File Based Discovery is used to discover file paths to recognize the signature of installed software. File Based Discovery helps to identify what software is running on Windows and UNIX servers and devices by scanning the file system for specific files or directories that indicate the presence of a software product1. File Based Discovery can also check the file size, version, and checksum of the discovered files to verify the software installation2. File Based Discovery can be configured using file signatures, which are patterns that match the file paths of software products3.
References: 1: File Based Discovery - Support and Troubleshooting - Now Support Portal 2: Use file-based service discovery to discover scrape targets | Prometheus 3: How File based discovery can be used to populate software record running on Linux host. - Support and Troubleshooting - Now Support Portal