The discovery.conf file contains configuration parameters that you edit to improve the performance of IP Manager discovery. The parameters are a subset of attributes that are defined for the ICF-TopologyManager object.

For parameters such as SNMPPort, you can override the value that is specified in the discovery.conf file by specifying an alternate value in a discovery filter, a seed file, or an Add Agent command.

Parameters in the discovery.conf file describes the parameters in the discovery.conf file. The parameters and their values are case-sensitive.

Table 1. Parameters in the discovery.conf file

Parameter

Value

Description

ipExcludeList

Regular expression

Default: ““ (empty string)

Use ipExcludeList to prevent certain system IP addresses from being added to the topology. By not adding the IP addresses to the topology, autodiscovery will not discover the systems that are associated with the IP addresses.

A typical use of ipExcludeList is to identify IP addresses that are known to be unreachable from the management station, or are known to overlap with other systems.

Use wildcards, which are described in Appendix 15, “Wildcard Patterns,” to specify matching patterns in the IP exclude patterns. Any IP address that matches an exclude pattern will not be added to the topology.

The following example excludes IP addresses from the specified IP network:

ipExcludeList += “10.10.9.*”

ShowPendingNONSNMP

TRUE,FALSE

Default: FALSE

Controls whether non-SNMP systems that are found by autodiscovery are added to the IP Manager’s Pending Devices list or are discarded. A non-SNMP system is one that responds to ICMP polls but does not respond to SNMP polls:

  • A value of TRUE indicates that non-SNMP systems are added to the Pending Devices list.

  • A value of FALSE indicates that non-SNMP systems are discarded.

    Note:

    Setting the value to TRUE and having autodiscovery enabled can result in adding many hosts, workstations, and other non-SNMP systems to the Pending Devices list.

LogDiscoveryProgress

TRUE,FALSE

Default: FALSE

Controls whether verbose logging is used to log discovery-related messages to the IP Manager’s log file:

  • A value of TRUE enables verbose logging.

  • A value of FALSE disables verbose logging.

    Note:

    This parameter is used mainly for debugging purposes.

defaultSNMPPort

0 to 65535

Default: 161

Specifies the default port used by the IP Manager for SNMP discovery and monitoring. You can override this value in a discovery filter, a seed file, or an Add Agent command.

Note:

If 0 is specified, port 161 is used.

defaultRetries

Default: 5 retries

Number of SNMP retry polls to use during Phase 3 of discovery.

Phase 3 of discovery is described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Management Suite Discovery Guide.

“SNMP polling discovery settings” on page 56 provides recommendations about changing this value.

defaultTimeout

Default: 1000 milliseconds

Timeout for an SNMP poll during Phase 3 of discovery.

Phase 3 of discovery is described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Management Suite Discovery Guide.

“SNMP polling discovery settings” on page 56 provides recommendations about changing this value.

defaultICMPAutoRetries

Default: 3 retries

Number of ICMP polls to try during Phase 1 of discovery.

Phase 1 of discovery is described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Management Suite Discovery Guide.

“ICMP polling discovery settings” on page 56 provides recommendations about changing this value.

defaultICMPAutoTimeout

Default: 500 milliseconds

Timeout for an ICMP poll during Phase 1 of discovery.

Phase 1 of discovery is described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Management Suite Discovery Guide.

“ICMP polling discovery settings” on page 56 provides recommendations about changing this value.

defaultICMPPacketSize

Default: 64 Bytes

The default ICMP packet size in Bytes (used during initial ICMP request. The smallest and the largest size of the ICMP packet set at the foundation level is 20 and 64 Bytes. Any value set below 20 will be reset back to a mininum of 20 Bytes and any value set above 64 will be reset back to a maximum of 64 bytes.

Note:

For ICMPv4 ping packet, minimum size is 20 bytes and maximum size is 64 bytes. For ICMPv6 ping packet, minimum size is 32 bytes and maximum size is 64 bytes.

By default, both ICMPv4 and ICMPv6 ping packet have 64 bytes set. The defaultICMPPacketSize variable controls ICMP ping packet size for both IPv4 and IPv6 ping packet. Needs Server restart.

defaultSNMPAutoRetries

Default: 3 retries

Number of SNMP polls to try during Phase 1 of discovery.

Phase 1 of discovery is described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Management Suite Discovery Guide.

“SNMP polling discovery settings” on page 56 provides recommendations about changing this value.

defaultSNMPAutoTimeout

Default: 1000 milliseconds

Timeout for an SNMP poll during Phase 1 of discovery.

Phase 1 of discovery is described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Management Suite Discovery Guide.

