VMware host serial numbers missing

My BFI gets VMware host information from vCenter because the hosts do not have an OS. The serial numbers are not reported. Does anyone else have this problem?

There is an additional setting that you need to flip within the Advanced Server Settings (Management -> Advanced Server Settings), it’s called vmman_collecting_host_serials_enabled. Once you enable it, it collects the data via the VM Managers Connections, however, that data is not visible anywhere which is a real shame! If you physically open the .xml files that the VM manager tools prepare for uploads you will see the serial numbers in there so, it clearly collects but it just not displayed in the UI, nor accessible via RestAPI. I did submit an RFE for this a while back but it hasn’t been committed, if you feel you need this as well - vote for it and who knows maybe it’s committed to soon.

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Try looking at the Hardware Inventory report.

In this report, the various “Computer …” columns return data about BigFix computers, whether physical or virtual. The various “Server …” columns return data about the computers’ underlying physical host data (sample data from my environment):

  • Server ID : Dell Inc. hostname.domain.tld
  • Server Serial Number : 5DGY842
  • Server Vendor : Dell Inc.
  • Server Model : PowerEdge R430
  • Server Cores : 12

The HW Inventory report is exactly where it should be; however, every Server ID related to a Cluster Name is missing its serial number. Serial numbers for physical assets are a MUST for every asset management system. Unless we are missing a configuration setting, this should be a fix instead of an enhancement.

Have you followed @ageorgiev advice? Look in Management: Advanced Server Settings for the following parameter: vmman_collecting_host_serials_enabled

Collect serial numbers of VM manager hosts
Specifies whether serial numbers of VM manager hosts are collected for VM managers from which data is collected by the VM Manager Tool. Available for Hyper-V and VMware 5.0 and higher. The option is disabled by default. The setting applies only to the central VM Manager Tool.

I don’t have that privilege level but will pass along to my BigFix admin. Seems strange that it would be disabled by default.

Once you enable it, it collects the data via the VM Managers Connections, however, that data is not visible anywhere which is a real shame!

So it doesn’t populate in the Serial Number column on the HW Inventory report?

@itsam, @ageorgiev I have configured the parameter vmman_collecting_host_serials_enabled = true in my environment, and, as noted above, I see serial numbers for the hosts in the Hardware Inventory report…

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Maybe it was the version that we were at the time (it was back in beginning of the year), I hadn’t looked at it recently. I can see the data now within the “Server Serial Number” within Hardware Inventory but what we were really after just “Hardware Report” - i.e. we wanted to see only the physical machines regardless if the data comes from VM Managers (as VMware hosts) or the agents (for Hyper-Vs and others that are supported), and not really care about the VMs at all on them, and that does not seem to be present today. It still approaches it “per endpoint” and displays all the VMs.