AIA Quick Start Guide

Autodesk Inventory Advisor – Quick Start Guide
Autodesk Inventory Advisor

Quick Start Guide

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Contents
Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Installation and Configuration .................................................................................................. 3
Supported operating systems ............................................................................................................... 3
Port requirements ................................................................................................................................. 3
Installation ............................................................................................................................................. 3
Continue trial ......................................................................................................................................... 4
Initial configuration ............................................................................................................................... 5
Selecting a scan option ................................................................................................................. 6
Import from Active Directory ................................................................................................................ 6
Scan IP range ......................................................................................................................................... 7
Import nodes list from file ..................................................................................................................... 8
Advanced scan options ................................................................................................................ 9
Logon script scanning with Central Repository ..................................................................................... 9
Manual scan without Central Repository ............................................................................................ 12
Reporting ........................................................................................................................................ 15
Creating a report ................................................................................................................................. 15
Exporting a report ............................................................................................................................... 16
Troubleshooting .......................................................................................................................... 17
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Overview
Autodesk has licensed ClearApps technology to address your Autodesk software audit needs. Autodesk Inventory
Advisor (AIA) has been configured to search client machines across an entire organization for Autodesk products. AIA is
a highly configurable, robust inventory tool that leverages Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to provide
near seamless audit data collection of Autodesk product information.

Installation and Configuration
Supported operating systems

Windows XP Professional, 32-‐bit
Windows 7, 32 and 64-‐bit
Windows 8, 32 and 64-‐bit
Port requirements
TCP 135, TCP 139, TCP 445, UDP 137, and UDP 138

If using the Windows Firewall, the Remote Administration Firewall Rule must also be enabled:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc738900(WS.10).aspx
Installation
Double click on iadvisor-‐x.x-‐setup.xxxx.ad.demo.exe, select your language, and follow the steps below:

Click Next Accept the License Agreement by clicking I Agree

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Select the directory to where the application will be Click Install to begin installation
installed and click Next

Click Finish to start AIA
Continue trial
Upon launching AIA, you will be prompted to Continue trial, Buy license, or Enter unlock code. Simply click Continue
trial to begin using the application.

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Initial configuration
After selecting Continue trial, the following screens will appear:

Click Yes to dismiss the dialog. AIA is pre-‐configured out of the
box

Click Skip it

Click Run scan wizard Click Show me advanced options

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Selecting a scan option

In order to create your first set of systems to scan, you will need to determine how to get the systems into Autodesk
Inventory Advisor. At this point, there are many ways to populate AIA. The three most common methods are import
from Active Directory, scan one or more IP address ranges, or import computers from a file. Of course, there are a
number of other options to find the assets in an organization. If you are unsure as to the best method, please consult
your network administrator. Please note that administrative rights are required for all scan methods.

Import from Active Directory

If your organization has Active Directory (AD), then this would be the preferred method of import. When using this
method, AIA will create a tree hierarchy of all the nodes to be scanned in the network.

Note: If AD contains nodes that are no longer present in the organization, this will have a negative impact on scan
performance time, as AIA will still try to scan the node even if it does not exist. Importing from AD will require domain
administrative rights.

To import from AD, follow these steps:

Clear the check box next to Use current user login, Enter the IP address or DC name and click Connect to Active
enter the appropriate credentials, and click Import Directory
from Active Directory

Note: Depending on how big the organizational structure is, the time to retrieve the information from AD will vary.

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Select the nodes you wish to import and click Scan selected nodes now

Scan IP range

Scanning via IP range is helpful in environments that may not have Active Directory or a list of nodes is not readily
available. To scan an IP range, follow these steps:

Clear the check box next to Use current user login, Enter in one or more ranges to scan and click Start scan
enter the appropriate credentials, and click Scan IP
range
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Import nodes list from file

If your organization does not have Active Directory or if you have a list of computer names or IP addresses readily
available, you can import the list directly into AIA. To import from a list, follow these steps:

Clear the check box next to Use current user login, Browse to the list and click Import File
enter the appropriate credentials, and click Import
nodes list from file

Click All to select all nodes and then click Add & Scan

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Advanced scan options

In the event a network-‐based scan method is not possible, two additional methods are available using what is known as
the AIA Agent Utility.
Logon script scanning with Central Repository

This method provides the ability to export a small audit agent out of Inventory Advisor to use in a logon script or deploy
to your endpoints using an existing software asset management (SAM) tool. The data collected from the scan is
automatically saved back to a common share, which is known in Inventory Advisor as the Central Repository.

Click on the Export audit agent button in the toolbar:

Select …logon script scanning with central repository, ensure the check box next to Hide agent console when scanning
is checked (the default), and click Next:

Click the folder icon in the toolbar and select a location to save the agent. IMPORTANT: This must be a local folder.
Using a UNC path will cause the export to not save the required agent files:

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Click Click here to change Repository settings:

Enter a valid UNC path to store the inventory data and click OK. NOTE: It is recommended this be a subfolder of where
the export audit agent will be stored. Leave the default check of 5 minutes:

When prompted, click Modify login details:

Enter a valid user name and password and click OK:

Click Export agent utility now:

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Ensure the box next to Open folder where agent was exported to is checked and click Finish:

Copy the 4 files from the local folder to the network share you specified earlier. NOTE: It is recommended this be the
parent folder of where the actual inventory data will be stored.

