Getting Started with LAN Watch

The LAN Watch by Network and LAN Watch by Probe pages discover computers and devices on LANs. Any agent machine on a LAN can be selected as the "probe" machine for that LAN. Scanning a LAN using a probe machine discovers any device or machine with an IP address. Discovered devices can be workstations and servers without agents, SNMP devices and vPro-enabled machines. Discovered devices display on the following pages:

• Discovered Devices - Grid View
• Discovered Devices - Tile View

How LANs are Identified

A LAN is detected if a single computer on that LAN is installed with an agent. Detected LANs are identified consecutively as LAN1, LAN2, LAN3, etc. The name assigned to a LAN can be changed for easier recognition. Each LAN is distinguished by a unique combination of the following two items:

• The internal IP range shown in the Scan Range column, and
• The external IP address shown in the Gateway column.

The internal IP range shown in the Scan Range column is expressed as the starting IP address followed by the number of bits—for example, /24—representing the network portion of the IP address.

Using LAN Watch by Network

1. Select the row of a detected LAN in the upper panel.
2. Select New or Edit to set the scan properties. This includes the machine to serve as a probe machine. Windows, Mac and Linux agent machines can all serve as probe machines.
3. Optionally deploy agents to discovered computers by policy, using the Agent Deployment Policy tab in the lower panel.
4. Optionally create alerts for newly discovered types of computers and devices, using the Alert Profiles tab in the lower panel.
5. Optionally set asset policies for discovered computers and devices, using the Asset Promotion page.
6. Schedule a scan once or on a recurring basis using the Schedule Scan button, or run a scan immediately using the Scan Now button.
   • Optionally search for SNMP devices and vPro enabled machines using the Schedule Scan dialog.
   • A scan can be assigned to multiple LANs at the same time. Each LAN will execute the policies assigned for that LAN using the tabs in the lower panel.

Using LAN Watch by Probe

1. Select one or more machine IDs.

   Note: Windows XP machines are not recommended as probe machines. NMAP is more reliable with later Windows operating systems.

2. Schedule a scan once or on a recurring basis using the Schedule Scan button, or run a scan immediately using the Scan Now button.
   • Optionally search for SNMP devices and vPro enabled machines using the Schedule Scan dialog.
   • A scan can be assigned to multiple machine IDs.

Duplicate LAN Ranges

Occasionally two LANs are listed on the LAN Watch by Network page with the same IP address range or overlapping IP address ranges. This condition is commonly caused by a device, router, or DHCP with a mis-configured subnet mask. When this happens:

• Discovery generates a system alert that displays on the Monitor > Alarm Summary page.
• Running Discovery scans on overlapping LANs will appear to 'move' machines back and forth between each LAN as they are re-discovered.

To avoid this behavior, network administrators can either:

• Reconfigure devices on their networks to correct the condition, or
• Set Discovery to "ignore" one of the networks.

Agent Deployment Policies tab

The Agent Deployment Policies tab of the LAN Watch by Network page sets policies for the deployment of agents on computers discovered on a selected network. For each type of operating system—for Windows, Mac and Linux—set the following:

• Automatically install agents for <OS type> machines - Check to enable.
• Default Package - For each type of OS, select an OS appropriate agent install package.
• Designated Deployer Agent - An agent machine on the same network used to deploy the agent.
• User Name / Password / Confirm Password - Enter an administrator credential that allows remote installation of an agent.

The policies you set also serve as defaults when deploying an agent manually using:

• Discovered Devices - Grid View
• Discovered Devices - Tile View
• Scan Results

Matching OS Type Requirement

Any OS type of computer that can support an agent can be used to scan a network: Windows, Mac or Linux. If an agent is deployed, Discovery automatically switches, if necessary, to a matching OS type machine on the same LAN. Since each type of OS can only deploy agents to target machines matching its own OS type, you must manually install at least one agent of each OS type—Windows, Mac and Linux—on a LAN to deploy agents automatically from then on to all three types of operating system.

Administrator Credential

The logon credential specified must have administrator rights on the remote selected machine.

• If the target machine is on a domain, the administrator credential must use the format domain\administrator or administrator@domain.
• If the target machine is not on a domain, then the administrator credential may require the format local\administrator or <hostname>\administrator.
• If the target machine is a Linux machine, the root username alone—without a hostname or domain—must be used.

Alerts Profiles tab

The Alerting Profiles tab of the LAN Watch by Network page sets Discovery alert policies for a selected LAN and device type: computer, mobile, network and firewall.

Note: The Alerts Active checkbox in the Edit dialog enable and disables the Discovery alerts configured on this tab for a selected network.

Asset Promotion tab

The Asset Promotion tab of the LAN Watch by Network page configures the automatic promotion of devices to assets when the devices are discovered.

When an agent cannot be installed on a discovered device, the device can be "promoted" to a managed asset. For example, a router or printer may still require monitoring, even if an agent cannot be installed on the machine.

All managed assets must be assigned a machine group and organization. Scoping rules and view filtering features within the VSA depend on this assignment.

A discovered device can be manually promoted or demoted on the LAN Watch by Network page or LAN Watch by Probe page by toggling the / icon.

Scan Results

The Scan Results window displays the latest scan results for a network. The same window is displayed by clicking the icon on two different pages.

• Click the icon for a network the LAN Watch by Network page.
• Click the icon for an agent machine on the LAN Watch by Probe page.

Note: There may be a delay displaying this page if a network scan is in process.

The Scan Results window has two tabs.

• Summary tab
• Devices tab

Discovered Devices

The Discovered Devices - Grid View page shows computers and devices discovered using LAN Watch by Probe and LAN Watch by Network. Use this page to install agents on discovered computers and mobile devices. You can also make discovered devices a managed asset, even if they cannot be installed with agent.

The Discovered Devices - Tile View page shows computers and devices discovered using LAN Watch by Network and LAN Watch by Probe. The scan results are cumulative from all probe machines. A record is not removed unless you delete it.

Tile View Format

Tile view displays each device on its own tile. A tile can include the following icons:

- Click to display NMAP scan data.

- Only displays if an agent is installed. Hover over this icon to display the Quick View window. Click to launch Live Connect.

/ - Toggling this icon manually promotes or demotes a non-agent device to an asset.

- Only displays if an agent is installed. The number of tickets created for this computer. Click to display the tickets in a ticket table.

- Only displays if an agent is installed. The number of alarms created for this device or computer. Click to display the Alarm Summary page for this device.

- Only displays if an agent is assigned a monitor set or if a SNMP device is assigned an SNMP set. Click to display the Machine Status dashlet or Device Status dashlet.

- Hovering over a tile displays a pencil icon. You can edit the name of a discovered machine or device.