“SNMP polling discovery settings” on page 56 provides recommendations about changing this value.

numberProbeThreads

Default: 10 threads

Number of discovery threads that are used by the discovery process. If you are experiencing slow response SNMP discovery polling and your current CPU usage is relatively low (5 to 10 percent), consider increasing the number of discovery threads to improve your discovery performance. Increasing this number is one of the best and simplest methods for improving discovery.

Increasing the number of discovery threads to 20, 30, or even 50 is acceptable, but remember that more threads might require additional or more capable CPUs, and that the requirements during discovery will increase. Increase discovery threads conservatively while monitoring SNMP Processing Statistics changes, as described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Manager Deployment Guide.

numberShortProbeThreads

Default: 7 threads

Number of discovery threads that are used by the short discovery process. If you increase the number of short discovery threads, use small increments and monitor your current CPU usage. Increasing the number of threads will increase the CPU usage.

The short discovery process is independent of the main discovery process. Both may occur simultaneously.

Short discovery handles SNMP MIB index changes, which typically occur during device restarts. In addition, SNMP MIB index changes occur for components that use fluid index values; for example, IPSec tunnel endpoints.

Short discovery is described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Management Suite Discovery Guide.

ICMPSleepTime

0 to 100 milliseconds

Default: 0

Interval between successive ICMP poll requests.

During the initial discovery phase, the IP Availability Manager sends large bursts of ICMP polls. If ICMP has a low priority, the network is congested, or the routers on the path are experiencing high processor utilization, a number of these ICMP packets may be dropped. As a result, the IP Manager receives a limited number of ICMP responses, which causes a number of systems that might otherwise be successfully discovered to be placed on the Pending Devices list as UNDISCOVERED.

Other symptoms of packet loss include DiscoveryError notifications for systems that were previously discovered successfully and the full topology is not discovered after two full discoveries.

Increasing the sleep time increases the amount of time between ICMP polls. You can specify a value between 0 and 100 milliseconds. A value of 100 milliseconds translates to 10 ICMP polls per second.

Specifying a long sleep time can significantly prolong the discovery process. Estimate the total additional time by multiplying the sleep time by the number of IP addresses to be processed.

defaultReadCommunity

Default: public

Read-only community string used by the IP Manager when no community string is specified in the Community Strings field in the Topology tab of the Domain Manager Administration Console.

The Community Strings field is described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Management Suite Discovery Guide.

If you do not want the IP Manager to use a default community string during discovery, you must remove "public" from the Community Strings field and from this parameter.

MaximumCommunities

Default: 4 strings

Number of read-only community strings that can be specified in the Community Strings field in the Topology tab of the Domain Manager Administration Console.

The Community Strings field is described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Management Suite Discovery Guide.

Change this value to address networks with more than four different read-only community strings.

MaximumSNMPV3Credentials

Default: 4

Number of SNMPV3 fallback credentials that can be specified in the SNMPV3 Credentials in the Topology tab of the Domain Manager Administration Console. This value can be changed to address networks which have more than 10 different SNMPV3 Credentials.

LicenseThresholdPercentage

Default: 90%

Determines the LowOnSystemLicense event.

Note:

This attribute is common for System volume, WirelessAccessPoint, and WirelessClients.

The default value is set at 90 %. The total number of systems that can be discovered with the available license blocks is calculated based on the value.

For example, for four blocks of licenses and considering one block size = 50 devices, a total of 200 devices (50*4) can be discovered. Once the total number of systems reach 90 % of 200 devices, the LowOnSystemLicense event is generated.

MaximumHostBits

Default: 8 bits

Number of host bits in the netmask that is used by autodiscovery to find additional discovery candidate systems. The default value of 8 corresponds to a netmask of 255.255.255.0.

If, for example, your network includes systems with a netmask of 255.255.254.0, these systems will not be found by autodiscovery.

Modify the default value of the MaximumHostBits parameter with caution because as you increase the value, so do you increase the number of ICMP polls that are generated during every discovery.

VMware recommends that you set the value only as high as needed. If necessary, modify the value during the initial topology discovery. Once the devices are discovered, lower the value so that subsequent pending and full discoveries do not attempt to look beyond the default netmask. This modification will not affect systems that have already been discovered.

For example, the default value of 8 provides a maximum of 254 host IP addresses. A value of 16 provides a maximum of 65,534 host IP addresses.

192.168.1.1/24 = 8 host bits

192.168.1.1/18 = 14 host bits

192.168.1.1/16 = 16 host bits

192.168.1.1/8 = 24 host bits

Valid values range from 2 to 24. If a value greater than 24 is specified, a value of 8 is used.

