The Asset Discovery Service uses a number of components to complete the discovery process. This article outlines the different components and how they work together.
Asset Discovery Scanner
The Asset Discovery Scanner is a Windows service that scans the network to find devices. The Scanner is set up by installing the Scanner software on a Windows machine, typically a Windows server.
The Scanner is usually always running in the background as a Windows service. When Discovery Jobs are triggered, either manually or via a pre-set schedule, the Scanner uses its connections on the network to pull information about any machines it finds.
You may end up creating multiple Scanners, each of which scans a different area of your network.
Discovery Job
The Discovery Job is set up in TDAdmin. When creating a Discovery Job, you must specify which Scanner the job is associated with. The Scanner that is chosen will determine which areas of the network the Discovery Job can find. The Discovery Job itself tells the Scanner what to look for and how to look.
When setting up a Discovery Job, you will provide a list or range of IP addresses that will be scanned for devices. This determines where on the network to look. You'll also define one or more Data Providers that will be used to find devices. This tells the Scanner what methods to use when searching for devices.
When triggered, the Discovery Job communicates to the Scanner and triggers the Scanner to search the IP addresses using the methods outlined by the Data Providers. Discovery Jobs can be triggered manually or can run on a pre-determined schedule that you can configure in TDAdmin.
Data Providers
There are many methods of finding devices on a network. These methods are listed as Data Providers. There are many data providers which are used in different situations, as needed to find different devices. For example, the WMI Data Provider is used to find Windows devices on a network, and the SSH Data Provider is used to find Mac or Linux devices. See the related article for more on Data Providers.
Data Providers are outlined as part of the configuration of a Discovery Job. You may have multiple Discovery Jobs, all of which use different Data Providers to find different devices, or you could have one Discovery Job which uses multiple Data Providers to pull in many different kinds of devices at once.
Asset Discovery Agent
The agent is installed on any Windows computers which cannot be captured through any other data providers. Commonly, the agent is used on Windows computers that cannot be discovered using the WMI Data Provider because they are being used outside the network, such as at someone's home.
Asset Discovery Manager
The Manager application is installed on the same device as the Scanner. While the Scanner runs in the background as a Windows service, the Manager application provides an interactive interface that is used to monitor the status of the scanner.
The Manager application contains a full log of all Scanner and Discovery Job activity, as well as some additional utilities that are helpful in troubleshooting issues with the Scanner or Discovery Jobs.