Automated remote scanning of a network for managed and unmanaged devices

• US 20070005738A1
• Filed: 06/29/2005
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sharma, Sanjiv, Alexion-Tiernan, Karri, Sankarapillai, Venugopal
• Time in patent office: 0 Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting or retrieving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0866 Checking configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 network topology discovery or management topology discovery for routing H04L45/02

Abstract

A set of possible device IP addresses is determined. The list of IP devices is pinged and split into responsive and unresponsive devices. The responsive devices are scanned to determine which provide administrative access rights. Of those devices that provide administrative access, the devices are further separated into managed and unmanaged devices. The unmanaged devices are scanned for specific software and services, including if those software and services are the most current or up-to-date versions. An administrator may then be presented with a network report based on the scan at the level of detail desired by the user.

Claims

1. A method for scanning a network for managed and unmanaged devices, comprising:

detecting if there are devices at the each of a plurality of IP addresses;

determining, for each of the detected devices, if the device provides administrative access;

determining, for each of devices that provide administrative access, if the device is managed or unmanaged; and

retrieving from each unmanaged device information indicative of the device'"'"'s operating system and applications.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a report comprising the retrieved information from each of the unmanaged devices.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the plurality of IP addresses.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the IP addresses are received from an administrator.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving the plurality of IP addresses comprises:

determining the available subnets in the network; and

generating the possible IP addresses belonging to the available subnets.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the available subnets comprises reading an active directory of one of the devices, and retrieving a list of available subnets from the active directory.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting if there are devices at the each of the plurality of IP addresses comprises:

pinging each of the plurality of IP addresses; and

detecting a device if a response is received from the ping.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the devices are pinged in parallel.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving from each managed device information indicative of the device'"'"'s operating system and applications.

10. A computer-readable medium with computer-executable instructions stored thereon for performing the method of:

generating a plurality of IP addresses;

detecting if there are devices at the each of the generated IP addresses;

determining, for each of the detected devices, if the device provides administrative access;

determining, for each of devices that provide administrative access, if the device is managed or unmanaged; and

retrieving from each unmanaged device information indicative of the device'"'"'s operating system and applications.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising computer-executable instructions for generating a report comprising the retrieved information from each of the unmanaged devices.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein generating a plurality of IP addresses comprises computer-executable instructions for:

determining the available subnets in the network; and

generating all possible IP addresses belonging to the available subnets.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein determining the available subnets comprises computer-executable instructions for reading an active directory of one of the devices, and retrieving a list of available subnets from the active directory.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the IP addresses are provided by an administrator.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein detecting if there are devices at the each of the generated IP addresses comprises computer-executable instructions for:

pinging each of the generated IP addresses; and

detecting a device if a response is received from the ping.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the devices are pinged in parallel.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising computer-executable instructions for retrieving from each managed device information indicative of the device'"'"'s operating system and applications.

18. A system for scanning a network for managed and unmanaged devices, comprising:

a generating component for generating a plurality of IP addresses and detecting if there are devices at the each of the generated IP addresses;

a access detection component for determining which of the detected devices provide administrative access rights; and

a scanning component for scanning the devices that provide administrative access for software and operating system data.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a reporting component for generating a report comprising the software and operating system data.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the generating component generates the plurality of IP addresses by determining the available subnets in the network, and generates all possible IP addresses belonging to the available subnets.