Host Inventory Pre-Installation Setup > Before Discovering Hosts
  
Version 10.3.00P13
Before Discovering Hosts
If this is the first time you are collecting data from hosts, you will need to look at each of these steps to determine what configurations are required.
Before collecting host data for the first time, several configurations must be set up:
• Adding/Editing Data Collectors (Capacity Manager)
• Configure/Search the Host Inventory
• Manage Credentials
• Manage WMI Proxy
• Manage Paths
• Manage Access Control
Configure/Search the Host Inventory
Before Host Discovery: Use the Host Inventory window to set up configurations—credentials, WMI proxy, paths, and access control—as described in the following sections.
After Host Discovery: Use the Host Inventory window to help you find hosts in your inventory and configure probes. Also, export the list of hosts to a comma-separated-values (.csv) file.
See also, Host Inventory Search and Host Inventory Export.
Note: A search with no specified criteria returns all hosts in your inventory.
Manage Credentials
Multiple credential sets can be created, typically for groups of hosts with common credentials and/or hosts grouped by operating system (Linux/Windows). These credential sets are then selected and applied to specific Host Discovery policies. In fact, multiple credential sets can be listed, allowing the Data Collector to attempt authentication in a specific order until it is successful.
At the very least, you should have one credential set for Linux hosts and another for Windows hosts. Each defined set of credentials will have a name, to enable relevant selection when configuring Host Discovery policies.
For additional prerequisite details, see Host Access Requirements and Host Inventory Configuration Steps.
To Manage Host Credentials, select:
1. In the Host Inventory toolbar at the top of the browser window, click Manage Credentials.
2. Add, Edit, or Delete credentials using the buttons at the bottom of the window.
Example of Credentials for Windows Hosts
 
Field
Description
Sample Values
Domain*
Select the APTARE IT Analytics Domain from the list; for most environments, only one Domain is displayed. Multiple domains facilitate management for Managed Services Providers (MSPs).
 
Name*
Assign a name to identify this set of credentials that you are defining.
 
Account*
Enter the login account name used to log in to the hosts. If the policy includes a group of Windows hosts, use the Windows domain user id. This user id must have administrative privileges.
For Linux hosts, super user root privileges are required. You also could use an access control command, such as sudo, sesudo, or pbrun. If using any of these access commands, ensure that the user ID has sudo, sesudo, or pbrun privileges. Some enterprises prefer to create a new user and provide access to commands via an access control command. See also, Manage Access Control and Host Access Privileges, Sudo Commands, Ports, and WMI Proxy Requirements.
root
Description
Enter a note to help identify this type of credential
Linux logins for Corporate
Password
Enter the password for the account
Password1
OS type*
Select either Linux, Windows, or NAS.
 
Windows Domain
For Windows hosts only:
If any of the hosts specified in the Host address field are Windows hosts, you need to specify the Windows domain name.
If the host is not a member of a domain, or to specify a local user account, use a period (.) to substitute the local host SSID for the domain.
win2kdomain
Private Key File
For Linux hosts only:
If you have configured Public Key/Private Key between your Data Collector Server and the Hosts you intend to monitor, use this field to specify the location of the Private Key file on the Data Collector Server.
/root/.ssh/id_rsa or C:\Program Files\Aptare\mbs\conf\id_rsa
 
Known Hosts File
For Linux hosts only:
If you have configured Public Key/Private Key between your Data Collector Server and the Hosts you intend to monitor, use this field to specify the location of the Known Hosts file on the Data Collector Server.
/root/.ssh/known_hosts or C:\Program Files\Aptare\mbs\conf\known_hosts
Manage WMI Proxy
Note: A WMI Proxy configuration is needed only if you are collecting data from Windows servers in your environment.
Multiple WMI Proxy settings can be created to manage access to Windows hosts.
For additional prerequisite details, see Host Access Requirements and Host Inventory Configuration Steps.
To Manage WMI Proxy settings, in the toolbar select:
1. In the Host Inventory toolbar at the top of the browser window, click Manage WMI Proxy.
2. Add, Edit, or Delete settings using the buttons at the bottom of the window.
3. Click Add to configure settings and then click OK.
Field
Description
Sample Values
Domain*
Select the APTARE IT Analytics Domain from the list; for most environments, only one Domain is displayed. Multiple domains facilitate management for Managed Services Providers (MSPs).
 
