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Sun Management Center 3.6.1 User's Guide

ProcedureTo Define and Initiate a Discover Objects Request

You can discover hosts by using the ping command or by using routing tables.

Before you initiate a discover request that uses routing tables, read Appendix B, Internet Protocol Routing. The appendix explains the basic concepts of routing, network classes, and netmasks.

Note –

You must have esdomadm privileges to perform any operations on a Discover Request. For more information, see Chapter 18, Sun Management Center Security.

  1. Open the Discover Objects window as explained in To Start the Discover Objects Window.

  2. Click the Add button in the Discover Objects window.

    The New Discover Request window is displayed. The Discover tab is selected by default.

    Tip –

    To copy an existing discover request, select the existing request and click the Duplicate button in the Discover Objects window. For information about how to edit the settings for the new discover request, see To Modify a Discover Objects Request.

  3. Type a new name for your discover request in the Request Name field.

    Multiple requests are listed in the Discover Objects window, which enables you to select a request and to edit the related search pattern.

  4. In the Discover Using field, select the method that should be used for discovering the network.

    The discovery methods are either Ping or Routing Table.

    • If you select Ping, the discovery process uses both ICMP and SNMP ping commands. The discovery process searches for hosts, routers, and composite objects in the specified IP address range. The process then places the hosts in the appropriate networks and appropriate subnets based on the netmask.

      Note –

      A composite object includes various groupings of hardware and software, such as Sun FireTM systems. These objects do not appear within a subnet or similar structure, but are instead visible at the root level of the domain.

    • If you select Routing Table, the discovery process starts from the Sun Management Center server host . The process then goes through the specified number of hops to report subnets and hosts n hops away. The number of hops limits the “distance” of destination hosts from the host on which the Topology manager or Sun Management Center server is running.

      Note –

      Routing Table discover requests assume that you run an SNMP agent at port 161. The agent can be a Sun Management Center agent, snmpdx, or any SNMP agent provided by your network management package. To use a different port number, see Step 9.

      For more information about routing tables, see Appendix B, Internet Protocol Routing.

  5. Type the IP address from which to begin the discovery process in the Start IP Address field.

  6. Type the IP address at which to stop the discovery process in the End IP Address field.

    Note –

    You only need to do this step if you selected Ping as the discovery method.

  7. Type a netmask value in the Netmask field.

    Note –

    You only need to do this step if the following criteria apply:

    • You selected Ping as the discovery method.

    • You need to use a netmask other than the default value (255.255.255.0).

  8. Type a number in the Number of Hops field.

    The term hop refers to the number of routers through which a packet passes before the packet reaches its destination. For example, a value of 0 (zero) would limit the discovery process to the current subnet.

    Note –

    You only need to do this step if the following criteria apply:

    • You selected Routing Table as the discovery method.

    • You want to limit the size of the discovery process.

  9. To use a port number other than the default (161), enter a port number in the Also Check Port field.

    Tip –

    To check only the port number that you enter, deselect Use Default Port. When you select Use Default Port and you add a number in the field, the discovery process checks both the default port number and the port number that you provide.

    Tip –

    If Sun Management Center agent runs on non-default port, say 1161, and non Sun Management Center agent runs on default port (161), deselect Use Default Port. Otherwise, the discovery process discovers the non Sun Management Center agent and ignores the Sun Management Center agent.

  10. To start the discovery process, click the OK button.

    A confirmation window appears.

    To customize your discover request, see the following sections:

  11. To run the discover request immediately, click the Yes button.

    When you start the discovery process, the following events occur:

    • The discovery process finds all nodes that are running the Sun Management Center agent, including agent nodes that belong to another Sun Management Center server context. Nodes that are running Sun Management Center agents in a remote Sun Management Center server context are included. Extensive information is gathered for Sun Management Center agent nodes.

    • The discovery process finds all nodes that are running an SNMP agent. Limited information is gathered for SNMP agent nodes.

    • The discovery process finds all nodes that are running neither a Sun Management Center agent nor an SNMP agent. These are listed as ping hosts. Very little information is gathered for ping hosts.

  12. If a Sun Management Center server or agent is incorrectly reported to be a ping host or is not discovered, rerun the discovery process with larger timeout and retry values.

    Note –

    If a host is extremely busy, a discovery process that is gathering data for that host might time out. If a timeout occurs for a host that is a Sun Management Center agent, the host might be reported as a ping host . Alternatively, the host might not be discovered at all. If a timeout happens, you might want to increase the ping and SNMP timeout periods and re-initiate the discovery process. See To Set Preferences for a Discover Objects Request for more information.