The 4 major approaches of IT asset discovery

Table of Contents

• What is IT asset discovery?
• Why do you need an IT asset discovery tool?
• How does IT discovery work?
• What are the different approaches to IT Discovery?
  • 1. Enterprise Architecture Review
  • 2. Data Discovery
  • 3. Network Discovery
  • 4. Application Discovery
• Know what exists in your IT environment with Virima

If a company wants to be able to work efficiently and effectively, it needs to know what devices it has in its network. Having an IT asset discovery tool allows you to find out everything about your company’s IT infrastructure, including all the devices that are connected to the network, their operating system and software versions, who owns them, how much memory they have, and so on. 

This way you can make sure that everything works properly and that no one is using an outdated computer because you don’t know if there are other computers with more updated versions of software available.

But first, let us understand how IT discovery works and what are the different approaches to asset discovery.

What is IT asset discovery?

IT asset discovery is the act of identifying and locating all of the devices in a network. It’s a critical component of network management, as it allows you to plan effectively, monitor performance, and secure your environment.

Asset discovery is used for several purposes:

• Planning – IT asset discovery helps you determine how many servers or other devices need to be deployed based on their roles and functions. This information can also be used when planning maintenance windows for upgrades or patches on specific hardware platforms such as routers or switches.
• Monitoring – By using asset discovery tools that collect information from both hardware and software components of systems like PCs or mobile devices, IT teams can gain insight into current conditions before problems arise so they can take action before users experience any downtime due to issues like malware infections or corrupted files that slow down performance levels over time unless addressed immediately after detection occurs through regular monitoring processes.
• Identification – IT discovery helps businesses identify those assets that are no longer useful for the company’s current operations. By identifying these assets and eliminating them from their system, companies can reduce overhead costs and increase efficiency.
• Recovery – Asset discovery is also used to help businesses recover from disaster or other issues that result in lost or damaged property. 

Why do you need an IT asset discovery tool?

It’s important to know what devices are in your network. You also want to know what software is installed on those devices, as well as which applications are running on them. And finally, you need to understand which vulnerabilities exist within your environment so that you can take action against them.

In order for security teams and IT practitioners alike to ensure that their networks remain secure and compliant with regulations like GDPR (the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation), it’s critical for them to have visibility into every aspect of their IT infrastructure. 

Right from endpoints all the way up through applications and data centers so they can make informed decisions about where they should focus their resources toward remediation efforts when there are vulnerabilities found within an organization’s systems or networks.

How does IT discovery work?

IT asset discovery is a process of detecting new devices, applications, and software on a network. It’s often used in conjunction with endpoint security software to scan for vulnerabilities and make sure that your devices are patched.

Traditionally, the organization installs the application on a device or server. Then, the application scans the device or server for any new hardware or software. This scan is known as an asset inventory. It can also check for unnecessary software that might be running on the device.

The results from this scan can be stored in an inventory database. The database can then be used to detect any changes made to the network in real time or at regular intervals

IT discovery scans can review the asset or network for vulnerabilities and abnormal activity. The application scans for any new hardware or software installations, and then updates its database with this information so it can provide real-time visibility into all devices on your network.

IT discovery is an important part of any IT audit. It helps you get an accurate picture of the hardware and software that exists on your network, so you can make sure all of it is up to date and secure. This is especially important if you have some older devices in your infrastructure, because they are often more vulnerable than newer ones.

You can use IT discovery to scan both devices and servers for new hardware or software installations. This gives organizations real-time visibility into the devices and software active on their networks. Then, they update the database containing the list of assets.

Why should you choose an automated IT discovery tool?

What are the different approaches to IT Discovery?

There are several different approaches to asset discovery. The first is manual, which involves a technician reviewing the network and recording the information they find in a spreadsheet or database. 

The second approach is automated, with an IT asset management or asset discovery tool that scans your network and collects this data for you automatically. Finally, there are hybrid methods that combine manual and automated processes, for example, by using custom scripts or APIs to retrieve specific information from devices within the network.

There are many ways to get a handle on what your IT infrastructure looks like. Some companies use a combination of techniques, while others rely on one method alone. Here are some of the most common approaches:

1. Enterprise Architecture Review

The goal of an enterprise architecture review is to determine the current state of your business processes and IT systems, so that you can make informed decisions about how they can be improved.

The approach used will vary depending on your needs. For example, if you’re looking to replace or upgrade your existing software, you’ll want to look at the options available and choose the one that best meets your needs. If you need help managing your data, there are many different ways to go about it—from hiring a data analyst or consultant all the way up to building a custom system from scratch with the help of an expert.

In short: enterprise architecture reviews will help you assess your current situation so that you can make informed decisions about what changes need to be made in order for them to work best for you!

2. Data Discovery

One of the most important steps in any business intelligence project is data discovery. This is the process by which data from various sources is collected, evaluated, and analyzed to help inform your organization’s decision-making process.

Data discovery is a process that helps inform business decisions by bringing together disparate, siloed data sources and analyzing them. It can be used to understand trends and patterns in the data, which can help organizations make better decisions about their business. The process of data discovery typically involves the collection and evaluation of data from various sources.

3. Network Discovery

Network discovery is a way to map, discover, and inventory the devices in your IT environment. It helps you understand what’s connected to what, where it’s located, and how it’s configured. This gives you a better picture of the entire IT environment so that you can make better decisions about what needs to be updated or replaced.

There are many types of network discovery. They can be done using manual methods or automated tools, in-house or by a third-party service provider.

A kind of network discovery known as horizontal discovery scans your network, finds computers and devices, and then populates the CMDB with any discovered infrastructure and applications, which are also known as Configuration Items (CI). This allows you to create accurate records of all of your devices, as well as their relationships with each other, so that you can easily see how all of them are connected.

4. Application Discovery

Application discovery is a process through which the applications installed and used throughout an enterprise are identified and collected. This process enables the gathering, monitoring and management of the entire application portfolio used within an IT environment or on individual computers and networks, such as business/productivity applications, database applications, client/server applications and more.

The application discovery approach can be divided into two categories: passive discovery and active discovery. In passive discovery, the application monitoring system passively identifies applications by analyzing data from various sources such as logs from antivirus software, system event logs and usage data from computer management tools. In active discovery, the application monitoring system actively queries endpoints (workstations) to determine what software is installed on them.

Read: The challenges of IT discovery Virima can help solve

Know what exists in your IT environment with Virima

IT asset discovery is an important part of any IT department’s job. It allows them to keep track of all their devices and know what software is running on them so that they can ensure everything is working correctly. 

Virima Discovery is an IT discovery tool that helps you find, manage, and monitor all devices on your network.

Virima Discovery comes with many great features and benefits including:

1. An agentless solution for discovery, inventory and compliance management

2. Agent-based discovery for Windows systems

3. NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD) integration at no additional charge. This allows you to leverage the same vulnerability data used by government agencies to perform automatic checks for known CPEs and CVEs.

4. It is purpose-built on AWS for multi-tenancy with full data segregation between tenants. This means that your business is never at risk of having sensitive data compromised by another tenant.

The RACI model for role-based access ensures that only authorized users have access to the information they need to do their jobs. This reduces the potential for human error, while also ensuring that each user has the exact permissions needed to perform their primary job function, without wasting time and resources trying to use a tool that doesn’t fit their needs.

5. It has hundreds of OS attributes, including OS version, off-the-shelf software, custom applications, patches, certificates and listeners, processes and services.

But that’s not all! There is more to Virima Discovery and what you can do with it. Request a demo with our team to learn more.