Core Concepts
Once your license is registered, you can start using vScope as your central asset inventory repository. Built upon our proprietary graph database, vScope unlocks powerful possibilities for asset management.
Before you begin, take a moment to understand the core concepts of vScope.
Assets
Assets are the foundational components of vScope. While theoretically “everything is an asset,” think of assets as the discoverable resources on your network. Assets are grouped by types, each with its specific attributes. Common asset types include Machines, Certificates, IP Addresses, User Accounts, Disks, and Group Policies.
Tags
Tags store attributes about assets in a Name : Value format. Tags are central to vScope and are automatically collected during the Discovery process. You can also create custom tags or extend vScope’s Discovery for further customization, allowing for enriched asset information.
Relations
Relations define how assets are connected. Relations are bidirectional, meaning they always go “both ways.” For example:
- Virtual Machine -[Is Hosted By]-> Host
- Host -[Is Hosting]-> Virtual Machine
Relations are automatically identified by vScope, meaning that you don’t need to do this manually.
Discovery
Discovery is the automated, agentless process by which vScope collects asset data from your network, minimizing maintenance requirements. A Discovery can run multiple times a day.
Credentials & Targets
To enable data collection, you assign Credentials to Targets. The type of credential varies depending on the data source (e.g., username/password vs. private key). Targets can be defined by ranges, IP addresses, hostnames, or URLs.
SmartTargets
vScope has built-in intelligence to optimize the Discovery coverage. Targets that are found from other targets will automatically be classified as a target for a specific platform. A corresponding credential can then be used to inventory those targets.
Schedules
Using Schedules, you can customize when Discovery runs and specify what should be inventoried, giving you control over the timing and scope of the process.
Main Schedule
The Main Schedule is a complementary (default) schedule that is used to discover all credentials and targets not added to any other schedule. The purpose is to ensure full coverage of the discovery scope automatically without having to create custom schedules.
Content
Content refers to the tools and views that allow you to interact with and utilize the data collected by vScope. Examples of content include Dashboards, Tables, IT Service Layouts, and Tracker Cases.
vScope provides some content out-of-the-box, managed by vScope. As a general rule, content managed by vScope cannot be altered or deleted.