Adding computers to scan

Adding machines in the PatchQuest system is the first step to all the patch management activities. You can add target machines by clicking the 'Add Computers to Scan' link in the Quick Links section of the Home page.

Alternatively, you can visit the Systems tab, and click the 'Add System' link to bring up the configuration screen to add computers. Machines can be added :

• one by one - by specifying the name or IP address; 
• or collectively - specifying a range of IP addresses, 
• importing system names or IP addresses specified in a text file or 
• by picking up hosts/domains listed in the Active Directory

Note on computers that have agents running : Running agents on computers (agent-based) will automatically include them in the 'Systems' list. Addition from this screen is only for the 'agentless or remote' approach.

Adding computers by DNS name or IP address

• From the 'Add System' configuration screen, select the 'System Name / IP Address' radio button (selected by default)
• Choose the Operating System Type for the machine to be added; as Windows or Linux or All (meaning both types)
• In the System Name field, type the name or IP address of a computer on the network that you would like to add and scan
• Multiple systems can also be specified here by separating each system with a comma
• For Linux OS, select the protocol to communicate to the device (either Telnet or SSH)
• The Telnet port (default 23) and SSH ports (default 22) are configurable
• Supply the username and password required to login to the target machine
• You can provide the credentials by yourself (user defined credential) or select from the Global Credentials drop-down list
• Click on the Diagnose button to test if the system is suitable to be managed by PatchQuest 
• Click on the 'Add' button to save configurations and add the computer
• Once this is done, a pop-up window appears, displaying the status of the 'Add' operation
• On completion of the operation, you can click the 'View Result' button to view the computer that has been added; or click the 'Audit Report' button to take you to the audit details of this particular task

Adding computers by IP range

• From the 'Add System' configuration screen, select the 'IP Range' radio button
• Enter the starting and ending IP address of a range of IP addresses for machines (can comprise of both Windows and Linux OS) that you would like to add and scan
• Choose the 'Operating System Type' if you want to restrict the scanning to Windows or Linux machines alone, from the range specified
• Select the protocol to communicate to Linux machines (either Telnet or SSH) falling in the IP range
• Configure the Telnet or SSH ports if they are different from default
• Supply the username and password required to login to the target machines depending on the OS type
• You can provide the credentials by yourself (user defined credential) or select from the Global Credentials drop-down list (respectively for Windows and Linux)
• Click on the 'Add' button to add the computers in the range
• Once this is done, a pop-up window appears, displaying the status of the 'Add' operation
• On completion of the operation, you can click the 'View Result' button to view the computer that has been added; or click the 'Audit Report' button to take you to the audit details of this particular task
• Note that, only the computers that respond to the login request from the PatchQuest Server will be added successfully.

Adding computers by importing from file

• From the 'Add System' configuration screen, select the 'Importing From File' radio button
• Use the Browse button to select the text file which has a list of system names and IP addresses to be scanned
• Choose the 'Operating System Type' of the systems that are listed in the text file
• Select the protocol to communicate to Linux machines (either Telnet or SSH) present in the text file
• Configure the Telnet or SSH ports if they are different from default
• Supply the username and password required to login to the target machines depending on the OS type
• You can provide the credentials by yourself (user defined credential) or select from the Global Credentials drop-down list (respectively for Windows and Linux)
• Click on the 'Add' button to add the computers in the file
• Once this is done, a pop-up window appears, displaying the status of the 'Add' operation
• On completion of the operation, you can click the 'View Result' button to view the computer that has been added; or click the 'Audit Report' button to take you to the audit details of this particular task
• Note that, only the computers that respond to the login request from the PatchQuest Server will be added successfully

Adding computers from Active Directory

• From the 'Add System' configuration screen, select the 'Active Directory' radio button
• Click on the 'Pick Hosts' button to see the list of domains in your network and the machines that are present in these domains
• You can select individual machines from a particular domain list or select the entire domain itself to be added, by clicking on the Select All check box
• Then click on the 'Update' button to bring the chosen systems to the selection area of the Add System screen
• The Operating System type will be automatically selected as 'Windows'
• Supply the username and password required to login to the target machines
• You can provide the credentials by yourself (user defined credential) or select from the Global Credentials drop-down list (respectively for Windows and Linux)
• Click on the Diagnose button to test if the system is suitable to be managed by PatchQuest
• Click on the 'Add' button to add the computers that have been chosen from AD
• Once this is done, a pop-up window appears, displaying the status of the 'Add' operation
• On completion of the operation, you can click the 'View Result' button to view the computer that has been added; or click the 'Audit Report' button to take you to the audit details of this particular task
• Note that, only the computers that respond to the login request from the PatchQuest Server will be added successfully

Adding Systems even if they are not in network

When you add machines, sometimes there is a possibility that the systems from the AD list, are all not currently active in the network. PatchQuest has the provision to add them to the setup even in this case, so that at a later point when they are up in the network, they can be managed straightaway from the web interface.

To enable this option, select the 'Active Directory' radio button from the Add System configuration screen, and check the 'Add systems even if they are not in network' check-box. PatchQuest will first check if the systems from the AD list are active and add the active systems in the normal way. The ones that do not seem to be present in the network will be added to the Systems tab by the name. Other system related information such as OS type, version etc. will be marked 'Unknown'.

Note on credentials :

• Credentials are used to automatically log in and scan the target machine(s) and perform patch deployments
• Administrative rights are required on target Windows machines for all operations
• Administrative rights (superuser privileges) are required on Linux machines for patch deployment. Normal user privileges are sufficient to add and scan Linux machines

Diagnosing system environment

In case you wish to identify if the system you are trying to add is suitable to be managed by PatchQuest or if you wish to analyze the reason for system addition failure (due to a probable issue in the system), you can enter the system name and the credentials for the particular system and click on the Diagnose button in the bottom of the Add System screen.

PatchQuest's Diagnosis of the System environment includes performing the following tests on the target machines :

• Ping - a 'ping' command is executed from the PatchQuest server machine to the target machines, so see if they are alive in the network
• Registry Service check (Windows machines only) - To check if the registry service is running in the target machine and if the service can be accessed remotely from the server machine. Also to check if the credentials supplied (username and password) have enough privileges (read administrator rights) to access the registry
• Shares check (Windows machines only) - To test if the ADMIN$ share is enabled in the target machine
• Service creation check (Windows machines only) - To test if a service can be created in the remote machines to carry out patch management operations
• Login Test (Linux machines only)- To check if the credentials supplied (username and password) for the Linux machines can be used to successfully login to the target machines and if the telnet or ssh services are running in the specified ports

The results of these test give an idea on the environment of the target system. If any of the tests fail, addition of the system may fail. You should take corrective measures to address the issues, and retry system addition so that it can be added and managed successfully. Note that you can enter multiple systems and diagnose them at one go.