Inventory History and Collection Process

When the Inventory Agent runs at a Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) computer, it reports the inventory to an SMS logon server as a binary file. This file, called a RAW file, contains the computer's inventory in the Management Information Format (MIF) file. When the Inventory Processor processes a RAW file, it parses the RAW file (verifying the MIF syntax) and compares the inventory reported in the RAW file with the inventory history for the computer. If there are changes, the Inventory Processor creates a Delta-MIF file containing the groups whose inventories have changed (groups that have been added, updated, or deleted), and passes the file to the Inventory Data Loader. When the Inventory Data Loader detects a Delta-MIF file, it then adds, updates, or deletes the groups specified in the Delta-MIF file in the SMS database.