Initiating a Discovery Scan

Before you can manage devices with WhatsUp Gold, use the discovery scan wizard (DISCOVER > New Scan) to add devices to the WhatsUp Gold database. You can apply discovery on any network, subnet, or IP address reachable from your WhatsUp Gold installation. For additional information, see Getting the Most from Your Scan.

Tip: To apply a scan based on an already created profile, see Using Saved Discovery Profiles.

There are two main approaches for discovery:

• IP Address Scan. Limit scans to check for specific ranges, subnets, or provide a hosts file.
• Seed Addresses Scan. WhatsUp Gold "seeds" or builds an address list from target device SNMP data. It then continues to scan for additional devices based on the SNMP responses from these seed devices. This powerful feature can be described as the 'cast-a-wide-net' approach. It also has useful controls for limiting the expanse of address boundaries and network hops.

Task 1: Choose Scan Mode and Scan Rules

1. Choose a mode of discovery.
   • IP Address Scan. Enter known IP range(s) or address(s). Return only these devices.

     Include Rules

     • Gateway IP. Include the default gateway IP address for the WhatsUp Gold server in the discovery scan.
     • Local Subnet. Automatically include the entire subnet local to the WhatsUp Gold server in the scan.
     • Use Host File. Upload a host file from which devices can be resolved and added to WhatsUp Gold.
     • Cloud Devices. Include cloud-based infrastructure devices when AWS/Azure/Meraki credentials are enabled during discovery. (For quicker scans of AWS, select only the geographic regions where your instances are provisioned).

     Exclude Rules (optional)

     Enter an IP address, range, or subnet range to exclude from this scan.

   • Seed Address Scan. Include the IP address(es) you want to begin from, harvest an address/host list from each machine, and confine the net of discovery based on exclude rules and scan depth.
     • Scan Depth. Limit the number of hops traversed in the discovery process.

     Include Rules

     • Gateway IP. Include the default gateway IP address for the WhatsUp Gold server in the discovery scan.
     • Local Subnet. Automatically include the entire subnet local to the WhatsUp Gold server in the scan.
     • Use Host File. Upload a host file from which devices can be resolved and added to WhatsUp Gold.
     • Cloud Devices. Include cloud-based infrastructure devices when AWS/Azure/Meraki credentials are enabled during discovery. (For quicker scans of AWS, select only the geographic regions where your instances are provisioned).

     Exclude Rules (optional)

     Enter an IP address, range, or subnet range to exclude from this scan.

     Limit Rules (optional)

     • Limit to Private Networks. Limit to devices with private IP addresses.
     • Limit to Monitored Subnets. Subnets on which WhatsUp Gold currently has monitored devices.

   Note: If you want WhatsUp Gold to disregard one or more IP addresses or ranges, enter these as an Exclude rule.

2. Tune and customize.
   • Maximum Number of Devices. Specify a set quantity for which to limit the number of devices discovered by WhatsUp Gold.
   • Advanced Settings. Expand additional controls which you can use to fine tune your discovery scan. Advanced settings allows you to expand the discovery scan and apply specific options.
     • Expand scan to virtualization environments. Include vCenter and Hyper-V server hosts to ensure top-down discovery of VMs that also preserves host/guest VMs relationships as shown on the My Network Map Virtual Overlay.
     • Expand scan to wireless environments. Discover/reveal wireless access points and associated wireless clients.
     • Expand scan to storage environments. Discover/reveal SANs.
     • Maximum Threads. Limit the number of child discovery processes/jobs that run.
     • Device Naming. Use hostname, DNS name, or SNMP Sysname
     • ...Select specific connectivity options to use while scanning, specify ping timeout and retry settings, and enable automatic updates to devices.
3. Click Next to advance to the Credentials tab. (If you have already configured a credentials list and have no updates you want to make to it, click Run.)

Task 2: Select and Add Credentials

1. Click the check boxes to specify credentials WhatsUp Gold should use to access and communicate with network-connected devices during discovery.
   • Use the controls at the top of the interface to add , edit , or prioritize a credential for device discovery.
   • Enable Use all current and future credentials to use any appropriate credential in the library during the discovery scan.
2. Click Next to advance to the Schedule area of the discovery wizard.

Task 3: Schedule a Time

Schedule a time, make this a recurring scan, or just click Run.

• Schedule. Enable to display controls for configuring the discovery to run at a set date, time, and recurrence. You can also set an expiration date for a recurring discovery scan.
• Email upon completion. Direct WhatsUp Gold to send email notification when discovery scan is complete.

Click Next to advance to the Summary area of the discovery wizard.

Review Settings and Run

1. Review the Settings, Credentials, and Schedule options. Click to the right of the applicable section to make changes, if needed.
2. Click Run to initiate the discovery scan or Save to retain this scan configuration as a discovery profile in WhatsUp Gold for future use.

Finally, to enable device-level monitoring on selected devices, proceed to Promoting Discovered Devices.

See Also Running Discovery Getting the Most from Your Scan Promoting Discovered Devices Using Saved Discovery Profiles Handling Shared Addresses (Merge Devices) Managing Detection Categories (Device Roles)