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Set thresholds using the Criteria property available in the Settings icon –> Issue Analysis –> Issue Group Settings –> Device Groups side tab and Interface Groups side tab.
Click the Comprehensive Issue List under Additional Documentation in Online Help for more detailed Issue listings to assist in decisions on which issues to isolate to specific device groups or interface groups.

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Managing Issue Notifications Managing Issue Notifications

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Managing Issue

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Notifications

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Issues generated by NetMRI are strong indicators of potentially serious problems with the network. As such, you may want to be informed whenever certain issues are generated. The Issue Notification feature is provided for such purposes, allowing you to request one or more notifications to be sent via various protocols to various destinations. All notification messages can be fully customized and multiple delivery protocols are supported.

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The Network Explorer tab displays everything NetMRI learns about the network. Network Explorer is a good starting point for inspecting the results of a Network Discovery process, viewing the topology of the discovered network, and obtaining information about how the network is behaving in each network segment.

Tabs within Network Explorer offer different ways to examine network data:

• Inventory: This tab provides basic information about all active devices, interfaces, operating systems and models in the network, including virtual devices, which are instances of virtual routers, virtual switches, and other types that are supported by selected devices from some networked system vendors.
• Summaries: This tab lists routes, subnets, VLANs, HSRPs/VRRPs, route targets, network views, VRFs, and ports in the network.
• Topology: This tab provides an interactive viewer in which you can visually explore your network’s topology and interconnectivity.
• Discovery: This tab provides detailed information about NetMRI’s discovery processes, including the ability to affect Discovery settings for individual devices, perform/repeat Discovery on a single device, set licensing for a managed device and remove a device from NetMRI management. For more information on device-related Discovery functions, see Viewing Device Discovery Status and Re-Discovering a Device.
• Switch Port Management: This is a key feature set for compiling, monitoring, and controlling the devices, ports and end hosts throughout an enterprise’s switched Ethernet network. Consult the topics under Switch Port Management for many more details.

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After Discovery runs its course, the Inventory tab shows the complete list of network devices with which NetMRI successfully communicates. The network Inventory includes the following classifications:

• Devices: The broadest information category, includes five distinct subcategories to allow for more-specific exploration: Infrastructure Devices, Device Components, Connected End Hosts (client systems connected to access ports on switches, for example), Connected IP Phones, and All Devices. Click the View All Virtual Devices link to list all virtual hosts and their respective virtual device contexts in the same table.
   All Devices tables show common elements, including the device IP Address, the Network View to which the device management IP address is associated, the Vendor, Device Name, and Device Model.
• Virtual Devices: All network infrastructure devices discovered by NetMRI that possess virtualization capabilities. Each device in this category hosts one or more virtual device contexts, which are virtual machine-based switches, firewalls, and routers housed by each virtual host. See Understanding Virtual Device Contexts for more information.
• Interfaces: A listing of all network interfaces, divided into the following four functional categories: Interface Config, Unused Down Ports, Unused Up Ports, and Recently Changed Ports. See Viewing Network Interfaces for more information.
• OSs: Counts of operating systems and OS versions from all devices discovered and catalogued by NetMRI. See Viewing Network Operating Systems for more information.
• Models: Counts of all hardware models discovered and catalogued by NetMRI. See Viewing Network Device Models for more information.

The Inventory tab (Network Explorer –> Inventory tab) provides basic information about the following four key categories of network elements managed by NetMRI: devices, interfaces, operating systems, and device models discovered in the network. From here, you drill down to features such as the Device Viewer to inspect details about individual devices and their current states.

• To list inventoried items, click the desired category in the left panel.
• To restrict the center panel table to a specific device group, click the group name in the Select Device Groups panel (on the right side of the window).

The Devices section lists network devices, device components, connected end hosts, and connected IP phones found on the network (“connected” = connected to a device in the selected group).

• To view detailed data for a device, click the IP address hyperlink in the center panel. The Device Viewer appears, listing any current Issues associated with the selected device.

