KeyAudit

KeyAudit produces an audit of a given computer's software assets, providing the network manager and end users a quick, convenient tool to bring a site into compliance with software license provisions. KeyAudit scans mounted disks for all application programs and saves its audit reports in a file. By structuring the file as tab delimited text, KeyAudit has the advantage of enabling easy analysis with any spreadsheet or database program.

Typically, a network manager or end user runs KeyAudit to inspect a disk. Some program files are then transformed to keyed versions and others are deleted in order to maintain strict license compliance. The completed audit report may be appended to a shared audit database for later analysis with any spreadsheet or database program.

In order to learn where software is installed throughout a site, a network manager might request that users append an audit of their disks to a central database. A file server could be used to store the site-wide audit document so users can simply double click on the document to have their own information appended. An occasional scan of users' disks would provide an opportunity to rein in or delete any uncontrolled program copies, while at the same time documenting license compliance efforts.

KeyAudit was designed to be easy to use for infrequent or first-time audits, yet powerful enough to be useful for complex audits on very large computer networks. When you first launch KeyAudit, press the return or enter key to immediately start an audit of your locally mounted disks. Upon completion of the audit scan, KeyAudit displays all of the applications found. If your computer is connected to a KeyServer on your network, any uncontrolled copies of programs for which your KeyServer has a key will be selected in the audit window. You can then simply click "Key Selected Programs" to instantly bring these programs under KeyServer's control.

Program Categories

KeyAudit divides programs into four categories, although all four categories might not be represented on all disks. These four categories are described below:

Key Supported Such a program is not under KeyServer's control, but the KeyServer you're connected to knows how to control the license for this program. More than likely, other people on the network have copies of this program that are managed by your KeyServer. A program in this category can be transformed into a keyed copy by selecting it and then clicking "Key Selected Programs". When the Key Supported checkbox is dimmed, it is an indication that the network connection to your KeyServer has failed and should be checked for problems.

Keyed Program Keyed Programs require permission from a KeyServer in order to run.

Not Keyed Programs in this category are not managed by your KeyServer. These might be programs that are personally owned or that are licensed for an individual's exclusive use, or they might be internally developed or site licensed.

Both the Key Supported and Not Keyed categories indicate a program copy that is not under KeyServer control. Key Supported means your KeyServer has keyed some other copy of this program, so KeyAudit can transform this copy. Not Keyed means that the KeyServer in use is not currently managing the license for the program in question. Programs in this latter category cannot be transformed into keyed programs until the KeyServer administrator uses KeyConfigure to install control for that application on the KeyServer.

Special Program By default, special programs include KeyAudit and other programs that change behavior when run at a KeyServer site. Contact Sassafras Software to learn how KeyAudit can be customized to list other programs in the Special Program category.

Each program is placed in exactly one of the above categories. Make sure that you are connected to your KeyServer before running KeyAudit. Check that KeyAccess is installed, and that it is configured to connect with the KeyServer. When KeyAudit is not connected to a KeyServer, the Key Supported checkbox is dimmed and programs that should appear in the Key Supported category appear in the Not Keyed category.

Quick Audit Option

When KeyAudit is run on a computer that does not have KeyAccess (KeyServer's client software) installed, it assumes that there is no KeyServer at the site. At a site without a KeyServer, there is no possibility of transforming applications to KeyServer controlled versions so the "Key Supported" item will be dimmed. It is also unlikely that any "Keyed Programs" will be discovered by KeyAudit's careful inspection of program files, since without KeyServer, they can't launch. With only "Not Keyed" and "Special Program" as likely categories, there is little reason to open each application file for a careful inspection, so KeyAudit performs a Quick Audit by default.

On a computer without KeyAccess, hold down the option key while clicking on the "Quick Audit" button to instruct KeyAudit to fully inspect all program files to see if any are keyed. On a computer that does have KeyAccess installed, KeyAudit's "Audit" button will perform a full inspection of application files, even when there is no network connection to an active KeyServer. You can override this default by holding down the option key while clicking on the "Audit" button. KeyAudit will then perform a "Quick Audit". Quick Audit is not available in the Windows version of KeyAudit.

When KeyAudit is not connected to a KeyServer, the Key Supported checkbox is dimmed and programs that should appear in the Key Supported category appear in the Not Keyed category. If a KeyServer is running on the network, make sure that you are connected to it before running KeyAudit. Check that KeyAccess is installed, and that it is configured to connect with the KeyServer. In order to actually transform programs into keyed versions, KeyAudit must be able to get its key from KeyServer.

Audit Window

KeyAudit's main window contains the list of all applications found on a disk, and also gives quick access to KeyAudit's features. The upper part of the audit window is divided into three areas. The Show/Save/Print area controls which programs are shown in the window, saved in an audit file, and printed when you choose Print from the file menu. The Auditing area controls which volumes are included in subsequent audits, and includes the Audit button to initiate an audit. The Actions area has two buttons which are used to help bring your disk into compliance with software licenses. These areas are pictured below:

If there is not a KeyServer on your network, or if KeyAccess is not installed on the computer on which KeyAudit is running, the "Key Supported" and "Key Selected Programs" buttons are dimmed.

