Discovering Network Nodes

In Alloy Discovery, "discovery" is the process of identifying computers or network devices specified in a Direct Network Scan Audit Source. That is why you can discover Network Nodes only in those Sites that have at least one Direct Network Scan Audit Source. A computer or network device can be discovered only within the reach of the Inventory Server.

INFO: For details, see Adding Direct Network Scan Audit Sources.

NOTE: Chromebooks can only be audited in a Google Directory Audit Source (for details, see Auditing Network Nodes On Demand), or added to the database manually (for details, see Adding Network Nodes to the database manually).

To discover network nodes in a Site, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Site in the Sidebar and select Discover This Site from the pop-up menu.
2. If the Site has more than one Direct Network Scan Audit Source, the Select Audit Sources dialog box opens. Select the sources to discover and click OK. A new "Discovery" task appears in the Task List. When the task is finished, the Site will be populated with discovered Network Nodes — computers and network devices.

NOTE: After the collected data has been uploaded to the database, the Changes message appears in the status bar. Click this message to refresh the data display.

Discovered data appear in the following grids: All Nodes Grid, Computers Grid, Chromebooks Grid, or Network Devices Grid.

All Nodes Grid

By default, the All Nodes grid displays all discovered computers, Chromebooks, and network devices. To view the details of a Network Node, double-click its record.

The All Nodes grid displays all discovered unrecognized network device (not matching any supported device types) with the special other icon . Discovered unrecognized network node, i.e a computer or a network device, the All Nodes grid displays as unknown .

If you have created user-defined fields for All Nodes, the dialog box will include the Custom Data tab, where you may enter any additional information about the node.

Computers Grid

The Computers grid displays discovered computers as follows:

Network Node	Icon	Type
Discovered Windows computer that has not been audited yet		Computer
Discovered Linux computer that has not been audited yet		Computer
Discovered Mac computer that has not been audited yet		Computer
Discovered computer with an unrecognized operating system		Computer
Discovered hypervisor		Computer

Chromebooks Grid

The Chromebooks grid displays Chromebooks that has not been audited as follows:

Network Node	Icon	Type
Chromebook that has not been audited yet		Chromebook

 

NOTE: You can audit Chromebooks using the Google Directory Audit method only. For details, see Overview of Audit Methods.

Network Devices Grid

The Network Devices grid displays network devices that has not been audited. Recognized network devices appear in the Network Device [Device Name] dialog box, unrecognized — in the Node Properties [Node Name] dialog box. If SNMP data was obtained during the discovery phase it will be displayed.

NOTE: Only when Alloy Discovery collects SNMP data about a network device, it marks the device as "Audited."

INFO: For more information, see Viewing record details and Viewing record details.

 

Network Diagram

The Network Diagram displays network nodes of the Site and their connections.

NOTE: All discovered unrecognized Network Nodes (not matching any network node types) are displayed as a question mark (?).

INFO: For more information, see Analyzing Inventory Data Using Network Diagrams.