Managing attachments

You can associate a file such as a document, a spreadsheet, or a diagram with certain node types in the BMC Discovery datastore. One or more files can be attached to a node, and copies of a single file can be attached to multiple nodes. BMC Discovery interprets the file type based on the file extension. Make sure that the attachment file extensions are valid. The files that you attach are stored as data objects in the BMC Discovery datastore.

You can associate a file with certain node types to provide additional information. Files can be of any type and are not validated in any way by BMC Discovery. The attached files are uploaded to the BMC Discovery datastore so that they can be accessed easily for disaster recovery purposes.

In a cluster, you can upload an attachment to any machine, and it is automatically distributed and a copy is stored on each machine. If you delete an attachment from any machine in the cluster, it is automatically deleted from all machines in the cluster.

You can add attachments to the following node types:

• Host
• Network device
• Printer
• SNMP managed devices
• MFPart
• Software instance
• Business application instance
• Runtime environment

Before you begin

Attachments are assigned to a particular category. No attachment categories are initially defined. Before you can attach files to nodes, you must create the attachment categories. To create attachment categories, you must be a user with admin or system group permissions. For more information on creating attachment categories, see Setting up standard data categories.

To enable node attachment

Node attachment is disabled by default. You must enable node attachment and to do that, you must be a user with system group permissions.

1. From the main menu, click the Administration icon.
   The Administration page is displayed. 
2. From the Appliance section, click Miscellaneous.
   Corresponding to Allow attachments to be added to nodes, the value under Current value displays whether the node attachment is enabled. By default, the value is No.
3. For Allow attachments to be added to nodes, select Yes.
   The value under Current value changes to Yes.
4. Click Apply.

To attach files to a node

After creating the attachment categories, you can attach files to nodes. To attach files to nodes, you must be a user with admin or system group permissions.

1. Select the node (enabled for attachment) in a visualization.
2. From the dynamic toolbox on the top right side of the screen, click .
3. Click Manage Attachments.
   The Attachments page lists the available categories and attached files if any.
4. Under the appropriate category, click Choose File and select the file to be attached.
5. To upload the attachment to the BMC Discovery system, click Apply.

To download an attachment

You can download an attached file at any time. To open and download attached files, you must have the appropriate applications. After you have attached a file to a node, you can view it directly from the BMC Discovery user interface, or download it to your system. In both cases, the file remains in 

1. From the dynamic toolbox on the top right side of the screen, click .
   All the existing attachments are displayed.
2. To check the contents of the file, click the file name.
   The attached file is downloaded. You can open and edit it using an appropriate application.

To remove an attachment from a node

Removing an attachment removes the instance of the file associated with the selected node. Other copies or local instances of the file are unaffected.

1. From the dynamic toolbox on the top right side of the screen, click .
2. Click Manage Attachments.
   The Attachments page lists the available categories and attached files if any.
3. Select the Remove option that corresponds to the file you want to delete.
4. Click Apply.