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APPLICATION METERING
SOLUTION 6.0
PRODUCT GUIDE
Notice
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Application
Altiris®
Product Guide
Metering Solution 6.0
Notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Notification Managed
Server Computers
Web-based
Reports
• Discover Applications that Are Run Application Metering Solution records the first time an
application is started. This makes it easy to identify exactly what software (including the version)
is being run on the computers of your network.
• Monitor Frequency of Application Usage You can track the number of times a particular
application is run on a computer. This helps you determine whether applications are used
frequently or rarely and by whom applications are used.
• Track Starting and Stopping of Applications You can track when an application is started,
stopped, or both and how long an application is used. You can also be alerted when an attempt
is made to start an unauthorized application or block the use of an application.
• License Harvesting Application Metering Solution integrates with Altiris Inventory Solution to
identify the applications installed on computers (Inventory Solution) and which of these
applications are used. This helps you reclaim (harvest) unused software licenses and put them to
use elsewhere.
The many features of Application Metering Solution provide data for numerous predefined reports
that can help you to analyze your data. There are reports for analyzing application performance,
application usage, and unauthorized usage. There are cost analysis and inventory audit reports.
There are also history and trend, concurrent usage, and many other reports that provide powerful
analysis of your environment. If there is not a predefined report for your needs, you can leverage the
extensive data Application Metering Solution provides through custom reporting.
Terminology
To understand this document, it is important that you understand the Application Metering Solution-
specific terminology used in this document. The following are terms with which you should be
familiar as you use this document:
license harvesting
The process of determining which applications installed on a computer are not used, removing
these applications from these computers, and making the software licenses for the removed
applications available for use elsewhere.
managed computer
A computer on the network that is running the Altiris Agent and managed by Notification Server.
monitored application
An application that is being monitored on managed computers by Application Metering Solution
using an application monitoring policy.
Application Metering Solution working in conjunction with Notification Server takes a different
approach to the metering process. The Altiris Agent posts application summary data gathered by
Application Metering Solution on the Notification Server, but the Altiris Agent does not need to
communicate with the Notification Server every time an application starts. The overhead generated
on the managed computer is very low. On the managed computer, no polling of the local processes
is needed, because the Application Metering Agent uses an event-driven model. Application
Metering Solution also allows you to send start, stop, and denial event immediately to the
Notification Server, if you need to be alerted to this events as they occur.
When an application is started, the Application Metering Agent checks for an enabled policy
monitoring the application. If an enabled policy for the application is found, the Altiris Agent
records application summary data locally and, if specified, attempts to send the start event
information (consisting of a few KB of data) to the Notification Server. If the Altiris Agent is not
able to establish an IP level connection to the server (the network is down or the system is a laptop
not currently connected to the network), the Altiris Agent will queue the information locally and try
to re-transmit the information at a later time. Because the Altiris Agent and Notification Server can
queue data, a single server can handle the load for thousands of managed computers.
Important: If you are installing the agent on a managed computer running Windows NT, you must
restart the computer after installing the agent. Also, if you are installing the agent on a managed
computer that already has the agent installed on it (upgrading) and the computer is running Windows
9x/Me/NT, you must restart the computer after upgrading. No restart is necessary on computers
running Windows 2000/XP.
After the Application Metering Agent is installed, the application discovery feature automatically
discovers applications as they are run. The discovery feature keeps track of the applications run on
a managed computer and sends this information to the Notification Server.
Note: Application Metering Solution only discovers applications as they are used - not all installed
ones. To discover installed applications, use Altiris Inventory Solution.
Application Metering Solution includes predefined policies (application monitoring policies) for
monitoring many common applications, including the Microsoft Office applications and many
games. These predefined polices make it easy to monitor common applications.
To monitor and prohibit the use of Pinball 3D using the predefined application
monitoring policy
1 In the Altiris Console, click the Tasks tab.
2 In the left pane, click Tasks > Software Management > Application Metering Solution > Application
Monitors (Games) > Pinball 3D.
3 In the right pane, select the Enable check box if it is not already selected (selected by default).
4 Select the Deny users the ability to run this application check box.
5 Click the Apply button.
Application Metering Solution will start monitoring and deny the use of Pinball 3D after the next
time the managed computers request configuration information from the Notification Server.
6 To generate some data about the use of Pinball 3D, start Pinball 3D on a managed computer after
the application monitoring policy configuration information has been sent to the managed
computer.
To start Pinball 3D, click Start > Programs > Accessories > Games > Pinball on a managed
computer.
