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Network Discovery

This page explains how to scan your network for unmanaged devices, adopt them into your inventory, or dismiss them if they are not relevant.

Role Required: Admin or Operator

Admins can trigger scans and adopt discovered devices. Operators can view scan results and dismiss devices. The Discovery sidebar item is visible to all authenticated users.

Prerequisites

  • You must be logged in with an Operator or Admin account
  • At least one classroom with a VLAN must be configured (so the system knows which networks to scan)

What Is Network Discovery?

Network Discovery scans your network using ARP and nmap to find devices that are not yet in your managed inventory. This helps you find new or unknown devices without manually entering every MAC address.

When a scan completes, you see a list of discovered devices with their network details. You can then decide whether to adopt each device (add it to inventory) or dismiss it (mark it as irrelevant).

Running a Scan

Triggering a scan requires the Admin role.

  1. Navigate to Discovery in the sidebar
  2. Select the VLAN/interface you want to scan
  3. Click Scan
  4. Wait for the scan to complete -- this may take a minute or more depending on the network size

Only powered-on devices are discovered

Network scans can only detect devices that are currently powered on and connected to the network. Devices that are turned off, sleeping, or disconnected will not appear in the results.

Understanding Scan Results

Each discovered device shows the following details:

Field Description
MAC Address The device's unique hardware identifier
IP Address The device's current network address
Manufacturer The device manufacturer, determined by OUI lookup (the first three bytes of the MAC address identify the vendor)
Hostname The device's network hostname, if available

Discovery Results

Capture the discovered devices list showing MAC, IP, manufacturer, hostname, and adopt/dismiss buttons.

Adopting a Device

Adopting moves a discovered device into your managed inventory. This requires the Admin role.

  1. In the Discovery results, locate the device you want to adopt
  2. Click Adopt
  3. Fill in the required details:
    • Name -- A descriptive name for the device (e.g., "PC-03")
    • Classroom -- Select which classroom this device belongs to
    • Device Type -- Select the type (PC, display, projector, etc.)
  4. Click Save

The device is removed from the discovery list and appears in the selected classroom's device list as a managed device.

Dismissing a Device

Dismissing marks a discovered device as irrelevant so it does not clutter your results. Both Operators and Admins can dismiss devices.

  1. In the Discovery results, locate the device you want to dismiss
  2. Click Dismiss

Use dismiss for devices you do not want to manage, such as personal laptops, infrastructure equipment, or devices belonging to other departments.

Limitations

  • Discovery only finds devices that are powered on and connected to the scanned network segment
  • Devices that are turned off, sleeping, or on a different VLAN will not appear
  • Scan results reflect the state of the network at the time of the scan -- devices may come and go

Next Steps