Create a batch file or VB script to execute iadvisoragnt.exe on your workstations and place it in the same directory as
the audit agent. Here is a sample batch file:

@ECHO OFF
NET USE P: \\frontlinedc\NETLOGON\aia
START /WAIT P:\iadvisoragnt.exe
NET USE P: /DELETE

Implement the script using standard procedures as outlined by Microsoft. More information on logon scripts can be
found on TechNet:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc758918(v=ws.10).aspx

The results of the scan will be placed in the share specified earlier. It will be a single file per machine and be uniquely
named based on the computer that was scanned:

Autodesk Inventory Advisor is not required to be launched or active to check the Central Repository location for new
inventory data. It is done in the background by a service that is running regardless if AIA is launched or not. The data
will be automatically imported the next time you launch AIA. The results will appear in the Network structure along side
your network-‐scanned assets.
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Manual scan without Central Repository

This method provides the ability to export a small audit agent out of Inventory Advisor to use in a manual audit from a
USB stick or network share. The data collected from the scan is automatically saved in a subfolder in the same location
the agent utility is run from.

Click on the Export audit agent button in the toolbar:

Select …manual scan without central repository, ensure the check box next to Hide agent console when scanning is not
checked, and click Next:

Click the folder icon in the toolbar and select a location to save the agent. IMPORTANT: This must be a local folder.
Using a UNC path will cause the export to not save the required audit agent files:

Click Export agent utility now:

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Ensure the box next to Open folder where agent was exported to is checked and click Finish:

Copy the 4 files to a USB drive, network share or ZIP and email them to your end users.
To launch the scan, simply double-‐click iadvisoragnt.exe. You will see a command window open indicating the scan is in
progress. It should take less than 10 seconds to complete and the window will automatically close:
The results of the scan will be placed in an Information folder in the same directory as iadvisoragnt.exe. It will be a
single file and be uniquely named based on the computer that was scanned:
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To import the results into AIA, click on the Import nodes button in the toolbar:
Select the folder location where the manual audit results reside. NOTE: You can place multiple results in a single folder
and import them all at once.

Wait for the import to complete and click the OK button:
The results will appear in the Network structure along side your network-‐scanned assets.

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Reporting
Once a list of nodes has been scanned, a report for Autodesk products may now be created. This report is provided back
to Autodesk once the scan process has been completed.

Creating a report
In order to create an Autodesk audit report, start by selecting the Reports tab in the upper left hand corner of AIA.
Next, click the Software button and finally select By serial num…

From the asset wizard, click All to select all the nodes and then click Build:

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Exporting a report
Once a full inventory of all assets has been completed, it will be required to export the results into an XML file. To do
this, select the report date to be exported in the Software by serial number reports section under Your reports history.
Normally, this will be labeled as TODAY:

In the top right section of the toolbar, click Export this now and select Export to XML file:

Select a location to save the XML file and click Save.

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Troubleshooting
AIA is a robust tool and is capable of addressing and dealing with large complex networks. However issues on networks
do arise and below are the most common issues and solutions. Lack of administrative privileges and blocked firewall
ports are the most predominate issues seen.

Issue Solution
No such host is known/Computer not found The node was not accessible on the network. Check to make
sure the node is present then rerun the scan for this node.
A connection attempt failed because the connected This is typically caused by a firewall blocking access to the node.
party did not properly respond after a period of Please enable ports TCP 135, TCP 139, TCP 445, UDP 137, and
time, or established connection failed because UDP 138
connected host has failed to respond.

Access is denied. AIA does not have the correct permissions to access the node.
Remote computer doesn’t respond. Maybe it is This is typically caused by remote administration being denied
switched off or WMI service is not running on it. on the destination node. Please see the following link which
addresses this issue:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc738900
The requested name is valid, but no data of the Typically a name resolution issue within the network
requested type was found environment. Attempt to scan using the IP address instead or
correct the name resolution issue.
Asset cannot be scanned Commonly associated with reverse DNS lookup not resolving
properly or node is a non-‐Windows device therefore can be
ignored.
Unknown error 0x80041014 Please see the following link which describes the issue and how
to address it:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318849
Scan is transferring large amounts of data across In Settings go to the Windows reports pane and ensure only
the network the following categories are selected:
-‐ OS info
-‐ Processor
-‐ System & motherboard
-‐ Network adapters
-‐ Licenses audit

In Settings go to the General pane and change the Maximum
simultaneous scanning threads to a lower number (default is
20)

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Autodesk Inventory Advisor – Quick Start Guide

Autodesk Inventory Advisor

Installation and Configuration

Supported operating systems

Selecting a scan option

Import from Active Directory

Scan IP range

Import nodes list from file

Advanced scan options

Logon script scanning with Central Repository

Manual scan without Central Repository

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