Can I install DomainScan Server Monitoring on 64 bit editions of Windows?
DomainScan itself is 32 bit software (x86), but installation is supported in all x86 and x64 standard or enterprise editions of Windows. Installation of DomainScan on Windows for Itanium or ARM architectures is not tried nor supported by GH Software.

Will DomainScan work with Windows Vista or newer?
DomainScan is supported on Windows Vista, 7, Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2. However not for Home, Starter or other special editions of Windows.

However, due to the enhanced security defaults that is introduced with Windows Vista / Windows Server 2008, one must open up Windows in order for DomainScan to function correctly.

See Technote 8 for more information.


Will DomainScan work with Windows XP Home Edition?
No.
XP Home Edition does not allow for remote WMI connections, which is the main protocol that DomainScan Pro uses.


Can I use Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 as a DomainScan host-server?
Yes.
DomainScan Pro only uses software that is available on all editions of Windows. Therefore, a server edition is not required. However, it is recommended to use server editions due to the fact Windows 2000/XP only supports a limited number of concurrent network connections, which may cause problems.


What is the connection between DomainScan Server Monitoring, DomainScan Pro, NetScanG, DomainScan and DomainScan Light?
Initially, it started with one product – NetScanG, which were initially a rather simple tool with the purpose of being able to present a list of computers in a domain plus who were logged in on these devices.

That program grew in scope, and with NetScanG v3 it was divided into two programs; a freeware edition, which used the NetScanG name, and a shareware version which were named DomainScan.

Then, in 2007, NetScanG was renamed to DomainScan Light in order to tighten the relation between the two programs.

In 2008 the suffix changed so that DomainScan became DomainScan Pro as of v2.7, and DomainScan Light became DomainScan as of v6.5

In 2010 a company reorganization caused that there was no longer ressources to develop DomainScan as actively as before, which lead DomainScan being rebranded as DomainScan Server Monitoring - as a freeware product.

The database files and the log files were located at different locations, but after I set a new database directory with the Setup Wizard, all files are located in the same directory?
The installation wizard is designed to make the initial setup easy – therefore, the Setup Wizard will modify both database and log file location.
Use Settings to set the locations individually.

Is DomainScan Pro / DomainScan Server Monitoring backward compatible with version 1.x?
No.
Due to the fact that the database backend is a complete rewrite, with a lot of new functionality and a new database structure, a DomainScan v1 upgrade is not trivial.
However, all versions of DomainScan v2.x, DomainScan Light and NetScanG v5.x can be upgraded automatically or by the GDB Database Analyzer


Is DomainScan Server Monitoring backward compatible with DomainScan Pro
Yes - One can simply install DomainScan Server Monitoring over an existing DomainScan Pro installation, and thereby upgrade from DomainScan Pro to DomainScan Server Monitoring

What is a license unit?
A license unit is the new name for a license key in DomainScan Pro 2. A 75 computer license key from DomainScan Pro 1.x will simply be seen as a 75 license unit key in DomainScan Pro 2. The change is due to the fact that the license model in DomainScan Pro 2 is rewritten to a dynamic per-usage license model.

Note: As of DomainScan Server Monitoring 7, license units is no longer required.

Why run DomainScan Server Monitoring with Domain Admin privileges?
DomainScan Server Monitoring collects a number of information though the WMI interface.
In order for Windows to secure that only authorized devices (or users) uses this interface, only users with administrative privileges on the local (client) computer is allowed to access the interface with no restrictions.
In a normal domain setup, 'Domain Admins' are automatically added to the local administrators group, which grants full access to the computer. If the DomainScan Server Monitoring engine runs with 'domain admin' privileges, DomainScan Server Monitoring is automatically granted full access to all computers in the domain.

Will DomainScan Server Monitoring work with my Firewall software?
It general; yes, but only if the correct ports are open for DomainScan Server Monitoring
For more information, please read this document.


I will not allow DomainScan Server Monitoring to run with full access to the entire network, because of security concerns (I don't trust that DomainScan Server Monitoring doesn't collect data behind my back and sends them back to GH Software).
DomainScan Server Monitoring does not send sensitive data back go GH Software (or anywhere else for that matter). This can be proven by using a connection monitor, or a software firewall. Emails are only sent to the location that DomainScan Server Monitoring is setup to send to.

If you choose to let DomainScan Server Monitoring run with limited access privileges, all that happens is that DomainScan Server Monitoring fails to collect some of the information its suppose to collect, and if the privileges are too low, the service will completely fail to run (Windows will deny every request that DomainScan Server Monitoring makes).


I've set the DomainScan Server Monitoring engine service to run with domain admin privileges, but I cannot search the domain for files/services/processes/codec's or use the WMI browser!
Network searches are performed by the client application, and are not performed by the DomainScan Server Monitoring engines. Therefore, also the client must run with domain admin privileges in order for searches or WMI queries to run successfully.

Why doesn’t DomainScan Server Monitoring detect that PAE is enabled in Windows XP, when Windows says that it’s enabled?
The WMI interface in Windows XP does not expose whether or not PAE is enabled, which means that DomainScan Server Monitoring cannot detect PAE support directly.
However, PAE is enabled, if you’re running Windows XP on a CPU where DEP (Data Execution Protection) is enabled.
In reality, information about PAE is not useful in Windows XP, due to the fact that PAE is used by 32 bit server-editions of Windows to be able to use more than 4GB memory, and Windows XP is limited to 4GB memory. 64 bit editions of Windows do not use the PAE, due to the fact that they can address more than 4GB memory directly, which means that only Windows XP SP2, 32bit edition is affected by this problem.


Why does DomainScan Server Monitoring make my device offline, when it can be pinged?
An online device in DomainScan Server Monitoring terminology is a device that has completed the scan cycle successfully.
That means that a device may be shown as offline even though it responds to a ping request.
This will happen it the device fails to respond properly once queried for information – which may lead to the assumption that the device may not be fully functional, and thus is in need of attention from the system administrator.


I have installed DomainScan Server Monitoring on a domain controller and after a restart; all computers suddenly appear as being offline!
When DomainScan Server Monitoring starts a new scan, it queries Windows for the computer browse list for the domain (or workgroup) that the computer is a member of.
This list is maintained by the domain browse master, and therefore the list will be empty after a restart, until the browse master rediscovers all online computers, which may take a few minutes.


Will DomainScan Server Monitoring work in domain forests (or with a domain with child domains)?
Yes and no
DomainScan Server Monitoring receives the list of online computers from the server where DomainScan Server Monitoring Service is installed. This 'device list' contains a list of known devices that are known by the server. Not all devices are discovered by this method, and if leaps in the forest are unknown to the server, then the leap will also be unknown to DomainScan.
Additional devices that are unknown to the server can be added to DomainScan Server Monitoring via the device list discovery method.

How many devices can DomainScan Server Monitoring monitor?
In theory, DomainScan Server Monitoring is capable of monitoring a little more than 2 billion devices.
Monitoring a large number of devices will naturally make DomainScan Server Monitoring run slower, because a scan cycle will last longer. Even though DomainScan Server Monitoring is scalable, and the number of concurrent worker threads can be increased, it is not recommended to use more than 16 threads per physical processor.

Active Directory names aren't resolved!
DomainScan Server Monitoring uses a simple lookup based on the logon name in order to resolve the corresponding full user name. If the logon name and the principal name are different (by default they're the same), DomainScan Server Monitoring will not be able to identify the user in the Active Directory, and therefore interpret the user as being deleted.
Example: If the logon name is johndoe and the principal name is jd@example.com and not johndoe@example.com then DomainScan Server Monitoring will fail to receive john doe's full name ('John Doe')