Enabling and Disabling Hardware Inventory

Hardware inventory is always installed on the SMS site server. You can enable or disable the hardware inventory client agent any time by using the SMS Administrator console. The hardware inventory client agent is always installed on Advanced Clients. It is installed on Legacy Clients only when the client agent is enabled. In the SMS hierarchy, inventory data is forwarded from child sites to parent sites to allow for centralized administration. If child sites have hardware inventory enabled, their hardware inventory data is propagated to the parent site even if the parent site has hardware inventory disabled.

To enable or disable hardware inventory, navigate to the Hardware Inventory Client Agent in the SMS Administrator console.

Where?

Systems Management Server>Site Database (site code - site name)>Site Hierarchy><site code - site name>>Site Settings>Client Agents

In the details pane, right-click Hardware Inventory Client Agent and click Properties. To enable hardware inventory, select Enable hardware inventory on clients. To disable hardware inventory, clear Enable hardware inventory on clients. Then, set the schedule for hardware inventory and the maximum custom Management Information Format (MIF) file size. MIF files are used by SMS to extend SMS inventory collection and to provide detailed software distribution status. For more information about using MIF files to collect supplemental inventory information, see Chapter 3, "Advanced Inventory Collection."

When the hardware inventory agent is installed and enabled on Legacy Clients, hardware inventory is collected after 10 minutes and then according to the hardware inventory schedule that you specify in the agent. When the hardware inventory agent is enabled on Advanced Clients, hardware inventory only runs according to the hardware inventory schedule you specify.

For More Information

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