How to Discover and Prepare Objects for Management in Essentials
Applies To: System Center Essentials 2010
Use the Computer and Device Management Wizard in System Center Essentials 2010 to discover computers and network devices and then install agents on the computers that you want to manage.
After initially configuring Essentials 2010, you might want to start managing new computers as they are added to the network, or you might want to manage computers that were previously discovered but not selected for management at that time. You can run the Computer and Device Management Wizard whenever you want to discover new computers on the network.
Note
It can take 90 minutes or more for the information about discovered objects to be added to the database.
To discover objects to manage and to install agents
In the Essentials console, click Computers.
In the Computers Overview pane, click Add New Computers and Devices.
Follow the prompts to complete the wizard.
If there is a lack of connectivity between the Essentials management server and a computer you want to manage due to host firewall settings or a lack of administrative credentials on target the computer, the deployment (also known as a push-install) of the Essentials agent to that computer might fail. The backup agent deployment management pack rules Agent deployment using Update Services Event Based Rule and Agent deployment using Update Services Schedule Based Rule check for installation failures of the Essentials agent. In the event that Essentials 2010 has failed to push-install the agent on a computer that you want to manage, the Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) agent on that computer contacts the Essentials management server and then downloads and installs the Essentials agent. This process might take between 2-3 hours.
During the scheduled computer discovery process, Essentials 2010 detects computer objects in Active Directory, and then contacts each object to verify that the computer is online and available for agent deployment. This is the verification process. Computers that have a host firewall enabled prevent both the discovery and the verification process from succeeding. Because the computers are not discovered, agents are not deployed to those computers either through push-install or through backup agent deployment.
If you want to circumvent the verification process to have Essentials 2010 attempt to deploy agents to those computers that have a host firewall enabled, you can do so by disabling verification for the scheduled computer discovery rule.
Note
The Essentials 2010 console Pending Actions view shows stale computer objects as failed installation attempts because the computer was discovered, but the agent installation failed since the computer is no longer on the network (stale computer object).
To disable verification during computer object discovery
In the Essentials console, click Authoring.
In the Authoring pane, click Rules.
In the Look for box, type Scheduled Agent Discovery and Installation, and then click Find Now.
In the results list, right-click the Scheduled Agent Discovery and Installation rule, and then click Properties.
Click the Overrides tab, click Override, and then click For all objects of class: Root Management Server.
Select Verify, set the Override Value to False, and then click OK. On the Overrides tab, click Close to save your changes.
See Also
Tasks
How to View Computers, Devices, and Computer Groups in Essentials