Name*
Assign a name to identify this set of credentials that you are defining.
 
WMI Proxy Server*
This is the server address of the WMI proxy, which collects data on Windows hosts. Enter either the server’s IP address or name.
CorpWin2k
Port*
The port that the Data Collector will use to contact the WMI Proxy; usually, there is no need to change the default setting (1248).
1248
Description
Enter a note to help identify this WMI Proxy setting
 
Manage Paths
Multiple path settings can be created to designate specific paths to commands on hosts.The specified path is appended to the existing path and is used to search for commands (for example, /usr/bin:/usr/sbin). Certain commands, such as scli, require an absolute path.
For additional prerequisite details, see Host Access Requirements and Host Inventory Configuration Steps.
To Manage Paths select:
1. In the Host Inventory toolbar at the top of the browser window, click Manage Paths.
2. Add, Edit, or Delete settings using the buttons at the bottom of the window.
3. Click Add to configure settings and then click OK.
 
Field
Description
Sample Values
Domain*
Select the APTARE IT Analytics Domain from the list; for most environments, only one Domain is displayed. Multiple domains facilitate management for Managed Services Providers (MSPs).
 
Name*
Assign a name to identify this Paths setting that you are defining.
 
Path*
Provide the path(s) that you want prefixed to the PATH environment variable.
Note that there is no standard for the paths, therefore you must supply the details to enable the Data Collector to connect.
 
If the Data Collector is installed on a Linux server, use the following command to determine the path to Linux servers:
ssh <userId>@<hostServer> env
If the Data Collector is installed on a Windows server, use the following, freely available executable (plink.exe) to determine the path to Linux servers:
plink <userId>@<hostServer> env
Linux:
/opt/QLogic_Corporation/SANsurferCLI:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin:/opt/EMLXemlxu/bin:/usr/sbin/hbanyware:/opt/HBAnyware
Windows:
C:\Program Files\Emulex\Util\HBAnyware;C:\Program Files\QLogic\SANSurfer
OS type*
Select either Linux or Windows
 
Description
Enter a note to help identify this Path setting
 
Manage Access Control
For Linux hosts, root-level privileges are required. Data Collectors require read-only access to execute non-intrusive commands on hosts. It is strongly recommended that a separate login account used strictly for APTARE IT Analytics be established and using Active Directory for Windows systems and the sudo command for Linux systems, restrict the commands that APTARE IT Analytics can issue. To accommodate this security approach, you can optionally specify access control commands like sudo, sesudo, or pbrun. See Host Access Privileges, Sudo Commands, Ports, and WMI Proxy Requirements.
Multiple Access Control settings can be created to manage access control commands for Linux hosts. For Linux systems, you must specify the path to an access control command such as sudo in order to execute certain OS commands with root-level privileges.
For additional prerequisite details, see Host Access Requirements and Host Inventory Configuration Steps.
To Manage Access Control settings, select:
1. In the Host Inventory toolbar at the top of the browser window, click Manage Access Control.
2. Add, Edit, or Delete settings using the buttons at the bottom of the window.
3. Click Add to configure settings and then click OK.
 
Field
Description
Sample Values
Domain*
Select the APTARE IT Analytics Domain from the list; for most environments, only one Domain is displayed. Multiple domains facilitate management for Managed Services Providers (MSPs).
 
Name*
Assign a name to identify this Access Control setting.
 
Command*
Linux hosts only: Provide the full path to the access control command, such as sudo, sesudo, or pbrun. See also, Host Access Privileges, Sudo Commands, Ports, and WMI Proxy Requirements.
You can configure sudo to prompt for a password using a custom prompt (the default is “Password”). APTARE IT Analytics expects the prompt to be “Password.” If the hosts have a custom password prompt, you’ll need to specify -p Password: after the path to sudo. See the example to the right.
/usr/bin/sudo
 
/user/local/bin/sudo -p Password:
Use for all command*
Select Yes to have the Data Collector use the access command for all commands.
 
Description
Enter a note to help identify this Access Control setting