Discovery and Inventory Group

  Initial Network Discovery

Unless you already know all the make and model information for your network devices, often an initial Network Discovery needs to take place. This allows the discovery to return information on devices which will then allow us to properly add Device Classifications. If you’ve already run a Network Discovery, then this part is complete.

Steps to run through the initial discovery are listed here:

1. In the Symantec Management Console browse under Manage > Jobs and Tasks > in the left-hand tree browse under System Jobs and Tasks > Discovery and Inventory > and select Network.
   NOTE: You can create a Network Discovery Task from whatever location you wish within the Jobs and Tasks tree. The above is just a typical place to create such a task.
2. Right-click on the containing folder and select New > Task.
3. From the left-hand tree, locate the folder for Discovery and Inventory, and select Discover Network.
4. Provide a name for the discovery, such as “Full Network Discovery”.
5. From the Connection profile dropdown select the connection profile we created in a previous article, or that you have configured separately.
6. Configure the scan type, either Targeted (Ping), or ARP or seed device. This can be edited later after creating the Task. For this example I selected Seed Device (Scan network devices (ARP)).
   
7. Click OK to save the Task.
8. In the main console the task will now load in the tree and the details within the right-pane.
9. Check the considerations listed below before scheduling the discovery.
10. Click the New Schedule option.
11. If you choose the Now radial, the discovery will execute immediately. It can also be set to a Schedule to run during off-peak times, if that is required.
12. Click the Schedule button.
13. Done!

To check progress, in the Symantec Management Console browse under Home > Discovery and Inventory > and select Network Discovery. This will provide an overview of all Discoveries, but note that at the bottom webpart, under the Task Runs tab, there is a Percentage Complete, as shown in this screenshot:

Considerations:

• IP Ranges will take considerably longer if a large range is included. We will start by pinging every IP Address, waiting for the timeout and executing the retry count.  Take this into mind when scheduling a range.
• A huge range, such as a class B subnet, is not recommended. Using a class B subnet has thousands and thousands of IP Addresses in the range so a discovery will take a very, very long time.
• Find out what specific ranges are being leased on the network so that those ranges can be added.
• When selecting a Seed Device the ARP table, or every device and its IP that it knows about, will be used to check what IP Addresses to query against. Most Seed devices will provide what is directly connected to them, and will have the ARP tables of other routers and switches it knows about. This may create a very large discovery, so IP ranges may be needed in very large environments.

Troubleshooting Tips:

• If a Discovery does not kick off, Try restarting the Altiris Object Host Service. This is the Task Server service that Network Discovery uses. Task Server executes the Discovery engine, so if Task Server is having problems, restarting that service may allow the Discovery to execute.
• If a Network Discovery instance is not starting and you wish to try and schedule another, it is recommended to delete the first instances so they do not overlap, or the previous one kicks off later.
• When Network Discovery Tasks perpetually do not kick off typically this can be a Server task or Job Task Server issue. Please refer to the following KB for possible cause and resolution: www.symantec.com/docs/TECH209754.
• Trace logging can be very useful in troubleshooting problems with the Discovery process. How to easily enable both Network Discovery and PPA trace logging

Next Article:

Network Discovery and Inventory for Network Devices Tips and Tricks Article 5