Scanning a standalone host by using an Outpost

To use scanner files

1. Create a scanner file:
   
   1. Download the *.sh file from the BMC Discovery user interface.
   2. Copy the file to the remote host.
   3. Run and capture the output to a file.
2. Copy the results file to the onto the BMC Discovery Outpost.
3. Scan the IP address of the remote host, using the BMC Discovery Outpost to which you copied the results file.

To create a scanner file

1. From the main menu, click the Administration Settings icon. 
   The Administration page opens.

1.  In the Discovery section, click Platforms.
2. Click the OS link that corresponds to the host for which you are creating the scanning file.
   The commands for the OS are displayed. The following example illustrates creating a scanner file using the Linux OS.
   
   
   
   
3. Click the Download host script link, in this example, linux.sh, highlighted, and save the file to the local computer as an executable.

4. Copy the file to the remote host.
   In the following example, the SCP utility is used to copy the files between the local host teaspoon and the remote host teapot:

   tideway@teaspoon:~$ scp linux.sh tideway@teapot:linux.sh
   tideway@teapot's password:
   linux.sh                                      100%   19KB  18.9KB/s   00:00
   tideway@teaspoon:~$
   

5. Log on to the remote host and run the script, piping the output into a text file:

   tideway@teaspoon:~$ ssh teapot
   tideway@teapot's password:  
   Linux teapot 6.0.0-5-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.0.10-1 (2022-11-26) x86_64
   ...
   tideway@teapot:~$
   tideway@teapot:~$ ./linux.sh > teapot.txt
   tideway@teapot:~$ more teapot.txt
   FORMAT Linux
   --- START device_info
   hostname: teapot
   fqdn: teapot.tideway.com
   dns_domain:  
   domain:   os: Debian GNU/Linux bookworm/sid
   os_arch: x86_64
   --- END device_info
   --- START host_info
   kernel: 6.0.0-5-amd64
   logical_ram: 32779928KB
   uptime: 41
   uptimeSeconds:  3543600
   ...
   tideway@teapot:~$
   

Copy the  scanner file onto the BMC Discovery Outpost

After you have created the scanner file, you can copy it to the BMC Discovery Outpost.  You might use the WinSCP utility from the BMC Discovery Outpost host, or some other means.

Copy the file to the C:\Program Files\BMC Software\Discovery Outpost\var\scanner  directory on the BMC Discovery Outpost.

Scan the IP address of the remote host 

Once you have copied the scanner file onto the BMC Discovery Outpost, you must perform a discovery run, using that BMC Discovery Outpost, against the IP address of the remote host from which you obtained the scanner file. Ensure too that the scope is set correctly to enable you to select the BMC Discovery Outpost.

When you load a scanner file onto the BMC Discovery Outpost, its name must be unique; otherwise, it might get overwritten by another scanner file being uploaded at the same time. For this reason, it is helpful to use a naming scheme that enables you to correlate scanner files and created hosts. Do not use a name that starts with a period (.) or ends with .ignore. If you do, that file will be ignored. File names are used only for internal purposes.

After a scanner file is loaded, you can look at the results of the discovery and view the host, as shown in the following screenshot.


On the DiscoveryAccess page, in the Discovery Source field of the Discovery Details section, "Read from scanner file" is displayed, as shown in the following illustration.

Considerations when using scanner files

When scanner files are used, BMC Discovery creates non-expiring pool data by creating a .no-expiry file in the pool data directory $TIDEWAY/var/pool/192/168/1/100/.no-expiry, where the IP address is
192.168.1.100). The pool data is always used for each subsequent discovery and returns identical results until the scanner file is updated or the pool data is deleted.

• Hosts discovered by scanner files never age.
• BMC Discovery uses scope to handle overlapping IP address ranges. The standalone scanning tools assume only one scope, and the scanner files are processed within the scope of the appliance they are uploaded to.