The following Election Methods are available to use with the Discovery process:
The default election method. Using this method you do not need to know about the configuration of the machines being discovered within the subnet. The CA TM Server sends an UDP-directed broadcast to the subnet. This forces an election between machines running the CA TM products. The winner of this election (the device with the lowest IP Address in the subnet) responds to the CA TM Server with the list of machines within the subnet. If the TCA TM Server is not located in the subnet being discovered, it is possible for the IP-directed broadcast to be blocked by a network hardware component. In this case, you must reconfigure the network hardware so that the discovery port is open.
This option does not require that CA TM products be installed on the machine specified in the IP Address field on the Subnet Information tab. However, if CA TM products are running on the specified machine, you can use the Test button to check if IP-directed broadcasts are being blocked.
Performs a Free Election but biases the election winner to be the machine with the IP Address specified in the subnet, which may not be the machine with the lowest IP Address. If that device is not running or CA Anti-Virus is not running on that machine, then the election winner is again the machine with the lowest IP Address.
Use the Specified Election method to perform discovery with a computer that you know is running CA TM products. Specify the computer you want to use in the IP Address option on the Subnet Information subtab. With this method, the UDP poll packet broadcast of the Free Election is removed and is not used. Instead, the CA TM Server communicates directly with the specified computer. This computer responds to the CA TM Server with the list of computers within the subnet.
This option requires you to have CA TM products running on the specified computer.
Use the Sweep Poll method to perform discovery by contacting every individual IP address in the subnet. The specific machines that are contacted are determined by the IP address and Mask that are specified on the Subnet tab.
Use this method when none of the other methods is appropriate. This would be the case, for example, when a client machine is connected to the network through a VPN or a PPP connection.
Also, Free Election is not possible if TCP poll packet broadcasts are not permitted to the target subnet. Specified Election is not possible if the specified machine can not predictably be relied upon to be running. If any of the other election methods are suitable for a subnet, you should not use Sweep Poll. Sweep Poll will result in a somewhat higher level of missed polls, and it puts a higher load on the CA TM Server.