This how-to article will help Technician and Admins to install the Asset Discovery Service to send asset data back to TDX to be seen inside the TDAdmin and TDNext interfaces. The user must have the Assets app in the TDNext as well as app admin permissions in the Assets app.
Overview
The purpose of this service is to proactively find asset data and send it back to TDX for processing/reporting. TeamDynamix Asset Discovery Services use active network scanning and/or Windows-based agents to gather information about the assets in your environment. The service then relays that information to the TeamDynamix cloud environment for integration with TeamDynamix Asset Applications. Asset Application administrators can review the results of the scan and allow the discovery process to modify records within the Asset Application.
Installing the Asset Discovery Service
The TeamDynamix Asset Discovery Service is a Windows service which performs asset scanning, communicates with the TeamDynamix cloud environment, and acts as a relay for information collected by discovery agents that are installed on endpoints within your environment.
System Requirements
The Discovery Service is a Microsoft Windows Service and requires a machine running Microsoft Windows, either physical or virtual. The host system must have network visibility to all devices that should be discovered.
The computer should conform to the following minimum requirements:
- Operating System – Windows 10 or Windows Server 2012 SP1 or newer
- Processor – 1GHz
- RAM – 512MB
- Disk – 20MB + 4MB per 10,000 devices discovered per discover run. The service creates a results file (and a log file) on disk each time a discovery is run. The longer these files are kept for historical purposes, the more disk space will be required.
- Prerequisites – .NET 4.7.2
Installation Process
Note: We suggest installing the Asset Discovery software to point to Sandbox initially, before pointing to production.
This section describes the process of installing the service. TeamDynamix will provide the installation file, which will be named TdxDiscSetup.msi.
- Run the installation file. If .NET 4.7.2 is not present, it will warn you and end, otherwise, continue to the next screen.
- Choose the installation location. If you are installing a second instance of the Asset Discovery Service on the same computer, they must be installed in different locations. Otherwise, use the default or a location appropriate to your organization.
- On the TeamDynamix Authentication screen, enter the following information
- Scanner Name: Enter a name for this instance of the Asset Discovery Service. This name will be used within TDAdmin to identify the service, and will default to "Scanner on [Computer Name]".
- TeamDynamix Web API URL: Enter the URL for the web API (e.g.
https://[sitename].teamdynamix.com/SBTDWebApi/ for Sandbox, or https://[sitename].teamdynamix.com/TDWebApi/ for Production).
- Business Entity ID: Enter the Web Services BEID value, which is available in TDAdmin > Security.
- Web Services Key: The Web Services Key is also available in TDAdmin > Security.
- Scanner ID: If you are reinstalling/upgrading the service, enter the Scanner ID, which can be found on the Scanner record in TDAdmin. Leave this blank if this is the first time you are installing the Service in this location.
- On the Discovery Service Information screen, optionally modify the following values, if appropriate for your environment:
- Local Service Name: This value will be used as the service name. If you are installing the service multiple times on the same computer, this will need to be unique.
- Local Service Display Name: This will be the display name of the installed service.
- Service Identity: The service will be installed under this service identity.
- Click Install to being the installation, then click Finish to exit the installation wizard.
Once the service is installed, it will start automatically and will register itself with TeamDynamix. The installer will also install the TeamDynamix Asset Discovery Manager, which will allow you to test the discovery service locally. Once the service is installed, asset discovery jobs can be configured in TDAdmin.
This can work with several different asset protocols that are supported inside your environment.
Command Line Installation
You can script the installation of the Asset Discovery Service using the msiexec command. You will need to choose which of the parameters you want to provide, which correspond to the fields described in the manual installation, above. The following command will install the service (all parameters are required):
msiexec /i [Path to Installer MSI] /qb APIURL="[API URL]" BEID="[BEID]" WSKEY="[Web Services Key]" APPDIR="[Installation Directory]" SCANNER_NAME="[Scanner Name]" SERVICE_NAME="TDXDiscScanner" SERVICE_DISPLAYNAME="TeamDynamix Asset Discovery Scanner"
The following optional parameters can also be used:
- SCANNER_ID="[guid id of scanner in TDAdmin (can be existing or new)]"
- SERVICE_IDENTITY=["LocalSystem"|"LocalService"|"NetworkService"|"user"]
- SERVICE_USERNAME=[username] (applicable only if SERVICE_IDENTITY="user")
- SERVICE_PASSWORD=[password] (applicable only if SERVICE_IDENTITY="user")
- AGENT_FIREWALL (set to "" to not add rule, anything else like “true” to add it)
- AGENT_PORT (set to port number to use if 1443 is not OK)
You can also change the /qb option to /qn to remove the installation UI or remove that option to show the full installation UI.
Summary of Installed Files
This section describes notable installed files. The file paths below are relative to the install directory chosen while installing the service.
- /config/ - This folder contains the configuration files which determine how the service runs. These files are automatically updated with information entered in TDAdmin and are synced before every time the service runs.
- /logs/ - This folder contains log files for each job run. Unless disabled on the Scanner record, these logs are sent to TeamDynamix automatically.
- /results/ - This folder contains the results of each job run.
- /servicelog/ - This folder contains log files for the service itself (independent of the jobs that it runs).
- tdxdiscmgr.exe - This is the Asset Discovery Manager application.
- tdxdiscserv.exe - This is the Service executable.
Data Elements
Several of the following data elements can be found and mapped to existing asset components.
- Vendors – Companies who may manufacture, supply, or provide contracts related to assets.
- Product types – Groupings of product models, for example Laptop and Desktop.
- Product models – Specific product models that come from a manufacturer, such as Precision 7510. Product models have a manufacturer which is a vendor record.
- Locations – Physical locations, usually modeled as buildings and rooms in those buildings.
- Acct/Depts – Departments that may own or have requested assets.
- Assets – The core record. Assets may have serial numbers, asset tags, purchase prices, and other information, drawing from all the above records.
- Contracts – Assets may have one or more contracts attached to them, for example a support contract.
Gotchas & Pitfalls
These issues may affect how quickly you can implement this module:
- Client-side technical contacts must have a good understanding of the required asset protocols.
- .NET-based virtual machines are required to store and run the Asset Discovery Windows tool.
- Network monitoring will only capture data about assets that are on the monitored network or subnet. To capture data on any devices not on a monitored network, such as remote workers' devices, an agent must be installed on each individual device.
Examples
Clients use this to find assets that that may not be easily found/reported on otherwise without a discovery tool.
See the following related articles for information on installing, configuring, and implementing asset discovery: