during the preparation phase, as described under the heading Preparation: DNS Names.



Software Products page

When you access the Catalog UI, the first page displays a list of software products in the Catalog.

The top right of the screen shows navigation elements for each section of the UI:


The Catalog UI

Admin

Allows you to manage who runs resynchronization events to refresh Catalog data. Only users with admin privileges see this tab.


Updates

Provides the status for catalog updates - only if you subscribe to the service. 


Catalog synchronization statuses

Products

The software products screen, which is also the Catalog landing page where you can:


Devices

List of Catalog devices - click Modify to update details of a device or Match Rules to edit an existing rule or associate a new rule with it.

List of devices in the Catalog

Processors

List of Catalog processors - click Modify to update the details of a processor or Match Rules to edit an existing rule or associate a new rule with it

List of processors

Vendors

List of software publishers in the Catalog

List of vendors in the Catalog

Glossary

List of terms used in the Catalog UI


Managing software products

To add a new software product:

  1. Click the Add a new product link.
  2. On the Product Information page, complete the following mandatory fields:
    Populating the details of the new product
    • Vendor
    • Title
    • Version 

    and optionally:

    • Colloquial Version
    • Edition
    • Release Date
    • End of Support Date
    • Is a License Required?
  3. Click Save.

  4. To provide more information for the new product, click the Additional details tab and complete these fields or tick the check boxes as necessary:
    Providing additional product information

    • Is Bundle
    • Is Distributable - is this software title distributed separately?
    • Language
    • Windows 10 Compatibility
    • Vendor Unique Number
    • Installer Identifier
    • UN Standard Product Service Code
    • Common Procurement Vocabulary Code
    • eCl@ss
    • Global Product Classification
  5. Click Save.


Managing versions 

To view a software product's versions, click the Version link to the right of the product screen to show a list of versions for that product. Use the Filter feature to view a specific version of the product.
List of different versions for a particular product 

Adding a new version

To add a new version:

  1. Click the Add a new version link at the top of the screen - Adobe Acrobat in this example.
  2. On the Product details tab for Adobe Acrobat, complete the Version field.
    Populating the Version field

    and optionally:

    • Colloquial Version
    • Edition
    • Release Date
    • End of Support date
    • Is a License Required?
  3. Click Save.
  4. To provide additional information associated with this particular version, click the Additional details tab and complete the fields or tick the check boxes as necessary:
    Additional version information
    • Is Distributable?
    • Vendor Unique Identifier
    • Installer identifier
  5. Click Save.


Deleting an existing product version or edition

You can only delete products, versions or editions you created. New product items added by the 1E curation team are marked as 1E Verified and cannot be deleted.

To delete an existing product version or edition:

  1. On the Version screen find the item in the list. 
    Locating a version to delete
  2. Under the Actions column, click Delete.


Managing bundles

Bundles are a collection of products and the 1E Catalog already contains all the bundles you should need. In the event you need to create a bundle:

  1. On the Products screen, find the item from the list, for example Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server.
    Creating a bundle for Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server
  2. Under the Actions column, click Bundles.
  3. Click Add a new bundle.
  4. On the Bundles screen:
    Creating a bundle 
    • In Vendor, click the list and choose a vendor for this bundle. The title list displays after you pick a vendor - the image displays both the Vendor and Title pick lists
    • In Title, click the list and choose a product title for this bundle
    • Complete the remaining fields as necessary.
  5. Click Create.

Managing filesets

Filesets define which files are used by a particular product. AppClarity consumer uses filesets to determine its usage, it does this by looking at the last run dates for that filename. 

Adding a fileset

To add a fileset:

  1. On the Product screen, find the item you want to add files to.
  2. Under Actions click on Files.
    Creating filesets from the Products screen 
  3. On the Product Files screen, click Add a new Product File.

  4. On the Product File screen, enter the filename:
    Associating an executable with a product 

    From 1E Catalog 2.0 and later products can be associated with more than one executable, before this version products were restricted to a single executable.


  5. Click Create.

Modifying an existing fileset

To modify an existing fileset:

  1. On the Product screen, find the item you want to modify.
    Locating fillets associated with a product
  2. Under the Actions column, click Files.
  3. From the list of files, locate the one you want and click Edit.
    Locating the file to edit
  4. In the Product File screen, update its filename
  5. Click Save.

