Discovery groups simplify the process of working with a large number of devices and their corresponding IP addresses/hostnames and discovery credentials. For example, if you have set of four user/password credentials used among twenty devices, using a discovery group allows you to enter each set of credentials and all of the IP addresses/hostnames, and the discovery group will match the correct credentials to each device.

Procedure

  1. From Centralized Management, click Discovery Center > Discovery Center Backends.
  2. Select the Backend server.
  3. Click Register.
  4. Select the collector you want to use for discovering your SolutionPack objects.
  5. If you are collecting VMware vCenter events, select the primary backend you want to use for discovering the events.
  6. Click Register.
  7. Click Discovery Center > Devices Management.
  8. Click <Device Name>.
  9. Click the Discovery Groups tab.
  10. Click Add new Discovery group.
  11. Provide a name for the group and click Ok.
  12. Click the newly created group.
  13. Under Credentials, click Add new entry.
  14. Type the username.
  15. If required, select the authentication type.
  16. If you are using password authentication, provide the password and click Ok.
  17. If you are using key-based authentication, provide the absolute location of the private key and click Ok.
  18. Repeat the previous five steps to add as many username/password (or key) combinations as you would like.
  19. Under Hostname or IP address, click Add new entry.
  20. Provide the Hostname/IP Address of the device. If required, provide the Network Port. Click Ok.
  21. Repeat the previous two steps to add as many devices as you would like.
  22. Click Save.
  23. Click the Collected Devices tab.
  24. Click Discover.
  25. Select the Discovery group and Discovery Mode and click Ok.
    The progress bar is displayed above the Collected Devices tab.
  26. When the progress bar is gone, click theDiscovery Results tab.
  27. Click the group name that you added.
  28. Under the group name, you can see the status of all the devices that you added.
  29. Click Import to Collected Devices.
  30. Merge the devices if you want to retain older devices that were added previously.
  31. Click Ok.
  32. Select the action and click Continue.
  33. Click Save.

What to do next

Review your devices and credentials to avoid lockout of devices due to multiple attempts of incorrect credentials. You can create groups in such a way that devices have a minimal set of credentials to be tried against. You can use common public-private key pairs for multiple devices.