By default, KeyAudit sorts the programs in the audit list according to category. You can change the order in which programs are displayed by clicking on the "Application", "Volume", or "Category" headings. The effective sort order is always underlined.

Below the audit list KeyAudit displays the number of programs found in the audit, as well as the number of programs that are currently shown in the list. To view all programs, check all of the available boxes in the Show/Save/Print area. If you only wish to see programs from one category, check the corresponding box only, and turn the other check boxes off.

For Macintosh users running System 7, there is a quick way to turn Balloon help on and off. In the lower right corner of the audit window is the Balloon Help icon, with the words "Help Is On" or "Help Is Off" as appropriate. Click this icon to toggle Balloon Help on and off. KeyAudit supports Balloon Help for all of its menus and for the audit, information, and save options windows.

Performing an Audit

Before starting an audit, make sure that you have turned on the "Local Volumes" and "Remote Volumes" buttons as appropriate. You may also want to insert or eject specific volumes before beginning the audit. For example, you should eject any CD-ROMs in order to avoid a lengthy audit of a disk whose contents will never change.

If the Local Volumes button is on, then the audit will include the disks connected to the computer. If the Remote Volumes button is similarly turned on, the audit will include network volumes. There must always be at least one of these buttons turned on, and both may be turned on at the same time as well.

Once you have selected which volumes to include in the audit, click the "Audit" button. This initiates a new audit scan that replaces the previous audit. Note that the settings of buttons in the "Show/Save/Print" have no effect on the audit; they only affect which programs are displayed in the audit window and may be changed after the audit is complete.

Getting Program Information

KeyAudit knows more about a program than it displays in the main audit window. There are a few different ways to get at this information. First, to quickly determine where a program is on a disk, hold down the option key as you click on the program's entry in the audit list. This activates a pop-up menu of the folders in which the program is located, along with the official name of the program (if KeyAudit knows the official name). The version of the program is also displayed in the pop-up menu (if it can be determined by KeyAudit). Choose one of the folders or the program name to display the item in the Finder. Choose the program version in the menu to display the program's Get Info window in the Finder.

Another way to get more information on a program is to double-click on it in the audit list. The window pictured below appears, showing the program's official name and publisher (if known), category, location on your disk, date of creation and last changes, and version.

This information window also contains two buttons to help bring a disk into compliance with software licenses. The "View In Finder" button is a quick way to locate a program on a disk. When you click on this button, Finder comes to the foreground and displays the program. This way you can easily locate the program's support files.

The second button, "Key This Program", is analogous to the main audit window's "Key Selected Programs" button, but it only keys the program displayed in the information window, and not the entire selection of programs. This button is only available for programs in the "Key Supported" category.

If some of the information about a program is not available in the information window, this means KeyAudit's internal database does not include information about the program.

One way to "teach" KeyAudit about more programs is described below, under Extending KeyAudit.

Saving an Audit

Once you have performed an audit of a disk, you might want to save a record of it in order to analyze the audit with a spreadsheet or database program. You can either save the audit in a new file, or append the audit to an existing audit file (in order to combine multiple audits).

To save your audit, choose Save As from the File menu, then type a name for the audit and click Save in the Open File dialog box. The Save Audit Options dialog appears, in which you can tailor the contents of the audit to your needs. In the upper box, choose which categories you want to save in the audit file. Below that are options for what information is saved for each program.

Audit files are text-only documents, with one program on each line and with columns separated by a tab character. The columns contain the following information, and appear in the audit file only if you check the proper box in the Save Audit Options dialog:

Audit Date The current date. This date will be the same for all programs saved in your audit. It is useful for when you save many audits in the same audit file.

Program Name The official program name (if known by KeyAudit). For example, if you have a program file named "PageMaker" on your disk, the official name is actually "Adobe PageMaker". This field is useful for determining where a particular program is on multiple disks, even when the program is named differently on each disk.

Volume Name The disk on which the program is located. This is useful for determining if the particular copy of the program is located on a shared network or local disk.

Program Category The audit category to which the program belongs. This is always useful in saved audits so that you can determine if this copy of the program is managed by KeyServer, or if it is an unmanaged copy.

Path Name The exact folder location of the program. The entire list of enclosing folders appears in this field, starting with the name of the disk and ending with the name of the program as it appears on the disk.

Publisher Name The name of the company that publishes the program. This is useful when it comes time to contact a company about support or purchasing information.

Program Version The version of the program on your disk. This is useful for distinguishing between two different versions of the same program. KeyAudit only shows version numbers for those program files that contain properly formatted version information.