Deleting an existing fileset

To delete an existing fileset:

  1. Repeat steps 1 and 2 above.
  2. From the list of files, locate the one you want and click Delete.
  3. You will be prompted to confirm you actions.
    Prompt to confirm deleting an existing fileset 
  4. Click Delete to remove the file or Back to List to cancel the action.

Managing license rules

Licensing rules define how a product, or specific version of a product is licensed, for example what metric they use or the average price of the license. You can setup different license rules for specific versions by using version pattern, for example 10.*.* has license metric = Device; 11.* is licensed by User.

To add a licensing rule:

  1. On the Product screen, locate the item you want to associate a licensing rule with. 
  2. Under the Actions column for that product, click License Rules.
    Locating the product you want to add a license rule to 
  3. Click Add a new license rule.
    Add a new license rule 
  4. In the Product Information screen:
    Adding the properties for the license rule 
    1. In the Matching section, populate the pattern fields if you are using patterns - you can use the wildcard (*) in the pattern.
    2. In the License information section for these mandatory fields:
      • License Metric - click the list and choose one
      • License Term - click the list and choose from device, non-perpetual, perpetual or subscription
      • Currency - click the list and choose one
      • Price - enter the unit price for it
        Optionally:
      • Pricing Date.
  5. Click Save.

Updating an existing license rule

You can modify or delete an existing Licensing Rule associated with a product, for example the licensing rules for Adobe Acrobat.
Modifying or deleting an existing licensing rule 

To modify an existing license rule:

  1. Locate the item from the list and under the Actions column, click Modify.
  2. In the Product Information screen, update the fields as necessary.
    Updating an existing license rule 
  3. Click Save.

Deleting an existing license rule

To delete an existing license rule:

  1. Locate the item from the list and under the Actions column, click Delete.
    Modifying or deleting an existing licensing rule 
  2. You will be prompted to confirm your actions. 
    Prompt to confirm deleting an existing licensing rule 
  3. Click Delete to remove the rule for that product or click Back to List to cancel the action.

Managing devices

To add a new device:

  1. Click the Devices link - top right of the screen.
  2. On the Devices screen, click Add new Device.
    The Device screen
  3. On the Add a new Device screen - fields marked with a red asterisk are mandatory:
    Adding details for a new processor 
    • Vendor - enter the name of the vendor
    • Device Type - enter the type of device, for example motherboard, laptop, notebook, desktop, server or blade server
    • Family - enter the family of the device such as EliteBook, HP Omni, Pavilion, Pro, TouchSmart
    • Model - enter the model number of the device
    • Max Socket Count - enter the socket count for the device
    • Release Date - click the calendar icon and choose a date.
  4. Click Save.

Managing processors

From 1E Catalog 1.2.100 and later Processor identification and normalization has greater accuracy and coverage.

To achieve this we removed the current dependency on Processor frequency during normalisation. We did this because processors can run at a variety of speeds, so using the processor frequency for normalization does not help to identify processor type. For example, you could have up to 10 different speeds for a single processor because an OS typically reports the speed of a processor as it’s currently running.

Now, one of the following criteria has to match during normalization:

  • SourceFamily and SourceModel
  • SourceName

This change makes finding matches more successful because there's no need to evaluate every source field.

In the following example the two source entries will be matched to the same processor because the SourceName values are the same:

SourceVendorSourceFamilySourceNameSourceModelSourceFrequencySourceSocket

GenuineIntel

Intel Xeon

Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2637 v4 @ 3.50GHz

NULL

3500

NULL

GenuineIntel

NULL

Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2637 v4 @ 3.50GHz

NULL

NULL

NULL


To manage processors:

  1. Click the Processors link - top right of the screen.
  2. On the Processor screen, click Add new processor.
    The processor screen 
  3. On the Add a new Processor screen - fields marked with a red asterisk are mandatory:
    Adding the details for a new processor 
    • Vendor - enter the name of the vendor
    • Processor Type - enter the type of processor such as desktop, server
    • Family - enter the family for the processor such as A4, Athlon XP, Atom, Corei5, Corei7, Pentium, Xeon
    • Model - enter the model of the processor such as 260M, T2500, Z670
    • Frequency - enter the processor frequency in GHz such as 0.600, 2.500
    • Socket - enter the model of the socket supported by the processor such as FM1, FCBGA676
    • Core Count - enter the number of cores for the processor such as 1, 2, 4, 8
    • Threads Per Core - enter the threads for the processor core such as 1, 2
    • Chip Module Count - enter the count for it such as 1
    • Release Date - click the date icon and choose a date.
  4. Click Save.