The Device Viewer is not limited to this information. Seven categories of detailed information are provided by the Device Viewer for the displayed network entity. For more information, see Inspecting Devices in the Network.

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Some Network Explorer –> Inventory pages (Connected End Hosts, Connected IP Phones, Interface Config) provide Date/Period menus that enable flexible measurement and reporting for any device, interface, or end host. You can go backwards in time to view data sets for any device, interface, or end host phenomena.

Calendar dates shown in Green represent an immediately available data set to display in a Network Explorer –> Inventory table. The most current date in the chosen Inventory page (such as the most recent 7 days for the Daily selection) is always available by default and appears highlighted in green. Older data may require a wait for the user while NetMRI generates the requested data. After generation, the requested date appears in green, indicating the data is available.

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NetMRI supports discovery and management of Cisco and Juniper device types that offer virtualization. Similar to servers that run VMware to run multiple instances of operating systems and data services in the same physical host, some Cisco and Juniper device types support multiple instances within the same device, each running the complete suite of protocols, configurations, and operating system. NetMRI calls these instances virtual device contexts (VDCs). NetMRI detects devices that support virtual device contexts and provides the same management and cataloging features that apply to conventional switches, routers, and firewalls.

The Inventory page –> Virtual Devices menu item provides a list of all VDC-supporting devices that are discovered and cataloged by NetMRI. It displays the following values:

• IP Address: The IP for the virtual device.
• Device Name: The name detected for the virtual device.
• Collector (for OC systems only): The Collector appliance in the Operations Center that detected and manages the virtual device.
• Network View: The network view for which the detected virtual device is a member.

Each individual virtual device context appears in the Device Viewer, in the Network Explorer –> Inventory page, and in other locations of the NetMRI UI. NetMRI treats virtual device contexts identically to conventional routers, switches and firewall appliances, including the ability to send commands, schedule and execute jobs, display running configurations, view change histories and issues reported from the virtual device, apply compliance policies, run traces and SNMP walks, and many other operations.

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• Cisco Nexus 7000 Series multiservice switches (NX-OS).
• Cisco Pix 525, 535 Security Appliances (Cisco 8.0 and up).
• Cisco ASA 5500 Series Security Appliances.
• Cisco ACE load balancers.
• Juniper M5/M10 Routers (JunOS 10.0 and up).

By default, the Virtual Devices list shows the IP Address for each virtual host, their provisioned Device Name, and the Count of virtual device contexts for each Virtual Host managed by NetMRI. Click the IP address for any item in the Virtual devices list and the list of virtual device instances appears in the right panel.

The Virtual Host Details panel describes the basic information for the router, switch or firewall that is hosting the virtual device contexts, including its Network View, MAC Address ID, Model, assigned device name, OS version, the device type (Firewall, Switch, Router) and Context Name if any.

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Click any IP address in the table and the Device Viewer popup window appears for that virtual device context.

You can also right-click on any virtual device instance to display the shortcut menu. Open the Device Viewer for any context, open the Config Explorer, view the current running configuration for the context, open its associated Issues List, execute a command, select a Telnet or SSH command-line session, and other operations.

Check the Virtual Asset Inventory report (under Reports –> Standard Reports) for more information on the virtual hosts and their respective VDCs.

Virtual Hosts can act as a proxy for access. If NetMRI is unable to connect to a Virtual Device directly, or the credentials are not known, NetMRI attempts to access the Virtual Device via the Virtual Host. CLI-based operations against a Virtual Device can be successful when connectivity is blocked to the Virtual Device, but not blocked to the Virtual Host. CLI operations include Job execution, Config Collection and in-browser CLI connections.

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The network topologies for virtual hosts (i.e. the Cisco Nexus 7000 switch, Cisco ASA firewall, Juniper router, etc.) will often bear no connectivity relationship or topology resemblance to the network topologies for the virtual device contexts maintained by the virtual host.

