Hardware inventory configuration is generally the same for 16-bit and 32-bit clients; however, the 16-bit clients are more limited in features. The processing is also the same, except for the differences noted in this section. For more information about hardware inventory, see Chapter 10, “Collecting Hardware and Software Inventory,” in the SMS 2.0 Administrator’s Guide and Chapter 20, “Hardware and Software Inventory Flowcharts” in this Resource Guide.
You cannot use the WMI technology to run hardware inventory on 16-bit clients. Also, 16-bit clients do not support IDMIF file processing. You can use NOIDMIF files with 16-bit clients, but there is no syntax checking on the client. If you have a 16-bit NOIDMIF file with a class that has more than one instance, you must include at least one key property within that class to avoid having subsequent instances overwrite the previous instance. The process provides these keys for 32-bit NOIDMIF files but not for 16-bit NOIDMIF files.
Inventory files for 16-bit clients are submitted as *.raw files. History for 16-bit clients is maintained at the site server. The *.raw files processed for 16-bit clients are reformatted into MIF file format and renamed to *.mif files at the site server. These files are appended in text format to the SMS site database record for that client.