Service Manager

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Discovery Process

Discovery and the creation of configuration item records is accomplished by:

Performing an Active Directory scan from the Service Manager gateway.

Doing a ping discovery on the IP address ranges using a module called Netscan, (included in the data center gateway installation). Netscan IP ranges are set on the gateway.

Running a client agent process called Netscan, that listens for network traffic and then queries devices on the network using SNMP. SNMP queries are set on the gateway.

Gathering data via SCCM and other external sources that communicate directly with the asset processor and other adapters.

Importing data from Discovery Release 9.3.x or later, using the utility.

Importing from an external file using the business object uploader.

Manually entering the data.

The following table displays various discovery methods available with Discovery methods:

Method

Deployed From

Discovers

OS Support

CI Types Discovered
Client Agent

Audits the machine on which it is installed. Set polling interval from inventory settings.

device name

MAC/IP address

operating system

software

hardware

Windows

Mac

UNIX: HP UX, AIX, Solaris

Linux: Ubuntu, Red Hat, SUSE

Servers

Workstation

VirtualServer

VirtualWorkstation

Agentless Audit or Remote Scan

From a gateway, audits other machines on the network. This only works for the Windows operating system using a WMI query.

device name

MAC/IP address

operating system

software

hardware

Windows OS only

Servers

Workstation

VirtualServer

VirtualWorkstation

LanProbe

Client agent installed on machines. Collects information to update CI records. LanProbe settings (including polling frequency) are configured from the Details tab.

device name

MAC/IP address

Scans for any device within a client's subnet or configured subnets that have SNMP-enabled devices.

It also discovers the MAC address and host name from DNS and ARP

Collects deltas and updates previously created CI records.

Computers

Servers

Workstations (physical and virtual)

Routers

Switches

VOIP

Printers

Scanner

Access Point

UPS

Firewall

SAN

Hub

Netscan

Scans for Window-based or SNMP-enabled devices connected to the network.

Is scheduled and runs only from a Gateway Data Center Edition workspace. Set ranges from the Netscan IP-Ranges tab in the Gateway Data Center Edition workspace. See Using Netscan.

device name

MAC/IP address

operating system

Only used for Windows or SNMP enabled devices

Computers

Servers

Workstations (physical and virtual)

Routers

Switches

VOIP

Printers

Scanner

Access Point

UPS

Firewall

SAN

Hub

Active Directory Scan

Gateway and Gateway Data Center Edition

works only with Windows Server or workstations on Active Directory

device name

MAC/IP address

operating system

 

Windows machines listed on Active Directory

Servers

Workstations

VirtualServer

VirtualWorkstation

After initial discovery, the system audits assets to collect additional data. Auditing of the discovered assets is accomplished by:

Installing the Discovery client agent on the computer to be audited.

Remotely auditing via a WMI scanner that runs on the Service Manager gateway.

Performing an SCCM import.

Performing an import from Discovery Release 9.3.x or later.

Uploading a file.

The following table compares information gathered by audits using the installed Discovery client agent versus remote scan:

Method

Operating System Support

Hardware

Software

Software Usage

File Info

Deltas

Discovery Client Agent

Windows

Mac

UNIX: HP, AIX, Solaris

Linux: Ubuntu, Red Hat, SUSE

Yes

Yes (both Add/Remove programs entries and software files) Greynet software is identified by comparing the discovered software to a pre-defined table.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Remote Scan (WMI)

Available only for Windows

Yes

Yes (only Add/Remove programs entries)

No

No

No

Active discovery involves installing the Service Manager gateway on a computer or doing a ping sweep to establish a range of IP addresses that map to live hosts, and then doing an Active Directory scan.

Passive discovery uses LanProbe (an installed client agent) to listen to your network activity and identify new devices when they are added or connected to the network.

Other Discovery Methods

Apart from the Active Directory scan, the other discovery methods are SCCM, LanProbe, Netscan, remote, user created, self registered (for gateway and client installations), and terminal sessions.

From time to time, computers might be added to the network. If LanProbe is enabled, new computers are discovered automatically. If LanProbe is not enabled, you must run another Active Directory scan in order to discover them. Or, if LanProbe is not enabled on the inventory setting, you can use the Turn off lanprobe and Turn on lanprobe quick actions to enable LanProbe for certain machines and disable it later. For more information, see Enabling or Disabling LanProbe.

After you generate a list of computers that are not audited, you can manage these computers by deploying an agent to them (see Deploying Agents to Other Computers) or by auditing them remotely (see Running an Agentless Audit).


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