Command Line Interface

Network Inventory Advisor can be easily manipulated using command-line instructions and calls. It’s another great way to integrate Network Inventory Advisor into your current auditing solution, accounting system or CMDB. By default, all command-line operations are executed by configuring Network Inventory Advisor and launching it’s graphical user interface according to the configuration parameters set. However, if you don’t want the GUI to appear, you can use the silent mode.

Usage syntax

Click parameter you would like to be explained:

iadvisor.exe /scan=network|ip|name|iprange 
             [[/network="network_name"] 
             [/export="csv|csv2|html|acsql|mssql|mysql|tsv|xml|pdf"]
             [/path=export_path] 
             [/exportwhat=all|"summary|soft|hard|other|summaryall|softall|hardall|alertsall"]
             [/report=all|"details|tabular|...|lowspace|service|av|noav|users"]
             [/username=name] [/password=pasw] [/log=name_file]
             [/scanthreads=X]
             [/silent] [/help|/?]]

Parameters explained

/network Network name to be scanned. This parameter was introduced in version 4.0 
         with the introduction of the full-featured networks management.

/scan=[what] It's a mandatory command-line parameter which tells Network Inventory Advisor to 
             start scanning in command-line mode. If this command is missing, the rest of
             command-line parameters will be ignored. This command has to be the first one
             in the row. You can specify network names, IP-adresses and IP ranges in the
             same command-line. However, you should pay attention that these sub-commands
             are specified separately, as they cannot be joined with "|". Sample:

             Wrong: /scan=JOHN|192.168.0.55
             Correct: /scan=JOHN /scan=192.168.0.55

             Exception: you can omit "/scan" parameter in case you just want to build a report. 
             In this case you can use the "/report" parameter in the command-line, and "/scan" 
             will default to "/scan=network" automatically.

/scan=network Can only be used once in a line. Tells Network Inventory Advisor to scan all nodes
              which are already present in the network tree. 

/scan=ip Can be used repeatedly, like the following:

         /scan=192.168.1.1 /scan=192.168.1.33

         Tells Network Inventory Advisor to scan specific IP addresses. Will add new nodes if these
         IP addresses were not present in the network tree yet, or will create new snapshots for
         nodes which are already in the list.

/scan=name The same as IP parameter: can also be used multiple times consecutively,
           acts the same as IP, but scans nodes by their DNS/Network names.                    

/scan="ip|ip" Tells Network Inventory Advisor to scan an IP range. Note, that you have
              to control the correct format of the IP range yourself, whereas the first IP
              address used has to precede the second IP address listed. The following
              sample is the correct IP range which will be scanned:

              /scan="192.168.1.1|192.168.1.254"

              You can specify several IP ranges to be scanned consecutively:

              /scan="192.168.1.1|192.168.1.254" /scan="192.168.2.25|192.168.2.40"

/export (optional) Use this parameter to export inventory data into a certain format after
                   scanning. Please, note: only the newly collected data will be exported.
                   In case of a scanning error, the node may be omitted when exporting
                   inventory data. This parameter specifies only the format of the exported
                   data. What exactly will be exported is configured by "/exportwhat"
                   optional parameter. The export format can be one of the following: 
                   csv|csv2|html|acsql|mssql|mysql|tsv|xml|pdf

                   Syntax: /export=acsql

                   Each format corresponds to the corresponding format, csv2 stands for CSV
                   for comma-separated values with semicolons, acsql stands for SQL script
                   for MS Access.

/path Export path. If not specified, Network Inventory Advisor installation directory will be used,
                   where the new subfolder "export" and the folder named after date and time of
                   executed scanning in it will be created. Optional parameter. You can specify
                   a local or network path. If your user account has enough rights to write in
                   that folder, export will be successful.

/exportwhat This parameter specifies what exactly should be exported after the new scan is
            completed. This can be one or several of the following for network summary:

            summaryall - exports "Network summary" 
            softall - exports "All Software" report
            hardall - exports "All Hardware" report
            alertsall - exports the list of all network alerts

            These 4 values can only be applied when Network Inventory Advisor is told to scan the
            whole network:

            Sample: /scan=network /exportwhat=softall 

            This can also be one or several of the following for per-node reports:

            summary - exports each node's "Summary" report
            soft - exports each node's "Software" report
            hard - exports each node's "Hardware" report
            other - exports each node's "Other" details

            Sample: /exportwhat="summary|soft|hard"

            This will export "Node Summary" and "Software" and "Hardware" tabs of each node in
            your network. Per-node reports can also be used when scanning the whole network
            (/scan=network), this will result in exporting individual reports that you specify
            for every node in it.                     

            If you want to specify that all of the reports need to be  exported, you can use the
            alternative "all" parameter: /exportwhat=all

            Note: combining several values needs to be done in quotes.

/report The optional parameter which tells Network Inventory Advisor to build a certain report 
        after the scan is complete. Can have one or several or all of the following values:

        details - compile a detailed report (the last data fields used in the GUI will be included)
        tabular - compile a tabular report (the last data fields used in the GUI will be included)
        inventory - compile the "Network inventory report" (pre-defined)
        inventory2 - compile the "Network inventory list by computer brand" (pre-defined)
        summary - compile the "Assets configuration summary" (pre-defined)
        diskusage - compile the "Hard drives usage report" (pre-defined) 
        lowspace - compile the "Low hard drive space report" (pre-defined)
        services - compile the "Report on all your assets services" (pre-defined)
        av - compile the "Computers with antivirus report" (pre-defined)
        noav - compile the "Computers without antivirus report" (pre-defined)
        users - compile the "Active users report" (pre-defined)
        swchanges - compile the "Software changes" report (pre-defined)
        swnode - compile the "Software -> by nodes" report (pre-defined)
        swtitle - compile the "Software -> by software title" report (pre-defined)
        swver - compile the "Software -> by versions" report (pre-defined)
        swaudit - compile the "Software -> by serial numbers" report (pre-defined)

        Please, see other articles in this knowledgebase for details on data field sets used in
        pre-defined reports.

        If you want to specify that all of the reports need to be compiled, you can use the
        alternative "all" parameter: 

        /report=all  

        Note: combining several values needs to be done in quotes:

        Sample: /report="av|noav"

/username=name This paramater allows you to specify the default username to be used when
               scanning the network.

/password=pasw You can specify the default password to be used when scanning the network.

               Note: username and password have to be specified simultaneously.

/log=name_file Optionally, you can store each scanning session called from the command-line
               into a file, to be able to monitor the errors and scanning progress. Please, note
               that the file will be overwritten every time you use the same name/path.

/scanthreads=X Specify the maximum number of simultaneous threads which will be used during
              this scan.

/silent Don't show GUI of Network Inventory Advisor at all. It's highly recommended to
        enable logging in this case.

/help or /? Use this parameter separately to call the hint.
.updated: April 15, 2014 author: jeff