Use the discovery client in a disconnected environment

This page explains how to export asset data from a disconnected environment using the discovery client, and how to import it to Migration Center. This feature is particularly useful when direct network connectivity between your discovery client instance and Migration Center is not possible due to security policies, network constraints, or other reasons. This method lets you collect asset data offline, and then transfer it to Migration Center for analysis and planning.

Limitations

  • You can run only a single export at a time.
  • The number of existing exports is limited to 3 to avoid unintentionally consuming excessive disk space with old reports.
  • In case of a crash, reports that were still running don't resume nor restart, and will be marked as failed. You need to manually delete the reports.

Export asset data from the discovery client

You can export the complete data about your assets from the discovery client. Both the mcdc CLI and the discovery client use the same export format.

Export using the mcdc CLI

To export asset data using the mcdc CLI, use the mcdc export command. The following are examples of common usage:

  • Export all collected data:

    Linux

    ./mcdc export mc-frames-zip

    Windows

    mcdc.exe export mc-frames-zip

The command creates a zip file in the working directory.

Export using the discovery client installed mode

Follow these steps to create an export report using the discovery client in installed mode:

  1. In the discovery client, go to Exports, then click New exports.
  2. In the pane that appears, enter a name for the export, then select Export full MCDC data.
  3. To confirm, click Export data.
  4. In the Exports page, you can track the progress of your export with the progress bar under the Completion column. When finished, click Go to export to view the details about your export.
  5. In the dialog that appears, copy the path to the directory where the generated export file was created, and open it using your file explorer to access the outputs.

Cancel an in-progress export

Depending on the number of exported assets, the report creation might take several hours. If you need to cancel an in-progress export, you must delete the report from the discovery client.

In the discovery client, do the following:

  1. In the discovery client, go to the Exports tab.
  2. From the list of reports, select the in-progress report that you want to cancel, then click Delete.

Content of the output file

The discovery client exports the asset data in a zip file. Each zip file contains at least two JSON files:

  • metadata.json: contains metadata information about the export, such as the API version used and the timestamp of the export.
  • data.<n>.json: contains the actual asset data in a human-readable format. Depending on the amount of exported data, the discovery client creates multiple files.

The JSON file contains an array of AssetFrame objects.

[
  {
     object(AssetFrame)
  }
]

Import data into Migration Center

After you have exported the asset data from the discovery client, you can copy the zip file to a machine with access to Migration Center and manually import it:

  1. In Migration Center, go to Data import.

    Go to Data import

  2. Click Add data > Import files.

  3. On the upload page, do the following:

    1. Enter a name for the file import job.
    2. From the File format list, select MCDC (ZIP).
    3. Click Select files to upload and select the zip file to upload.

  4. To start the upload process, click Upload files.

  5. You're redirected to the import job page. When the validation of the file is complete, click Import data, then Confirm. The status of the import will update automatically to Completed when the import successfully completes.

  6. To view the imported assets, go to the Assets page.

What's next