AccessAddressFormat

AUTOADDRESS,LOOPBACKADDRESS

Default: AUTOADDRESS

Determines how the discovery process obtains an IP address to communicate with discovered systems. This address is used for ICMP and SNMP polls during discovery and for monitoring and analysis. Valid values are AUTOADDRESS and LOOPBACKADDRESS.

AUTOADDRESS means that all the IP addresses of a device are polled using ICMP. If a device has more than ten IP addresses, only ten of the IP addresses are polled using SNMP. The addresses to be polled by SNMP are chosen as follows:

  • IP address is managed and is not a duplicate

  • InterfaceMode of the IP, if any, is NORMAL

  • If the system has more than ten IP addresses, the first ten IP addresses are chosen in the following manner: IP addresses of type SOFTWARELOOPBACK, ETHERNET, TOKENRING, and GENERIC are chosen first in the order that the IP addresses appear in the IP address table (ipAddrTable). IP addresses of type GENERIC must not have a netmask of 255.255.255.252. The remaining IP addresses are chosen in the order that they appear in the IP address table.

LOOPBACKADDRESS means that the discovery process uses the loopback address for both ICMP and SNMP for monitoring and discovery. (MIB-II ifType 24). Note that discovery cannot determine the loopback address until after the system has been discovered.

Note:

If a qualified IP address is not found, the last known SNMP address is used and a DiscoveryError is notified. The DiscoveryError contains the message: Qualified access address not found.

DisplayNameFormat

AUTOASSIGNED,MIBIISYSNAME

Default: AUTOASSIGNED

Determines how the discovery process populates the DisplayName attribute of a system. Valid values are AUTOASSIGNED and MIBIISYSNAME.

AUTOASSIGNED means that the DisplayName of a system is set to the value of the Name attribute of the system. By using the NameFormat parameter, which is described in Table 127 on page 243, you can control how the value of the Name attribute is determined.

Also, for AUTOASSIGNED, you can change the value of DisplayName by using dmctl or an Adapter Scripting Language (ASL) script. The value of DisplayName is not retained across subsequent discoveries.

MIBIISYSNAME means that the DisplayName of a system is set to the value of the MIB-II sysName variable.

Any change to the DisplayName by using dmctl or an ASL script is not retained across subsequent discoveries.

HSRPEnabled

TRUE,FALSE

Default: TRUE

Enables or disables Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) discovery, monitoring, and analysis:

  • A value of TRUE enables HSRP discovery, monitoring, and analysis.

  • A value of FALSE disables HSRP discovery, monitoring, and analysis.

VRRPEnabled

TRUE,FALSE

Default: TRUE

Enables or disables Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) discovery, monitoring, and analysis:

  • A value of TRUE enables VRRP discovery, monitoring, and analysis.

  • A value of FALSE disables VRRP discovery, monitoring, and analysis.

HostResourcesEnabled

TRUE,FALSE

Default: TRUE

Enables or disables host resources discovery and monitoring:

  • A value of TRUE enables host resources discovery and monitoring.

  • A value of FALSE disables host resources discovery and monitoring.

VirtualRouterEnabled

TRUE,FALSE

Default: TRUE

Enables or disables virtual router discovery and monitoring:

  • A value of TRUE enables virtual router discovery and monitoring.

  • A value of FALSE disables virtual router discovery and monitoring.

MinimumDemandGet

TRUE,FALSE

Default: FALSE

Controls whether to allow only minimum Demand Get requests or to allow all Demand Get requests:

  • A value of TRUE allows only minimum Demand Get requests.

  • A value of FALSE allows all Demand Get requests.

Setting this parameter to TRUE optimizes discovery performance by

avoiding unnecessary Demand Get requests.

DuplexAssumed

TRUE,FALSE

Default: TRUE

Controls how to set the duplex mode for network adapters (ports or interfaces) in the topology. Valid values are TRUE and FALSE.

  • A value of TRUE indicates that duplex mode is assumed for all network adapters regardless of whether duplex mode can be determined by checking the MIBs.

  • A value of FALSE indicates that duplex mode is set only for the network adapters for which duplex mode can be determined by checking the MIBs.

As further clarification, a value of TRUE means that the IP Manager will calculate current utilization for all ports and interfaces in the topology regardless of whether their duplex mode can be determined by checking the MIBs. For any port or interface whose duplex mode cannot be determined by checking the MIBs, the IP Manager sets the port’s/interface’s DuplexMode attribute to FULLDUPLEX and its DuplexSource attribute to ASSUMED. The one exception is the 10 megabit (Mb) Ethernet adapter, for which the IP Manager sets the adapter’s DuplexMode attribute to HALFDUPLEX.