When you attempt to run the program, you will get a message indicating that you cannot run the
program. Data will also be recorded about the attempt to run the program.
3 In the right pane, select the View report on latest data link.
This will create a table report in the right pane.
Note: Certain Application Metering Solution reports require data from Inventory Solution. If you
are not correlating Inventory Solution data with Application Metering Solution data, these reports
will not work or will only display data collected by Application Metering Solution.
What’s Next?
After you complete the above steps, Application Metering Solution is monitoring the use of two
applications and uploading application summary data from the managed computer to the
Notification Server on a regular basis. For more information on the Application Metering Solution
features, see the documentation on the specific feature.
Note: For step-by-step instructions that walk you through getting started with Application Metering
Solution, see “Getting Started with Application Metering Solution” on page 6.
1 If you want to correlate Inventory Solution data with Application Metering Solution data, specify
how you will be using Inventory Solution with Application Metering Solution (see “Application
Metering Solution Configuration” on page 10).
2 Deploy the Application Metering Agent (see “Application Metering Agent” on page 16). This
agent provides the Application Metering Solution functionality on the managed computers.
After the Application Metering Agent is installed on managed computers, the agent will
automatically discover applications as they are used on the managed computers (see
“Discovering Applications” on page 10).
3 Specify the applications you want to monitor (see “Application Monitoring” on page 19).
4 Create reports to help you analyze your application usage.
Discovering Applications
Application Metering Solution can automatically discover the first time a version of an application
is run. After a new application is discovered on a managed computer by being run, data about the
application is added to a file on the managed computer (the application discovery file) and an event
with the application data is sent immediately to the Notification Server.
Note: Application Metering Solution only discovers applications as they are used - not all installed
ones. To discover installed applications, use Altiris Inventory Solution.
Note: The application discovery file is named AexAMDiscovery.txt and is located in the same folder
as the Altiris Agent (c:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent by default). You must not edit or change
this file; in fact, opening this file at the wrong time can cause errors in the discovery process. If you
have problems with application discovery, opening this file can help you to verify that the
Application Metering Agent was able to discover applications.
During the initial application discovery stage, many events are generated, because many
applications are discovered and the data is uploaded to the Notification Server. After the initial
discovery, far fewer applications are discovered and there is little system overhead. You can use
reports to identify which applications are new.
To discover applications, the Application Metering Agent must be deployed on the managed
computers. By default, application discovery is enabled and will automatically discover applications
on managed computers. For more information, see “Deploying the Application Metering Agent” on
page 16.
2 In the left pane, click Configuration > Solution Settings > Application Metering Solution >
Application Metering Solution Configuration.
3 If you want to disable application discovery, clear the Discover and report all new Win32
applications executed on client machines check box.
If you want to enable application discovery, select the Discover and report all new Win32
applications executed on client machines check box.
If you are not using Inventory Solution or do not want to correlate data, all of the Application
Metering Solution features are still available to you. There will just be a few predefined reports that
you will not be able to run.
Application Metering Solution uses a file named Auditpls.ini file to help normalize data, which
enables easier and more consistent reporting of your application summary data. For example, if you
access the file properties for various Microsoft files, under “Manufacturer” you might see Microsoft
listed as “Microsoft”, “Microsoft Corporation”, or “Microsoft Corp”. By using the Auditpls.ini file,
you can normalize this manufacturer data to be reported simply as “Microsoft” for any monitored
Microsoft files. As a result, a report listing “applications by manufacturer” becomes much more
consistent and usable, displaying a single entry for Microsoft instead of three separate entries
(Microsoft, Microsoft Corp, and Microsoft Corporation). Inventory Solution also uses an
AuditPls.ini file to normalize software installation data.
By default, the Application Metering Agent uses an Auditpls.ini file that is installed when the
Application Metering Agent is installed on a managed computer. If you want to correlate
Application Metering Solution data with Inventory Solution data, you should configure the
Application Metering Agent to use the Auditpls.ini file used by the Audit Agent, which is part of
Inventory Solution. By having Inventory Solution and Application Metering Solution use the same
Auditpls.ini file, it is easier to correlate application summary data with inventory data, because the
data is normalized to identical definitions.
Note: All data reported to the Notification Server will have the value overrides (defined in the
Auditpls.ini file) applied.
The application monitoring period specifies how often application summary data is transferred to the
Notification Server. Data can be uploaded every 1, 2, 7, or 14 days. The default is 7 days. Uploading
data less often results in data that is not quite as current. Uploading data more frequently creates a
bit more network traffic.
