Getting record data

The most useful information that you can provide customer support for the vast majority of cases that you raise is record data. Record data is a recording of the data returned during a discovery run structured so that it can be played back on another appliance, such that the appliance behaves as if it were actually scanning the IP addresses. With this, the support engineer should be able to reproduce the errors that you are seeing on a BMC test system.

The following topics describe how set BMC Discovery to record data:

To configure BMC Discovery to create record data

Perform the following steps:

1. From the main menu, click the Administration icon. 
   The Administration page is displayed.

2. From the Discovery section, click Discovery Configuration.

3. Scroll down to the Others section and from the Recording Mode list, select Record.
   

4. Click Apply to set the BMC Discovery to create record data. 
5. BMC Discovery creates record data for discovery runs until it is taken out of the record mode.

To configure the Windows proxy to create record data

For Windows discovery to store record data, the proxy must also be configured to the record mode. Perform the following steps:

1. From the main menu, click Manage > Credentials.
2. Click Devices.
3. Click Windows Proxies.
   The Device Credentials page is displayed which contains the Windows proxy pools and the corresponding Windows proxies.
4. Click on the Windows proxy name that you want to set to record mode.
   The proxy management page is displayed.
5. In the Proxy Settings section, from the Recording Mode list, select Record.
6. Click Apply Proxy Settings to set the proxy to create record data.
   The proxy creates record data for any discovery it performs until it is taken out of the record mode.

All discovery runs performed when the appliance is in record mode create record data. All discoveries using a proxy in record mode create record data. Data is recorded on the proxy, but you collect it for Customer Support from the gather page, as you would collect any other discovery data for a case.

Performing a discovery run when an appliance and proxy are in record mode is done in exactly the same way as "normal" discovery. 

Performing a discovery run in record mode

Once the appliance, and proxy (for a Windows discovery) have been put into record mode, you must rescan the IP address, addresses, or IP range to create record data.

Once you have performed a discovery run to create the record data, you should set the appliance and proxy back to normal, that is, recording mode Off using the drop-downs described in the previous procedures.

To get record data

When you are submitting data as part of a case and you have created record data, ensure you collect it. To do so, ensure that you select Record & Pool Data and Session Logs. when creating the gathered data files. For more information creating gathered data files on Appliance Support page, see Collecting additional data for support cases.