Use > Inventory Tools > SAI Editor Overview > Application Teaching Overview > Using Rules to Teach Applications

Using Rules to Teach Applications

Overview

Rules are used to teach applications in order to improve application recognition.

After a discovery job, the XML Enricher attempts to match data that is contained in a scan file to rules. Rules are contained in SAI files and are created by and by users.

Universal Discovery offers two main ways to teach applications:

  • Application Rules. Choose the Package Rules or Version Data Rules option.
  • File Rules. Specify files to use to recognize applications.

Ensure that the application or the release or version of the application is not already taught by . All rules taught by are contained in the Master SAI files in the Software Library. To see if your app or version is contained in the SAI library, see the release notes for the latest Content Pack.

Tip  

  • As an alternative to teaching applications yourself, you can contact Support and submit a request for to add rules for your application to the next release of the Content Pack. For more information, contact Support.
  • For the fastest and most convenient method, especially when teaching applications that are packaged in a standard format, choose Application Rules > Package Rules option.

For both ways, you identify files that Universal Discovery uses to recognize applications or release or versions of applications. While each are similar, there are differences in the number of supported platforms, and the effort levels required to configure the rules.

The SAI Editor and Viewer is used when configuring rules for both methods. To install these tools, see Inventory Tools.

Note provides some package rules and version data rules out-of-box, and actively maintains them in the Content Pack updates.

In general terms for each way, teach an application as follows:

  1. Install the application
  2. Run the scanner (additional configuration options required for Package Rules) and analyze the scan file using Inventory Tools
  3. Configure the rule by entering the package name (Package Rule) or by specifying individual files (File Rule)
  4. Teach different releases and versions for the same application by typing a regular expression (Package Rule), or by specifying additional individual files for that release or version (File Rule)
  5. (Optional) Use Viewer to view the rule to ensure the rule information was saved.

How to Use Rules to Teach Applications