File based Discovery

Owned by Enterprise IT
May 08, 2024
2 min read

Overview 

File-based Discovery helps to determine device Discovery details which are not discovered through Standard discovery due to access or permission level issues. A temporary batch file is uploaded to the SSH (Secure Shell) machine, and it is executed from the proxy to retrieve the data from the server. 

It helps to manage and keep track of system details such as system name, serial number, OS (Operating System) version, RAM size and manufacturer name etc. 

Figure: File-based Discovery

How is Summit implementing it?  

The File-based Discovery feature enables users to capture extended device details using the Standard Discovery job. 

What are the benefits of the File-based Discovery feature in the Discovery Module?  

  • Reliable data recovery  
  • Effective data analysis 

Configure the File-based Discovery 

This section contains the steps involved in the File-based Discovery feature. To configure File-based Discovery, perform the following steps: 

 
Prerequisites: 

  

  1. Enable file-based discovery at the configuration level by adding the key: <add key="IsFileBasedDiscovery" value="True" />.
     
  2. The VMInfo file must be present under the Proxy bin/data file.  

  3. The VMInfo file should have key –value pair format. For example, for System Name should be mapped as HOSTNAME under the value in the VMInfo file. 

  4. The VMInfo file has the following properties for which we are retrieving data:  
      
  • SystemType  
  • Serial No  
  • CPU 
  • Ram size 
  • HDD Size 
  • HDD Qty 
  • MAC (Media Access Control) Address 
  • OS Version 
  • OS Manufacturer 

 

Configure the Standard Discovery job in the Discovery tool 

To configure the Discovery, perform the following steps: 

  1. Navigate to Admin > Discovery & Monitoring > Discovery.  

  2. On the Discovery page, a list of Discovery jobs is displayed. 

    Figure: Discovery List page

  3. Click Add New to create a Discovery job.

    Figure: Discovery details

  4. Fill in the required fields and specify the range of IP. 

  5. Click the checkbox next to SSH. 

    Figure: Discovery template

  6. Click SUBMIT to enable the Discovery job.

    • In the FBDLogs, if there is an error called Command Time Out, then for SSH protocol, increase the Time Out.  
    • The VMInfo file can be modified to add device attributes pertaining to the standard list of properties. 
    • If the VMInfo file contains duplicate keys, the Discovery job will not execute properly.