Configuring Crawler Credentials

Credentials are the username and password (and occasionally other information) that the Crawler uses to access the devices it is gathering data about. The most basic are the Windows credentials, which allow the Crawler to collect most of the information you need. However, many devices require additional credentials to be accessed (such as SNMP or SSH), which means additional configuration on your part. See About the Crawler for more information on Crawler Discovery.

Note: Since the information that you provide during configuration is crucial for the Crawler to provide you with meaningful data about your network, it is vital that this information be kept up-to-date. Even after your initial configuration, you should continue to reconfigure your Crawlers on a regular basis as your network changes.

Note: It can take up to 24 hours after configuring the Crawler for initial devices to appear in the Inventory and for the Crawler to collect information such as operating system, software installed, etc.

Topics in this article:

Credential Types

Adding and Editing Credentials

Testing Credentials

Limiting Credential Use

Credentials for Plugins

Removing Credentials

Credential Types

There are many different types of credentials that you can set up on your Crawler. Below is a list of available credentials, along with the basic information each credential requires:

Windows Credentials

The Crawler uses the Windows credential to scan your network and gather data from your Windows machines, Active Directory and LDAP servers. When configuring a Windows credential, the following information is required:

• Login – The username for the administrative account used to log in to the Windows machines on the network
• Password – The password for the user account listed above

Note: It is recommended that you test the credential before saving it to ensure that it works properly.

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Credentials

The Crawler uses SNMP credentials to see devices that use SNMP and/or are connected to switches and routers on your network. If you use a SNMP connection for a number of devices, you can add it here (if you use more than one connection, the Crawler will try them all). When configuring a SNMP credential, the following information is required:

• Read Community – The public or private read community string for the SNMP device

Note: You can modify the Crawler so that it uses only the defined Community String to probe SNMP-enabled devices on the network by configuring it to ignore the default Community Strings. Otherwise, the Crawler automatically probes SNMP-enabled devices with all 5 default Community Strings (public, secret, admin, etc.) in addition to the user-defined one, which can result in misleading errors (i.e., “Informational – System: Detected an unauthorized user attempting to access the SNMP interface from ###.###.###.###”). To configure the Crawler to ignore the default Community Strings, open the Crawler.config file (C: > Program Files (x86) > Citrix > GoToAssist Crawler > Crawler.config), add the line “ignore_default_snmp_community_strings=true” and save the file.

Secure Shell (SSH) Credentials

To enable your Crawler to gather data from Unix machines (including Linux, BSD and Apple OS X), the Crawler needs a secure SSH connection to communicate with the Unix machines. You should add a new credential for each machine that uses a different username/passwordl. When configuring a Unix credential, the following information is required:

• Username – The user name for the account used to log in to Linux, BSD or Apple OS X machines
• Password – The password for the user account listed above

Note: In most cases you usually don't need a password, unless you want your Crawler to collect data that requires administrator privileges. For example, if you write your own APIs that gather statistics that require administrative rights, you'll need to enter a password.

Note: It is recommended that you test the credential before saving it to ensure that it works properly.

Amazon Web Services Credentials

VMware ESXi or Virtual Center Credentials

Scripting Credentials

XenServer Host Credentials

Adding and Editing Credentials

It is recommended that you add as many credentials as possible in order to allow your Crawler to discover your network to the fullest extent.

To add a new credential

1. Right-click the Crawler icon in your system tray and select Configure Crawler from the pop-up menu.

Note: If the Crawler icon does not appear on your system tray, find the GoToAssist Crawler desktop application on your computer and double-click to open it.

2. In the Credentials tab of the GoToAssist Configuration window, click Add.

Note: You will also see the same Credentials options on the Enter More Network Credentials page of the initial GoToAssist Crawler Setup.

3. In the Configure a Credential window, enter a unique name to help you identify the Credential later. Then select the type of credential from the Protocol drop-down menu.

4. Once you select the Credential type from the Protocol drop-down menu, the Credential section of the window will change to reflect the credential's requirements (as displayed in Credential Types). Enter in the necessary information.

