Hello everyone!
We’ve got a new Total Network Inventory update, and this one continues one of the bigger internal transitions we’ve been working on for a while: moving more storage-related functionality from local files into the PostgreSQL database.
That may sound like a behind-the-scenes change, and in many ways it is. But it matters quite a lot. The less TNI depends on file-based storage data, the more predictable, consistent, and team-friendly database storages become. Version 6.8 takes another step in that direction, with multi-user SAM support as the main addition.
SAM is now reworked to support multi-user access in database storage mode.
In practical terms, this means that teams working with the same storage can now use the Software Asset Management module simultaneously, without the need to take over the primary mode to view or edit information. So instead of tying SAM to the first TNI instance that opened the storage, the required functionality is now handled through the database, making shared work with SAM much smoother in multi-user environments.
This is an important part of a larger, gradual storage architecture update. The goal is to completely remove the remaining dependency on the file-based part of the storage in the near future.
With more storage data handled directly by the SQL database, TNI gets a stronger foundation for future improvements: better multi-user workflows, fewer sync-related edge cases, easier maintenance, and more flexibility for features which would be built on top of shared storage data.
The Scheduler module also received internal changes related to database storage operations and is no longer tied to file system.
In addition, we optimized the number of required active connections to PostgreSQL databases. This should make database-backed storages behave more efficiently on default database settings, especially in environments with many copies of TNI running at the same time.
TNI 6.8 also expands the data collected during inventory scans.
First, Total Network Inventory can now collect information about Google Chrome browser extensions and includes reports for them. Browser extensions are often easy to overlook, but they can be important for software audits, security reviews, and general visibility into user environments.
Second, Unix-based systems now get better software inventory coverage: TNI can collect installed software from Flatpak and Snap package managers. Since many Linux applications are now distributed this way, this helps close an annoying visibility gap in software inventory.
And third, TNI now also collects information about Secure Boot certificates and includes reports for them. This is especially important in light of Microsoft’s ongoing Secure Boot certificate renewal: the original Secure Boot certificates issued in 2011 begin expiring on June 24, 2026, which is less than a month from now. These reports will help administrators check Secure Boot certificate status across the Windows fleet and identify devices that may require attention before the certificate transition becomes a problem.
The full list of changes in this version of Total Network Inventory is available on the corresponding page.
This release is another step toward fully database-backed storages, with less file dependency and more room for future improvements. We’ll continue this work in the next version, so stay tuned.