Operation > Data Flow Management > Data Flow Management Setup > Universal Discovery Agents > Call Home Overview

Call Home Overview

Call Home provides a way for discovery nodes to communicate with the Data Flow Probe. This option is most suited for networks that have mobile nodes, VPN clients, or for any nodes that have short DHCP lease times. Nodes regularly initiate communication with the Data Flow Probe. This Call Home communication occurs within ten minutes after the node is attached to the network.

Note

  • Call Home is enabled by default.
  • Call Home does not work when DirectAccess is involved.
ClosedTraffic Case-Typical

The following traffic case typically occurs when a Universal Discovery Agent that is installed on a computer initiates Call Home:

  1. The Universal Discovery Agent sends a request message to the Data Flow Probe.

  2. The Data Flow Probe sends an acknowledgement message to the Universal Discovery Agent.

    Note  

    • If the Universal Discovery Agent does not receive the acknowledgement message, it sends messages to the Data Flow Probe every hour until an acknowledgement message is received.

    • The acknowledgement message is an HTTP 200 series status message.

  3. The Data Flow Probe creates a Node CI, a Call Home Event CI, and a UD Agent CI.

  4. The Call Home Event CI triggers the Call Home Processing job.

  5. The Call Home Event CI for the Call Home Processing job is sent to the Data Flow Probe.

  6. The Call Home Processing job starts.

  7. The Call Home Processing job sends a notification message to workflows that are associated with the node and that are waiting to be run. These workflows are also known as parked workflows. After the notification message is received, the parked workflow runs. The Universal Discovery Agent continues to send the request message according to the value that is set for the Call Home Request Frequency parameter. This parameter is configured when configuring Universal Discovery Agents for deployment. For more information on configuring this parameter, see the section about the Infrastructure discovery activity in the Universal CMDB Discovery and Integrations Content Guide.

ClosedTraffic Case-New Node

The following traffic case occurs when a Universal Discovery Agent that is installed on a new node initiates Call Home:

  1. The Universal Discovery Agent sends a request message to the Data Flow Probe.

  2. The Data Flow Probe sends an acknowledgement message to the Universal Discovery Agent.

    Note If the Universal Discovery Agent does not receive the acknowledgement message, it sends messages to the Data Flow Probe every hour until an acknowledgement message is received.

    The acknowledgement message is an HTTP 200 series status message.

  3. UCMDB creates a Node CI, Call Home Event CI, and UD Agent CI.

  4. A new Inventory Discovery by Scanner job is triggered.

ClosedTraffic Case-Mobile Computer

The following traffic case typically occurs when a mobile computer connects to the network after a long time:

  1. The computer connects to the network.

  2. The IP/MAC Harvesting job runs. The job updates IP/MAC pair information, and then it creates a Call Home Event CI.

  3. The Call Home Event CI triggers the Call Home Processing job.

  4. The Call Home Event CI for the Call Home Processing job is sent to the Data Flow Probe.

  5. The Call Home Processing job starts.

  6. The Call Home Processing job sends a notification message to workflows that are associated with the node and that are waiting to be run. These workflows are also known as parked workflows. After the notification message is received, the parked workflow runs.

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