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The software / hardware inventory functionality provides a complete, searchable hardware, software, patch and virtual-machine inventory along with the ability to issue alerts when software is (un)installed, or when applications register themselves in certain registry keys. Combined with Service Monitoring and File Monitoring, EventSentry will detect the majority of changes made to system.

 

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database_sql_16 Virtual Machine Inventory (Hyper-V & VMWare)

Inventories all virtual machines from Hyper-V or VMWare hosts as well as the version number of the virtual machine host. Hyper-V inventory is automatically performed when Hyper-V is detected on the host where the EventSentry agent is running. VMWare inventory information is obtained via SNMP when the required SNMP OIDs exist. The following information is available:

 

Virtual Machine Host

Host Name

Product Name

Product Version

 

Virtual Machines

Host Name

Status

CPU Count

Memory

Operating System (if available)

 

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VMWare inventory requires that SNMP is enabled on the VMWare ESXi hosts.

 

Monitor WiFi Connections

Tracks all WiFi activity and shows which Wireless network an adapter is connected to along with a history of all connections and disconnections. The EventSentry agent will also log events to the event log every time an adapter connects or disconnects from a WiFi network, which allows for automation using filters.

 

The following details are available:

 

Adapter Name & GUID

Status

Signal Strength

SSID

Cipher (e.g. RSNA with PSK)

Authentication (e.g. CCMP)

 

Monitoring Batteries & UPS Devices

Monitors built-in batteries in laptops as well as attached UPS devices (if detected by Windows). The current battery status, charge level as well as the total battery capacity are available on the "Host / Inventory" page in the web-based reporting. EventSentry can also shut down a host if the battery status falls below a configurable percent threshold or when the estimated runtime is less than a preset limit, irrespective of the UPS manufacturer and/or model.

 

Backup MBR and BootLoader and detect changes

Downloads sectors 0-77 as well the sectors 2048-2057 of all hard drives on the monitored system. If changes are detected on the monitored sectors, an event is logged indicating how many bytes were changed and whether the MBR or BootLoader were changed. All monitored sectors are also stored in the database when the agent starts (if enabled) and can be downloaded on the "Host / Inventory" page in the web-based reporting.

 

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This feature is intended to provide some protection against certain Ransomware infections. The events logged when monitored sectors are changed can be used to trigger actions like hibernation, a logoff or a shutdown. The sector backups can be downloaded to a USB boot disk and restored manually in case the original sectors have been overwritten inadvertently.

 

Software Inventory

If an application is installed an registers itself in the Control Panel under Add/Remove Programs, then EventSentry will notify you and log which application was installed or removed.

 

If an application does not register itself in Add/Remove Programs, for example if it is installed on a per-user basis, then EventSentry will not detect it. You might still be notified if the application registers itself in one of the many autorun registry keys.

 

The following information is stored in the database and can be queried using the web reports when the "Record in database" check box is checked:

 

Software Name

Installation Directory*

Software Publisher*

Software Version*

Platform Information (32-bit vs 64-bit)

 

This feature will also write application history to the database, enabling you to find out when software was installed/uninstalled (note that this information might also be available through the event logs).

 

Monitoring Web Browser Extensions

Monitor all installed extensions for the following web browsers

 

Mozilla Firefox

Google Chrome

Microsoft Edge (chromium-based)

 

and provides a full inventory/history as well alerts when extensions are installed or uninstalled. Browser profiles are supported as well. The following extension information is captured:

 

Name

Publisher

Version

Enabled/Disabled

Publisher (when available)

Username

 

Please see below for limitations of this feature since there is no official standard on how browser extensions are stored.

 

 

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Under some circumstances the extension name may not be displayed, in which case the publisher is shown instead.

An extension will show up as enabled if it is installed in multiple profiles and enabled in at least one profile.

 

Patch Inventory

All installed Microsoft patches are collected and can be queried through the web reports. EventSentry can also issue alerts when a patch is (un)installed. The following information is available:

 

Patch Name

Platform Information (32-bit vs 64-bit)

Installation Date

Installation Directory (if applicable)

Publisher

 

database_sql_16 Hardware Inventory

The following hardware information is captured; Hardware information is obtained through file information, registry data and WMI.

 

Operating System, including Edition and Service Pack

The location of the SYSTEMROOT directory

Date when the Operating System was installed

Whether the machine is running the x64-bit edition of the OS

Configured UAC level (Vista and later)

Whether the machine is a Terminal Server, running Hyper-V or Server-Core

If the machine is a virtual machine, and in some cases the type of VM platform (e.g. VMWare ESX)

Installed CPU's (including type, speed and number of CPU's installed)**

The number of installed CPUs, including Hyper-Threading and multi-core detection

Registered owner and registered company** (if available)

Computer manufacturer and model** (if available)

Chassis type (e.g. rack-mount, mini tower, laptop, etc.)

