Discovery Only Actions

FlexNet Manager Suite 2023 R1 (On-Premises)

Create a Discovery only action when you do not want to gather inventory, but want only to discover devices or services (or both) in the target network, and within the scope of inventory beacon(s). Tasks related to inventory gathering are excluded from this view. See the following table for details of the available discovery options.

Some example use cases for Discovery only actions include:

• You need to discover computers using Microsoft Computer Browser Service, and discover if those computers are running Microsoft SQL Server. You can target the entire network (or a lesser subnet if you have prior knowledge) and select the following discovery options:
  • Microsoft Computer Browser service
  • Discover Microsoft SQL Server
• You need to discover VMware infrastructure running in a particular subnet. You can target the desired subnet and select the following discovery options:
  • Network scan
  • Discover VMware infrastructure
• You need to discover virtual machines in a subnet with a name like VSrvr. You can specify VSrvr in the All machines with name like... option in the target definition. In the Discovery only action, you need to pick the task(s) related to the appropriate kind of virtualization technology.

Tip: You cannot trigger adoption of computers (that is, automated installation of the FlexNet inventory agent on the target device) using Discovery only actions. Adoption requires a Discovery and inventory action, with (for example) the Gather hardware and software inventory from all target devices task selected; and there must also be a target definition somewhere (not necessarily used in the same rule) that nominates the device(s) with the Allow these targets to be adopted setting. With this combination, the appropriate inventory beacon probes each target device in turn (these may be previously discovered devices, or just discovered as part of the current action, or a mixture).

• If it finds that the FlexNet inventory agent is already locally installed, it moves on to the next target device, leaving the installed FlexNet inventory agent to complete the inventory gathering according to its own schedule (delivered as part of device policy).
• If it finds that the FlexNet inventory agent is not yet present, it uses remote execution to install it. The configuration used points to the same inventory beacon as the bootstrap server from which the newly-installed FlexNet inventory agent requests its policy, after which the installed agent is left to complete the inventory gathering according to its downloaded schedule.
• If it finds a current target device that does not have Allow these targets to be adopted set in any target anywhere (or conversely has Do not allow these targets to be adopted specified in any target, since a 'deny' always overrides an 'allow'), the inventory beacon uses zero footprint inventory collection to gather general inventory from the target device (for details about this approach, see the Gathering FlexNet Inventory PDF, available at https://docs.flexera.com/).

Discovery of devices section

This section manages processes for discovering devices (physical or virtual machines) on your network. (There are separate controls in later sections of the page to control the discovery of services that may be running on those devices.)

Network scan

Enables FlexNet Manager Suite to discover devices specified by the underlying targets. With this option selected, each inventory beacon uses ICMP echo (ping) to discover targeted devices within its assigned subnet, and then connects to the devices using the specified ports (including the ports specified in later sections of the page). For example, if the defined target has two different subnets with a total of 5000 devices, the discovery process:

1. Scans the network to connect to the target devices that are within the subnets assigned to inventory beacon(s)
2. Discovers the services specified in the underlying action on each discovered device, using the specified ports.
3. Collects hardware and software inventory from the discovered devices that are defined by the specified target and in a subnet assigned to the inventory beacon, according to the inventory collection options set in the underlying action.

FlexNet Manager Suite adds default port numbers when you select this option.

• You may edit the existing entries to suit your environment.
• Use the + icon to add another field to enter an additional port or range of ports.
• To enter a range of ports in a single field, separate the first and last values with a dash (hyphen), such as 2483-2485.
• To delete one of the fields, use the x icon to its right.

Note: You must specify at least one port to discover each service specified in the rule's action.

Microsoft Computer Browser service

Enables FlexNet Manager Suite to discover devices in your network through Microsoft Computer Browser Service. With this option selected, FlexNet Manager Suite discovers all available devices and performs service discovery and inventory collection (if selected) only on the devices within the scope of the underlying target and inventory beacon(s). Microsoft Computer Browser Service returns the names of discovered devices and each inventory beacon performs a reverse DNS lookup to get the IP address of devices within its assigned subnet. You can select this option separately, or with other discovery option. Selecting this option prolongs the discovery and inventory gathering process.

Note: When you discover target computers through the Microsoft Computer Browser Service option, all devices within your network (including those out of the scope of the underlying targets) are discovered and their details are populated in the All Discovered Devices page. The service discovery and inventory collection (if selected) is performed only on the devices that are within the scope of the underlying target(s) and inventory beacon(s).

