System discovery

System discovery enables you to discover a resource for a single IPv4 or IPv6 address or host name or many resources of the same type that occur in a densely populated single range of IP addresses. You can also use a discovery profile to discover more specific categories of resource types, specify multiple ranges of IP addresses, or automatically request access to or collect inventory for discovered resources.

System discovery provides the following functions:

Discovery based on a single IPv4 or IPv6 address
Discovery based on a single host name
Discovery based on one range of IPv4 or IPv6 addresses
Discovery based on a discovery profile

Using discovery based on a single IP address or host name or a range of IP addresses is useful when the following conditions apply:

You are managing a single subnet (or only a few subnets) and you want to manage all resources that are on the subnet or all resources of a given type.
The subnet is a densely populated single range of IP addresses for a single resource type that you want to discover at one time.

Using discovery based on a discovery profile is useful when the following conditions apply:

Your resources span many subnets.
A specific type of resource occurs in multiple IP address ranges.
You want to automatically request access to or collect inventory for the discovered resources.
You need to discover various types of resources by using targeted discovery profiles.

The discovery process discovers only systems and other types of resources that can be managed by IBM® Flex System Manager. In other words, just because you can "ping" a resource does not mean that IBM Flex System Manager can discover it.

Discover only those resources that you intend to manage with IBM Flex System Manager. For example, if the management interfaces of your networking equipment are on a single subnet, yet you do not intend to manage your networking equipment with IBM Flex System Manager, do not discover devices on that subnet.

As system discovery runs, the System Discovery page refreshes the list of discovered resources in the Discovered Manageable Systems table. You also can view the results of this discovery by using the Discovery jobs task to examine the associated job. You can view all discovered systems on the Resource Explorer page.

While the discovery process is active, the System Discovery page also displays additional elements:

An icon and text message that states whether the discovery process is running or stopping
A Stop button that enables you to stop the discovery process that is updating the Discovered Manageable Systems table
A New discovery button that enables you to run another system discovery in addition to the one that is currently active. If you run a new discovery, the new discovery updates the Discovered Manageable Systems table. When you run a new discovery, you must use the Discovery jobs task to view the results of the current discovery.

Note: The time it takes for discovery to finish processing varies depending on such factors as network performance and the number of systems that are discovered. Avoid managing newly discovered resources for a time after the discovery task finishes, because associated processing continues to run.