Cisco's ASA firewalls use the term "Admin Context" to describe a top-level container that can run one or more virtual devices (VDCs). The ASA firewall's Admin Context is termed a virtual host in the NetMRI system, and it provides the management interfaces (SSH or Telnet) into the more-detailed virtual devices. An ASA firewall can run more than one Admin Context/Virtual Host.

The Cisco ASA uses the term "Customer Context" as a label for all virtual firewalls with their own discrete configurations and allocated interfaces. These entities are labeled as Virtual Device Contexts in the NetMRI system. These virtual "devices" support their own distinct topologies that can differ significantly from the hosting ASA firewall.

You can use the Topology Viewer (Network Explorer –> Topology) to look at the links between the Virtual Hosts and other devices in the network. Drilling further down, you use the Topology Viewer to examine the network linkages for the virtual device contexts themselves. Their topologies will often bear no relationship to the topologies of the virtual hosts upon which they are running. See Using the Topology Viewer for more information.

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The Interfaces page (Network Explorer –> Inventory –> Interfaces) lists interfaces found on the network, and provides configuration data for each. All interface tables can show associated information including IP configuration, associated device name, VRF Name (if any), VLAN and trunking status, line speed (where applicable), and a Network View column.

• Interface Config: Shows all interfaces being tracked by the appliance.
• Unused Down Ports: All interfaces marked administratively "down" (user configured as "off") and operationally "down" (not physically connected). This helps determine whether devices are not needed or if connections can be consolidated to eliminate unneeded hardware. For example, if there is a switch with twelve ports and two allocated, and another switch possessing eight ports with five ports fully allocated, it may be possible to move all the connections on the eight-port switch to the twelve-port switch and then eliminate the eight-port switch.
• Unused Up Ports: All interfaces that are administratively marked "up" and operationally "down." The list can help to quickly identify bad device configurations (unused ports should not be administratively "up"), failed, or unplugged network cables, and badly allocated devices.*
• Recently Changed Ports: All interfaces that had status changes within the last hour. On a stable network interface, status should not change often, so the list should small or empty. If there are known connectivity problems, this list helps isolate possible problem sources.

Clicking any link in the Interface column displays the Interface Viewer for the chosen device port, with features for viewing interface settings and performance metrics, and a Settings icon –> Port Control Settings feature for setting an interface to administratively Up or Down, changing a VLAN assignment, or rewriting the port description.

Clicking any link in the Network View column opens the Network Viewer window.

• To view detailed data for an interface, click the interface hyperlink in the center panel. The Interface Viewer appears.

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The OSs section lists operating systems running on devices in the network, including routers, switches, load balancers, Infoblox NIOS systems, and other devices from numerous vendors discovered on the network.

• To list devices running a given operating system, click the operating system in the left panel. All discovered devices running that particular operating system appear in the right panel of the Inventory page.
• To view detailed data for a device from the OSs page, click the IP address hyperlink in the center panel. The Device Viewer appears, listing any current Issues associated with the selected device.

The Device Viewer is not limited to this information. Seven categories of detailed information are provided by the Device Viewer for the displayed network entity. For more information, see Inspecting Devices in the Network.

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The Models section lists model names of devices in the network.

• To list devices of a given model, click the model name in the left panel.
• To view detailed data for a device from the Models page, click the IP address hyperlink in the center panel.

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The Summaries tab (Network Explorer –> Summaries) lists routes, subnets, VLANs, Route Targets, HSRPs/VRRP groups, ports, NIOS grids, network views, and VRFs (virtual routing and forwarding instances) in the network.

• To list inventoried items, click the desired category in the left panel.
• To restrict the center panel table to a specific device group, click the group name in the Select Device Groups panel (on the right side of the window).
• To view details about any item in the left panel, click the row for that item. Details appear in the center panel.

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The Routes section lists routes reported by all devices in the network, from each of their interfaces, during the last network polling cycle by NetMRI. Routes are listed by the protocol (proto), the route's IP, the VRF Name containing the interface and its VRF route distinguisher, and the Count, which is the number of devices reporting that particular route during the last polling period. All IPv4 and IPv6 routes are listed for all router and switch-router devices.

