HP OpenView System Administration Handbook [Electronic resources] : Network Node Manager, Customer Views, Service Information Portal, HP OpenView Operations نسخه متنی

4.2 SYMBOLS AND OBJECTS

What lies below the graphical symbol displayed on a submap? When NNM discovers a device, an object is stored in the object database. An object can be a physical (a computer) or a logical entity (a segment). NNM uses a symbol as the graphical representation of that object. Each object in the database has attributes associated with it. We have already seen two

symbol attributes , namely the outside shape (class) and the inside bitmap (sub-class). In order to see more detailed information, we will now look into the

object attribute.

4.2.1 View and Locate Object Attributes

Look closer at the devices on the network. From the root submap, drill down to the Internet submap by double-clicking the Internet icon. Most networks contain at least one router or switch at this level. Assuming that your network contains a router (or a switch), place the cursor over the router symbol and click the right mouse button to display the symbol popup menu as shown in Figure 4-10. Select

Object Properties .

The Object Properties dialog box contains five properties: 1) Capabilities, 2) General Attributes, 3) IP Map attributes, 4) Selection Name, and 5) Comments, as shown in Figure 4-11. The selection name is the unique identifier of the object of interest. If the object is a node and the hostname can be resolved, the selection name is set to the fully qualified hostname of the node. If the NNM management station cannot resolve the hostname, the selection name is set to the IP address of the node, as shown in Figure 4-11. The NNM administrator can add comments.

Next, double-click

Capabilities, as shown in Figures 4-11 and 4-12. The Capabilities provide information regarding the device type stored in the NNM database. For example, the router shown has the attributes

isSNMPSupported, isIP , and

isRouter set to True. This indicates that the device is an IP router with an SNMP agent on it. Capabilities are set by NNM during discovery. They result from the SNMP request sent by the management station and response from the device. Notice that the Capabilities are "grayed out" indicating that they cannot be modified. They are set and controlled by NNM's controlling application, IP Map.

Return to the Object Properties dialog box and select

General Attributes . General attributes are similar to capabilities, but apply to any object that might be discovered by NNM. See Figure 4-13 for the general attributes of the router. Note that the vendor of this router is Cisco Systems and the SNMP agent is also provided by Cisco. General attributes are also stored in the NNM database. Unlike the Capabilities, the general attributes may be modified. If you happen to have IP devices that do not respond to SNMP and you know the vendor information, you can manually make changes to the general attributes.

Return to the Object Properties dialog box and double-click

IP Map Attributes . The information for a router includes the hostname, the device status, the interfaces (IP and MAC addresses), the system Description, and the System Object ID, as shown in Figure 4-14. This is the OID used by the

oid_to_sym and

oid_to_type files. You will also see the System Location and Contact for this device if they have been configured.

Navigate to the root submap and right-click the

Internet icon. Select

Object Properties , and double-click

IP Map . This information will contain the number of

IP networks, IP segments, IP nodes, IP interfaces and

IP routers in your enterprise. With a couple of clicks you can find out how many IP nodes NNM is managing. Comparing these attributes to the IP Map attributes of a router, you can see that these attributes vary with the underlying object type.

The attributes are set by NNM based on SNMP responses from the device. You can find the IP addresses of all interfaces of the router, the netmasks, the MAC addresses, the hostname, and the system OID. You can also find Boolean capabilities such as isRouter, isHub, isSNMPSupported, isHttpSupported, and vendor. You can search for objects based on the attributes in this list. For example, to list all systems running a web server in your enterprise, select the following from the menu bar:

EditFindObject By AttributeisHTTPSupported

This displays a list of all devices in your enterprise that have a home page running on Port 80. By double-clicking an item you can go directly to the submap on which the device resides. The labels of the located symbols will be highlighted (displayed in reverse video).

4.2.2 Symbol Status Colors

Symbol status colors can be displayed by selecting from the menu

HelpDisplay Legend Operational Status Colors . The color of a symbol represents one of the following levels of severity, as shown in Table 4-1.

Table 4-1. NNM uses the following status colors. The status color code indicates the severity of a symbol.

4.2.3 Status Propagation Rules

Because submaps are part of a well-defined hierarchy, it makes sense that the aggregate status of a submap should somehow be reflected (propagated to) in its parent. NNM reflects this by applying color coding to symbols on a submap according to a set of propagation rules to the root, internet, network, segment, and node hierarchy. The propagation rules result in the assignment of colors to symbols in the main viewing area of the submaps. For the purpose of status propagation, a symbol on a submap that is not green or blue is considered of abnormal status. The default status propagation rules are described in Table 4-2.

Table 4-2. Status propagation rules determine the status color of symbols. The rules are defined on a per-map basis and may be modified. The default status rule determines the status color of the parent symbol.

If there is only one node on a submap and it is abnormal (red, orange, yellow, or cyan), the parent symbol will be red (all abnormal). If a node is

abnormal and the interface connecting it to the segment is

down, this will propagate as

multiple abnormal symbol s. The icon and connector symbols both contribute to the propagation rule. A yellow symbol indicates that the child submap contains

multiple abnormal and

multiple normal symbols. In order to determine where a problem resides, drill down into the network map by double-clicking abnormal symbols until you find the culprit.

A green segment symbol, of course, indicates that all child submaps have normal (green) symbols. This means that all underlying objects (for example, IP interfaces) are responding to NNMs polls. More simply put, they are all up! Taking this to its logical conclusion, our goal is to have the IP Internet symbol on the root submap always be green. Good luck!