Discovery Job

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Introduction

A Discovery is executed from a designated SIS server, using one of the various methods provided. Once discovered, dependant on configuration, an optional ping request will also be sent to each device. Admin Credentials provided via the Hornbill KeySafe, used for access to the inventory of each device (e.g. hardware, operating system, installed programs) using WMI via DCOM, WinRM or SSH. For Unix / Linux devices Admin Credentials are used to access the inventory of each device using SSH. On successful completion, discovered device details are accessible within the ITOM Inventory.

Creating a Discovery

Open the Hornbill Administration Tool
Navigate to Home > ITOM > Job Queue
Select the Create New button
Select Discover Job
Enter Name to identify the Job
Select an SIS server:
This can be a single Server or a Group
Select the required Protocol
Select the required Discovery Mode
Enter the relevant Discovery Mode Settings
Click Create button

Job Properties

Name

Name given to identify this Discovery Job

Site Target [Group / Server ]

whether the job needs to run on an SIS Group or on a single SIS/Managed CI

Protocol

A device is identified as discovered once it can be accessed and its inventory retrieved. This is achieved by probing its Operating System (OS) using various methods dependant on the devices Operating System. The probe will be initiated from the SIS server and does not require any software to be uploaded to the device. In order to achieve this, a protocol will be required in order for the SIS to access the device. Which protocol will depend on the OS and what is supported, in general for Windows devices WMI is used along with DCOM or WinRM, and for Linux / Unix (inc Apple Mac) Secure Shell (SSH) is used.

Auto

Will attempt to access the device using all of the provided protocols, in the following order; WinRM, DCOM and SSH, using the first successful one.

WinRm

Provides secure and firewall-friendly communications, in order to access WMI. This feature is supported on Windows 2008R2 and later and Windows 7 and later.

DCOM

Communication relies on Remote Procedure Calls and can be tricky to configure over firewalls. Widely supported on the Windows platform, this protocol is mainly used to access legacy devices.

SSH

Secure Shell is a network communication protocol that allows for remote connection between two computers to communicate and share data, commonly used but not exclusively by Linux / Unix (inc Apple Mac) devices. The protocol can be used on Windows devices, but may require additional software to be installed and configured.

Discovery Mode

The Discover Mode dictates the method that identifies devices on the Network. Each mode will have specific settings; these will be visible in the Discover Mode Settings section. It is only possible to have a single mode per Job, use of multiple modes will require the creation of multiple Jobs.

Active Directory

LDAP Server

Manual List

Network Enumeration

Browser Service List

Ping Check Settings

Ping check Discovered

[Yes / No] Check that the discovered machine is pinged - if ICMP is disabled or firewalled, then select "No"

Timeout

Hop Count

Job Details

Once created, the details of the job will be displayed, showing information relating to the status of the job. The progress of the job is available via the Monitor, Console with Debug Logging provided to aid with troubleshooting failures.

Summary

Shows the current status of the job and its name along with who created it and when

Discovery Options

Displays details of the options used by the discovery process, this will differ depending on the discovery mode used

Target Information

Provides details of the SIS server that will facilitate the job, target machine and the security keys used

Execution Details

The execution details show when the job was started and completed along with any result code

Execution Log

The Execution Log provides information relating to the execution of the job; the details shown will be dependant on the method of Discovery used.

The above example shows that the Discovery has started and has initiated two processes, Standalone (EspSiSExec.exe) and a Payload (ESPSisDiscovery.exe), on the SIS server.

All console output from the process is output, and confirmation of successful completion or failure will be output.

Console Output

The Console Output is accessible once the job has been completed and will contain only the output produced by the payload, including any error messages.

Debug Log

In cases where the Discovery may have failed or completed incorrectly, the Debug log, used to review any errors and other technical information.

The Log provides three sections:

Full

Full debug log information

Standard

Information log entries

Problem

Warning and Error, entries that may identify potential problems

The sections output will depend on the job, and thus some sections may not be available