• For Windows credentials, see Testing Windows Credentials and Limiting Credential Use before moving on.
• For SNMP, SSH (Unix & OSX), VMware ESXi or Virtual Center and XenServer credentials, see Limiting Credential Use before moving on.

5. Click OK when finished to return to the GoToAssist Configuration window, where you can continue adding, editing and removing credentials.

To edit a credential

1. Right-click the Crawler icon in your system tray and select Configure Crawler from the pop-up menu.

Note: If the Crawler icon does not appear on your system tray, find the GoToAssist Crawler desktop application on your computer and double-click to open it.

2. In the Credentials tab of the GoToAssist Configuration window, click the credential that you wish to modify and then click Edit.

Note: You will also see the same Credentials options on the Enter More Network Credentials page of the initial GoToAssist Crawler Setup.

3. In the Configure a Credential window, modify the credential the same as if you were adding a new one.

4. Click OK when finished.

Testing Windows Credentials

It is highly recommended that you verify your Windows credentials to make sure they work before waiting the 24 hours it takes for the Crawler to scan the network and return data. To verify your credentials, the Crawler tests them against a specific device on the network.

To verify Windows credentials

1. In the Enter Windows Domain Credentials window (during initial Crawler configuration) or the Configure a Credential window (during Crawler reconfiguration), provide your Windows username and password and click Test.

Note: To access the Test button, follow the directions for editing a credential.

2. In the Device to Test text field, enter the IP Address or DNS name of another Windows machine within the network so that the Crawler can attempt to connect to it. Click Test.

After a brief wait, the Result section indicates whether the test was successful or unsuccessful:

Limiting Credential Use

In the Choose a Device or Network window, you can choose to allow the Crawler to scan your entire network, or you can indicate specific devices for the Crawler to probe. You can limit the networks, devices or groups the Crawler should access by listing them in the Limit Credential Use section.

Note: This feature applies to Windows, SNMP, SSH (Unix & OSX), VMware ESXi or Virtual Center and XenServer credentials only.

To limit credential use

1. In the Enter Windows Domain Credentials window (during initial Crawler configuration) or the Configure a Credential window (during Crawler reconfiguration), provide the required information for your chosen credential.

2. In the Limit Credential Use section, select the "Only use the credential for the devices, groups or networks selected below" radio button and click Add.

Note: To access the Limit Credential Use section, follow the directions for editing a credential.

3. In the Specify Devices or Networks window, use one of the following methods to specify the devices or networks that you want the credential to apply to:

• Single Device – Use the Single Device tab to identify a single device by its DNS name or IP Address.
• Group – Use the Group tab to identify one of the Groups in your Inventory application on your Monitoring web account. If you need to modify your groups, click Manage inventory groups to open the Inventory application in a web browser window.
• Subnet – Use the Subnet tab to identify a subnet of your network by entering the network address and subnet mask.
• Address Range – Use Address Range tab to identify a range of IP Addresses, so that all devices whose address fall within the range will be included.

4. Click OK when finished to return to the Enter Windows Domain Credentials or Configure a Credential window, where you can continue to add more devices by clicking the Add button again. You can also modify or remove listed devices using the Edit and Delete buttons until your list is complete.

5. Click OK when finished.

Credentials for Plugins

Your Crawler is only as good as your configuration. If you choose to use plugins with your Crawler, you'll need to configure additional credentials to work with them. For example, if you do not provide Windows credentials, many of the plugins will not have enough information to do their job.

This table tells you what to configure for each plugin to work optimally:

Removing Credentials

To remove a credential

1. Right-click the Crawler icon in your system tray and select Configure Crawler from the pop-up menu.

Note: If the Crawler icon does not appear on your system tray, find the GoToAssist Crawler desktop application on your computer and double-click to open it.

2. In the Credentials tab of the GoToAssist Configuration window, click the credential that you wish to remove and click Delete.

Note: You will also see the same Credentials options on the Enter More Network Credentials page of the initial GoToAssist Crawler Setup.

3. Click Apply or OK when finished.

| Views: 1963 | Last Updated: Thu, May 09 2013 2:28 PM

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