User`s guide

Table Of Contents
ADM User’s Guide
46 VMware, Inc.
Limitations
VISDKdoesnotexposesomeinformationandthereforeADMcannotdiscoversomeCIs.Specifically,the
followingCIswillnotbediscoveredthroughVISDK:
Services
Configurationfiles
Licensefiles
Installedsoftware
Operatingsystemkernelrelatedinformation(ForExample,kernelversion)
Discovering Dependencies with Detail Discovery
Thissectionprovidesthenecessaryinformationtodecidethemethodtodiscoverdependenciesandto
configureDetailDiscoverytodiscoverdependencies.
ADM Dependency Discovery Methods
DiscoveringdependenciesisdonethroughADMusingeitherofthefollowingmethods:PassiveandDetail
DiscoverytogetheroronlyusingDetailDiscovery.
PassiveDiscoveryassumesthatapacketrepresentsadependencybetweentwohosts,forexample,there’s
mostlikelyagoodreasonthathostAsentapackettohostB.
TheshortcomingofthisassumptioninPassive
Discoverymightnotidentifytheserviceontheclientsideofaconnection(clientservercommunication
usuallycontainsmuchmoreinformationontheserversidethanontheclientside)correctly.Asaresult,ADM
mightrelyonPassiveDiscoveryfordiscoveringdependencies,while
leveragingDetailDiscoverytocorrectly
identifytheserviceontheclientsideoftheconnection.
However,someclientshaveregulatory,business,orinfrastructuralbarriersthatpreventthemfromusing
PassiveDiscovery.Topenetratetheseclients,ADMallowsyoutocorrectlyidentifydependenciesusingDetail
Discoveryonly,withoutrelyingonPassiveDiscovery.
The Process of Dependency Discovery Using Only Detail Discovery
TodiscoverdependenciesusingDetailDiscovery,ADMmustleveragethecapabilitiesexposedtoitbythe
protocolitusestoconnectremotelytotheinterrogatedhost.ADMusesacrossplatformandwidelysupported
programcallednetstatforremoteshellprotocols(forexample,SSHandTelnet)andWMI.SinceWMIdoes
not
exposeanyportrelatedinformation,netstatisusedtoruncommandsonthetargetWindowsmachine.With
SNMP,ADMinterrogatesastandardMIB2tablethatexposesinformationaboutopenTCPconnectionsand
portsusedbyapplicationsandservicesrunningontheinterrogatedhost.ADMthenusesheuristicstoguess
theprotocolsusedbythoseconnections.
Table 52describeswhatADMdiscoversaboutdependenciesandhow.
N
OTEADMusesheuristicstoguesstheprotocolsonlyforportsthatarelowerthan512.
Table 5-2. Dependency Discovering Methodology
What How
Discovertheopenconnectionsthatthe
interrogatedhosthastootherhostsonthe
network(muchlikepassive).
ByqueryingtheservicesexposedbytheADMprotocol,asdescribed
previously.
Foreachofthoseopenconnections,discover
theservicethatisusingtheconnections.
ADMfindstheprocessID(PID)of
theservicesrunningonthehost,and
matchesupthatPIDwiththePIDofeachopenconnection.
Note:ThereisalimitationwithsomemajorOSplatforms(SunOS,AIX,
andHPUX)forwhichnetstatisunabletoretrievePIDinformation.On
theseplatforms,thiscapabilityisdisabled.