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Install Agent on Windows Using the Discovery Wizard

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You can use the Operations console to search your environment for manageable objects and then deploy an agent to any object that you want to monitor. The process of searching your environment is called discovery. One of the advantages of using discovery is that it lists all manageable objects, including any that you might not be aware of.

The Discovery Wizard doesn't show computers that the management group is already monitoring. If you're doing a phased rollout of your management group, you can run the wizard to add new computers to the group. Also, after your initial deployment, you can use the Discovery Wizard to add newly installed computers to be managed.

When agents are pushed out to computers, System Center Operations Manager sends credentials that have local administrator rights for that computer; this is required to install the agent.

If the Discovery Wizard isn't right for your needs (for example, if you have a set list of computers to which you want to deploy agents), you have the option of manually installing agents on systems to be managed. Agents can also be embedded in the host image of the monitored computer.

Use the following procedure to discover computers running Windows and deploy the Operations Manager agent to the discovered computers from the Operations console. For a list of the supported operating system versions, see Microsoft Monitoring Agent Operating System requirements.

Note

For information about port requirements for agents, see Agent and Agentless Monitoring in the Deployment Guide.

Install an agent on a computer running Windows by using the Discovery Wizard

Follow these steps to install an agent on a computer running Windows by using the Discovery Wizard:

  1. Sign in to the Operations console with an account that is a member of the Operations Manager Administrators role.

  2. Select Administration.

  3. At the bottom of the navigation pane, select Discovery Wizard.

  4. In the Computer and Device Management Wizard, on the Discovery Type page, select Windows computers.

  5. On the Auto or Advanced? page, do the following:

    1. Select either Automatic computer discovery or Advanced discovery. If you select Automatic computer discovery, select Next, and then go to step 7. If you select Advanced discovery, continue with the following steps.

      Note

      Automatic computer discovery scans for Windows-based computers in the domain. Advanced discovery allows you to specify criteria for the computers that the wizard will return, such as computer names starting with NY.

    2. In the Computer and Device Classes list, select Servers and Clients, Servers Only, or Clients Only.

    3. In the Management Server list, select the management server or gateway server to discover the computers.

    4. If you selected Servers and Clients, you can select the Verify discovered computers can be contacted checkbox. This is likely to increase the success rate of agent deployment, but discovery can take longer.

      Note

      If the Active Directory catalog doesn't contain the NetBIOS names for computers in a domain, select Verify discovered computers can be contacted. Otherwise, the Browse, or Type In option fails to find computers. This affects computers in the same domain as the management server, in another domain with a full trust relationship, and in untrusted domains by using a gateway server.

    5. Select Next.

      Note

      The wizard can return approximately 4000 computers if Verify discovered computers can be contacted is selected, and it can return 10,000 computers if this option isn't selected. Automatic computer discovery verifies that discovered computers can be contacted. A computer that is already managed by the management group isn't returned.

  6. On the Discovery Method page, you can locate the computers that you want to manage by either scanning or browsing Active Directory Domain Services or entering the computer names.

If you want to scan, do the following:

  1. If it isn't already selected, select Scan Active Directory and select Configure.

  2. In the Find Computers dialog, enter the criteria that you want to use for discovering computers, and select OK.

  3. In the Domain list, select the domain of the computers that you want to discover.

If you want to browse Active Directory Domain Services or enter the computer names, do the following:

  1. Select Browse for, or type-in computer names, select Browse, specify the names of the computers that you want to manage, and select OK.

  2. In the Browse for, or type-in computer names box, enter the computer names, separated by a semicolon, comma, or a new line. You can use NetBIOS computer names or fully qualified domain names (FQDN).

  3. Select Next, and on the Administrator Account page, do one of the following:

    1. Select Use selected Management Server Action Account if it isn't already selected.

    2. Select Other user account, enter the User name and Password, and then select the Domain from the list. If the user name isn't a domain account, select This is a local computer account, not a domain account.

      Important

      The account must have administrative privileges on the targeted computers. If This is a local computer account, not a domain account is selected, the management server action account will be used to perform discovery.

  4. Select Discover to display the Discovery Progress page. The time it takes discovery to finish depends on many factors, such as the criteria specified and the configuration of the IT environment. If a large number (100 or more) of computers are being discovered or agents are being installed, the Operations console won't be usable during discovery and agent installation.

    Note

    Computers that are already managed by the management group won't be returned by the wizard.

  5. On the Select Objects to Manage page, do the following:

    1. Select the computers that you want to be agent-managed computers.

    2. In the Management Mode list, select Agent and then select Next.

      Note

      The discovery results show virtual nodes of clusters. Don't select any virtual nodes to be managed.

  6. On the Summary page, do the following:

    1. Leave the Agent installation directory set to the default of %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Monitoring Agent or enter an installation path.

      Important

      If a different Agent installation directory is specified, the root of the path must exist on the targeted computer or the agent installation fails. Subdirectories, such as \Agent, are created if they don't exist.

    2. Leave Agent Action Account set to the default, Local System, or select Other and enter the User name, Password, and Domain. The Agent Action Account is the default account that the agent will use to perform actions.

    3. Select Finish.

  7. In the Agent Management Task Status dialog, the Status for each selected computer changes from Queued to Success; the computers are ready to be managed.

    Note

    If the task fails for a computer, select the targeted computer. The reason for the failure is displayed in the Task Output text box.

  8. Select Close.

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