Managing vendors

To add a new vendor:

  1. Click the Vendors link - top right of the screen.
  2. On Vendors screen, click Add new vendor
    Adding a new vendor
  3. On the Add a new vendor screen:
    Adding a new vendor
    • Vendor - enter the name of the vendor - a mandatory field.
    • Short Name - enter a short name for the vendor.
    • Alias - enter an alias if there is one.
  4. Click Save.

Managing match rules

Match rules are the method used to link source inventory to catalog entries. Match rules can be assigned to a specific:

  • Version of a product - typically used if the product is not an edition based product
  • Edition of a version of a product - typically used if the product is an edition based product

For example, the inventory source holds the following information about a software title:
 

  • Source Vendor = Microsoft
  • Source Title = Microsoft Visio Professional 2013
  • Source Version = 15.0.2.355

However, the corresponding entry in the Catalog has a different vendor and title resulting in a mismatch. To resolve this, the Catalog contains rules which directly match these types of entries. In this example, the product is edition based (Visio) so the Catalog match rule is an edition match rule – linking the source to a specific edition of a specific version (15.0.2.355) of this title.

  • Vendor Microsoft resolves to Microsoft Corporation
  • The Microsoft Visio Professional 2013 title resolves to:
    • Title = Visio
    • Edition = Professional
    • Colloquial Edition = 2013
  • Version 15.0.2.355 maps directly to 15.0.2.355

This is how the Catalog normalises the source inventory. The same match rule principles apply equally to devices and processors in the Catalog.

Adding a match rule to a version of a product

To associate a match rule to a version of a product:

  1. On the Product screen, click Filtering and enter your search criteria.
  2. Click the Versions link to the right of the product.
  3. Filter by version number to narrow the list and select the product version you want.
  4. Under the Actions column, click the Match Rules link for that specific version.
    The Match Rules link
  5. Click the Add a new match rule link.
     
  6. Enter the source inventory data that will be used to link to this product and version combination:
    Associating match rules with a particular product version
    • Source - the source for this inventory, for example SCCM
    • Source Vendor - the text that's in the Vendor field in the source data
    • Source Title (mandatory) - the text that's in the Title field in the source data
    • Source Version - the text that's in the Version field in the source data
    • Source Colloquial Version - the text that's in the colloquial version field in the source data
    • Source Edition - the text that's in the edition field in the source data
  7. Click Save  

When a source inventory contains all the information that's recorded in the match rule fields, it's linked to the product version containing that match rule.

To add a match rule to an edition of a version, follow steps 1 through 3, and then

  1. Under the Actions column, click Editions.
    The Editions link
  2. From the list of editions, choose the one you want and click the Match Rules link to the right of it.
  3. Repeat steps 5 to 7 above.

You can add match rules to Devices and Processor by simply following the procedures above in the respective Devices and Processor sections.

Removing an existing match rule

You can disassociate the link between a source inventory and a catalog item by deleting its match rule. 

Follow the steps above to navigate to the product or version the current match rule is associated with, or the product, version or edition.

Click on the Match Rules link on the right hand side of the specific version, or edition.

Then click delete on the match rule to be removed:

This unlinks the source inventory from this catalog entry.


Using filters

The Filtering feature narrows the results of your search list. To do this:

  1. Click Filtering.
    Using the Filter feature 
  2. Enter your search criteria. 
  3. Click Filter.

How we manage versions

The same number of version parts are required for each major.minor  version of a product, the logic is:

  1. If the first entry for a product is 9.0, we accept it.
  2. If a new entry in the Catalog has 9.0.1, the original 9.0 entry will be automatically updated to 9.0.0 thereby forcing a three part version number for consistency (9.0.0 and 9.0.1).
  3. If there are two entries in the Catalog with the same major.minor version and title (like 9.0 and 9.0.0) they will be merged to form one record (after merging just 9.0.0 will be left).
  4. Any existing match rules are added to the new consolidated record.

For example:

  • Adobe After Effects 9.0 has a match rule:
    Existing match rule for Adobe After Effects 9.0
  • Adobe After Effects 9.0.0 has a match rule:
    Existing match rule for Adobe After Effects 9.0.0
  • The source parts of these two match rules are merged to produce two new match rules associated with the new 9.0.0.0 version:
    Merged match rule for Adobe After Effects