For a description of the application summary fields, see “Application Summary Data Fields” on
page 12. To configure the uploading of application summary data, see “Configuring the Uploading
of Application Summary Data” on page 13.
The following table lists and describes the data recorded for each monitored application. (The fields
are listed in the order in which the data is stored in the data file.)
Application summary data fields
Field Description Sample Data
Manufacturer Manufacturer of the application. This information is found Microsoft
in the properties of the file.
Internal Name Internal name of the application. This information is explorer
found in the properties of the file.
File Version Version of the application. This information is found in 5.00.3315.2846
the properties of the file.
File Name Name of the file. explorer.exe
Product Name Name of the product. This information is found in the Microsoft(R)
properties of the file. Windows (R) 2000
Operating System
5.00.3315.2846
Known As Name by which the application is known. This Windows Explorer
information is found in the properties of the file.
User User name of the person that last ran the application. jsmith
Domain Domain in which the application was last run. ALTIRIS
Discovered Date the application was discovered by Application 6/03/2002 11:39:53
Metering Solution. AM
Last Start Date the application was last started. 11/03/2002 8:38:18
AM
Month Year Month and year of the last application monitoring period March 2002
(month we in which the application was monitored.
tracked it in)
Run Count Number of times the application has been started during 3
the last application monitoring period.
Denial Count Number of times the application has been stopped from 0
running during the last application monitoring period.
Note: This is only applicable when you have configured a
monitoring policy to deny the use of an application.
Total Run Time Total amount of time during the last application 188714.032
monitoring period that the application was used in
seconds. This value is determined by monitoring the
application process and is updated every 30 seconds.
Peak Memory Maximum amount of memory used by the application 7921664
during the application monitoring period in bytes. This
value is determined by monitoring the application process
and is updated every 30 seconds. This information is NOT
available from Windows 9x/Me managed computers.
3 To enable the uploading of application summary data, select the Client should send summary data
every check box.
To disable the uploading of application summary data, clear the Client should send summary data
every check box.
4 To change the upload frequency of application summary data, select an upload interval using the
field associated with the Client should send summary data every check box.
5 To enable the automatic deletion of old application summary data, select the Purge summary data
older than check box.
To disable the automatic deletion of old application summary data, clear the Purge summary data
older than check box.
6 To change how long old application summary data is kept before it is deleted, enter a value in
the field associated with the Purge summary data older than check box.
7 To delete old application summary data immediately, click the Purge Data Now button.
To deploy the agent, see “Deploying the Application Metering Agent” on page 16.
To modify the agent package to automatically restart the computers after installing
or upgrading the Application Metering Agent
If you are installing the Application Metering Agent on a computer running Windows NT or
upgrading the agent on a computer running Windows 9x/Me/NT, you must restart the computer after
the agent has been installed or upgraded. If you want to have the agent installation policy
automatically restart the applicable managed computers after installing the Application Metering
Agent, you can do so by modifying the policy package program Command Line field.
To use these parameters, use this syntax ( [] indicates the enclosed optional):
Where:
/oRemove - Explicitly uninstall only (allows silent uninstall if used with /s).
Newer versions of the Application Metering Agent are bundled with Application Metering Solution.
When you install a newer version of the Application Metering Solution, you will get the latest
version of the Application Metering Agent available.
Note: After you use the Win32 Application Metering Agent Uninstall policy once to uninstall the agent
from a managed computer, you cannot use the same policy to uninstall the agent from that computer
using the Run this task 'As Soon As Possible' option. To use the policy again, schedule the running of
the policy.
Application Monitoring
Application Metering Solution allows you to do the following for each monitored application:
The Application Metering Agent can also send an application start or stop event to the Notification
Server immediately after a monitored application starts or stops. The start and stop events allow the
Notification Server to know when an application is used. Start and stop events also allow you to
determine how long an application has been used. For more information on the start and stop events,
see “Start and Stop Events” on page 20.
Notification Notification
Server Server Database
Application Metering Solution allows you to monitor an application based on any of the following
file properties:
• File name
• Internal name
• File version
• Company name
• Product name
• Product version
Note: To view these properties, right-click on the name of the file in My Computer or Windows
Explorer, select Properties, and then click the Version tab.
Note: When specifying an application to monitor, we recommend that you monitor an internal file
property (all of the properties in the previous list are internal except “File name”), such as the
internal name. Internal file properties are compiled into the file and cannot be changed by a user. If
you monitor the filename and the user renames the file, you will no longer be monitoring the use of
that application.
