Discovering Computers and Network Devices
"Discovery" is the process of identifying computers and network devices within a network segment described in an Audit Source. You can discover Network Nodes either in specific Direct Network Scan Audit Sources, or in Sites that have at least one Direct Network Scan Audit Source. Discovering Sites means discovering the Direct Network Scan Audit Sources of this Site. A computer or network device can be discovered only if it is on the local network, within the reach of the Inventory Server.
All the computers and network devices that were identified, are marked with the appropriate icons in the Sidebar: computers are shown with the icons according to the recognized operating systems, network devices - according to the recognized types of the devices. For details, see All Nodes grid.
NOTE: If the operating system of a computer is not recognized or recognized incorrectly. You can solve this problem by manual selection of the computer's operating system in the Node Properties [Node Name] window. Linux or Mac operating system can be recognized only if the specified On-Demand Audit Credentials allow logging on to this computer. For details, see Managing Audit Credentials.
You can also start discovering Sites or Direct Network Scan Audit Sources manually, or Alloy Discovery starts discovery of not yet discovered Network Nodes in a Direct Network Scan Audit Source or a Site containing a Direct Network Scan Audit Source automatically when you launch audit of this Site or Audit Source. For details, see Auditing Direct Network Scan Audit Sources and Auditing Sites.
Before you begin, make sure the discovery options for Direct Network Scan Audit Sources are set properly. These options are available on the Options tab of the source's properties window.
NOTE: All the network nodes that you manually excluded from Sites will not be discovered or audited until removed from the exclusion list. For details, see Defining Excluded Nodes.
To discover computers and network devices in a Site:
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Right-click the Site to discover in the Sidebar and select Discover This Site from the pop-up menu.
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If the Site contains more than one Direct Network Scan source, the Select Audit Sources window opens, that displays all Direct Network Scan Sources in this Site. Select the Direct Network Scan Sources to discover. To select multiple sources, hold down the SHIFT key to select the adjacent records, or the CTRL key to select non-adjacent records. Click OK.
To discover computers and network devices in a single Direct Network Scan Audit Source:
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Right-click the Site of this Source in the Sidebar and select Properties from the pop-up menu.
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Under Audit Sources, click the Direct Network Scan Audit Source where you want to discover computers and network devices.
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Select Actions > Discover from the Module menu.
You can monitor the execution of the discovery task in the Task List.
Discovery is performed under control of the Inventory Server, associated with the Site that includes the target Direct Network Scan Audit Source(s). If the associated server is stopped, the task will be added to the Task List, but the task will not be executed until the Inventory Server starts. For detailed information about managing Inventory Servers, see Inventory Server Manager.
When there is more then one server registered in the database, you can change the server discovering the Network Nodes by modifying the properties of the Site that includes the target Direct Network Scan Audit Source(s). For details, see Modifying Site Properties.
Identifying computers running hypervisors
During the discovery process, Alloy Discovery detects whether the computer is running a hypervisor. There might be rare cases when the hypervisor is recognized incorrectly or remain unrecognized, you can solve this problem by manual selection of the specified hypervisor in the Node Properties [Node Name] window.
To audit recognized computers runnings VMware ESX or VMwareESXi, you must define connection parameters using ESX/ESXi Options tab of the Node Properties [ Node Name ] window.
NOTE: For computers running VMware ESX (but not ESXi) hypervisor with the SSH protocol enabled, Alloy Discovery uses the connection parameters configured for Linux machines (for details, see Managing Audit Credentials).
Discovering Network Devices
A network device can be discovered in a Direct Network Scan Audit Source in the following cases:
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The device's IP address is covered by an IP address range specified for the Source.
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The device's IP address is directly specified for the Source.
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The device's name is specified for the Source.
NOTE: In addition, a network device can be discovered and audited by using the "Audit by Name/IP" functionality. For details, see Auditing a network node selected by its name or IP address.