Define the network using IP ranges, subnets, IP addresses, active directories, or using a combination of the options.

When the definition is complete, click Next.

Define IP ranges

Click Add Range, provide Start and End address.

Define subnets as starting points for the discovery

NPM polls all IP addresses within the designated subnet, using the SNMP version defined on the SNMP Credentials page to discover network devices for monitoring.

Click Add > Subnet in the Subnets section, and provide the subnet IP address in the CIDR format, such as 1.1.1.1/24.

Define seed routers as starting points for the discovery

NPM reads the routing table of the designated router and discovers devices on the class A network (255.0.0.0 mask) containing the seed router, and class C networks (255.255.255.0 mask) containing all interfaces on the seed router. You need appropriate SNMP credentials.

1. Click Add > Seed router in the Subnets section.
2. Provide the seed router IP address in the CIDR format.
3. Select existing SNMP credentials or click Add New to define new SNMP credentials set.
4. Click Scan Router.

IP Addresses

List IPv4 or IPv6 addresses to define nodes you want to discover. Type one IP address per line.

Active Directory

Query your Active Directory Domain Controllers for registered servers.

Click Add Active Directory Domain Controller to query and provide the domain controller information.

To poll for VMware, make sure Poll for VMware is selected, and provide local credentials for vCenter or ESX host servers.

If you want to update all nodes polling using an agent during scheduled discoveries, select the box. This setting overrides agent settings in the Network tab.

The SNMP Credentials page displays a list of all defined SNMP credentials. Community strings are displayed for SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c credentials, and the User and Context are displayed for SNMPv3 credentials.

By default, NPM provides two credentials using public and private as community strings for SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c devices.

Credentials are listed in the order in which they are used to discover your network devices. To reorder credentials, click the Up and Down arrows at the end of each credential listing.

Edit credentials

Click Edit (pencil icon) to the right of the credential you want to edit.

Delete credentials

Click X to the right of the credential you want to delete.

Add SNMP credentials

1. Click Add New Credential.
2. Select the SNMP Version of your new credential.
3. For an SNMPv1 or SNMPv2c credential, provide the SNMP Community String.
4. For SNMPv3 credentials, provide the following details:
   • User Name
   • Context
   • Authentication Method
   • Authentication Password/Key
   • Privacy/Encryption Method
   • Privacy/Encryption Password/Key

     See Password is a Key.

5. Click Add.

If you want to collect CPU, memory and volume data from Windows servers that do not support SNMP, add appropriate Windows credentials.

Add a set of credentials:

1. Click Add New Credential.
2. Enter a Credential Name.
3. Fill in the user name:
   1. For domain level authentication, use the following syntax: domainOrComputerName\userName
   2. For workgroup level authentication, use userName.
4. Enter the password and retype it.
5. Click Add to apply the credentials.
   When creating new discoveries, the new set of credentials will be added into the drop-down list.

Device/Node polling

If you want to also discover devices that provide only the most basic statistics (ICMP only), make sure Yes is selected.

To include only devices that provide more details, such as CPU and memory, click the Yes button. The icon changes to No, and only SNMP and WMI-enabled devices will be polled.

Specify the default monitoring method.

Monitoring settings

Manually

To discover network, and then select what should be imported based on the discovery results, select Manually set up monitoring, and click Next.

After the discovery, you will select what should be imported after, in the Network Sonar Results Wizard.

Automatically

If you want to define what should be imported and import the results, select Automatically discover monitor based on.

Default discovery settings will be used.

Change the settings

Select Automatically monitor based on my, and click Define Monitoring Settings.

1. Select the status, port mode and hardware type of interfaces that should be imported.
2. If the interfaces have a common property, click Advanced filtering options and define the filter.
3. Select volume types to be imported and complete the definition.

Customize the name and characteristics of the network discovery.

Name

Provide a name for the selected discovery to distinguish it from other discovery configurations you may use to discover other areas of your network. The default Name displays the NPM user who first configured the selected discovery with the date and time of first configuration.

Description

Provide a short description of the selected discovery. This Description displays next to the Name in the Network Discovery view.

SNMP Timeout

Move the slider to specify how long NPM waits for a device to respond to an SNMP request for node and interface information. If a device takes longer to respond, NPM counts the SNMP request as one SNMP try.

Set the SNMP Timeout to be a little more than double the amount of time it takes for a packet to traverse the longest route between devices on your network.

If there are numerous SNMP timeouts during Network Discovery, increase the value for this setting. Though Network Sonar Discovery might take longer to complete, it might be able to discover older or slower interfaces on some devices.

Search Timeout

Specify the amount of time NPM waits for a device to respond to an ICMP request. ICMP requests, also known as pings, attempt to determine if a given IP address has a network device assigned to it.

If you excluded ICMP-only devices from the discovery, NPM uses SNMP requests instead of ICMP requests to locate network devices.

SNMP Retries

Specify how many times NPM will retry any failed SNMP request. A failed SNMP request is any SNMP request that does not receive a response within the SNMP Timeout defined above.

WMI Retries

Specify how many times a WMI request should be repeated. WMI requests time out if they do not receive a response within the WMI Retry Interval specified below.

WMI Retry Interval

Specify the amount of time NPM waits for a device to respond to a WMI request.

Hop Count

If Hop Count is set to any number greater than zero, NPM searches for additional devices connected to any discovered device. Each such connection counts as a hop.

For example, consider a network discovery configured to search within the IP address range starting at x.y.z.0 and ending at x.y.z.50. The discovery finds a device at x.y.z.20 that is also connected to a device at a.b.c.45. If the Hop Count for this discovery is 1 or greater, the device at a.b.c.45 is included in the discovery results, even though a.b.c.45 is not within the IP address range initially specified for the discovery.

Discovery Timeout

Specify the amount of time NPM is allowed to complete a network discovery. If a discovery takes longer than the Discovery Timeout, NPM terminates the discovery.

Select how often the discovery should be run in the Frequency list.

Select whether you want to run the discovery now.

If you selected Manual monitoring in Monitoring settings and want to add discovered nodes, interfaces and volumes, select Yes, run this discovery now.