Create custom data provider based on Generic Inventory extension
Perform following steps to setup a new custom data provider in your Digital Workspace Platform environment:
In the Administration application go to Integration > Data Providers and use the Add Generic Connector button to create a custom data provider (connector).
- Specify the name for your data provider.
- In the Import Workflow field, select Generic inventory provider workflow.
- Save the data provider.
- Now use the Add button in the Configurations grid and select Create New Inventory Connector Configuration.
- Fill the General page:
- In the Data Gateway field, you can choose a data gateway (and corresponding worker) if necessary.
- Select Enabled.
- Specify the account and password that will be used to connect to the source infrastructure/system.
- Select the data collector workflow in the corresponding field (See Creating the generic inventory provider data collector workflow for details on how to create this workflow).
- Fill the Settings page:
- Select the Create new computers checkbox to enable import of new computers. Otherwise, the data provider will only update existing computers.
- In the Organizational Unit drop-down field, you can select an OU which newly created computers will be assigned to.
- Use the Status drop-down field to select the status for computers that are imported for the first time.
- Use the Management Type drop-down field to define this attribute for all newly created computers.
- If you select the Change status for deleted computers checkbox, you will be able to choose which status will be assigned to computers that have been imported previously, but no longer arrive with the next import run.
If the selected "deleted" status has been assigned to a device and then this device is delivered again, its status will be set to the configured value for "new" devices if the Create new computers checkbox is enabled.
- In the Custom Workflow Parameters grid, you can add all parameters that will be used by workflows to collect and import the data. Use the Hide value checkbox for any parameter whose value needs to be encrypted in the database. Custom parameters and their values are passed inside the Custom Parameters variable to both server and client workflows. Workflows decrypt the hidden values.
By default, the timeout period for the data collector workflow equals 12 hours, but starting with version 1.31.3.1 you can increase it by setting custom number of hours using the TimeoutHours custom parameter. If you decide to configure this parameter, you also need to adjust the worker lifecycle period in the Matrix42.Worker.Host.exe.config file located in the Matrix42 root folder under Matrix42 Workplace Management\Worker\Core. The worker lifecycle period has to be equal to or more than your required timeout period.
To increase the worker lifecycle period, add the following keys with required values:
<add key="TaskDomainFinishTaskTimeSeconds" value="28800" /> <!-- default - 14400 -->
<add key="TaskDomainLifeTimeMinutes" value="480" /> <!-- default - 240 -->
- In the Matching Keys grid, specify the matching rules for assets. Use the Priority field to set the sequence of matching where 1 is the highest priority. In the Expression field specify the attribute that should be used for matching. To set a matching key:
- Use the following format: "SPSComputerClassBase.Name". ASQL expressions are not supported.
- Use comma in an expression to combine several attributes with the AND operator.
If during the import any of the matching attributes is null, the matching process skips it.
"Scanned Computers" configuration is meant to filter data provided by the client (data collector) workflow for the import. It is not implemented yet and has no impact.
- Save the configuration.
- After you have set up the data collector workflow and filled in the configuration, run the Enable and Activate action for the data provider to import assets.