Installation Guide

Supported audit clients

Audit clients are computers and network devices (audit nodes) to be audited by Alloy Discovery. The following audit clients are supported:

Platform Version
Operating Systems

Windows

Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2025.

Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows are supported.

IMPORTANT: The Remote Audit method with installable audit agent deployment scenario is supported for Windows 7 or later versions.

Linux

A wide variety of popular Linux distributions, including those based on Debian, Red Hat, and others.

IMPORTANT: The Direct Network Scan feature requires that the SSH server service is running on each client computer.

Alloy Discovery has been tested on the following Linux distributions:

  • Debian 9.6 and earlier
  • based on Debian:
    • Linux Mint 19 Tara and earlier
    • Ubuntu Desktop 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) and earlier
    • Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) and earlier
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 (Maipo) and earlier
  • based on Red Hat Enterprise:
    • Fedora 29 Workstation and earlier
    • Fedora 29 Server and earlier
    • CentOS 7.5 and earlier
  • Gentoo 2017 and earlier
  • based on Gentoo, Calculate Linux 17.6 and earlier
  • OpenSUSE Leap 15.0 and earlier
  • OpenMandriva Lx 3.0 (Einsteinium) and earlier

Alloy Discovery successfully audits computers running other Linux distributions because there are no special requirements for Linux audit clients. For details, see Linux audit requirements

macOS
(previously OS X and Mac OS X)

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion or later.

IMPORTANT: The Direct Network Scan feature requires that the SSH server service is running on each client computer.

Chrome OS

Any Chrome OS version that the Google Admin Console allows you to remotely manage.

IMPORTANT: For auditing Chromebooks, you use only Google Directory Audit method.
Virtualization Platforms (Hypervisors)

Microsoft Hyper-V

Alloy Discovery has been tested on the following versions:

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 (standalone version), Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 (standalone version), Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 (standalone version), Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016 (standalone version), Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2019 (standalone version), the Hyper-V role in Microsoft Windows Server 2008, the Hyper-V role in Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, the Hyper-V role in Microsoft Windows Server 2012, the Hyper-V role in Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, the Hyper-V role in Microsoft Windows Server 2016, the Hyper-V role in Microsoft Windows Server 2019, the Hyper-V role in Windows Server 2022, the Hyper-V role in Windows Server 2025.

Alloy Discovery successfully audits computers running other versions because there are no special requirements for Microsoft Hyper-V audit clients.

VMware ESX

Alloy Discovery has been tested on the following versions:

VMware ESX Server 3.5 Update 5, VMware vSphere ESX 4.0 Update 4, VMware vSphere ESX 4.1 Update 2.

Alloy Discovery successfully audits computers running other versions because there are no special requirements for VMware ESX audit clients. For details, see Linux audit requirements.

NOTE: For the Direct Network Scan feature we recommend that the SSH server service is running on each VMware ESX client computer. Otherwise, make sure that computers hosting the Inventory Server instances have Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1 or later installed. For details, see Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8. However, the Direct Network Scan via SSH will collect more audit data.

VMware ESXi

Alloy Discovery has been tested on the following versions:

VMware ESXi 3.5 Update 5, VMware ESXi 4.0 Update 4, VMware ESXi 4.1 Update 2, VMware ESXi 5.0 Update 1, ESXi 6.0 Update 3, ESXi 6.5 Update 1.

Alloy Discovery successfully audits computers running other versions because there are no special requirements for VMware ESXi audit clients.

IMPORTANT: Only the Direct Network Scan method is supported. For details on available audit methods, see Administration Guide: Overview of Audit Methods.

IMPORTANT: Computers hosting the Inventory Server instance must have Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1 or later installed. For details, see Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8.

IMPORTANT: The Direct Network Scan of VMware ESXi 6.5 requests WS-Management services running on an ESXi 6.5 host.

Xen

Alloy Discovery has been tested on the following versions:

Xen 3.1, Xen 4.0, and Xen 4.1.

Alloy Discovery successfully audits computers running other versions because there are no special requirements for Xen audit clients. For details, see Linux audit requirements.

IMPORTANT: The Direct Network Scan feature requires that the SSH server service is running on each client computer.

Citrix Hypervisor
(previously XenServer)

Alloy Discovery has been tested on the following versions:

XenServer 5.6.1 SP2, XenServer 6.0.201, XenServer 7.2, XenServer 7.5, and XenServer 7.6.

Alloy Discovery successfully audits computers running other versions because there are no special requirements for Citrix Hypervisor audit clients. For details, see Linux audit requirements.

IMPORTANT: The Direct Network Scan feature requires that the SSH server service is running on each client computer.
Networked Devices

SNMP version

SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, SNMPv3