User Name The name of the user of the computer on which KeyAudit is running. The name is the same for all programs listed in the audit. This field is useful for determining which user has a particular program, if the audit file contains audits for multiple users.

Custom This field contains whatever information you type in the adjacent text box. The text you type will appear in every entry of your audit. On Windows, this field is initially empty. On a Macintosh, the default value for this field is the Macintosh Name entered in the Sharing Setup control panel.

Once you have specified the information to be saved in the audit file, choose whether you want to save the audit as a text file, or ina compressed format, readable only by KeyAudit. If save as text, the file contains text only, which means any word processor, spreadsheet, or database program can also open it. Furthermore, if the audit is saved as text, the Macintosh version of KeyAudit can read the audit, and you can produce combined reports for both Windows and Macintosh users.

Once you have specified the information to be saved in the audit file, use the "Open With" pop-up menu to select the application with which you want to open the file. The application you choose is opened when you double-click on the audit file, but the file contains text only, which means any word processor, spreadsheet, or database program can also open it. When you save an audit as a KeyAudit document, you cannot use KeyAudit to overwrite the audit file, but you can still append new audit information to this file. The choice you make here will be remembered for the next time you save an audit.

You can also append new audits onto existing audit files. Choose one of the Append items from the File menu. The Save Audit Options dialog box appears with the column boxes properly set up. If you save your audit as a KeyAudit document, double-clicking on it will open KeyAudit, and subsequent Append commands will save the audit to the end of the audit file. For details, see the section Collecting a Site-Wide Audit.

If some of the information about a program is not available in the saved audit, this means KeyAudit's internal database does not include information about the program.

One way to "teach" KeyAudit about more programs is described below, under Extending KeyAudit.

Printing an Audit

To print an audit directly from within KeyAudit, first select which categories you wish to print, and then choose Print from the File menu. KeyAudit will print only those programs that are shown in the audit window. This is a simple way to get a hard copy of the list that appears in the audit window, but it is only the minimum of information.

To get a more complete printout, save the audit to a file and then use a database or spreadsheet program to format and print whatever information you require.

Extending KeyAudit

The information window for each program and saved audit files contain two important pieces of information for certain programs: the official program name and the program publisher. On its own, KeyAudit can only include this information for a limited number of popular applications. In order to "teach" KeyAudit about other programs, you can obtain Apple's Compatibility Checker 2.0 and place it in the same folder as KeyAudit. When you launch KeyAudit, it searches for this program. KeyAudit then uses the Compatibility Checker's internal database of programs to find information about the programs in your audit. When Apple releases a minor revision of the Compatibility Checker, replace your older copy with the new version and KeyAudit will automatically use the updated information. The Compatibility Checker is available from several sources. It comes with any purchase of System 7.1, and can also be obtained on AppleLink (look in Software Sampler: Apple SW Updates: Macintosh: Utilities: Compatibility Checker 2.0) and via FTP on the Internet at ftp.apple.com (look in /dts/mac/sys.soft/compatibility-checker-2-0.hqx). Before you download the Compatibility Checker, Apple requires that you read their general software license agreement, which can be found both on AppleLink (look in Software Sampler: Apple SW Updates: Apple Computer Inc. Software License Agreement) and on ftp.apple.com (look in /dts/help/software-license.txt).

Collecting a Site-Wide Audit

To collect audit data for all of your networked computers, place the appropriate versions of KeyAudit on a file server where all required users at your site have read and write privileges. Save an audit document on the file server in the same folder and be sure to select only the fields you are interested in. Save the audit file as a KeyAudit document (choose KeyAudit from the pop-up menu in the Save Audit Options dialog box). Instruct your users to double click on this central audit document so that the results of their personal audit are automatically appended to it.

An audit saved as a KeyAudit document a special property: KeyAudit will not allow new audits to overwrite the existing file, audits can only be appended to the file.

Make a shortcut to the KeyAudit program and then edit the shortcut properties so the target specification for the shortcut is followed by the option switch -s, and then the path to the audit document. If you also want the audit to start immediately and run invisibly you can add the additional options -a and -i.

Anti-Virus & File Compression Software

The process of transforming an application to a keyed version may trigger complaints from some anti-virus programs. KeyAudit tests for virus checker compatibility when it first launches, and posts a message warning of any possible conflicts. In some cases, it may be necessary to turn off virus checking while KeyAudit is transforming programs into keyed versions.

Some file compression software changes application files into data files. Depending on how the Operating System is patched by the compression software, such data files may or may not be recognized as application software, and thus compressed programs may not appear in an audit report. Other file compression schemes wrap a decompression application around a compressed file and may cause keyed software to appear as unkeyed, thus inviting the possibility of keying an application twice. You should test the behavior of KeyAudit carefully when using any compression program. Call Sassafras Software for more detailed information on compression programs and how they may interact with KeyAudit and other software.