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Discovering a Network

xAssets IT Asset Management User Guide
Discovering a Network

Discovering a Network

Network Discovery automatically scans your network to find and catalogue every connected device -- computers, servers, printers, and network hardware. Discovery populates your asset database initially and keeps it up to date with regular scans.

What This Chapter Covers

This chapter walks through the full discovery workflow:

  1. Preparing for discovery -- setting up locations and IP ranges
  2. Running discovery -- launching scans by location, IP range, or individual computer
  3. Loading discovered data -- importing scan results into the database
  4. Analysing problems -- troubleshooting when discovery does not return expected results
  5. Editing and scheduling scripts -- customising what data is collected and when scans run
  6. Enrolment -- deploying the discovery agent to remote or off-network computers
  7. Specialised discovery -- USB stick, manual, SNMP, SQL Server, and logon script methods

Why Discovery Matters

Without discovery, the asset register relies on manual data entry, which quickly falls out of date. Discovery ensures that:

  • New devices are detected as soon as they appear on the network
  • Hardware and software changes (memory upgrades, new installations, OS updates) are captured automatically
  • Devices that leave the network are identified for investigation or disposal
  • Software licence compliance reporting has accurate installation counts

Prerequisites

Before running your first discovery:

  • The xAssets Collection Server must be installed and the Discovery Service must be running
  • An administrator account (or Credential Pack) with access to the target machines is required
  • Locations and IP ranges should be configured (see Preparing for Discovery)
  • Firewall rules must permit the required discovery protocols (WMI, SNMP, SSH, or agent communication depending on your strategy)

It is advisable to assign the discovery role to a single person to maintain control over when discovery runs, which subnets are scanned, and the impact on the network. Start with a small scope -- a single subnet or location -- and expand once you have confirmed that discovery is working correctly and data is loading as expected.

For the underlying technical architecture, including how XDSL scripts, the PCAnalyser agent, and collection servers fit together, see the Discovery Architecture chapter.