Warranty information (DELL, HP, IBM & Lenovo hardware only)

BIOS Version***

Serial Number, Service Tag (depending on manufacturer)***

Installed Memory, including the maximum memory, number of memory chips installed and free slots available

Installed network adapters, including adapter name, link speed, IP address (updated & refreshed periodically) and MAC address

Installed disk controllers, including adapter name, adapter type (IDE/SCSI) and manufacturer

Make of installed graphics adapter

The number of CD-ROM, DVD, Floppy and removable drives

The current uptime

The maximum uptime of the host since EventSentry was installed

Highest supported USB version

 

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Basic system and hardware information can also be obtained via SNMP from a remote SNMP agent by polling SNMP counter values. This includes (when available):

 

System Information

Network Interfaces

Processor, memory & disk space information

Uptime information

 

Extended hardware information is available when SSH credentials are configured:

 

Time zone

USB version

OS Install Date

Manufacturer details

Additional CPU details

 

The Heartbeat Agent retrieves data from Non-Windows hosts via SNMP and/or SSH.

 

On DELL© and HP© servers with the appropriate vendor system management tools installed, EventSentry will also collect the following information when installed:

 

Status of redundant power supplies (PSUs)

Current temperature of installed temperature sensors

Current status and RPM of installed fans

Availability and IP address of any installed remote management cards

Status and details of any installed hardware RAID controller (e.g. model number, cache size, firmware version)

Status of all configured RAIDs (including stripe size (when available), status, raid level)

Status of all installed physical hard drives, including drive details such as model number, serial number

 

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HP GEN 10+ SERVERS: Starting with its generation 10, obtaining managed hardware info from HP servers - with the exception of physical disk (raid) information - requires an iLO card that does not share the same network interface as the Windows OS.

 

Since iLO cards require authentication, two variables will need to be set on the host(s) or group(s) of servers with Gen 10 iLO cards:

 

HPILOUSER iLO User

HPILOPASS Password

 

Setting a variable to access a HP Gen10 iLO

Setting a variable to access a HP Gen10 iLO

 

Upon agent start, the hardware inventory feature can also log an event to the event log if the number of the following installed hardware devices changes since the last time the EventSentry agent was running:

 

Installed Memory

Number of installed processors

Number of installed floppy drives

Number of installed CDROM drives

Number of installed DVD drives

Number of removable drives

Link speed of a network adapter

Addition / Removal of a USB drive

S.M.A.R.T. status error of a physical drive

 

Ignore GUID-only applications: Some software will write only the GUID (a hexadecimal number) to the registry when installed. Check this box to ignore software without a useful display name.

 

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System hardware information is updated every time the EventSentry service is started.

 

Uptime Monitoring

The current uptime of a host is refreshed every 5 minutes and provides the following functionality:

 

Keeps track of the maximum uptime across multiple reboots. This can help isolate problematic servers that are rebooted often

Stores uptime history in the database, which can be accessed through Heartbeat - Availability - Uptime History. The uptime history is updated every time the OS is booting, and records how long the OS was running before the current boot process.

 

The uptime history keeps track of how long the OS was running between reboots and is only updated when you reboot a host.

 

Autorun Registry Keys

Some applications register files to automatically run when the computer starts or when a user logs on to the system. While those files are usually required and harmless, this is unfortunately misused by Spyware, Trojan horses and viruses.

 

EventSentry monitors certain registry locations and will notify you when an application is added or removed from one of the monitored locations. Please note that only HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry keys, which affect all users on the system, are monitored at this time. HKEY_CURRENT_USER keys are not monitored.

 

EventSentry monitors the following registry values:

 

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Taskman

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\AppInit_DLLs

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\Shell

 

EventSentry monitors the following registry keys:

 

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System\Scripts\Startup

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System\Scripts\Logon

 

Autorun Directories

In addition to the registry keys listed above, this feature will also monitor the following directories and notify you if a file is added:

 

<Documents and Settings>\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

 

Additional Information

The Active Setup\Installed Components registry subkey is intended to be used by installations to make sure that all users on a system have up-to-date information in their profile, and as such is examined every time a user logs in. This key has unfortunately been misused by software to install and run malicious applications. We urge you to investigate all changes to this registry key to make sure only authorized applications register themselves there.

 

Please see the next chapter for all event records logged to the application event log by this feature.

 

* The amount of information recorded by EventSentry depends on the information provided by the installation routine of the particular software. It is up to the software vendor to determine how much installation they will record in the registry. Most modern software will log the name, publisher and version of the application installed.

 

** Some information might not be available. Model and manufacturer is available on most pre-installed computers; registered company is only available if specified during installation; in some cases CPU's information (especially older models) will not show the CPU type.