A value of FALSE means that the IP Manager will calculate only current utilization for those ports or interfaces that can be determined as full-duplex or half-duplex by reading the Enterprise MIB, ETHERLIKE-MIB, and Neighbor MIB. Any port or interface having an unspecified duplex mode setting will be ignored.

Be aware that calculating current utilization for all ports and interfaces (DuplexAssumed = TRUE) requires considerable system resources. Ensure that your server is sized properly to accommodate the size of your environment, as described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Manager Deployment Guide.

The VMware Smart Assurance IP Performance Manager and Server Performance Manager User Guide provides more information about duplex mode and current utilization calculations.

importExternalTagsConnections

TRUE,FALSE

Default: FALSE

Controls whether MPLS tags and connections are imported by the IP Manager from MPLS Manager.

  • A value of TRUE indicates that the MPLS tags and connections are imported by the IP Manager.

  • A value of FALSE indicates that the MPLS tags and connections are not imported by the IP Manager.

The VPN-Tagging Server is described in the VMware Smart Assurance MPLS Manager Discovery Guide Supplement.

autoReprobe_short

TRUE,FALSE

Default: FALSE

Enables or disables short discovery:

  • A value of TRUE enables short discovery.

  • A value of FALSE disables short discovery.

The short discovery process is independent of the main discovery process. Both may occur simultaneously.

Short discovery handles SNMP MIB index changes, which typically occur during device restarts. In addition, SNMP MIB index changes occur for components that use fluid index values; for example, IPSec tunnel endpoints.Short discovery is described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Management Suite Discovery Guide.

reprobePeriod_short

60 or more seconds

Default: 900 seconds

Interval between successive short discoveries. If you decrease the short discovery interval, use small decrements and monitor your current CPU usage. Decreasing the interval will increase the CPU usage.

Short discovery is described in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Management Suite Discovery Guide.

WIFI_reprobePeriod_short

Default Value = 3600 seconds

Interval between successive WIFI short discoveries. If you decrease the short discovery interval, use small decrements and monitor your current CPU usage. Decreasing the interval will increase the CPU usage. Value should be more than 300, else 300 will be considered. Needs server restart.

DiscoveryAddrPref

IPV6FIRST_IPV4NEXT,IPV4FIRST_IPV6NEXT,IPV6_ADDRONLY, orIPV4_ADDRONLY

Default: IPV6FIRST_IPV4NEXT

Controls the order of addresses in the list of IP addresses that are found on a discovered system, where the preferred addresses (IPv6 or IPv4) are first in the list.

Valid values are:

  • IPV6FIRST_IPV4NEXT

    IPv6 addresses are first in the list, followed by IPv4 addresses.

  • IPV4FIRST_IPV6NEXT

    IPv4 addresses are first in the list, followed by IPv6 addresses.

  • IPV6_ADDRONLY

    Only IPv6 addresses are in the list.

  • IPV4_ADDRONLY

    Only IPv4 addresses are in the list.

The DiscoveryAddrPref parameter influences how the discovery process names a discovered system, as explained in the VMware Smart Assurance IP Management Suite Discovery Guide.

When IPv6 is the preferred address, the global unicast address and the addresses that begin with 3FFE:* take precedence.

SNMPGetBulkEnabled

TRUE,FALSE

Default: TRUE

Enables or disables SNMP getBulk for device discovery:

  • A value of TRUE enables SNMP getBulk for device discovery

  • A value of FALSE disables SNMP getBulk for device discovery.

STPVLANNamingEnabled

TRUE,FALSE

Default: TRUE

STP based VLAN unique naming discovery is enabled by incorporating the root bride ID as part of the VLAN name.

It is set to TRUE (by default) to enable VLAN unique naming by incorporating STP root bridge ID as part of the VLAN name during IP Manager discovery. If it is set to FALSE, the STP root bridge ID will not be included in the VLAN name.

WIFIEnabled

TRUE,FALSE

Default: TRUE

Enables or disables wireless device discovery. To enable wireless device discovery, set the flag WIFIEnabled = TRUE.

Disabling the Wifi discovery through the “WIFIEnabled” flag and doing a Discover All removes all the wireless components, for example, Wireless Access Points, Clients, and SSID, which were discovered earlier.

WIFI_autoReprobe_Short

Note:

Server restart is required.

Default value: FALSE

  • TRUE — Enables WIFI related short discovery.

  • FALSE— Disables WIFI related short discovery.

Enables or disables WIFI related short discovery. Short discovery handles Wireless Topology changes, which typically occur during WirelessClient movement. In addition, dynamically detects Rogue Wireless APs.