Programs Window

Concept

The Programs window lists all of the programs known to your KeyServer. This list is the starting point from which you configure management of the software installed on client computers. The list of programs forms the basis for all license control, usage monitoring, and audit reporting. Programs are automatically added to this list as the KeyAccess client monitors software usage and performs audits. You can categorize programs into folders and use filters to focus your attention on the set of programs that you are interested in managing.

Discovery

There are three ways that programs can be added to the Programs Window. When KeyAccess reports a launch of a previously unknown program, this program is added to the list and will appear in pink to show that it has been newly discovered. Likewise, programs found during a software audit are added to the list and marked in pink. Discovered, pink items are assigned the default management action, and you should periodically go through these pink items and either acknowledge the default action or change the management options as appropriate. Once a discovered item has been acknowledged by you its color changes from pink to black.

• KeyConfigure refreshes the program list each time it logs on to KeyServer and whenever you click the Refresh button at the bottom of the window. If you are running KeyConfigure and new programs are discovered, this button will become red to indicate that you should refresh the window.

You can manually add to the list of known programs by dragging the program from the desktop into the Programs window. In this case the program will not be marked in pink, although it will adopt the default management action. If the program is already known by your KeyServer, the window will scroll to reveal the program's entry. Also, whenever you place a program under “keyed” control, an entry for that specific keyed version is added to the Programs window. In this case, the management action will be set to controlled.

KeyServer will begin to gather information about a program once it is added to the list. From its entry in the this list you can change the program's management options, view identifying information about the program, and access the list of computers on which the program is installed.

Program Families, Variants, & Versions

KeyServer collects information about each distinct version of a program. For simplicity in managing programs, all the versions of a program are grouped together in a single “program family”. Program families can be subdivided into “program variants” in order to fine-tune management of the program family's separate versions.

Program Family

By default, multiple versions of the same program are grouped into a single “family” in the program list. All program files that have the same "program Identifier" are considered to be in the same family. On Windows, the program identifier is based on the file property called “Original File Name”. On Macintosh, the identifier is the four character application signature plus the four character file type (usually “APPL”). For KeyServer purposes, Windows and Macintosh programs are always considered to be in different families (e.g., all versions of Excel on Windows are in one family, while all versions of Excel on Macintosh are in a different family). The two families are distinguished by platform icons in the program list.

The initial name for a program is taken from the particular program file that was discovered first in the family. On Windows the name comes from the “Product Description” property in the Version information. If this property does not exist, the file name is used (displayed in italic font). On Mac, the file name is used. In either case, KeyConfigure attempts to strip off any version suffix (numeral characters) in order to name the family in a generic way.

Program Version

A program family contains all the known versions of a program. The version is determined directly from the Version resource of an executable file as assigned by the developer of the program. If the developer does not assign a version, KeyServer will record it as version 0.0.0.0.

For the vast majority of programs, the family identifier and the complete version number fully identify an executable. There are some cases, however, where different executable files within a family have the same version number. In these cases, the size of the executable file can be used to further distinguish different versions of a program.

Program Variant

Often you will want to manage all versions within a program family as a single unit, without making a distinction between the versions. However, KeyConfigure does give you a way when necessary to split the family into several “variants” so that they may be assigned different actions or otherwise managed separately. Generally, only the first one or two digits from a version number will be used to distinguish separate variants from a program family, although you do have the option to use all digits of the version (and even the executable) .

When a family is split into separate variants, each variant is listed separately in the Programs window. Even though the Name for several variants may be the same, when taken together with the Version field each variant will be uniquely identified and can be managed independently. For this reason, the list in the Programs window might more accurately be called the “program variants list”.

When a program family has not been split into separate variants, the Version field will not show a version number. If more than one distinct version has been discovered for the program family, the version column will display the text “all” in a light grey font. Oherwise, with just one discovered version, the version column for the family will be left blank.

For example, suppose the FileMaker program for Windows has been discovered by KeyServer. Rather than treat all versions in the same way, you may want to treat FileMaker versions 5.x.x.x differently from FileMaker versions 6.x.x.x. You can double-click on the FileMaker item to expose its details window where the Actions pane lets you slide the version mask right to include one digit of version information. Then the two variants will appear in the Programs window and the version column will display “5.x” for one variant and “6.x” for the other.

Program Actions

Every program listed in the Programs window is either Controlled, Logged, or Ignored. The action which is configured for any particular program determines what KeyAccess will do when a user attempts to use the program.

