The discovery process is anchored by Topology Manager, a singleton class of type ICF_TopologyManager which provides the interface for discovering topology elements. TopologyManager has a pending list that holds items that should be discovered in the next iteration of discovery.

This section provides the steps of discovery.

  1. Attach the Global Console to the Global Manager and configure the Global Manager to import topology and events from the underlying IP Manager, satellite Domain Manager and Adapter Platform as described in “Configure the Global Manager for discovery” on page 69.

  2. Configure the IP manager for discovery, as described in “Configure the IP Manager for discovery” on page 70.

  3. Enable discovery features, which is discussed in “Discovery options” on page 71.

  4. Use the Name resolution service to translate hostnames to IP addresses, and to translate IP addresses to hostnames, described in “Name Resolution” on page 151.

  5. Choose discovery address preference in the discovery.conf file:

    • IPv6FIRST_IPv4NEXT

      • IPv4FIRST_IPv6NEXT

      • IPv6ONLY

      • IPv4ONLY

  6. Configure full discovery interval or pending discovery interval. Add autodiscovery filters, if applicable. “Scheduling automatic discovery” on page 85 describes the procedure.

  7. Choose the discovery mode:

    • Autodiscovery

      • Manual discovery

      • Light discovery

        Note:

        Besides performing a traditional discovery of network objects, you can configure the IP Manager to create topology collection sets from the discovered network objects. The creation of topology collection sets is known as “IP Manager light discovery” or simply “light discovery.” By default, light discovery is disabled. The Chapter 2, “Configuration,” provides instructions on configuring the IP Manager to create topology collection sets.

  8. Initiate the discovery process, which could be either manual discovery or autodiscovery. It involves importing a seed file or adding seed systems to the topology. This is discussed in “Initiating discovery” on page 77.

  9. Start discovery in any one of the following ways:

    • “Starting discovery from the console” on page 87

      • “Starting discovery from the command line” on page 88

        You may choose to start full discovery or start pending discovery, depending on your requirement.