Discovery

Welcome to the Discovery section

The LightMesh Windows Discovery Agent runs on your Windows server and feeds live network data back to LightMesh. It can collect Microsoft DHCP scope and lease data, and it can run ICMP ping sweeps to discover reachable hosts on the subnets you choose.

Ping sweep availability: Settings > Discovery and the Ping Sweep tab on Settings > Downloads appear only when your LightMesh deployment has ping sweep enabled (ENABLE_PING_SWEEP=true). If those menus are missing, ask your admin to enable the feature or coordinate release with ipam-next #2877.

Choose the guide that matches what you want to do:

• DHCP Discovery via Desktop (GUI): Windows 10/11 or Windows Server with Desktop Experience. Download the MSI from Settings > Downloads, then use the dashboard, configuration UI, and logs panel.
• DHCP Discovery via Windows Server Core: Headless Server Core. Download the Server Core ZIP from Settings > Downloads, edit config.toml, and use PowerShell service commands (no desktop UI).
• Ping Sweep Discovery via Desktop (GUI): Discover live hosts with periodic ICMP ping sweeps of the subnets you select in LightMesh, refreshing Last Seen for reachable addresses. Download the MSI from Settings > Downloads > Ping Sweep, then use the dashboard, configuration UI, and logs panel.
• Ping Sweep Discovery via Windows Server Core: Headless Server Core ping sweeps. Download the Server Core ZIP from Settings > Downloads > DHCP (same headless package as DHCP Server Core), enable ping sweep with PowerShell CLI flags, and run it as a Windows Service (no desktop UI).