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Probes and Sensors on Older Instances

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In this lesson, you will learn:

  • What probes and sensors are
  • Where you’ll still see them
  • How to treat them on a project

🔁 Quick look back: Last time: Using Workspace Diagnostics. You learned how workspace diagnostics spot schedule problems.

1 The Problem: Old Customizations Use Probes and Sensors

Many clients have used Discovery for years. On older setups you’ll find:

  • Log lines naming probes and sensors.
  • Custom probes someone wrote long ago.

🎯 The problem: Old setups still use probes and sensors that you need to recognise.

👉 The fix: Know what they are, and prefer patterns for anything new.

Compare probes and sensors with patterns.
Figure 1. Probes and sensors vs patterns.

2 Probes and sensors

Key term: Probe

A job that runs on the MID Server to collect data, such as a command.

Key term: Sensor

Code on the instance that reads a probe’s result and updates the CMDB.

Some classification and scanning steps still use probes. Exploration for most devices uses patterns.

3 On a project

  • Recognise probe names in logs.
  • Don’t write new custom probes.
  • Plan to replace old custom probes with patterns.

📝 Note: SNWR’s instance had no custom probes. Other clients often do.

4 Project Clear View: How We Implemented It

📍 Situation: Hana saw ‘probe’ in a log and asked if SNWR used old tech.

🧭 Decision: Explain probes and sensors, and check for custom ones.

🛠️ Steps we took:

  1. Showed Hana which log steps are probes.
  2. Searched snwr for custom probes and sensors.
  3. Found none.
  4. Noted the rule: new work uses patterns.

✅ What we verified:

  • No custom probes exist on snwr.
  • Hana understands the log wording.

📁 Evidence: A note in the runbook’s troubleshooting section.

5 Quick recap

  • A probe collects data. A sensor processes it.
  • Patterns replaced most probes and sensors.
  • You’ll still see probe names in logs.
  • Don’t write new custom probes.

6 Check yourself

Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.

1 What does a sensor do? Show answer

It reads a probe’s result on the instance and updates the CMDB.

2 Should you write new custom probes? Show answer

No. Use patterns.

3 Did SNWR have custom probes? Show answer

No.

Nice work! You can recognise the older way of Discovery. 🎉
Next up: What a Discovery Pattern Is

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