TNSNames file for Oracle databases

Allows FlexNet Manager Suite to connect to Oracle Database servers using the TNSNames.ora configuration file. With this option selected, FlexNet Manager Suite collects discovery information for all Oracle servers specified in the TNSNames.ora file (including devices that are out of the scope of the underlying target[s]), but the inventory collection is performed only on devices that are within the scope of the underlying target(s). The TNSNames.ora file is present in the TNSNames repository folder on the inventory beacon. The default path for this repository is C:\ProgramData\Flexera Software\Repository\TNSNames. This file may have been copied from an Oracle output, or generated by the OEM adapter.

Use previously discovered devices

Enables you to collect service information from the devices that have been discovered already, without scanning the entire network once again. This option is helpful in getting up-to-date information about the services running on devices that have been discovered already. For example, to discover if Microsoft Hyper-V or Oracle Database is running on any computer that has been previously discovered in a particular network subnet.

Note: If this is the only discovery option selected and no devices have been discovered already, the rule will not return any results.

Discovery tasks

The expandable areas (sometimes called accordion folds) in this section contain additional controls to manage the discovery of services, grouped under the types of data that can be collected.

Expand	Option	Description
VMware infrastructure	Discover VMware infrastructure	Enables FlexNet Manager Suite to discover VMware hypervisors and identify the virtual machines they control. When you select this option, FlexNet Manager Suite adds 80 and 443 as default ports to connect to VMware infrastructure. You may edit the existing entries to suit your environment. Use the + icon to add another field to enter an additional port or range of ports. To enter a range of ports in a single field, separate the first and last values with a dash (hyphen), such as 2483-2485. To delete one of the fields, use the x icon to its right. Note: The VMware discovery works only if you specify the port numbers used in your VMware infrastructure.This discovery does not require that you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product. However, be aware that recognition of VMware applications (application name, version, and edition) works only when you have this product licensed.
Oracle VM infrastructure	Discover Oracle VM infrastructure	Enables FlexNet Manager Suite to discover Oracle VM infrastructure. To use this feature, you must have a license for the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product. When you select this option, FlexNet Manager Suite adds 7002 and 7001 as default ports to connect to Oracle VM infrastructure. You can change the default ports or add more as your infrastructure requires. You may edit the existing entries to suit your environment. Use the + icon to add another field to enter an additional port or range of ports. To enter a range of ports in a single field, separate the first and last values with a dash (hyphen), such as 2483-2485. To delete one of the fields, use the x icon to its right.
Microsoft Hyper-V	Discover Microsoft Hyper-V	Enables discovery of Hyper-V servers by FlexNet Manager Suite through the selected discovery method(s). To use this feature, you must have a license for the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters option.
Citrix Xen Desktop environments	Discover Citrix XenDesktop environments	Enables FlexNet Manager Suite to discover Virtual Desktops environments through the selected discovery method(s).
Oracle database environments	Discover Oracle database environments	Enables inventory beacons to discover Oracle databases by using any of the following discovery methods: Port scan — Allows FlexNet Beacon to connect to Oracle Database using the specified ports. FlexNet Manager Suite adds 1521 and 2483 as default ports. At least one port must be specified for discovery to work. You may edit the existing entries to suit your environment. Use the + icon to add another field to enter an additional port or range of ports. To enter a range of ports in a single field, separate the first and last values with a dash (hyphen), such as 2483-2485. To delete one of the fields, use the x icon to its right. SNMP scan — Allows FlexNet Manager Suite to connect to Oracle Database using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Note: The Oracle discovery works only if you have a license for the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters option.
Microsoft SQL Server discovery and inventory	Discover Microsoft SQL Server	Enables discovery of SQL Server installations. To use this feature, you must have a license for the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product. You have to select one or more from the following options: Port scan — Allows FlexNet Manager Suite to connect to a SQL Server database using the specified ports. FlexNet Manager Suite adds 1433 as default port. You may edit the existing entries to suit your environment. Use the + icon to add another field to enter an additional port or range of ports. To enter a range of ports in a single field, separate the first and last values with a dash (hyphen), such as 2483-2485. To delete one of the fields, use the x icon to its right. SQL browser — Allows FlexNet Manager Suite to connect to a SQL Server using the SQL Server Browser Service. This service helps you to browse and connect to SQL Server instances. In order to discover SQL Server installations through this option, the SQL browser service must be running on the target SQL Servers. WMI query — Allows FlexNet Manager Suite to connect to a SQL Server database using WMI Query Language (WQL).