• To list devices comprising the route, click a route in the left panel. The center panel refreshes to show the device reporting the route, the route's interface from which it was reported, the Network View for the management IP of the device reporting the route, and the route's Next Hop. The list also shows each device's Route Distinguisher. This feature can be helpful in tracing a path.
• To view detailed data for a device, click the IP address hyperlink in the center panel. The Device Viewer opens.

The Subnets section lists subnets found in the network, and the Network View for the management IP of the device reporting the subnets, and its VRF Name (if any). The list of subnets is compiled from all router and switch-router devices discovered and cataloged by NetMRI, including any virtual device contexts (VDC).

• For subnets, the Count is the number of devices discovered as part of the subnet during the last polling period.
• To list all devices in the subnet, click a subnet in the left panel.
• To view detailed data for any device in a subnet, click the IP address hyperlink in the right pane. The Device Viewer opens listing any current Issues associated with the selected device.

The Device Viewer is not limited to this information. Seven categories of detailed information are provided by the Device Viewer for the displayed network entity. For more information, see Inspecting Devices in the Network.

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The VLANs section lists VLANs found in the network.

• To list devices supporting a VLAN, click a VLAN name in the left panel. The VLAN Viewer appears, listing the devices by IP address that are associated with the VLAN.
  The main page also displays the VLAN Root Details listing for the selected VLAN, and the table of devices associated with the VLAN, listing by IP address. Clicking an IP address in the VLANs table also brings up the Device Viewer.
• Also check the Topology Viewer (Network Explorer –> Topology) to see a graphic presentation of the VLAN path.

The Ports section lists ports found in the network. This table is a superset of all the ports listed in the Switch Port Manager page. If your license is active only for Switch Port Manager, the switch ports discovered and polled by NetMRI are the only ports listed here.

• To list devices using a given port number, click the port number in the left panel.

The NIOS Grids section lists any Infoblox NIOS Grid Masters found in the network.

• To list a Grid Master's members, click the Grid Master in the left panel. All associated Grid member appliances appear in the center panel.

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You can list all HSRP/VRRP Groups managed by NetMRI, or the HSRP/VRRP groups that are associated with a particular device group.

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•  To view details for an HSRP or VRRP, click a group in the left panel. The corresponding viewer opens in a popup window. The devices participating in the group are listed in the viewer.

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VRFs use route targets to specify how routes will be shared between different VRF networks. The typical format of a Route Target is two numeric values separated by colons. For example:

27000:100

The Route Targets summary in the left panel shows the list of Import and Export route targets that are defined in VRF-aware devices in the managed networks. The VRF RD (route distinguisher) values are listed in a separate column, and you can click on the link for each VRF's network view, which opens the Network Viewer window. This window also lists all devices forming the VRF network.

Selecting a route target causes the center panel to display all the instances where it is being used, along with details of the device and the VRF. This is helpful to understand how VRFs and particularly VRF-Lite are configured across the network.

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To view the complete list of network views, click the View all Network Views link at the top of the list. You can list all network views containing networks managed by NetMRI, or the network views that are associated with a particular device group. Each network view listed in the left panel provides a link to the Network View window.

The Count value indicates the number of interfaces sharing the same network view. Each instance is differentiated by the interface name.

If you have a significant number of network views, you can apply a filter by clicking the Filters button at the top of the table, choosing the Network View option from the Select a New Field selector, and entering the name of the network view.

Network Views represent each network that is managed and monitored by NetMRI. For more information about network views and how to use and configure them, see Configuring Network Views and its subsections.

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After virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) networks are discovered and mapped to network views, you can use the VRFs summary to view the complete list of VRF instances throughout the managed network. You can sort the VRF information by any data column to see the relationships between VRF instances in virtual networks.

