This post is part of SCCM Current Branch Installation Guide series.
As we are ready with the SCCM installation, however we don’t have any inventory (resources such as systems / users) which we can manage. In this post we are going to learn various discovery methods which will make sure we have all resources discovered which can be managed through SCCM.

Discovery Method

There are 6 types of discovery methods as displayed below. Launch SCCM console, navigate to Administration \ Overview \ Hierarchy Configuration \ Discovery Method

Disc01

Active Directory System Discovery

Once enabled, this will discovery all the systems which are part of Active Directory. Double click “Active Directory System Directory”. Under “General” tab, check the box “Enable Active Directory System Discovery”.
Click on Burst Icon.

Disc02

We need to select the path, hence click on Browse and select Domain (ie MANBAN in this case) and click on Ok twice.

Disc03

Click on tab “Polling Schedule”, by default discovery will run every 7 days, you may change the option by clickin on schedule. Enabling delta discovery will only discover new objects every 5 minutes irrespective of Full discovery polling schedule. Click on OK will trigger full discovery immediately.

Disc04
Verify Active Directory System Discovery is working

Through adsysdis.log located under d:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\logs.
DDR – Discovery Data Record. Whenever new resource gets discovered, it it will generate discovery data record (DDR).
Following is the criteria for DDR to be sent to SCCM
1. Machine name in Active Directory.
2. Name resolution for computer (hots A record should be there in DNS).

We can see that 4 systems have sent DDR record to SCCM Server

Disc05

Active Directory Group Discovery

Active Directory Group Discovery discovers the additional properties of discovered resources such as various groups. System discovery will just discover System name, but this discovery will discover the group name systems are part of.
Double click it and enable the check box to enable this discovery. Click on Add \ Location

Disc06

Specify name as EntireAD and click on Browse to select Domain.

Disc06a

Click on OK, this will run discovery immediately.

Disc07

To verify Active Directory Group Discovery log file, check “adsgdis.log“. We can see 22 objects got discovered.

Disc08

Active Directory User Discovery

This type of discovery will discover all user accounts located in AD. Once enabled, verify “adusrdis.log” to verify all users discovered.

Disc09

Heartbeat Discovery

This is the only type of discovery which is enabled by default. This discovery is responsible for knowing whether client is active or inactive. By default this discovery is set to 7 days which can be changed, hence every resource sends heartbeat every 7 days telling SCCM that I am alive. For more details, check out Understanding / Setting up Heartbeat Discovery & Client Activity for more details.

Active Directory Forest Discovery

Once enabled, it discovers sites and subnets across the AD Forest.

Network Discovery

Once enabled, it discovers devices on your network that have an IP address