A software audit tells you what applications are installed on the selected Agent machines and allows you to audit licenses. This allows you to determine whether or not the number of installations of particular applications have exceeded your licensing agreements. The Software Reference List is a text file that contains application information for use in software audits. This file is referenced in netOctopus' General Settings (see figure). Clicking the Browse button brings up a standard Open dialog which lets you select any text file. A sample software reference list is included in the \netOctopus Admin\Additional Utilities folder.

A valid software reference list must be a tab-delimited text file, containing one line for each type of file to be audited. Lines must be divided by return characters. Each line must contain the following items:

• Creator Code: for Macs only, leave empty for Windows applications
• Type Code: for Macs only, leave empty for Windows applications
• Status: status can be -1, 1, or 2
  -1 = no status
  1 = authorized or legal software
  2 = unauthorized or illegal software
  
• Number of Copies: number of licenses you own for the application, enter a 0 if there is no limit to the number of licenses for this application
• File Name: name of executable for application to be audited or metered

The software reference list may also contain comment lines. Comment lines begin with two slashes (//) and end with the next return. netO disregards comment lines when parsing the software reference list. Here is a short sample software reference list for PC applications:

// DEMO SOFTWARE REFERENCE LIST

//Creator	[TAB]	Type	[TAB]	Status	[TAB]	NumCopies	[TAB]	Name[RETURN]
//
				-1		0		acrord32.exe
				1		5		excel.exe
				1		1		flash.exe
				2		-1		napster.exe
				1		1		netoctopus.exe
				-1		0		netscape.exe
				-1		0		notepad.exe
				2		-1		quake.exe
				1		5		winword.exe
				1		5		winzip.exe

//
// -1 no status
// 1 approved or legal software
// 2 unauthorized or illegal software
// enter a 0 for NumCopies if unlimited licenses

We recommend that you edit the existing sample software reference list in the \netOctopus Admin\Additional Utilities folder. The preceding examples are meant merely to be used as a starting point from which to develop your own. To get a more comprehensive software reference list for your particular environment, we recommend that you perform a Find Files command on all of your Agent machines for EXE files. Export this information to as a tab-delimited text file and then import it into Excel for editing so that you may add status and licensing information.