View Software Changes on All Devices with REST API (Installed Software Change Log) (version 2.0)

Use INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CHANGE_LOG to check and analyze the installed software related changes on each Windows physical monitored device, along with its version and deployment date. It includes all software deployed on the device but does NOT include Universal Windows Platform (UWP) applications (learn more).

For example, when several employees have a similar complaint of performance degradation, you can see if all of them modified the same software approximately at the same time. You can also get a list of uninstalled security updates across different devices.

Note About how long Aternity keeps this data (retention) and how far back you can go, read here.
Note

This article covers the latest REST API version. For older version 1.0, click here.

Before You Begin

To send a REST API query in Excel, PowerBI or a browser, enter the URL of the REST API, your Aternity username (must have the OData REST API role) and its password. You can find this by selecting User icon > REST API Access. SSO users must generate (once) and use a special password, as Aternity's REST API does not authenticate with your enterprise's identity provider.

To view Aternity REST API, enter the base URL from Aternity > User icon > REST API Access, followed by the name of the API into a browser, Excel or PowerBI (learn more). For VIEWING, use <base_url>/latest/API_NAME; for INTEGRATIONS, use <base_url>/<version number>/API_NAME (for example, <base_url>/v1/API_NAME, or <base_url>/v1.0/API_NAME, or <base_url>/v2/API_NAME, or <base_url>/v2.0/API_NAME).

Get the latest REST API version for analyzing in the external app
Tip

Wherever possible, use $select and $filter to narrow your query, to avoid receiving an error like Returned data is too large. Learn more.

Examples

To access this API from a browser, Excel or Power BI (learn more), enter <base_url>/latest/INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CHANGE_LOG or <base_url>/v2/INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CHANGE_LOG.

To see all the devices that removed a specific OS update, such as Security Update KB2966828, enter .../INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CHANGE_LOG?$select=DEVICE_NAME&$filter=INSTALLED_SW_NAME eq 'Security Update KB2966828' and INSTALLED_SW_CHANGE_TYPE eq 'Uninstalled'.

To return a list of all changes in the organization software inventory during week 40 of 2018, use: .../INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CHANGE_LOG?$filter=CALENDAR_WEEK eq '2018 Week 40'.

Supported Parameters

You can view the data by entering the URL into Excel, into a browser, or into or any OData compatible application such as Power BI.

You can add parameters to the URL to filter the returned data, by adding a question mark (?) followed by a parameter and value, such as .../API_NAME?$filter=(USERNAME eq 'jsmith@company.com'), or several parameter-value pairs each separated by an ampersand (&), like .../API_NAME?$format=xml&$top=5.

Query Options Description
$select=

Use $select to return only specific columns (attributes), to make queries more efficient: ...API_NAME?$select=COL1,COL2,COL3
$format=

Use $format to force the returned data to be either in XML or JSON format. This is only useful for testing the raw data in a web browser. For example: .../API_NAME?$format=xml
$orderby=

Use $orderby to sort the returned data according to the value you choose. For example, .../API_NAME?$orderby=LOCATION
$top=

Use $top (lower case only) when you are initially testing the response of the API by returning the first few entries.

Also, use $top to filter the returned data and to return only the first N entries.

For example, to return the first five entries (not sorted), use: ...API_NAME?$top=5
$filter=

Use $filter to insert conditions that narrow down the data, to return only entries where those conditions are true..

To limit the timeframe of a query, add $filter=relative_time() like, .../API_NAME?$filter=relative_time(last_x_hours) or (last_x_days). Learn more.

Create conditions for filtering with any of the following operators:

Query Operators Description
eq

Equal to

For example, COL4 eq 'val4'
ne

Not equal to

For example, COL4 ne 'val4'
gt

Greater than

For example, COL4 gt 'val4'
ge

Greater than or equal

For example, COL4 ge 'val4'
lt

Less than

For example, COL4 lt 'val4'
le

Less than or equal

For example, COL4 le 'val4'
and

Logical and

For example, COL1 eq 'value1' and COL2 ne 'value2'
or

Logical or

For example, COL1 eq 'value1' or COL2 ne 'value2'
not

Logical negation

Create conditions for filtering with any of the following functions:

Query Functions Description
startswith

For example, $filter=startswith(account_name,'Aternity')
endswith

For example, $filter=endswith(account_name,'Aternity')
contains

$filter=contains(COL5,'val5')

For example, $filter=contains(account_name,'Aternity')
in()

Instead of using AND, OR:

$filter=device_name eq ‘adam_covert_wks’ or device_name eq ‘adam_covert_vdi’ or device_name eq ‘adam_covert_tablet’

You can now use:

$filter=in(device_name,‘adam_covert_wks’,‘adam_covert_vdi’,‘adam_covert_tablet’)

Read carefully specific instructions for writing this function:

  • In must be followed directly by the opening parenthesis (no space allowed)

  • The first parameter is the field name (case insensitive)

  • The function requires at least two parameters, the field name and at least one field value

  • The rest of the parameters are the optional values that the field can have (i.e. the values we want to filter in) also case insensitive

  • Values are separated by comma and no spaces allowed

  • The last value must be followed by the closing parenthesis (no space allowed)

  • In() can be combined with any other filter using AND or OR

  • There can be more than one in() function in a filter. For example, $filter=in(location,’loc1’,’loc2’) or in(subnet,’sub1’sub2’). Another example, $filter=in(location,’loc1’,’loc2’) and in(subnet,’sub1’sub2’)

Use operators with parentheses to group conditions logically: .../API_NAME?$filter=(COLUMN1 eq 'value1' or COL2 neq 'val2') and (COL3 gt number) and not (COL4 eq 'val4' or contains(COL5,'val5'))
$search is NOT supported.

Do not use $search in Aternity's REST APIs.
Tip

Wherever possible, use $select and $filter to narrow your query, to avoid receiving an error like Returned data is too large. Learn more.

Output

You can access data using this API (retention) going back up to 90 days, meaning you will see the changes that occurred in the last 90 days for all devices which reported to Aternity during that time.

If you do not add a relative_time filter, by default it returns data for the past 7 days.

The API returns two types of columns: Attributes (or dimensions) which are the properties of an entry, and Measurements which are the dynamic measured values. A single API row can display either a single measurement, or a weighted average of several entries grouped together. If you use $select to display several attributes, and all those attributes are identical, it groups them into a single entry.

Type Returned Columns

Measurements

 Device_Count,Installed_Sw_Count,Installed_Sw_Installation_Volume,Installed_Sw_Version_Count,

Attributes

Account_ID,Calendar_Date,Calendar_Month,Calendar_Week,Device_Name,Installed_Sw_Change_Timestamp,Installed_Sw_Change_Type,Installed_Sw_Name,Installed_Sw_Related_To,Installed_Sw_Scope,Installed_Sw_Type,Installed_Sw_Vendor,Installed_Sw_Version,Installed_Sw_Version_Before_Change,Account_Name