To view the complete list of VRF instances, click the View all VRFs link at the top of the list. By default, the VRFs are listed by VRF name. Data columns include the following:

• VRF Name: Displays the name of the VRF instance.
• VRF Description: Displays a description if the VRF instance is configured with a description on the device.
• Route Distinguisher: VRFs use route distinguishers to distinguish one set of routes (one VRF) from another. The route distinguisher is a unique number pre-pended to each route within a VRF to identify it as belonging to that particular VRF. The discovered route distinguisher value is listed here if a virtual network instance uses this value. For more information, see Summarizing Route Targets.
• Device Name: The discovered name of the device hosting the VRF instance.
• IP Address: The IP address of the managed VRF-hosting device. This value is a hotlink to the Device Viewer.
• Network View: The network view of the managed VRF-hosting device. This value is a hotlink to the Network Viewer window.
• VRF Network View: The network view to which the VRF is assigned. This value is a hotlink to the Network Viewer window. Note that this value may differ from the Network View identifier.

If you have a significant number of virtual routing and forwarding networks, you can apply a filter by clicking the Filters button at the top of the table, choosing the VRFName option from the SelectaNewField selector, and entering the name of the VRF. You can also filter by network view in the same way, or combine the two filters to isolate all VRF instances in a specific network view.

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The Topology Viewer (Network Explorer –> Topology) enables you to visualize the network from the following viewpoints:

• The global Network View, where you can view different parts of the network based on the network type. The aggregate, which shows all active links of every type, Link Discovery Protocols, Serial Links, and Switch Forwarding which shows only Ethernet-switched connections throughout the network.
• The L2 nHop Network Topology, showing the Layer 2 switching paths of the network.
• The L3 nHop Network Topology, showing the Layer 3 switching/routing paths of the network.
• The L2/L3 Most Likely Path Network Topology, indicating the spanning tree paths preferred by switched network traffic in the network.
• The L3 Most Likely Path Network Topology, indicating the routed paths preferred by most packet flows in the network.
• The VLAN Network Topology, mapping the paths of VLANs throughout the network.

Search, CSV Export and Refresh Grid tools appear for all lists in the left pane of the Topology page. The Search feature allows contextual search from within any list for an IP address or a string of characters within the specific list of polled information. CSV Export enables exporting the current tabular list to a tab-delimited data file suitable for opening in Microsoft Excel^TM. You can also refresh any list by clicking the Refresh Grid tool. If changes occur after a refresh, the topology will redraw.

In all topology types (L2 nHop Network Topology, L3 nHop Network Topology, and so on) clicking on a device in the left-panel list displays a Hop Count selector. This selector changes its fields based on the protocol. The figure to the left shows an L3 n Hop selector, in which you can choose a Hop Count from 1 to 4, and the protocol to view. The protocol you choose may or may not be active for the current device.

After you generate a graph, follow the topics below to change and enhance the graph.

Devices of different types appear differently in the View. Firewalls and virtual hosts such as Cisco ASA security devices and Nexus switches will show different icons.

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The L2 nHop, L3 nHop, L2/L3 Most Likely Path, and L3 Most Likely Path topology menus all support the Network View data point, listing the network views in which each listed device participates. Clicking the link in this column for any device opens the Network Viewer window.

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Right-clicking on any device icon on the Topology pane provides a selection of device exploration features. Its contents change based on the selected device.

• Device Viewer: Opens the Device Viewer for the chosen device.
• Config Explorer: Opens the Device Viewer's Config Explorer page for the chosen device. You can browse the list of configs in the device and edit existing config files.
• View Running Config: Displays the currently running configuration for the chosen device in a Configuration Viewer window.
• Changes: Opens the Device Viewer's Network Analysis –> Changes page for the chosen device.
• Issue List: Opens the Device Viewer's Network Analysis –> Issues page for the chosen device. This page lists all Error, Warning, and Info issues for the chosen device.
• Policy Compliance: Opens the Device Viewer's Network Analysis –> Policy Compliance page for the chosen device. The current device's status in DISA-standard security and stability levels is outlined here, with links to configuration policy analysis functions from this page.
• L2 nHop: Displays the L2 nHop Network Topology in a separate window, showing the Layer 2 switching paths directly associated with the current device.
• L3 nHop: Displays the L3 nHop Network Topology map in a separate window, showing the Layer 3 routed switching paths directly associated with the current device.
• L2/L3 Path Viewer: Displays the L2/L3 Most Likely Path Network Topology map in a separate window, indicating the VLAN spanning tree paths directly associated with the current device.
• L3 Path Viewer: Displays the L3 Most Likely Path Network Topology map in a separate window, indicating the L3 routed paths directly associated with the current device.
• Schedule Job: Schedule a job script (CCS or Perl) to run on the chosen device, from the Script Run Now wizard. See Creating and Scheduling Jobs for more information about job scripting.
• Execute Command: Opens the Script Run Now wizard, with the Commands to be Executed section active. Type in any configuration command.

