Hosts View

You set up and maintain the physical or virtual machine on which NetWitness services run in the Hosts view.

IMPORTANT: For help with resolving errors you receive during version installation and update, see Troubleshooting Version Installations and Updates .

A service performs a unique function, such as collecting logs or archiving data. Each service runs on a dedicated port and is modeled as a plug-in to enable or disable, according to the function of the host. You must configure the Core services first. You must configure hosts and services to communicate with the network and each other so they can perform their functions such as storing or capturing data.

Workflow

This workflow shows the procedures you complete to set up a host, maintain a host, and update the host with new NetWitness versions. Setting up a host is the first task in this workflow.The hosts with Core services are set up out-of-the-box. After that, you can set up additional hosts to enhance your NetWitness deployment. The other two tasks, maintaining a host and updating versions for a host, are performed when required and do not have a specific order of completion.


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What do you want to do?

User Role I want to... Documentation
Administrator set up a host.*

Setting Up a Host
Administrator maintain a host.* Maintaining Hosts

Administrator

 maintain a service.

Maintaining Services
Administrator apply version updates to a host.*

Apply Version Upgrades to a Host

* You can perform these tasks in the current view.

Related Topics:

Quick Look

This is an example of the Hosts view.

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1 Groups Panel Toolbar - Provides options to work with host groups in the list.
2 Groups Panel - Lists all host groups currently in your deployment.
3 Hosts List Toolbar - Provides options to work with the Hosts list.
4 Hosts List - Lists all hosts currently in your deployment.

Groups Panel Toolbar

Feature Description
netwitness_add.png Displays a new row in the Groups panel in which you enter the name of a new group.
netwitness_delete.png

Asks for confirmation that you want to delete the group. You can confirm or cancel the deletion.
netwitness_edit.png Opens the field for renaming the selected preexisting group. You can also double click on the group name in the Groups panel to rename the group. Changes take effect immediately.
netwitness_ic-refresh.png Refreshes the Groups panel to reflect the changes and goes back to the All group view. Changes take effect immediately.

Groups Panel

The Groups panel provides a logical way to organize hosts, such as by function, geography, or project. Once hosts are grouped, it is easier to perform operations on multiple hosts by interacting with each host in a group rather than individual hosts from an non-grouped list. You can drag a host from the Hosts list to add it to a group. A host may belong to more than one group.

Note: In NetWitness Live, groups can subscribe to resources while individual hosts cannot.

Column Title Description
Name The host groups are displayed in the Groups panel. The number next to each group name displays the number of hosts that added to the group.

Hosts List Toolbar

The Hosts list toolbar contains the tools that you use to maintain the hosts in your NetWitness deployment.

Feature Description
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This drop-down list displays two options.

 

  • Remove Host: Deletes the selected host from both the host group and the Hosts list altogether. All related services will be removed as well.
  • Remove From Group: Removes the selected host from the host group. The Host will still be available in the Hosts list.

Changes take effect immediately.

netwitness_edit.png

Opens the Edit Host dialog in which you edit a host or service identification and basic communication settings. See Step 1. Deploy a Host for more information.
netwitness_installhst.png

Opens the Install Services dialog from which you can install a service on a deployed host. See Step 2. Install a Service on a Host for more information.
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This drop-down list displays three options.

  • Update Host: Updates the selected hosts with the version you select in the Update Version column.
  • Pre-Stage Host: Pre-stage the upgrade repository by downloading the required packages without affecting the system.
  • Check for Updates: Checks the Local Update Repo for the latest updates available from NetWitness.

Changes take effect immediately. See Apply Version Upgrades to a Host for more information.
netwitness_discovericon.png

Most of the time, the Discovery function completes automatically and you do not need to click netwitness_discover.png.

For a fresh installation, click Discover to access the Provision dialog box so you can complete the provisioning phase. After the provisioning phase, NetWitness automatically discovers services running on the host and you do not need to click Discover.
netwitness_rebooticon.png Restarts the host immediately.

netwitness_filterfield.png

Entering a Name or Host here filters the list. This field allows you to quickly find a particular host.

Hosts List

Column Description
netwitness_checkboxicongray.png Select the host by clicking the corresponding checkbox in this column. To select all of the hosts, select the checkbox in the header.
Name

Displays the name of the host that was given when the host was installed. This column is organized in alphabetical order by default. Click the Name column title to view in reverse alphabetical order.
Host Displays the IP address of each host.
Services

Displays the number of services added to the host.
Current Version Displays the version that the host is currently on.
Update Version

Displays a drop-down list of versions that the user can upgrade to. See Apply Version Upgrades to a Host for more information.

Status Displays whether or not the host is upgraded to the most current version. If the host is on the most current version, then the Status displays "Up-to-Date".