Tomorrows dumb question - switches and routers - templates or drivers or both?

Started by paul, May 31, 2019, 10:39:08 AM

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paul

I added a switch which picked up the Catalyst generic driver - but - why no DCI items?

When I add DCI at the individual interface level - I can see the output in the Last Values window - but nowhere else.

Am I completely missing something - like a template?

I assumed that the driver gave me template like benefits - but am I incorrect?

If I am incorrect - are there no sample / example templates for switches and routers?

As I have added the DCI items on the interfaces - but cannot see them anywhere other than in last values - how can I display these under performance - etc..?

Tursiops

Drivers are required to populate the Components and Ports tabs for a node. Not sure if they are also used for additional topology related things under the hood.
They have nothing to do with templates though.

Data from a DCI is visible in the Last Values windows and nowhere else by default. You can either build Dashboards, build & save a graph or reconfigure the DCI to "Show on performance tab". The latter option is available under the "Performance Tab" settings of the DCI. I stopped using that quite a while ago and I know there have been changes since then, so I can't comment on the correct way to add data from multiple DCIs onto one graph (which I assume you'd want for network traffic, i.e. show in- and outbound on the same performance graph).

Other than that, yes, you are missing a template.
I quickly hacked something together based on the template we have. No guarantees on how well it'll work for you, but it should get you started I guess.
It will only monitor interfaces which you expect to be UP. If an interface is administratively down, it won't show. If your expected status is DOWN or IGNORE, it won't show. It should pick up 32 and 64bit (i.e. If and IfX table) interfaces.
Last but not least, this one's a bit crazy on the poll interval (took it from a test system of mine) in that it checks the interfaces every 5 seconds. You'll probably want to adjust that...
I'm pretty sure it'll blow up on counter overflows, too. :P

paul

Thanks again - another template :0 :0 :0 - getting started is all I need :)

Thanks also for putting this in perspective. For Windows / Linux - the agent option was clearly the preference - and at least there were templates for them.

Switches / Routers - they get a device driver but no template - even basic examples - that just seems weird. Does EVERY body build their templates from scratch???

My senior Network guy is already pissed at me when I mistook Maintenance for Unmanage whilst reading up on what active discover does - and started trawling our network for devices - with 60 second polling intervals - with no scope limit.  I think that 5 second interface polling would really make his day - will make sure that I change that one :) :)

As for displaying - showing on performance tab makes sense - but the DCI selections did not have that option - just the DCI's available for collection - tick box. I suppose that under the DCI view for the device I could set it there - but a template looks to be better - which I now have :).

I have four switches I can smash - old HP Blade Centre on its way out - so will see how far I can go with it.

Thanks again for the immense help :)

OK - in, up, and running :) - modified for 60 second polling and changed the auto discover so only gets picked up by switches with cisco driver.
if ( $node->driver imatch "CATALYST-GENERIC") return True;
*** Note to self - put a comment in front of isSNMP so as not to pick up everything else ***

The good news - it works!! Both the switch and the Linux servers are showing interfaces as per the template.
The bad news - only picking up two interfaces.
The worst (but expected) news - Windows devices are not returning anything.

For now - this is close enough, actually, more than close enough!!. I will nut out the rest, the important thing was getting a base to start with that actually was returning correct data.

Thanks again Tursiops - fantastic assistance and fantastic help.






Tursiops

I believe the instance discovery script relies on the "UseInterfaceAliases" Server Configuration (Configuration -> Server Configuration) to be set to "Concatenate name and alias" (which is not the default, but the way our server is configured).
If that's not set, any interface with a name/description will probably not work.

I've just made a change to the instance discovery script for the 32 bit counters, which should make it work for Windows. For all I recall, Windows doesn't have 64bit counters for network traffic. And as SNMP in Windows has been deprecated since Windows 2012, they won't be adding those counters either. :(

paul

Fantastic - thanks again :)

Deprecated but still included. As much as no changes will be made - not really expecting any. Things like this will just have to be lived with.

Will import and see how I go :)

funny thing is that my switch that I apply it to - only picks up Fa0 and Nu0

Will update the server config and see what happens then :)

*** Magic ***

Both the Windows devices and the switch is showing for all ports now - excluding those that are disabled as per the scripts design.

Thanks again Tursiops - another fantastic piece of assistance that I had no chance on my own of ever working out.



Note to self - remember the 5 second polling and change to 600 :)