Implementing the Inventory Server Roles

This section describes the following roles that you assign for a server:

• Root Server
• Root Server with Workstations
• Leaf Server
• Leaf Server with Database
• Intermediate Server
• Intermediate Server with Database
• Intermediate Server with Database and Workstations
• Standalone Server

Root Server

The Root Server has the following characteristics:

• This server is the topmost server in the inventory server tree hierarchy.
• The Root Server has an Inventory database.

  The Inventory database at the Root Server contains the inventory information for all lower-level servers. At the Root Server level, you can view complete inventory information.

  In the following illustration, a Leaf Server connects to the Intermediate Server, and these Intermediate Servers are attached to the Root Server.

  
  

Root Server with Workstations

The Root Server with Workstations has the following characteristics:

• This server is the topmost server in the inventory server tree hierarchy.
• The Root Server with Workstations is also an inventory server with many workstations attached to it. There are workstations residing on a LAN.
• This server maintains an Inventory database.

The following illustration depicts a Root Server with Workstations:

Intermediate Server

The Intermediate Server has the following characteristics:

• The server moves the scan information to the next-level server or to the Root Server.
• This server does not have workstations attached to it and does not have an Inventory database.
• An Intermediate Server acts as a staging server for the lower-level Leaf Servers.
• There can be one or more Intermediate Servers.

The following illustration depicts Intermediate Servers:

There are many Leaf Servers and Intermediate servers at different levels. The Intermediate server is a staging server for uploading the scan information to the next-level server. The last Intermediate Server is attached to the topmost Root Server. This scenario is typical if there are many Leaf Servers in different geographical locations. All the Leaf Servers move the scan data to the Intermediate Server.

In some scenarios, the Leaf Server connects to the Intermediate Server over a WAN.

Intermediate Server with Database

The Intermediate Server with Database has the following characteristics:

• The server moves the scan information to the next-level Intermediate Server or the Root Server.
• The server has an Inventory database.
• An Intermediate Server acts as a staging server for the lower-level Leaf Servers.
• There can be one or more Intermediate Servers.

In the scenario illustrated in the following figure, there are many Leaf Servers attached to the Intermediate Server. A consolidated Inventory database of all Leaf Servers is available at the Intermediate Server level.

Intermediate Server with Workstations

The Intermediate Server with Workstations has the following characteristics:

• The server moves the scan information to the next-level Intermediate Server or to the Root Server.
• There are many workstations attached to this server.
• The server does not have an Inventory database.
• There can be one or more Intermediate Servers.
• An Intermediate Server acts as an intermediate server for the lower-level Leaf Servers.

Intermediate Server with Database and Workstations

The Intermediate Server with Database and Workstations has the following characteristics:

• The server moves the scan information to the next-level Intermediate Server or to the Root Server.
• There are many workstations attached to this server.
• The server also maintains an Inventory database.
• There can be one or more Intermediate Servers.
• An Intermediate Server acts as a staging server for the lower-level Leaf Servers.

Leaf Server

The Leaf Server has the following characteristics:

• The server is an inventory server with workstations attached to it.
• The server is at the lowest level in the hierarchy.
• This server moves the scan data to the next-level Intermediate Server or to a Root Server.
• A simple Leaf Server does not have an Inventory database. An Inventory database is not required for the inventory site because there may be only a few workstations attached to the server.

Leaf Server with Database

The Leaf Server with Database has the following characteristics:

• The server is an inventory server with many workstations attached to it.
• This server moves the scan data to the next-level server.
• This server has an Inventory database. You can assign a server as a Leaf Server with Database to maintain the inventory information for workstations specific to the inventory site.

Standalone Server

The Standalone Server has the following characteristics:

• This server has workstations attached to it.
• The server maintains the Inventory database.
• There is no roll-up of scan information and there are no requirements for Intermediate Servers and the Root Server.