Leverage Discovery Server for DX UIM to Optimize Infrastructure Observability

DX Unified Infrastructure Management (DX UIM) is a powerful solution that enables IT operations teams to monitor and manage the performance and availability of their IT infrastructure and applications. One of the key core components of DX UIM is the Discovery Server probe. This probe collects, processes, and stores information about devices and applications. In this blog, we will explore some of the benefits and use cases for Discovery Server.

What is Discovery Server?

Discovery Server provides a unified view of the monitored inventory and allows users to create groups, filters, and policies based on device attributes. Discovery Server also supports high availability and scalability in large environments.

Discovery Server works with other discovery components in DX UIM, such as Discovery Agent, Discovery Correlation Engine, and Discovery Gateway. Discovery Agent is a probe that runs on robots and discovers devices and applications using various protocols and methods. Discovery Correlation Engine is a probe that reconciles multiple perspectives of the same device or application, leveraging data from different sources, and creates a single computer system record. Discovery Gateway is a probe that enables discovery across firewalls and network boundaries.

Why use Discovery Server?

Here are a few of the key advantages Discovery Server offers IT operations teams:

• Automated and accurate inventory. Discovery Server automatically discovers and updates the inventory of devices and applications in the IT environment, ensuring the information is accurate and up to date. This eliminates the need for manual, error-prone inventory management and reduces the risk of missing or outdated data.
• Improved visibility and control. Discovery Server provides a comprehensive, consistent view of the discovered inventory. Through the Operator Console, users can access and manage inventory data. Teams can easily search, filter, group, and export data. In addition, they can create and apply policies for monitoring, alerting, and reporting. Users can also leverage discovery attributes to define dynamic groups and policies that automatically adjust to changes in the inventory.
• Enhanced monitoring and troubleshooting. Discovery Server enables IT operations teams to monitor and troubleshoot the performance and availability of devices and applications based on their attributes and relationships. Users can view the status, metrics, alarms, and QoS data of the discovered inventory as well as drill down to the device or application details. Teams can also use the discovered attributes to create custom dashboards and reports that provide relevant and actionable insights.
• Customized and extensible discovery. Discovery Server supports an open approach to discovery, which means users can add their own scripts for discovering additional information. This extends beyond applications; users can discover virtually anything about a device, such as operating system, hardware, software, configuration, and so on. Users can also employ the discovered attributes to create custom probes and integrations with other tools and systems.

Steps to use Discovery Server

To use Discovery Server, teams need to follow these steps:

• Install and configure the Discovery Server on a primary or secondary hub. Discovery Server requires a dedicated database for storing inventory data.
• Install and configure Discovery Agent on the robots that need to perform discovery. Discovery Agent can discover devices and applications using various protocols and methods, such as SNMP, WMI, SSH, VMware, AWS, and Azure.
• Optionally, install and configure Discovery Correlation Engine on a hub that has access to the Discovery Server database. Discovery Correlation Engine can reconcile multiple perspectives of the same device or application and create a single computer system record.
• Optionally, install and configure Discovery Gateway on a hub that needs to perform discovery across firewalls and network boundaries. Discovery Gateway can act as a proxy for the Discovery Agent and communicate with Discovery Server.
• Launch the Operator Console and access the inventory view. Users can see the discovered inventory and perform various actions, such as searching, filtering, grouping, exporting, creating, and applying policies.

Examples of Discovery Server use cases

Here are some examples of scenarios in which Discovery Server in DX UIM can help optimize IT operations:

• Scenario 1: An IT operations team wants to monitor the availability and performance of its web servers running on Windows and Linux platforms. The team wants to group the web servers by their operating system and apply different monitoring profiles based on group membership.
  • Solution: The IT operations team can use Discovery Agent to discover the web servers and their attributes, such as operating system, IP address, hostname, and so on. Discovery Server will collect and store the inventory data and provide a unified view of the web servers. The team can use the Operator Console to create groups based on the operating system attribute and apply different monitoring profiles to the groups. Discovery Server will also automatically update the inventory and the groups when web servers are added or removed.
• Scenario 2:  An IT operations team wants to monitor the availability and performance of cloud-based applications running on AWS and Azure. The team wants to view the status and metrics of the cloud applications and their underlying resources, such as instances, storage, and networks. They also want to create custom dashboards and reports that present the cost and utilization of the cloud resources.
  • Solution: The IT operations group can use Discovery Agent to discover cloud applications and their resources using AWS and Azure APIs. Discovery Server will collect and store inventory data and provide a comprehensive view of cloud applications and their resources. The team can use the Operator Console to view the status and metrics of cloud applications and their resources and they can drill down to get details. The group can also use the discovery attributes collected to create custom dashboards and reports that reveal the cost and utilization of cloud resources.
• Scenario 3: An IT operations group wants to monitor the availability and performance of its database servers, such as Oracle and SQL Server. The team wants to discover the database servers and their attributes, such as version, edition, instance name, database name, and so on. They also want to discover the custom applications that are using the database servers and their attributes, such as application name, owner, and description.
  • Solution: The IT operations team can use Discovery Agent and SQL and Oracle probes to discover database servers and their attributes. Discovery Server will collect and store the inventory data and provide a consistent view of the database servers discovered. Users can also create their own scripts and use the application discovery feature to discover custom applications and their attributes. Discovery Server will collect and store the custom application data and provide an extended view of the inventory. The team can use the Operator Console to view and manage database servers and custom applications based on their attributes and relationships.

Conclusion

Discovery Server and its related probes for DX UIM combine to provide a valuable tool that helps IT operations teams discover, manage, and monitor their IT infrastructure and applications. Discovery Server provides a unified, comprehensive, and customizable view of the discovered inventory and enables users to create groups, filters, and policies based on device attributes. Discovery Server also supports high availability and scalability in large environments and allows users to add their own scripts for discovering additional information. Discovery Server for DX UIM can help teams improve their visibility and control, enhance monitoring and troubleshooting, and optimize service delivery.

For more information, view our support sites for Discovery Server.