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The Network view list (Network Explorer –> Topology –> Network) shows L2 and L3 network devices and their respective connections, in aggregate or a choice from several individual layer 2 link types.

• To select a network view, in the left panel, open the Network section, then click the view type.

The following are Available network views:

• Aggregate: Combines the Link Discovery Protocols, Serial Links, and Switch Forwarding views. It gives you a graphical depiction of the entire network discovered and polled by NetMRI.
• Pass the mouse over any device icon in the map. A popup message appears listing the name and basic characteristics of the device represented by that icon.
• Link Discovery Protocols: Shows L2/L3 devices using Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) or Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), and their interconnections.
• Serial Links: Shows L2/L3 devices connected by serial links.
• Switch Forwarding: Shows L2/L3 devices using switch forwarding.

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You can zoom in and out of the graphic view, resize the graphical view, and enable or disable visual features, such as the legend.

• To show/hide the Graph Overview, which is a thumbnail view of the entire graphical map of the network, choose Menu –> Graph Overview.
• To zoom in, click Zoom In, or resize the box in the Graph Overview to make it smaller.
• To zoom out, click Zoom Out, or resize the box in the Graph Overview to make it larger.
• To fit the graph in the panel, click the Fit Content button.
• To pan the graph, drag the box in the Graph Overview.

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The following methods are available to view device data in the Topology Viewer:

• To view basic data about a device, hover the mouse over the device.
• To view detailed data about a device, click the device. The Device Viewer opens.
• To view basic data about the link between two devices, hover over the link.
• To view issues for a device, right-click the device, then click Show issues on Device Viewer. The Device Viewer appears.
• To view a device's configuration file: Right-click the device, then click View Configuration for.
• To generate a new graph with a device as the starting point, right-click the device, and then click Show n Hops (L2) from, Show n Hops (L3) from, Show L2/L3 path starting from, or Show L3 path starting from.

Modifying the Graph

You can change the elements shown in the topology graph as follows:

• To restrict devices shown in the graph, select a device group in the Select Device Groups panel. This feature is not available for VLAN graphs.
• To show all the devices in the graph, select All Devices in the Select Device Groups panel.

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NetMRI's Topology View provides several tools for manipulating the visual map, including exporting the map as a graphic, printing it, detaching the map into a separate popup window, or refine the current view to show more-specific parts of the map or filter the view by device group, VLAN or other specification.

• To print the graph, click Menu –> Print.
• To export the graph as an image, click Menu –> Export as Image. Printing or exporting the graph reproduces the entire graph, not just the portion currently shown.
• To launch a larger view of the current graph in a separate window, click Menu –> Detach View.
• To show a legend at the bottom of the screen, click Menu –> Legend.

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L2 n Hop (Network Explorer –> Topology –> L2 n Hop) shows devices that can be reached from a selected starting device through a chosen number of Level 2 (actually a hybrid of L1 and L2) connections.

1. In the left panel, click L2 n Hop.
2. In the left panel, click the row containing the starting device.
3. In the L2 n Hop / L2 Reach-ability dialog, select a View (i.e., connection type such as CDP, Serial Links, Switch Forwarding, or Aggregate).
4. Select a Hop Count. The view will show devices reachable in this number of hops or less.
5. Click OK.

