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Managing PowerShell Connections

FlexNet Manager Suite ()

FlexNet Manager Suite integrates with PowerShell-connected tools to give you a single cohesive view of your license compliance. For each such external system, you need to define a PowerShell connection to allow data collection.

When configuring a connection to a third-party inventory source, CyberArk integration is supported for secure credential management across domains and for ensuring secure integration with third-party inventory adapters. You can configure PowerShell adapters to use CyberArk managed credentials through the Beacon UI. For instructions on enabling CyberArk integration for each of the supported PowerShell connections, refer to the following subtopics.

Important: Always use the 32-bit version of PowerShell for any PowerShell connections.

Note: Inventory from FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications (see SAP Systems Tab) is managed on a separate page, and connections for SAP do not appear here.

Supported PowerShell connections for importing inventory data include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Amazon Web Services

    As a top tier cloud service provider, AWS provides a range of instances that you may subscribe to. The PowerShell connector for Amazon Web Services Elastic Compute Cloud (AWS EC2) and Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) (known as the AWS adapter) connects to standard APIs provided by AWS, extracting data on all current instances and (where the instance is a virtual machine) their hosts. In addition, if you are running Oracle Database in Amazon RDS, the AWS adapter collects Oracle Database inventory.

    After the data is uploaded to the central application server, gathered information is displayed in the Cloud Service Provider Inventory page. In addition, FlexNet Manager Suite automatically creates separate inventory device records for any hosts identified by AWS. If you collect additional inventory from the reported instances (for example, if you have FlexNet Inventory Agent included in the images used to spin up your instances, or you import additional inventory details collected with a third-party tool), the inventory device record for that software and hardware inventory import is matched to the instance data imported from AWS. Matching is based on the instance ID where that is available, and otherwise on the MAC address. When this match is successful, the Cloud Service Provider Inventory page provides a direct link to each related inventory device record.

    Tip: If a future import from AWS shows that an instance has been terminated, or that a host is no longer available, any linked inventory device records are automatically removed, so that they can have no further impact on your license consumption calculations. Depending on the last known state, instances may still be visible in the Cloud Service Provider Inventory page at this time.

  • BMC Discovery

    BMC Discovery is an automated tool that collects detailed hardware and software inventory across your IT environment. It serves as a valuable inventory source for FlexNet Manager Suite, helping calculate license consumption as part of assessing overall license compliance. Integration with FlexNet Manager Suite is achieved through a PowerShell-based adapter, which connects to BMC Discovery’s APIs to import discovered asset data. This imported data contributes to a unified and accurate view of your IT landscape, enhancing your ability to manage licenses effectively. For detailed configuration instructions, see Configuring BMC Discovery in the Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference.

  • Citrix Cloud

    The Citrix Cloud adapter, provided by Flexera, allows you to collect data from both persistent and non-persistent virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs) in Citrix Cloud and import it into IT Asset Management. The combination of imported VDI data and application evidence gathered by the FlexNet Inventory Agent provides comprehensive visibility into the inventory running on the Citrix Cloud platform. It also provides licensing capabilities for all applications used by end-users on both persistent and non-persistent VDIs. For detailed configuration instructions, see Creating the Citrix Cloud Connector Connection in the Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference.

    Note: VDI is a technology that uses virtual machines to deliver and manage virtual desktops. VDI hosts desktop environments on a centralized server and deploys them to end-users on request.

  • Flexera SaaS Manager

    The Flexera SaaS Manager connector enables integration between FlexNet Manager Suite and Flexera One SaaS Management, a cloud-based solution designed to help manage licensing costs for SaaS-based software. Integration is achieved through a simple connector. And since both products are cloud-based, configuring the connector is as easy as selecting a checkbox. For detailed configuration instructions, see Configuring SaaS Manager Connector in the Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference.

  • Horizon

    The VMware Horizon virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) adapter, provided by Flexera, allows you to collect data from non-persistent VDIs in VMware Horizon and import it into FlexNet Manager Suite. The combination of imported VDI data and application evidence gathered by the FlexNet Inventory Agent provides comprehensive visibility into the inventory running on the VMware Horizon platform. It also provides licensing capabilities for all applications used by end-users on non-persistent VDIs. For detailed configuration instructions, see Creating the VMware Horizon Connection in the Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference.

    Note: VDI is a technology that uses virtual machines to deliver and manage virtual desktops. VDI hosts desktop environments on a centralized server and deploys them to end-users on request.

  • Microsoft Azure

    Inventory information from Microsoft Azure can be imported into FlexNet Manager Suite. When combined with inventory collected using FlexNet Inventory Agent (recommended) or using other inventory tools, this additional information is retrieved by calling Azure PowerShell modules, and then mapped to inventory devices using the Universal Unique Identifier (UUID). You can open the Cloud Service Provider Inventory page to view a direct link to each related inventory device record.

    Tip: The Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) is also called the Azure VM unique ID or vmId.

    Note: The Microsoft Azure connector does not collect virtual machine inventory for virtual machines managed by Microsoft's classic deployment model. For these devices we recommend you use an alternative such as the inventory spreadsheet upload (Managing Inventory Spreadsheet Connections) or simply through editing manually.

