Create cloud credentials

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated April 28, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read

    • Create cloud credentials to manage access to cloud-based applications, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Discovery uses these credentials to connect to your cloud provider accounts and discover cloud resources.

    Before you begin

    Verify the following:

    Role required: discovery_admin

    About this task

    Cloud credentials store the authentication information that Discovery needs to access your cloud provider accounts. Before you create cloud credentials, verify that you have the required access and permissions configured in your cloud provider environment. The specific configuration requirements vary by cloud provider.

    For more information about cloud provider setup and permissions, see Discovery for cloud environment.

    Procedure

    1. Navigate to Configuration Summary > Discovery > Discovery Setup.
    2. Select Cloud credentials.
    3. From the Credential type drop-down list, select a credential type.
      The following credential types are available for Cloud credentials.
      Credential type Description
      Alibaba Cloud API API credentials for discovering Alibaba Cloud resources. Requires an AccessKey ID and AccessKey secret from the Alibaba Cloud Console.
      AWS Credentials for discovering Amazon Web Services cloud resources.
      AWS SSM Instance User User credentials for AWS Systems Manager (SSM) Agent discovery on EC2 instances. Requires only a user name for the alternate user credential configured on the EC2 instance.
      Azure Enterprise Agreement Credentials for Azure Enterprise Agreement enrollments.
      Azure SAS Credentials that use a shared access signature token for Azure storage access.
      Azure Service Principal Service principal credentials for Azure cloud discovery. Requires a tenant ID, client ID, and secret key from the Azure portal.
      Azure SSH Certificate SSH certificate credentials for discovering Azure Linux virtual machines. Requires a linked Azure Service Principal credential.
      Cloud Management General credentials for cloud management operations.
      CloudFoundry Credentials for Cloud Foundry environments.
      Google API API credentials for Google Cloud services.
      Google Cloud Credentials for discovering Google Cloud Platform resources.
      IBM Credentials for discovering IBM Cloud Platform resources. Requires a SoftLayer API user and key, or a Bluemix API key.
      OpenStack Credentials for OpenStack cloud environments.
      Oracle API API credentials for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure discovery.
      oVirt Credentials for oVirt virtualization environments.
      VMWare Credentials for VMware vCenter cloud environments.
    4. Select Create new.
    5. Complete the form.
      The fields in the form vary based on the credential type that you selected. The following fields appear in most credential types.
      Field Description
      Name Enter a unique and descriptive name for the credential.
      User name Enter the user name for this credential. Avoid leading or trailing spaces in user names.
      Active Select this check box to make the credential available for Discovery.
      Credential alias Select a credential alias to associate with this credential. Credential aliases enable you to define a credential once and reference it across multiple configurations.
      Order Enter the sequence in which Discovery tries this credential when it attempts to log in to devices. The smaller the number, the higher the priority. If all credentials have the same order number, Discovery tries them in a random order.
      Note:
      Establish credential order when you use large numbers of credentials or when security policies lock out users after failed login attempts.
    6. Select Submit.
      You're returned to the Cloud credentials page.
    7. To complete the setup, select Mark as configured.