Jdisc Discovery

[Gaby Zenz]

JDiscis a motivated team of network specialists, fully dedicated to the entire area of automated network inventory and documentation. Our strong belief is that focusing on our strengths will lead to excellent products. Hence we are concentrating on the area of network discovery and documentation. Instead of extending our scope to CMDB or software license management solutions and delivering a mediocre network discovery, we focus on creating a first class network inventory solution.

Of course we know that a network discovery is often just a part of an overall IT solution. Our objective is to work with partners in the other areas, such as CMDB solutions and software license management, in order to offer proven and integrated IT solutions.

The company was founded in 2009 by Thomas Trenz. Thomas is experienced in working in worldwide corporations and in startup-up companies, that helps us to understand what global enterprises are looking for, while being flexible like only smaller companies can be.

Companies and organizations expect transparency and cost effectiveness from their IT. However, new technologies get deployed faster and in shorter intervals and it gets more and more difficult to manage the compexity that arises by adding new technologies and company growth.

Limited, incomplete or incorrect information about the IT environment leads to higher risks in consolidation, integration or migration projects. The lack of current inventory information has a direct impact on the duration and the cost for your IT projects.

JDisc supports IT organizations, IT service providers and consultants with current and accurate IT inventory information. All major operating systems and device types are supported in a vendor independent manner. An open architecture and well documented interfaces enable smooth integration with other IT applications such as CMDB, helpdesk or asset management systems.

At JDisc, we are passionate about revolutionizing the way businesses manage their IT infrastructure. With our cutting-edge solutions and a dedicated team of experts, we strive to provide comprehensive insights and innovative tools to optimize your network, systems, and devices.

At JDisc, we offer a range of robust solutions designed to simplify the management of your IT environment. Our advanced network discovery and inventory software lets you to gain complete visibility into your network infrastructure, including devices, configurations, and dependencies. With our software, you can streamline asset management, track software licenses, and ensure compliance across your organization.

Our solutions are renowned for their precision and reliability. We employ advanced algorithms and automated processes to ensure the most accurate and up-to-date information about your IT infrastructure.

Our software adapts to your needs, whether you are a small startup or a global enterprise. With JDisc, you can effortlessly scale your operations and enjoy the flexibility to tailor our solutions to your unique requirements.

The digital world and we are ever-changing. We continuously innovate and stay ahead of the curve, embracing emerging technologies and industry best practices to deliver cutting-edge solutions that drive your business forward.

JDisc Discovery makes an inventory of whole networks and recognizes all important operating systems (including HP-UX, Solaris and AIX). It recognizes hardware and software, IP networks, Windows domains and Active Directory. In addition, JDisc Discovery identifies all important virtualization technologies, as well as many cluster environments.

The installation of JDisc server components on a Microsoft Windows system (preferably the server version) is required for its operation. The necessary installation files can be downloaded via the following web address:

During the setup you will be asked which passwords are to be used for the PostgreSQL-DBMS, which is applied in the background. This concerns the administrative account postgres and the account postgresro, which only has read permission for the JDisc database. The latter account is required for the interface to i-doit. Besides, with the setup you have to specify that the PostgreSQL instance should be accessible to the outside. As a default, it observes port 25321. You have to activate the port in the Windows firewall.

The WebService implements access to some JDisc Functionality using a SOAP interface on port 9000. However, with the new GraphQL-based API, the SOAP service is obsolete. I-Doit can access our GraphQL-API to perform the same tasks as with the WEB Service starting with i-doit Release 22.

Simply change the protocol in i-doit to HTTPS and use port 443 and then i-doit will use the GraphQL API and you can uninstall the obsolete WEB Service Add-On.

The GraphQL-API offers two major advantages:

It is using HTTPS by default (as with the WEB Service, HTTP was used by default)

It is a modern and powerful API that lets you automate everything in JDisc.

The i-doit default installation already provides predefined profiles. Among these predefined profiles is the Complete import profile which has the purpose to import all data in i-doit which have been inventoried by JDisc.

For each type in JDisc you can select an equivalent object type in i-doit. If none is selected, devices of this type will not be imported. The order of allocations is observed during import. In order to identify an allocation, the list is processed from top to bottom. For each line the matrix has the following structure:

JDisc deviceid should be assigned with type JDisc when the object is created in the Custom identifier category. This is intended to identify the objects later on. If no data is available, the object matching profile is used.

Before you execute the import process, you have to define the import parameters.

Because it is possible to apply more than one JDisc server, you have to select the JDisc server in the first step. The profile which you defined beforehand can be also selected to influence the imported contents and their use. In addition, you can set the import mode. The Append import mode creates all found objects without checking whether these already exist. The Update import mode creates only objects which can't be found in the i-doit data pool. Categories of already existing objects are complemented (if necessary) with new data. The Overwrite import mode is, in principle, like the Update mode but with the difference that list categories are emptied first and are then recreated.

With the logging function you can influence the extent of the written log. A more extensive logging increases the import duration.

When you carried out the settings completely, you can activate the import with Start the import. Please, consider that the duration of the import process depends both on the size of the JDisc database and the utilized hardware.

When the import process is completed, a summary is displayed in the Result section.

You can find the logs which are generated during import in the i-doit directory called log/.

Importing data from JDisc to i-doit is not only possible manually via the user interface. It can also be executed via the i-doit Console and thus automated. How the corresponding call is generated can be found in the corresponding article with an example for the import-jdisc option.

JDisc and i-doit work hand in hand as a modular ITSM suite. JDisc is responsible for regular discovery and finding of assets in the network. It scans the entire network for devices such as servers, clients and peripherals. Cabling, virtualisation and hosts are also recorded as well as software and licences. JDisc regularly transfers this information to the CMDB i-doit. Here this information can be expanded, linked and modelled into services. A fully automated system network that relieves your employees and makes information usable centrally.

Modelling IT services makes the usual jungle of IT services more transparent. Changes to the IT infrastructure can be planned much more easily because the dependencies are clearly identifiable on the basis of the modelled services. The costs for services and their components can also be calculated and, if necessary, replaced by more cost-effective alternatives.

Any asset created in i-doit can now be added to the service as a component. Whether contracts, licences, people, systems, services or other services. Everything that is necessary for the functionality and availability of the service.

To manually create all the required assets for modelling services is time-consuming, depending on the state of the documentation. Therefore we use the Discovery Tool JDisc to capture the infrastructure and import it into i-doit.

JDisc scans networks or subnets for systems and devices. From simple clients, servers and hosts to wireless access points, VoIP phones and peripherals, it detects almost any device. The device only needs to be connected to the network or to a device on the network. JDisc collects information about all devices by using various protocols such as WMI or SMNP.

Additionally, it can log on to systems with stored credentials to retrieve information directly from the systems. In this way, it is able to recognise even complex services such as Active Directory and capture the information contained therein. Also the installed software, the used licences and licence keys as well as used system services are read out.

Even occupied and free ports, cabling and interfaces are detected with all the performance characteristics. JDisc is a comprehensive discovery tool that when it comes to network discovery, leaves nothing to be desired.

Discovery is often required in different locations. These can be different locations, branch offices, an external data centre or the cloud. The problem: not all locations are networked with each other.

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