  • Microsoft Intune

    The Microsoft Intune Adapter, provided by Flexera, allows you to collect inventory data from Microsoft Intune and import it into FlexNet Manager Suite. Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based endpoint management solution that manages user access and simplifies app and device management across all your devices, including mobile devices, desktop computers, and virtual endpoints. Data is collected from Microsoft Intune and imported into FlexNet Manager Suite, giving you visibility of managed devices, user data, and managed and unmanaged applications installed on corporate owned devices in your Microsoft Intune estate. FlexNet Manager Suite uses the imported data collected from Microsoft Intune to calculate license consumption. For detailed configuration instructions, see Creating the Microsoft Intune Connection in the Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference.

    Note: For application recognition to occur, application evidence must be recognized by the Application Recognition Library (ARL) and linked to the appropriate license. This linkage is essential for compliance calculations to proceed. For more information on application recognition, see the Application evidence section in What data is retrieved.

  • Microsoft Office 365 Online Account

    Microsoft Office 365 is a set of office tools available online (through a cloud-based subscription) and offline (installed locally). To import the users, licenses, and usage information from the Microsoft Office online account, an inventory beacon requires an inventory connection for Office 365. When created and configured successfully, this connector downloads all this information from the Office 365 online service account and uploads it to FlexNet Manager Suite for compliance calculations. For more information on creating an Office 365 connection, Creating Connections to Microsoft 365.For more about Office 365 support, see FlexNet Manager Suite System Reference.

  • Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)

    The OCI adapter serves two primary purposes:

    • It discovers Oracle Autonomous Database installations in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Exadata Cloud@Customer. Based on the data uploaded by the OCI adapter, FlexNet Manager Suite automatically creates discovered devices, inventory devices, database instances, and database option records.
    • It tracks "instances" (typically, virtual machines tracked as inventory devices) that are hosted in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. For Compute instances, the OCI adapter is only one component of a complete Bring Your Own License (BYOL) management strategy for this cloud service provider. On its own, the adapter does not gather sufficient data for license management. For example, it does not gather software inventory for applications running on your cloud-hosted devices. For detailed instructions on configuring and managing the OCI connection, see Managing Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Connection.

  • Salesforce.com Subscription Management

    Salesforce.com subscriptions come at a significant cost for large organizations and licensing is complex. FlexNet Manager Suite's integration with Salesforce provides you with ways to better stay in charge of your Salesforce licensing and consumption. FlexNet Manager Suite provides an inventory adapter so you can import Salesforce license allocations and usage data so that you can leverage FlexNet Manager Suite's tools to help you manage Salesforce licensing and consumption costs. With FlexNet Manager Suite's integration with Salesforce, customers can easily see unused Salesforce subscriptions that then allows you to reduce costs at subscription renewal. For more about Salesforce support, see the Managing Connections to Salesforce.com topic in the FlexNet Manager Suite Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference.

  • ServiceNow

    There are two kinds of data exchange between ServiceNow and FlexNet Manager Suite:

    • A two-way exchange of data about contracts and assets, for which see the ServiceNow Integration with FlexNet Manager Suite section in FlexNet Manager Suite Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference.
    • A one-way import of inventory information that ServiceNow has "discovered" in your environment. This use of ServiceNow as an inventory source is covered here (see Inventory Connection to ServiceNow), as well as in its own section of the FlexNet Manager Suite Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference. While ServiceNow can return complete inventory from many different kinds of environments, it is currently not strong in discovery of (or, as we would say, collecting inventory from) partitioning technologies that provide virtualization on several UNIX-like platforms. If you are supporting these platforms, best practice is to install the FlexNet Inventory Agent locally on them, reporting directly to your inventory beacon(s). This allows collection of all details needed for your license consumption calculations. This additional information integrates smoothly with the information collected from ServiceNow. In this case, it is best practice to set your Flexera inventory source as your primary source, so that the hardware information it gathers takes precedence over all other inventory sources (including ServiceNow).

  • Tanium

    Tanium Asset collects a complete inventory of your hardware and software assets for both online and offline devices, including servers, laptops, and desktops. Tanium Asset asset data can be imported into FlexNet Manager Suite which then calculates licensing. This is achieved using the Tanium Connector which also provides scheduled updates of the data import.

    For more information on creating a Tanium Asset connection, see Managing Tanium Connections. For more about Tanium support, see FlexNet Manager Suite Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference.

To enable FlexNet Manager Suite to interpret the inventory data being imported from a source database, the inventory beacon needs to know:

  • The type of database in which the data is stored
  • The name of the database
  • The location of the database
  • The security permissions required to access the database
  • When (if ever) the data from this database should be considered stale.
2025 R1.1

  • Managing AWS Connections

  • Managing Azure Connections

  • Creating Connections to Microsoft 365

  • Managing Connections to Salesforce.com

  • Inventory Connection to ServiceNow

  • Managing Tanium Connections

  • Managing Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Connection

Parent topic:Connecting to External Inventory Systems