For every start event there is a stop event. If the managed computer terminates abnormally, the next
time the computer starts, the Application Metering Agent will reconcile applications (processes) that
are running with ones that were running before the agent stopped and generate the appropriate stop
events.
When a user attempts to start an application that is blocked, the application starts and then is stopped
by the Application Metering Agent. In this situation, a start event is generated with an indicator that
the application was denied; this type of event is called a denial event.
The start and stop event data that is transmitted is very small (a few thousand bytes). If the Altiris
Agent is not able to connect to the Notification Server (the network is down or the system is a laptop
not currently connected to the network), the managed computer will queue the information locally
and try to re-transmit the information at a later time.
Important: If you want to send start and stop events to the Notification Server, you will need to have
sufficient network and server resources to handle the traffic generated by these events. In general, a
single Notification Server can handle real-time reporting of start events for over 10,000 managed
computers. For more information on capacity planning, see the Altiris Scalability document.
The following table lists and describes the data sent in a start or stop event. (The fields are listed in
the order in which the data is sent in the event.)
Application start and stop event data fields
Field Description Example
PID Processor ID of the managed computer running the 804
application.
Policy Name Name of the application monitoring policy MS Word
Start Date Date and time of the start event. 7/03/2002 9:51:18 AM
Internal Name Internal name of the application. This information is WinWord
found in the properties of the file.
File Name Name of the application file. winword.exe
File Version Version of the application file. The path to the 9.0.2717
application file on the managed computer.
Product Name Name of the product. The path to the application file Microsoft Word*
on the managed computer.
Product Version Application file version. The path to the application 9.0.2717
file on the managed computer.
Manufacturer Application manufacturer. The path to the Microsoft
application file on the managed computer.
File Path Path to the application file on the managed computer. C:\Program
Files\Microsoft
Office\Office\WINWO
RD.EXE
Language Language of the application. Language Neutral
User User name of the person that last ran the application. jsmith
Domain Domain in which the application was last run. ALTIRIS
Known As Name by which the application is known. This Microsoft Word*
information is found in the properties of the file.
Policy Guid GUID (a unique identifier) of the policy that caused {CC1355B1-3993-
the start or stop event to be generated. 4519-BB4C-
8C41735E3825}
Command Line Command line parameters/switches used to start the /n
application.
Denied Specifies whether this is a denial event. A denial 0
event is a start event followed by the closing of the
application because the running of the application is
prohibited. If the value is equal to “0”, the event was
not a denial event. If the value is equal to “1”, the
event was a denial event.
Monitoring an Application
To monitor an application with a predefined application monitoring policy, just enable the policy.
To monitor an application without a predefined application monitoring policy, just create and enable
a new application monitoring policy.
If the Application Metering Agent is monitoring an application that is not stored on a local drive, the
agent will cause the file to be downloaded to a local drive, where it checks the version information.
If many monitored files are not local to the monitoring computer, this can significantly increase
network traffic to download these files. If wanted, you can configure the Application Metering
Agent so not check the file version, which eliminates the need for non-local files to be downloaded.
However, doing this will also prevent any monitoring policies that are based on internal file
information, such as internal name, manufacturer, product name, and company name, from being
able to monitor non-local applications.
To stop the agent from checking for the file version, you need to add the following key to the
registry:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris Agent\NO_VERSION_OVER_NETWORK
To re-enable the checking of the file version, remove the registry key.:
Note: It is possible for multiple policies to monitor the same application. If you have more than one
policy monitoring the same application, you might get erroneous data in reports or trigger duplicated
notification policy actions.
3 In the right pane Name and Description fields, enter a name and description for the policy.
4 Click the Applies to collections link, and select the collections to which the policy applies.
5 Select an application to monitor.
There are two ways to select an application:
• Click the Click here to select a discovered application link. Use the dialog to search the list of
discovered applications for the one you want to monitor.
• Enter the properties of the application you want to monitor in the fields in the Details of
Application to Monitor section. For a description of the fields, see “Application Monitor
Configuration Page” on page 24.
The application monitored by the policy must meet the criteria of all of the specified fields in the
Details of Application to Monitor section. For example, if you specify the File Name and File version,
only applications that meet both of these criteria will be monitored. Unspecified fields are
ignored.
You can use wildcards in the details fields. Use a “*” to represent any number of characters and
a “%” for a single character.
6 Select the Enable check box.
Important: If you upgrade the Application Metering Agent on a Windows NT/2000/XP managed
computer, you must restart the computer before any messages denying the user access to an
application will appear on the managed computer.
You can prevent the use of an application at all times or only at specific times, such as during
business hours.
