Discovery client installation process

This document describes how to install and set up the discovery client for data collection.

Before you begin

Discovery modes

The discovery client lets you collect data in two different ways: online mode and offline mode.

  • In online mode, the discovery client automatically sends the collected data to Migration Center, where you can perform the assessment. Online mode requires a connection to the Internet. This is the recommended mode for most situations.
  • In offline mode, the discovery client stores the collected data locally and can work without Internet connection. You can send the collected data to Migration Center later to complete the assessment.

Online and offline mode have a different installation processes. After you decide which mode you want to use, follow the appropriate installation method.

Installation for online discovery

This section describes how to install the discovery client when you want to use it in online mode.

Create a service account

The discovery client requires a service account to send data to Migration Center. A single service account can be shared by up to five different collectors.

To get the permissions that you need to create service accounts, ask your administrator to grant you the Create Service Accounts (roles/iam.serviceAccountCreator) IAM role on the project. For more information about granting roles, see Manage access.

You might also be able to get the required permissions through custom roles or other predefined roles.

To create a service account, follow these steps:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Create service account page.

    Go to Create service account

  2. Select a Google Cloud project.

  3. Enter a service account name to display in the Google Cloud console.

    The Google Cloud console generates a service account ID based on this name. Edit the ID if necessary. You cannot change the ID later.

  4. Optional: Enter a description of the service account.

  5. To finish creating the service account, click Done.

For more details about service account creation, see Creating a service account.

Create and download the discovery client

To collect data from your infrastructure, you need to create an application installer for the discovery client that you can download and install on your servers.

Typically, you need to create a separate discovery client for every data center in your infrastructure.

To get the permissions that you need to create the discovery client, ask your administrator to grant you the following IAM roles on the project:

  • Migration Center Admin (migrationcenter.admin)
  • Viewer (viewer)
  • Service Account Key Admin (iam.serviceAccountKeyAdmin)

For more information about granting roles, see Manage access.

You might also be able to get the required permissions through custom roles or other predefined roles.

To create a discovery client, follow these steps:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Data import page.

    Go to Data import

  2. Click Add data.

  3. Select Scan your environment, then fill in the values under Discovery client setup.

    1. Enter the Discovery client name.
    2. From the Service account list, select the service account that you created for Migration Center.
    3. Enter the expected number of assets in your data center.
    4. Enter the number of days that you want the discovery client to collect data for. If you don't specify anything, the discovery client collects data for 90 days. After this period, the discovery client stops collecting data, and its status changes to Paused to indicate that.
  4. To create the discovery client, click Add data source.

After you create the discovery client, download the installer. From the discovery client details page, click Download. If necessary, copy the installer file to the server where you want to install discovery client.

Install the application

To install the discovery client, follow these steps:

  1. Run the discovery client installer as local administrator.
  2. Review and accept the license agreement.
  3. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.
  4. After the installation is complete, you can see a new application shortcut on your desktop.

To run the discovery client application, open the shortcut on your desktop in administrator mode.

Authorize the discovery client

The first time you run the discovery client, you need to authorize it and configure the correct Google Cloud project to use.

To get the permissions that you need to authorize the discovery client, ask your administrator to grant you the following IAM roles on the project:

  • Migration Center Admin (migrationcenter.admin)
  • Viewer (viewer)
  • Service Account Key Admin (iam.serviceAccountKeyAdmin)

For more information about granting roles, see Manage access.

You might also be able to get the required permissions through custom roles or other predefined roles.

After you open the discovery client, follow these steps:

  1. To start the authorization process, click Authorize with Migration Center.
  2. Under Connectivity check, click Run check.
  3. Under Log in with Google, click Log in with Google. Follow the instructions on the screen, select the Google Account you use in Google Cloud when prompted, then click Allow.
  4. Under Choose project, select the Google Cloud project where you created the discovery client from the list.
  5. Under Choose discovery client, select the discovery client for your data center from the list.
  6. To confirm, click Authorize.

Installation for offline discovery

This section describes how to install the discovery client when you want to use it in offline mode.

The offline installation is useful, for example, in the following scenario:

  1. You install the discovery client on a physical machine that you bring to your data center.
  2. You run an offline discovery in your infrastructure.
  3. After you complete the discovery, you connect your physical machine to the Internet and send the collected data to Migration Center, where you can continue with the assessment.

If you later decide to perform the assessment of your infrastructure, you have to authorize the discovery client first and send the collected data to Migration Center.

Installation process

To install the discovery client in offline mode, follow these steps:

  1. Download the latest version of the discovery client installer.

    Download the discovery client installer

  2. Run the discovery client installer as local administrator.

  3. Review and accept the license agreement.

  4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

  5. After the installation is complete, a new application shortcut is added to your desktop.

To run the discovery client application in offline mode, open the shortcut on your desktop in administrator mode, then click Skip activation. A banner in the application reminds you that the discovery client operates in offline mode.

Upload data after offline installation

If you install the installation in offline mode, the discovery client doesn't send the collected data to Migration Center.

To send the data to the platform and perform the assessment, you need to activate your discovery client installation with the following steps:

  1. Create a service account in your Google Cloud project.
  2. Create the discovery client in Migration Center. You don't need to download the installer again.
  3. In the discovery client application, click Activate to send data, then follow the authorization process.

What's next