Initial Configuration

Auto Discovery Pre Flight Checklist

First, let's review the list below prior to running an auto discovery.

Be sure that your system is in the correct time zone for your location.
Review the document About Auto Discovery which describes how the auto discovery allows you to automatically coordinate network resources with the Groundwork Monitor configuration database.
Make sure the DNS resolution is configured properly for your GroundWork server. From the command line on the GroundWork server, make sure that you can ping hosts by both hostname and fully qualified domain names.
Make sure NTP is configured and running on your system for clock synchronization. NTP is highly recommended to ensure that monitoring data and graphs are accurate and assigned the correct time values.

Confirm that your GroundWork server IP address and hostname are defined in your local DNS domain. You can also enter this information into /etc/hosts on your GroundWork server.
Make sure you know ahead of time what SNMP community strings are required for the network devices you wish to discover. These are needed in the Auto Discovery application.
Choose names for the host groups you will use based on your operational requirements. This will enable you to assign them as part of your initial discovery. For example, you can add Windows, Network, Routers, Switches, Firewalls, etc.
Load or create the monitoring profiles required for your environment, i.e. WMI, SNMP, etc. We will step though how to import GroundWork Monitor profiles.

Initial Configuration Step 1 - Change the Default Password for Administrators

Here we'll change the default administrator password from admin to one of your choice.

Log in to GroundWork Monitor as an administrator with the default username: admin and password: admin.
Change the default password; select My Preferences, Edit profile tab, Change password link, and enter the password information (password must be a minimum of 6 characters).
Click the Submit button at the bottom of the page to save.
Figure: Change password

Initial Configuration Step 2 - Create a User Login

Now we'll create a user login for you and your colleagues that require access to GroundWork Monitor.

Select Administration, then select the User Management portlet. You will be on the first tab option; User Management.
Select the Create new user account link.
Enter the account properties (password must be a minimum of 6 characters), click Submit.
Next, enter a check in the corresponding box for the Operators role, then select Submit.
Figure: Create user login

Initial Configuration Step 3 - Import Profiles

Profiles define a set of standard services that can be applied toward any host. If a change to the standard is required, you can modify the profile then apply the profile to all hosts. GroundWork Monitor includes three installed basic profiles; Service Ping which monitors a remote server via ICMP, SNMP Network which monitors any network device using SNMP, and SSH UNIX that monitors a UNIX server plus an extended library of monitoring profiles for a variety of devices, systems and applications. XML profile files and their companion performance configuration definition file (if any) are loaded and stored in the /usr/local/groundwork/core/profiles folder upon a GroundWork Monitor installation.

These profiles need to be imported or loaded into the database before they can be used.

In this step we'll import profiles that you will need for your first discovery scan. The Configuration>Profile Importer tool is used to import, update modifications, or import customized profiles into the monarch database. You can also select to remove unwanted profiles, or to import profiles you download from GroundWork Connect or other sources.

Select Profiles from the Configuration page.
Select Profile Importer.
In the Profile Importer screen you will see a list of all eligible files.
Select the box next to each of the files you wish to import. Service Profiles are displayed in the format service-profile-serviceprofilename.xml and Services are displayed in the format service-servicename.xml. The importer will import the service profile or service and any associated perfconfig entries.
Select Overwrite Existing Objects (located at the bottom of the screen) if you wish to overwrite existing objects and replace all matching time periods, commands, templates, services and profiles.
Figure: Import Profiles
Next, select Import.
An Import Status screen will be displayed showing the commands, services, and performance configuration are created.
Figure: Profiles

Initial Configuration Step 4 - Creating Host Groups

Next, let's add some host groups to simplify such things as access control, status displays, notifications, scheduling maintenance, and creating reports. Create some functional host groups, such as network, windows, routers, switches, and firewalls.

Select Hosts from the Configuration page, expand the Host Groups drop-down menu and select New.
Enter the host group properties and save. Continue creating any others.
Figure: Host Groups

Running a Discovery Scan

Now, we'll run a basic discovery for GroundWork Monitor using Nmap TCP and SNMP to process the records and view the results. We will also show you how to edit the SNMP method.

Auto Discovery Console

Select the Auto Discovery page, you will then be positioned on the first page; Discovery.
You may want to change the Range options if you do not want to scan your entire local subnet for any reason.
When you have the range you want created and selected, select the Go button in the upper right corner.
Figure: Auto Discovery

Start Discovery

Next, you will need to confirm that you want to start the discovery process.

Enter a check in the Accept box.
Select Go.

Discovery Scan Results

The discovery scan will then list all the hosts that were found. Notice the SNMP did not get a response from 172.28.113.238, in our example here. That's because the device uses v1 and not v2 (we'll try v2 a little later).

Wait for the discovery stage to complete.
Then select Next to process the records.

Process Records

The total number of records will be displayed at the top of the screen.

You can mouse-over the Alias, Host Groups, and Services fields to show the values assigned by the automation application. Various options can be performed from this page including sorting and selecting options to process records individually or in batches, or edit to change options for a single host. You can choose to enable overrides, which forces an override of automatic assignments. For example, select edit for a host to add to a host group and specify the host profile snmp network.
Click the edit link next to the host record.

Editing Records

A detail page will be displayed.

Select the host groups and host profile from the drop-down, for example snmp network.
Select Process Records to import/update the host and continue.
Select Discard to remove the record from processing, or select Cancel to return to normal processing.
When processing is complete, you can select Commit to begin monitoring the discovered hosts and services. If you press Close, you will be able to manage these host and service in Configuration and select more options before you start collecting data.

Editing the SNMP Method

Now, let's go back to the auto discovery console page and edit the discovery definitions SNMP method to use v1. You may decide to run several auto-discovery scans with different settings, so it's useful to know how to modify the various methods.
In the next screen, select the edit method link next to the SNMP method.
And next, in the SNMP method screen, select the SNMP version 1 option. Then select Save, and run the scan again by selecting Save again and then Go.
The discovery scan will then list the results where you can see that the SNMP received a response from 172.28.113.238.

Managing Host Services

Next, if you want to manage the imported host services you can do so using the Configuration tool in GroundWork Monitor.
Select Configuration>Hosts.