Managing added tasks

Node discovery

Complex scan tasks (such as network scans, IP address scans, and Windows workgroup scans) include a node discovery stage before scanning begins. Node discovery is performed automatically, but you can also perform it manually before the scan starts.

To start node discovery, simply expand a complex task. Subtasks for the discovered nodes will gradually appear.

Node discovery is accompanied by an animation. You can stop the process by clicking the Stop search button.
When the search is complete or has been stopped, two additional buttons appear on the right:

  • Repeat searchremoves all subtasks and starts a new node discovery;
  • The Padlock icon indicates how the complex task will be saved in Saved tasks.
    • When the padlock is unlocked, the task will be saved without subtasks, and node discovery will be performed again when the saved task is added.
      To save the task together with its subtasks, click the padlock, and it will close.
      About saving scan tasks.

Fast node discovery can be disabled in the Scanner section of Options.

Scan filtering by node status

When adding a network range as a scan task, you can filter which assets will be added to the task.

There are three filter options:

  • All assets: scans all discovered assets in the added tasks;
  • New assets: only scans assets that are not already in the storage;
  • Existing assets: scans assets that are already in the storage.

Regardless of the selected option, only the displayed devices will be scanned.

Setting logins

To access a remote node, the TNI scanner requires a login (username and password, or a community string for the SNMP protocol).

Logins for each task can be specified in the columns corresponding to each protocol.

Click the arrow in any protocol cell to open the login menu.

This list contains all user-defined logins, as well as the default login for each protocol (for Windows: the current user of the system where the program is run; for SNMP: a public community).

To scan an asset by the selected protocol, select one of the logins or create a new one using the Add option.

Along with the username and password (or the community string for SNMP), an alias should also be specified when adding a new login. An alias is a unique identifier used to reference the login within TNI.

To change the username and password for previously created logins, use the Edit button (the pencil icon) located next to each login in the list.

To avoid scanning the asset using a particular protocol, select Ignore.

Logins for single tasks

Only one login can be selected for a single task. If no login is specified, the task will be skipped during scanning.

Logins for complex tasks

Complex tasks can have several logins for each protocol. In this case, each specified login will be tried in turn until one successfully authenticates.

A tilde (~) in a login cell means that the task uses the logins of a parent task, but another login can be assigned to the task, and it will be used for scanning.

Logins for assets of various types

If the asset has not yet been scanned and is not present in the storage, TNI doesn’t know its type, so TNI cannot determine which protocol should be used. In this case, a login can be set for every protocol.

When the asset type is known, it can only be scanned via the appropriate protocol: Win for Windows assets, SSH for macOS and Linux assets, etc. The cells of other protocols will be greyed out and inactive.

Assigning logins to assets

Assigning a login to an asset in the Storage means that any new scan task created for that asset will automatically use the assigned login.

Assigning logins to assets, as well as creating, editing, and deleting logins or changing the default logins, can all be done in Edit mode. For more details, see Logins.

On the first scan of a remote asset, the login that successfully provided access is automatically assigned to it.

Auto-pick logins

This option allows you to prevent scan errors in certain situations. If the correct login has not been selected, TNI will attempt to gain access using other credentials stored in the storage.
Attempts to find the correct login will be made for the selected protocols only (Windows/SSH/SNMP/VMware) and depending on which network ports are open. Disabling the option will force the program to use only the logins selected in the Scanner.

This option is located in Advanced Settings Scanner > General Scan Settings section and is enabled by default.

Auto-pick logins can be used with all task types.

Setting a login for a task created with Quick Add

You can quickly assign a login to a new task through Quick Add using the following command, with the task and login separated by a semicolon:

<scan target>; login <login alias>

For instance:

10.0.0.3; login Homer

You can also enter several logins separated by commas:

10.0.0.0/24; login Homer, Marge

Setting the destination folder

By default, all new assets are placed in the root folder of the Storage.

You can select a destination folder in the Storage for each task, and the scanned assets will be placed there.

The Destination folder column serves this purpose. Clicking the arrow in this column opens a menu containing all folders in the Storage.

It’s not possible to create a new folder from this menu. If assets should be placed in a new folder, create it manually beforehand.

You can use an additional “to” command when creating a new task with Quick Add:

<scan target>; to <folder path>

EARTH; to Planets

10.0.0.3; login Homer; to New devices

PLUTO; to Planets\Dwarf planets

Deleting and disabling tasks; exceptions

Deleting tasks

To delete a task, use the Delete button next to its title in the Task column or select multiple tasks and press Delete on the keyboard.

Disabling tasks

To disable a task without deleting it, clear the checkbox next to its title. This can also be done by selecting multiple tasks and pressing the Space bar. To enable or disable all tasks, use the checkbox in the Task column.

You can create a new task as disabled through Quick Add by using an additional disable command:

<scan target>; disable

HALLEY; to Comets; disable

Exceptions

You can create an exception task using Quick Add. Simply prefix the network name or IP address with a minus sign (-). When an exception task is enabled, the scanner skips the specified asset. You can also create exception tasks from the menu:

 

Exceptions are convenient to use for scanning networks and ranges. For instance, if one or several assets in the 10.0.0.0/24 network should not be scanned, you can do the following:

  1. Create a task, expand it, and wait for all subnodes to be discovered, then delete the unnecessary ones;

  2. Create a task and several exception tasks.

Option 2 is often faster and more convenient.

If excluded nodes belong to an expanded network range, they will be marked with .

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