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ALVAO Discovery Agent

This module focuses on scanning Windows devices for hardware and software configurations using the AM Agent application. The application must be installed on all scanned devices. Scans collect data on:

  • Hardware specifications (CPU, RAM, storage, etc.)
  • Installed software, including entries from the Windows Registry and, optionally, detailed information on executable files across all drives.

Remote device scan​

To scan device configuration information:

  1. Choose an agent authentication code (secret) and enter it in the Administration - Asset Management - Settings - Scan - Agent authentication code field.

  2. Also turn on the Administration - Asset Management - Settings - Scan - Automatically create new device objects option to have objects created for computers that have not yet been scanned.

  3. For on-prem installations, make sure, that you have configured the Administration - Asset Management - Settings - Scan - Loading files option to have scan files from AM Agents uploaded properly.

  4. Distribute the AM Agent application with the agent authentication code from the previous step to all devices that will be scanned.

  5. As devices will get scanned by the AM Agent, they will gradually appear in the Found network devices folder on the Objects page.

  6. In order to re-scan the devices and update the objects regularly, ensure that the objects have a scan profile with either automatically or Autonomous Agent scan method assigned (see the Objects - Object - Scan profile command).

    If you need to scan a computer out of preset period in the computer's scan profile, use the Objects - Object - Scan profile command and click the Scan button.

tip

Choose the default object type for new computer objects in Administration - Asset Management - Settings - General - Default object type for computers.
Configure which object types will be chosen for new devices, see Device object type.
Also assign the initial scan profile to the computer object templates in Administration - Asset Management - Object templates - Scan profile command.

tip

Only on-prem installations: To reduce congestion on the Alvao system during peak times, schedule scan processing during off-peak times using the Administration - Asset Management - Settings - Scan - Scheduling option.

Manual scan​

AM Agent sends scan data over network to the Alvao Server for processing by default.

To scan computers that are, for some reason, disconnected from network:

  1. Install AM Agent on the computer.

  2. Run it from Windows - Start menu, perform manual scan, and save the scan files to an USB flash drive.

  3. Transfer the files to computer connected to network and upload the scan files using the Objects - Load scan command.

  4. If the computer doesn't exist on the Objects page as an object, it will be created in the Computers from loaded scans folder. Otherwise, the existing object will be updated.

Hardware scan information​

The values of the following computer object properties are automatically updated according to the hardware scan data:

  • Total hard drive capacity (GB)
  • Case type
  • Graphic card
  • Host computer
  • IP addresses
  • MAC addresses
  • Model
  • Last logged in user (username)
  • Operating system
  • Number of physical CPU cores
  • Number of logical CPU cores
  • Number of hard disks
  • Number of processors
  • Description
  • Processor
  • BIOS serial number
  • Part of a domain
  • RAM size (GB)
  • Manufacturer

To view even more details from hardware scans, view the data query that you may create using the New - HW scan details command on the Administration - Data queries page.

Software scan information​

View the scanned software on the Objects - Object page - Software tab.

To view even more details from software scans, view the data query that you may create using the New - SW scan details command on the Administration - Data queries page.

Pairing devices with objects​

The AM Agent generates a unique identifier for each device on which it has been installed and stores it in Windows Registry on that device (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\ALC\ALVAO Asset Management\Agent key, AgentDeviceId value). When the device is scanned for the first time, the identifier is also stored in Alvao Agent device ID property of the Alvao object created to represent the device.

On subsequent scans, the scan data is paired with the existing object primarily by this identifier. If no match is found, objects are searched secondarily by BIOS serial number, MAC addresses, and Hostname properties in the order they are listed.

Regular scan communication scheme​

The AM Agent periodically (every 2 hour by default) asks the Alvao REST API whether to scan HW or SW of the computer. If Alvao requests a scan, the Agent creates a scan (CXM file) and sends it to Alvao through the REST API. If it fails to send the file, the Agent re-tries sending the file every 15 minutes by default.