Note: When a user attempts to use an unauthorized application on a managed computer running
Windows NT/2000/XP, the starting of the application will be stopped immediately. When a user
attempts to use an unauthorized application on a managed computer running Windows 9x/Me, the
use of the application will be stopped within 30 seconds of the starting of the application. On
Windows 9x/Me managed computers, the Application Metering Agent checks every 30 seconds to
determine which applications are running and takes appropriate actions.
1 If you do not already have the desired application monitoring policy page loaded, load the page.
a In the Altiris Console, click the Tasks tab.
b In the left pane, click Tasks > Software Management > Application Metering Solution >
application monitor group name > application monitor policy.
2 Select the Deny users the ability to run this application check box.
3 Below the Deny users the ability to run this application check box, specify options.
For a description of the options, see “Denied Application Use Options” on page 23.
4 Click the Apply button.
For more information on denying the use of an application, see “Preventing the Use of an
Application” on page 23.
Note: The following options are available only when the Deny users the ability to run this application
check box is selected.
Denied Application Use Options
Item Description
Denial Message Options
No denial message - do not No notification is sent to the user when an attempt is made to use the
notify user of application unauthorized application.
denial
Default Denial Message - A default message is sent to the user when an attempt is made to use
use the default notification the unauthorized application. The message is:
message “Your system administrator has blocked the running of application
filename on your machine. Please contact your system administrator
for more information.
This application was blocked by Altiris Application Metering Agent
based on denial policy 'policy name'”.
Custom - use a custom A custom message is sent to the user when an attempt is made to use
denial notification message the unauthorized application. The message is defined in the message
box that appears when this option is selected.
Denial Time Options
Denial to apply at all times Deny the use of the application at all times.
Denial to apply everyday Deny the use of the application between the times specified in the
between specified times associated From and To fields.
Denial to apply for different Deny the use of the application between the times and on the days of
periods on different days the week specified in the associated days and times fields.
Denial times to be matched Specifies the use of absolute times, based on Greenwich Mean Time,
on Greenwich Mean Time during which the application is not available. If you want to specify
times relative to the local time zone, do not use this option.
The applications you want to monitor must meet the criteria of all of the Details of Application to
Monitor section fields. For example, if you specify the File Name and File version, only applications
that meet both of these criteria will be monitored. Unspecified fields are ignored.
For more information on monitoring an application, see “Monitoring an Application” on page 22.
Note: In Details of Application to Monitor section, you can use a “*” to represent any number of
characters and a “%” for a single character. For example, if you had files named notepad.exe,
notepads.exe, and note.exe, specifying note*.exe would allow you to monitor all of the named files.
note%.exe would only allow you to monitor the notes.exe file.
A F program monitoring 22
agent 16 file name 25 R
agent deployment 16 File Name field 12 report
application file version 25 creating 8
monitoring 22 File Version field 12 report deleting 14
preventing the use of 23 forwarding data 13 Run Count field 12
application discovery 6
Application Metering Agent 6, 16 I S
uninstalling 17 installation
upgrading 17 scalability 20
agent 16 start event 5, 20, 25
Application Monitor Configuration Inventory Solution 11
page 24 stop event 5, 20, 25
installation parameters 17
application monitoring 7, 19 stop use of application 25
internal name 25
monitorable applications 20 summary data deleting 14
Internal Name field 12
application monitoring period 5 switches 17
inventory data
application summary data 5 upload schedule 14
upload schedule 14 T
application summary data deleting 14 K terminology 5
application usage data Known As field 12 Total Run Time field 12
forwarding 13 trademark 2
Audit Plus INI file 15 L
Auditpls.ini 11 Last Start field 12
U
Avg CPU Usage field 13 legal notice 2 usage overview 9
license harvesting 4, 5 User field 12
C
command line 25 M V
company name 25 Manufacturer field 12 version 2
copyright 2 monitorable applications 20 W
correlating data 11 monitored application 5
Win16 applications 20
creation date of document 2 monitoring an application 19, 22
Win32 command-line applications 20
Month End Summary field 13
D
Month Year field 12
data
forwarding 13 N
Denial Count field 12 normalizing data 11
denial event 5, 25 notice 2
denied application options
application monitoring O
denial options 23 overview of usage 9
deny use of application 25
P
deploying the agent 16
Discovered field 12 parameters 17
document patent 2
print date 2 Peak Memory field 12
Domain field 12 prevent use of application 25
preventing the use of an application 23
E product name 25
event 25 Product Name field 12
event deleting 14 product version 2, 25