Discovery
Discovery is the process of scanning your network to find hosts and services. Daemons perform discovery and report findings to the server.
Discovery Types
Section titled “Discovery Types”Network Scan
Section titled “Network Scan”Scans IP addresses on configured subnets to find hosts and services.
- Detects open TCP and UDP ports
- Identifies services via pattern matching
- Performs reverse DNS lookups
- Collects MAC addresses (for directly connected subnets only)
Subnet selection: You can scan subnets the daemon isn’t directly connected to, but with limitations. For best results, deploy a daemon on each network segment (see Multi-VLAN Deployment).
Docker
Section titled “Docker”Discovers containers via the Docker socket on the daemon’s host.
- Lists running containers with names and metadata
- Maps container networks and port bindings
- Identifies containerized services
- Creates Docker bridge subnets automatically
Requires Docker socket access — see Docker Socket Proxy for secure configuration.
Self-Report
Section titled “Self-Report”Daemon reports its own capabilities to the server.
- Identifies which subnets the daemon can reach
- Reports Docker socket availability
- Runs automatically on daemon startup
Run Types
Section titled “Run Types”| Type | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Scheduled | Runs automatically on a cron schedule (default: daily) |
| AdHoc | Manual execution only, for testing or one-time scans |
Discovery Duration
Section titled “Discovery Duration”Benchmark: A /24 subnet (256 IPs) takes 5-10 minutes to scan.
Factors affecting speed:
- Subnet size (a /16 is 65,536 IPs — avoid scanning these via Network Scan)
- Concurrent scans setting (default: 15, configurable per daemon)
- Network latency and host responsiveness
Watch out: Accidentally added 172.17.0.0/16 to your network scan? That’s 65,536 IPs. Docker bridge networks should use Docker discovery instead — it queries the Docker API directly and takes seconds.
Host Naming
Section titled “Host Naming”When a host is discovered, Scanopy determines its name using this priority:
- Reverse DNS — hostname from PTR record, if available
- Best Service or IP — configurable fallback per discovery:
- Best Service: Uses the first named service found on the host
- IP: Uses the host’s IP address
- Remaining fallback — whichever option wasn’t selected in step 2
Configure naming strategy in the discovery type settings.
Manage discoveries via Discover > Scheduled and monitor progress via Discover > Sessions.