11.20.3. Infrastructure Setup

Setting up the Infrastructure is the first step before Asset Discovery. This step is prerequisite for Agentless Discovery of Assets, but not for the Agent Application.

Note

Setting up the Infrastructure requires Administrative rights.

The Infrastructure Setup consists of three broad sections:

  • DNS Configuration:

  • Credential Library:

  • Networks:

11.20.3.1. DNS Configuration:

The DNS configuration helps the product in resolving hostnames of Assets against their IPs from the DNS. A DNS is useful especially when the network protocol is DHCP.

In DHCP protocol, the IPs of Assets keep on changing, so the hostname of a machine is taken as the unique identifier. The DNS maps all the hostnames of the Assets with their IP addresses. Motadata connects with the DNS using the information provided by an administrator in the DNS Configuration page.

Note

DNS configuration requires you to have administrative rights.

Configuring DNS

  1. Log in to your Dashboard and head to Admin from the Navigation Tabs. Use search, or you can find the DNS Configuration in IT Infrastructure.

figure 156

  1. The DNS Configuration page opens. Click on Edit to make the fields editable.

  2. Enter your primary DNS address in the primary field and your backup DNS address in the secondary field.

  3. The Base URL field is the domain name of Motadata hosted on your server. Enter the name and hit Update to save your changes.

You can later edit your DNS configuration in the DNS Configuration page.

11.20.3.2. Credential Library

Motadata provides an interface to upload all your credentials, so our product can authenticate for an authorized access to a network.

A repository stores all Credentials, which we call a library where you can manage (add, edit and delete) them.

We provide four easy Discovery Types to choose from:

  • WMI

  • SSH

  • SNMP

  • SNMP V3

Note

Managing credentials requires administrative rights.

Adding Credential

  1. Go to Admin (One of the Navigation Tabs)>> Credential Library (under IT Infrastructure). The Credentials page opens where you can view all existing credentials.

  2. Click the Add Credential situated in the top right corner of the page. The Add Credential dialog box opens.

figure 157

  1. Add a Name to the credential and select a Discovery Type which determines the authentication parameters. Now let’s understand the available Discovery Types:

    WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation):

    Note

    Please refer to amf-157.

    This protocol is used to scan for data in Windows-based systems within a Domain or Workgroup.

    1. Domain Username & Password: These are credentials of the Administrator Account that has access to all the nodes in the domain.

    2. Domain Name: The part of a network address which identifies it as belonging to a particular domain.

    3. Domain Discovery: Enabling this marks the credential as discoverable. It means that the credential is for Discovery.

    SSH (Secure Shell):

    The SSH protocol is used to discover UNIX based machines.

    figure 158

    1. Domain Username & Password: These are the credentials for the user account specific to the Asset that we are going to discover. In case there are multiple machines, a common user can be created (with root access) in all the machines to make discovery easy; else, each different account would require a separate SSH credential.

    SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol)

    Motadata uses this application-layer protocol to scan devices with the SNMP agent in a managed network.

    figure 159

    1. Community String: The Community String acts as a password in a managed network. It is sent along with each SNMP Get-Request to gain access to an SNMP enabled device’s data. If the community string is correct, the get request fetches the data.

    SNMP V3 (Simple Network Management Protocol Version 3):

    It is a secure version of SNMP with user-based authentication.

    figure 160

    1. Community String: It is like a password which is used for authentication.

    2. Authentication Protocol: Use the protocol that you want to use (we support both MD5 and SHA) in field-A (amf-160).

    3. Username: Enter your username.

    4. Auth Passphrase: This is the Auth password

    5. Privacy Passphrase: This is the Privacy password.

    6. Security Level: Choose an appropriate security level from the following options:

      1. Private Authentication: Uses protocols like SHA for authentication and protocols like AES for privacy.

      2. No Private Authentication: only use authentication protocol.

      3. No Private No Authentication: Data transfer with authentication and privacy.

Testing Connection

You can test the credential by connecting with a computer (works for WMI and SSH credentials). Click on Test Connection next to Save. A dialog box opens asking for the IP of the machine. Submitting an IP starts a process that tells whether a successful connection was established or not.

figure 161

Editing/Deleting Credentials

  1. Go to Admin >> Credential Library (under IT Infrastructure).

figure 162

  1. Click the edit icon adjacent to the credential you want to edit. You see the Edit Credential dialog box. Make your changes and hit Update.

  2. You can delete any credential by clicking the Delete icon adjacent to a credential.

11.20.3.3. Network

Adding a network to Motadata is an essential task for you to perform asset Discovery and monitoring. We support Domain networks and IP Range Networks.

Note

Managing Networks requires administrative rights.

Adding a Network

  1. Log in to your Dashboard and head to Admin >> Networks (under IT Infrastructure).

  2. Click the Create a Network button situated in the top right corner of the page. A dialog box opens.

figure 163
figure 164

  1. Give a name to the network.

  2. Add a Domain Network Type:

    We have two Domain Network Types to select from:

    1. Domain Network:

      Windows Domain Controller

      Windows Workgroup

      It is a form of a computer network in which all user accounts, computers, printers and other security principals, are registered with a Domain Controller

      Type the Domain Controller Name, something like company.com.

      Select the appropriate credential from the Credential list.

      It is a peer-to-peer network of computers running Windows OS.

      Type in the common name of the Workgroup.

      Select the credential of a remote computer in the network from the Credential list.

    2. IP Range Network:

      Entire Network

      This option uniquely identifies an entire network with IP Range Start (example: 192.168.27.0) and Subnet Mask (example: 255.255.255.0).

      Specific Range

      You can specify an IP Range with a start and end IP, and a Subnet Mask.

      Comma Separate IP List

      As the name suggests, you can add a comma-separated list of all the IPs.

  3. Type in a description and protocol type (if IP Range is selected). We have two protocols to select from:

    DHCP

    STATIC

    In this protocol, IP is centrally allocated and resolved in your network.

    You have to configure your DNS for asset Discovery to work.

    It uses static IP addresses to identify devices in the network.

  4. Add the necessary credentials from the credential list, or you can create new credentials using the Add New Credential option in amf-163. When you are done hit Create.

Editing/Deleting Network

Log in to your Dashboard and head to Admin >> Networks (under IT Infrastructure).

figure 165

This section lists all existing networks. Click the Edit Icon adjacent to the network that you want to edit.

Edit the network in the Edit Network dialog box and save your changes before exiting.

You can delete any network by clicking the Delete icon adjacent to the network that you want to delete.