About Virtual Environment Discovery

With CAM Discovery, you can collect host and guest relationships for Windows and Linux/Unix operating systems, as well as Microsoft Windows and Microsoft SQL Server licensing information.

Supported Environments

Virtual Environments
  • VMware vSphere®
  • Microsoft Hyper-V
Guest Environments
  • Any Microsoft operating systems supported by CAM
  • Any Linux/Unix environments supported by CAM
You can set up different sets of credentials for accessing the virtual environment and guest virtual machines.
  • Virtual environment credentials allow you to access the Virtual Machine Manager for either VMware (typically vCenter) or Microsoft Hyper-V (typically Microsoft SCCM Virtual Machine Manager).
  • Guest credentials require WMI access to the guest virtual machines to collect inventory and licensing data.

Requirements

Discovery Requirements
VMware: Microsoft OS guests
  • Virtual environment credentials must have read-only access to vCenter.
  • Guest credentials must have WMI access to the guest machines, in order to collect Windows Server and SQL Server licensing details from the guest.
  • VMware tools must be installed on the guest OS.
VMware: Linux/Unix guests
  • Virtual environment credentials must have read-only access to vCenter.
  • Does not need credentials for the guest Linux/Unix guests.
  • VMware tools must be installed on the guest OS.
MS Hyper-V: Microsoft OS guests
  • Virtual environment credentials must have read-only access to Microsoft SCCM Virtual Machine Manager (SCCM VMM).
  • Guest credentials must have WMI access to the host and guest machines. This is required to collect Windows Server and SQL Server licensing details.
  • Remote PowerShell must be enabled on the SCCM VMM.
MS Hyper-V: Linux/Unix guests

Collect host/guest information by completing the following steps:

  1. Discover VMs (read-only credentials to SCCM VMM): This collects the virtual environment information.
  2. Discover Linux/Unix VMs: This identifies the virtual environment and guest relationship.

Discovery Log

The discovery log is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Cherwell Asset Management\Administration Service\VMDiscovery.log

Common Error Messages

  • The RPC server is unavailable: This message means the RPC Server has encountered an error, typically because the RPC server is not running, or security systems are preventing access needed to run the commands.
  • VMware Tools not installed: We can’t collect data from the guest because VMware Tools are not installed.
  • Access is Denied: This typically occurs when you don’t have the correct credentials to the guest OS, and cannot reach the guest via WMI. This only happens when the guest is Microsoft OS. You can set up virtual environment credentials for guest access to the VM.