Overview of software catalog imports

A software catalog is a collection of information about software products and their components. Control Desk includes a Software Catalog application into which you can import data from the IBM-provided Software Catalog and catalogs created by Asset Discovery for z/OS®.

You can select from the following options to import software catalog data:
  • You can import the software catalog data provided monthly by IBM®:
  • If you purchased and installed Asset Discovery for z/OS, you can import software catalog data for mainframe software.
Perform the following tasks for the appropriate software catalog repository tool:
  • Install the tool that you use to maintain your software catalog repository.
  • Collect and organize a repository of software data.
  • Export or publish the data in a format that can be imported into Control Desk.

If you are importing the software catalog provided by IBM, download the file from the IBM website.

To import the software catalog data, use the integration components provided with Control Desk and the integration framework features included in the product.

Control Desk provides the following predefined content that facilitates software catalog data imports:
  • An adapter in the Domains application
  • Predefined content for software catalog imports in the integration framework applications
  • Predefined content in the Cron Task Setup application for scheduling the import
Before you can use the integration components to import software data, you have to perform the following tasks:
  • Install and configure Control Desk.
  • Configure servers to maximize performance for software data imports.
  • Configure the integration framework applications to define parameters required for your software catalog imports.
  • Configure the Cron Task Setup application to define parameters and set up schedules that suit your business needs.

After you configured Control Desk to import catalog data, activate the cron task for importing the data. Control Desk then imports the catalog data using the schedule that you defined.

Parent topic: Importing software catalogs

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