• Controlled (blue box icon) - Programs which are set to Controlled can only be run if a License permits it. In addition, the usage of Controlled programs (and the Licenses which enable them) is always recorded in the Usage database. If the blue icon for a controlled program has a slash through it, then even though it is marked as controlled, there is currently no license controlling it - anyone attempting to run the program will be denied!
  • If the slash is black, you can remedy this inconsistency by simply dragging the program item onto one of the license items in the Licenses Window (perhaps you will first want to create a new license for control just of this program).
  • If the slash is red, this means that it is impossible for KeyServer to enable the program to launch because it is a keyed program, and the necessary key is missing from the Program Database. In order to re-enable the program, you would first need an offline keys file which contains the key. The key can be copied from the offline file and pasted into the Programs window - the slash will change from red to black and you can then proceed as above. Note: red slash items typically occur when KeyServer upgrade instructions have not been followed and then the “orphaned” keyed programs are discovered through an audit.
  
  
  
• Logged (yellow dot icon) - Programs which are set to Logged will have usage information recorded (like controlled programs), but usage cannot be controlled. That is, the launch of Logged program will never be denied. Setting a program to Logged is similar to controlling it with a Site License, but there are a few differences.
  • Logged programs can always be run and will continue to run until they are quit.
  • A program controlled by a Site License can be configured such that it is not allowed to be launched offline. This would mean that even though there are unlimited licenses available, the program could not be run when the server can't be reached.
  • A Site License can be configured such that it is not Detachable, which would mean that if a user launched the program, then became disconnected from the KeyServer, they would have to quit the program.
  • A Site License can be restricted by a Group requirement. E.g. the group might be defined by network Location specifying the IP range of the "site".
  • There are situations where a logged program will have a launch event in the usage database, but the quit event gets lost and is never entered. Controlled programs will always have quit events, unless the server crashes.
    
    
• Ignored (green dot icon) - Programs which are set to Ignored do not generate any network traffic and usage information is not recorded (except for a last usage time reported as part of an audit). If a program is changed to Ignored from Logged or Controlled, then usage events will no longer be added to the Usage database. Previously recorded usage events will remain in place. You should set as many programs as possible to Ignored, to make the Usage database smaller. System Utilities, Screen savers, and Control Panels are probably not very interesting, and can be Ignored.

Default Action

KeyServer assigns a “default action” to each newly discovered program. The pink font color indicates that the default action has never been explicitly confirmed (or changed) by an administrator. When you drag a program line item onto one of the “action items” (blue-controlled, yellow-logged, green-ignored), then the font will change to black, indicating that you have made an explicit decision on which action to apply.

Organizing the Programs List

The Display column on the left of the Programs window is used to restrict the program list on the right to a selected subset. When first opened, the default selection lists all program items with newly discovered items appearing in pink font and sorted to the top. Clicking on the double-check icon that appears between the Display pane and the Program list pane will bring the list view back to this default state.

Context Menu Actions

Right-clicking a Program in the Programs Window allows you to change how the program is treated by KeyServer (Ignored/Logged/Controlled and whether to audit), or to access information related to the program.

• Show Users only appears in the menu for controlled programs. It will bring up a window showing all current users of the program.
• Show Audit brings up a window which lists all computer that have this program installed. This option is only available if the program is included in the Audit.
• Show Family brings up a window which lists all variants which share the same identifier (usually this means they are logically the same program, but some may be keyed, or have a different variant version - e.g. 2.x, 3.x, and 3.4.5 keyed).
• Acknowledge only appears in the menu for newly discovered (pink) programs. It will change the status of the program to acknowledged, moving the program from the Discovered folder to the Uncategorized folder. Note that if you are still looking at the default sort (where pink items show up on top), this will cause the item to “disappear” as it moves down into the black items section.
• Exclude from Audit / Include in Audit - These two items let you toggle whether or not the program is included in audits. If it is included, you will be able to see a list of computers where the program is installed. If it is excluded, you will not.
• Controlled sets the action for the program to controlled, and will bring the Create License dialog to allow you to configure a license for the program.
• Logged sets the action for the program to logged.
• Ignored sets the action for the program to Ignored.

Drag and Drop Actions

Programs in the Programs Window can be Dragged and Dropped to the following locations:

• Onto any of the three action icons in the left hand side of the Programs Window (Controlled, Logged, or Ignored). This sets the action of the program, just as selecting the action from the context menu would.
• Onto any folder in the left hand side of the Programs Window. This will add the program to the folder. Each program is a member of exactly one folder.
• Onto any license in the Licenses Window. This sets the action for the program to Controlled (if it is not already), and sets the program to be controlled by the license. Note: a controlled program can be controlled by more than one license - the controlling licenses are listed in its Program Details window (under the licenses tab).
• Into the Programs list of any License Details window. This sets the action for the program to Controlled (if it is not already), and sets the program to be controlled by the license.

Related Topics