> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.xloud.tech/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Discover Workloads

> Inventory virtual machines, disks, networks, and guest metadata from a registered VMware source so they can be selected for migration.

## Overview

Discovery walks the inventory of a registered VMware environment and records
every candidate virtual machine along with its disks, network adapters, and
guest metadata. Discovery is safe to re-run at any time — it is read-only
against the source and does not alter the running VMs.

<Note>
  **Prerequisites**

  * A [registered VMware environment](/services/migration/user-guide/register-source)
    with status `Connected`
  * The vSphere account used for registration must have read access to the
    VMs, hosts, and datastores you plan to discover
</Note>

***

## Run Discovery

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Dashboard" icon="gauge">
    <Steps titleSize="h3">
      <Step title="Open the Discover tab" icon="search">
        Navigate to **Migration → Discover** and select the VMware environment
        from the source dropdown.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Choose a scope" icon="filter">
        Optionally narrow discovery by datacenter, cluster, or folder. Leaving
        the scope empty inventories every reachable VM in the environment.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Start the scan" icon="play">
        Click **Discover**. XMS opens a vSphere API session, walks the
        inventory through a container view, and normalizes each VM into a
        platform-neutral record.

        Progress is shown live — hosts walked, VMs counted, and the currently
        inspected object.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Review the inventory" icon="list">
        When the scan completes, the inventory table lists every discovered VM
        with its key attributes. Templates are excluded by default.

        <Check>Inventory shows the expected VM count and each row has a valid OS, disk, and NIC summary.</Check>
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="CLI" icon="terminal">
    ```bash theme={null}
    # Kick off a discovery scan
    xms discovery start --source prod-vcenter

    # Optional — restrict to a single datacenter
    xms discovery start --source prod-vcenter --datacenter DC-East

    # Stream progress until the scan completes
    xms discovery status --source prod-vcenter --follow

    # List the discovered workloads
    xms discovery list --source prod-vcenter
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

***

## What XMS Discovers

For every VM, XMS records the following attributes and makes them available
throughout the Migration panel:

| Category       | Attributes                                                                                         |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Identity**   | Name, instance UUID, managed object reference, power state                                         |
| **Compute**    | vCPU count, memory, hardware version, firmware (BIOS or UEFI), Secure Boot                         |
| **Guest**      | Reported OS family, guest hostname and IP addresses (when guest tools are installed), tools status |
| **Disks**      | Count, size, controller type, thin or thick provisioning, datastore path                           |
| **Networks**   | Adapter count, MAC addresses, port group names, adapter type                                       |
| **Protection** | Changed Block Tracking state, snapshot count, template flag                                        |

<Tip>
  Guest hostname and IP addresses come from VMware Tools. If tools are not
  installed on a source VM, the discovery record still contains all hypervisor
  attributes — it has no guest-level fields. This is not a migration
  blocker.
</Tip>

***

## Inventory Columns

The **Discover** inventory table exposes the most important fields for
triage and selection:

| Column              | Meaning                                           |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| **Name**            | VM display name                                   |
| **Power State**     | `poweredOn`, `poweredOff`, or `suspended`         |
| **Guest OS**        | OS family reported by guest tools or guest ID     |
| **Firmware**        | `bios` or `efi`                                   |
| **vCPU / Memory**   | Current resource allocation                       |
| **Disks**           | Total count and aggregate size                    |
| **CBT**             | Whether Changed Block Tracking is already enabled |
| **Last Discovered** | Timestamp of the most recent scan                 |

Use the column filters to narrow the list — for example, show only powered-off
Windows VMs under 100 GB for an initial cold-migration wave.

***

## Re-running Discovery

Discovery is idempotent. Re-running it refreshes the inventory cache and
reflects any changes made in the source:

* VMs added, deleted, renamed, or moved between clusters
* Disk layouts changed on the source side
* Power-state transitions since the last scan

<Warning>
  Re-running discovery does not affect in-progress migration jobs. Warm
  migrations keep their original baseline — they do not pick up new disks
  that appear after the job started. Add new disks by submitting a new job.
</Warning>

***

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Preflight Assessment" href="/services/migration/user-guide/preflight" color="#197560">
    Score each workload for compatibility before migrating
  </Card>

  <Card title="Cold Migration" href="/services/migration/user-guide/cold-migration" color="#197560">
    Migrate powered-off VMs in a single pass
  </Card>

  <Card title="Warm Migration" href="/services/migration/user-guide/warm-migration" color="#197560">
    Migrate running VMs with incremental sync
  </Card>
</CardGroup>