Agent-less vs Agent-Based Discovery

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Universal Discovery (UD) Agent-less vs Agent-Based Discovery?

Universal Discovery (UD) allows customers to choose the best method of discovery per the specific needs and constraints of each management zone.

• Agent-less Discovery has the following advantages:

• No need to deploy/maintain agent per server

• No continued presence on discovered device (minimal footprint)

• Leverages available access points (protocols) to get desired information

Note*: Not always Operating system credentials are available. Often security policies force credentials to be changed on a regular basis. Also, protocols like NTCMD require a lot of prerequisites (specific system configuration)

• Agent-based Discovery has the following advantages:

• Overcome security barriers

• Maintenance of user credentials is challenging

• Deeper insight into computer information (e.g. software utilization)

• Enables agent-initiated data reporting (“Call Home”)

Note*: Not everything can be done via the agent. The agent can only act as a replacement/alternative to shell protocols. So only those discovery jobs that work through shell protocols can potentially run through the agent.