Discovering assets

When you install Track-It!, you can choose to install BMC Client Management along with Track-It! on the same server. You can also separately configure the BMC Client Management instance that is already in use. The BMC Client Management master server that is configured in Track-It! is set up as the default scanner. It discovers both IT and non-IT assets and populates the discovered assets in Track-It!. All scanners configured in BMC Client Management are displayed on the Network Discovery page.

To discover assets, you must select the device types that must be scanned, define the target network, and schedule the time for discovery. It is optional to provide administrator credentials to discover assets because BMC Client Management can perform an agentless discovery of assets across networks. However, to perform an agentless network discovery, it is mandatory to provide the discovery credentials.

This topic contains the following information:

Video

The following video (4:58) presentation provides information about discovering assets:

https://youtu.be/SMdxC4O0yh4

Before you begin

• You must configure the BMC Client Management master server, which is identified as the default scanner. However, you can configure multiple scanners to discover a network that is geographically distributed. You can configure multiple scanners only from the BMC Client Management console.
• Verify whether you have adequate licenses to discover assets. For more information, see Licenses. You can limit the number of licenses that are consumed by including any specific assets or a specific network that must be discovered. 

To schedule a scan

1. On the header bar, expand the hamburger menu  and select Configuration.
2. Click Asset Management and click Network Discovery.
   The Network Discovery page displays the details of the BMC Client Management server that is configured to scan the network to discover assets.
3. Click Edit Configurations.

4. In the Scan Configurations window, under the Discovery Credentials tab, you can enter administrator credentials to discover Windows, UNIX, Linux, or mac OS devices.

   Note

   You can enter multiple discovery credentials to discover assets in the network.

5. To enable device types and provide discovery credentials, based on your requirements, enable any of the following options:
   
   • To discover Windows devices,  enable Activate and click Add/Edit Credentials. In the Discovery Credentials window, you can enter the credentials required to discover Windows assets.
   • To discover UNIX, Linux, or mac OS devices, enable Activate and click Add/Edit Credentials. In the Discovery Credentials window, you can enter the credentials required to discover assets.
     

   Note

   It is optional to use discovery credentials to discover assets. But, if you choose to use discovery credentials, every discovered asset will use an Inventory or Audit license. If you do not provide any discovery credentials, BMC Client Management performs the default discovery of the network and the discovered assets do not use licenses.

   
   

6. To define the target list of devices, go to the Target List panel.
   1. To create a new target list, click New to include and exclude the target list, and click Save.

   2. If an existing target list exists, select that entry and click edit.
      The accepted target list values are IP ranges, IP addresses, Host names, and Device names.

7. To define the asset discovery schedule, go to the Discovery Schedule panel.
   1. Select Enable Schedule.
   2. Select Daily, Weekly, or Monthly and select the desired time and day to schedule the scan.
8. Click Save.
   On the Network Discovery page, the Scan Status value reflects the current status of the scan in BMC Client Management.
   
   

To scan now

1. On the header bar, expand the hamburger menu  and select Configuration.
2. Click Asset Management and click Network Discovery.
3. Click Scan Now.
   BMC Client Management initiates a scan and when the scan is complete, it displays the scan results in the Asset Management workspace grid.
   If you initiate a scan when a scan is already in progress, Track-It! defers the scan until the in-progress scan is complete.