Configure Web Application patterns

• In Snow License Manager, navigate to Home - Administration and click on Web applications.
• Click the button to Add web application and fill in the relevant information in the pop-up window:
  • Client site name: Lists the available site names, can be 'All' or a specific site
  • Client configuration: Lists the available configuration names, can be 'All' or a specific configuration
  • Name of the Web application as it should be presented in Snow License Manager applications
  • Patterns: Fill in the domain name of the web address you want to capture and click the + to add it. 
    • IMPORTANT: Only add the domain name, no https:// or /login
    • See also Web applications (snowsoftware.com) on Snow Docs
• Tick the Active box to make the pattern active
• Click Save to store the configuration

Configure Snow Inventory Server

The Snow Inventory Server needs to be configured to retrieve the Web application patterns from the Snow License Manager server.

• Navigate to the installation folder of Snow Inventory Server and create a backup copy of the snowserver.config file.
• Stop the Snow Inventory Server 5 service
• Edit the snowserver.config file
• In the file, locate the <ModuleConfiguration> tag, the locate the <Module> tag for MasterServerModule and add a setter configuration for the SnowLicenseManagerConfigurationUri, it should look something like this:

<ModuleConfiguration>
   <Module typeName="MasterServerModule">
      <Setter propertyName="SnowLicenseManagerConfigurationUri">"http://SLMSERVER/IDX/InventoryConfigUpdate.ashx"</Setter>
   </Module>
</ModuleConfiguration>

• • Ensure that the correct address and port is entered for the Snow License Manager server.
  • Ensure that <Module> tag is in the correct place, and also in the <ModuleConfiguration> tag
    • Web application patterns (snowsoftware.com) on Snow Docs
• Save the snowserver.config file.
• Start the Snow Inventory Server 5 service to load the new configuration

Configure the Snow Inventory Agent

The agent must be told to look for the patterns and match with them to capture them, which is done in the snowagent.config file.

NOTE: There are various methods to enable this by adding it to or changing the configuration file. The recommended way is to build an agent package with the configuration enabled and roll that out, or to push out a new configuration through the Snow Inventory Admin Console. This article will be used to configure and confirm the functionality on a single device.

• Navigate to the Snow Agent installation folder
• Create a backup copy of the snowagent.config file
• Locate the <SystemSettings> tag
• Add (or set to true) the following setting key:

<Setting key="legacy_webmetering.is_enabled" value="true" />

• • This settings key is valid from Snow Inventory Agent for Windows v6.2
  • The older version and no longer in use, looked like <Setting key="idx.endpoint" value="http://SLM-SERVER:80/v1/Inventory.ashx" />
    • Agent configuration options on Snow Docs
• Save the snowagent.config file and restart the Snow Inventory Agent to load the new configuration

Visibility

In the snowpack file, the patterns matched and captured by the agent will be displayed in the <Metering> section and will contain a flag for IsWebApp="1" as well as other identifiers from the configured Web Application:

<Metering Name="Google Chrome" UserName="DOMAIN\User" IsLocal="1" Version="126.0.6478.182" PathName="C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" FileDescription="Google Chrome" FileVersion="126.0.6478.182" FullVersion="126.0.6478.182" LanguageName="English (United States)" Manufacturer="Google LLC" DomainName="DOMAIN" UsageMask="2048" Day="2024-07-18 11:48:09" OriginalFilename="chrome.exe" FirstUsed="2024-07-18 11:48:09" LastUsed="2024-07-18 11:50:09" DeviceId="" WebAppName="66a20dd0-eab8-44cb-93bd-888644d695ed" WebAppHostList="www.flexera.com" Minutes="2" Counter="1" RegularAverage="2" RegularCount="1" IsRemoteDesktop="0" IsVirtualized="0" IsWebApp="1" IsTS="0" ProductVersion="126.0.6478.182" ProductName="Google Chrome" />

In the SQL SnowInventory database, these tables can be queried for Web Application related data:

select * from SnowInventory.inv.DataWebApplicationView2
select * from SnowInventory.inv.DataWebAppMetering

In Snow License Manager, after a Data Update Job has been ran, Search for Applications to find it by the name the pattern was given. Web Application will also be the Manufacturer to show that they are a Web Application pattern:

Using Search for Computers, the Web application can be found by viewing the applications on the device, note the 'W' remark for Web Application:

Looking at the specific user, the Web application can be found by viewing the applications it has used:

Troubleshooting

The flow of the web application patterns is as follows:

Snow License Manager - makes them available to - Snow Inventory Server - makes them available to - Snow Inventory Agents for Windows

The Snow Inventory Server must be able to browse the published patterns on the Snow License Manager Server. This can be tested by:

• On the Snow Inventory Server open up a browser and navigate to the Snow License Manager server, by replacing 'HTTP' and 'SLM-SERVER' and 'SITENAME' and 'CONFIGNAME' to the ones used in the environment (using % or '%25' as the SITE or CONFIG is possible if it's enabled for all sites and configs):
  • http://SLM-SERVER/IDX/InventoryConfigUpdate.ashx/config/?site=SITENAME&config=CONFIGNAME&section=WebApps
  • If it works, the web application patterns should be visible like this:

• • If the patterns are not shown, check that ports are opened between the Snow Inventory Server and Snow License Manager

• If Windows Authentication/SSO is enabled, then the authentication on the IDX folder needs to be changed.
  • Launch Internet Information Service and expand Connections - Sites - Snow License Manager
  • Click the IDX folder
  • In the IIS middle windows, locate and double-click Authentication
  • Enable Anonymous Authentication and disable the rest

The Snow Inventory Agent must be able to browse the published patterns on the Snow Inventory Server. This can be tested by:

• On a Windows device, open up a browser and navigate to the Snow Inventory Server, by replacing 'HTTP' and 'INVENTORY-SERVER' and 'PORT' and 'SITENAME' and 'CONFIGNAME' to the ones used in the environment (using % or '%25' as the SITE or CONFIG is possible if it's enabled for all sites and configs):
  • http://lNVENTORY-SERVER:PORT/v1/inventory.ashx/config/?site=SITENAME&config=CONFIGNAME&section=WebApps
  • If it works, the web application patterns should be visible like this:

The Snow Inventory Agent must be able to match the available patterns that are downloaded to a local 'webapps.config' file. The download of the file should happen automatically when the agent communicates with the Snow Inventory Server, but can also be done manually:

• Download the patterns to the device by opening a Command Prompt as administrator and
• Navigate to the Snow Agent installation folder (cd %snow_agent% may work)
• Run 'snowagent update'
• Confirm there's a webapps.config in the agent's installation folder and that, when opened, it contains the same patterns that was configured in Snow License Manager and made available for the sitename and configname in the pattern. It should look like this:

Issue - Nothing is being captured by the Snow Agent

• Possible causes / rectifying steps:
  • Web application pattern matching does not work when there is a proxy involved as it will mask the IP-package information and hide the target URL used in matching with the local pattern. Try excluding these sites in the Proxy if possible.
  • Although rare, Anti-Virus software could impact the IP-packages, or cause issues when trying to save the information - try disabling it for troubleshooting purposes
  • Try a different browser (for the purpose of this article, Google Chrome was used).
  • Clear browser cache