In the resulting graph, the name of the starting device is highlighted in green. Devices that cannot be reached, or that are farther away than the Hop Count are not shown in the resulting view.

Cisco Nexus switches and their virtual device contexts (VDCs) will appear in this view.

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L3 n Hop shows all active devices that can be reached from a selected starting device in the network through a chosen number of routed Level 3 connections. In the resulting graph, the name of the starting device is highlighted in green. Devices that cannot be reached, or that are farther away than the Hop Count are not shown in the resulting view.

1. In the left panel, click L3 n Hop.
2. In the left panel, click the row containing the starting device.
3. In the L3 n Hop dialog, select a Hop Count and a Protocol.
4. Click OK.

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L2/L3 Most Likely Path shows the most likely path traffic would take between two devices, including both Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity.

1. In the left panel, click L2/L3 Most Likely Path.
2. In the left panel, click the row containing the starting device.
3. In the L2/L3 Most Likely Path dialog, select the source network view from the Network View dropdown menu.
4. In the L2/L3 Most Likely Path dialog, select the ending device. Shorten the device list by selecting a Device Group or by entering a search term.

In the resulting graph, the name of the starting device is highlighted in green, and the name of the ending device is highlighted in red.

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L3 Most Likely Path shows the most likely path that routable Layer 3 traffic would take between a source device and a destination device, ignoring Layer 2 connectivity between Layer 3 devices. Complete the following:

1. In the left panel, click L3 Most Likely Path.
2. In the left panel, click the row containing the starting device.
3. In the L3 Most Likely Path dialog, select the source network view from the Network View dropdown menu.
4. In the L2/L3 Most Likely Path dialog, select the ending device. Shorten the device list by selecting a Device Group or by entering a search term.

In the resulting graph, the name of the starting device is highlighted in green, and the name of the ending device is highlighted in red.

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In the network view menu, VLAN shows the spanning tree that a given VLAN uses on the network.

1. In the left panel, click VLAN.
2. In the left panel, click the VLAN you are interested in.

In the resulting topology chart, the root bridge is displayed at the top and the leaf nodes are displayed below. Active and disabled links are indicated in the chart. The farther the distance from the root bridge, the higher the cost in the L3 VLAN path. All possible connections are shown, including disabled ones. Spanning tree port blocking is indicated by a gray X at the end of a connection. If a port shows an error, it is indicated by a red X.

VLAN graphs cannot be filtered by device group names in the Select Device Groups panel.

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To force devices to the top of a queue, complete the following:

1. Click the check box for the device(s), then click Discover Next (below the table).
2. Click the check box for the device(s).
3. Click License (below the table).
4. In the License Status dialog, select the desired license status (Automatic, Licensed, or Unlicensed), and then click OK.

NetMRI gives explicitly licensed devices priority in determining which devices to manage. Unlicensed devices continue to be managed by the appliance, but only basic discovery data is periodically collected from them.

To force immediate discovery of devices, click the check box for the device(s), and then click Discover Now (above the table). NetMRI will execute the processes required against a device to complete discovery. These include SNMP credential collection, SNMP data collection, device group assignment, and CLI credential collection.

To delete devices from NetMRI's database, complete the following:

1. Click the check box for the device(s).
2. Click Delete (below the table).
3. In the Delete dialog, select Exclude from discovery (optional).
4. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

If a device continues to appear in collected data, NetMRI will re-list the device unless you choose to exclude the device from discovery when it is deleted.

To un-manage devices, complete the following:

1. Click the check box for the device(s).
2. Click Unmanage (below the table).
3. Confirm the operation.

Unmanaged devices remain discovered, but NetMRI will not collect data from them. The appliance will not obtain details, — such as vendor, model, and operating system version — because SNMP access is required to complete those processes.

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The Interface Viewer is accessed by clicking any hyperlinked interface identifier in the Interface column of the Interface Configuration list (located in Network Explorer –> Inventory –> Interfaces –> Interface Config) It displays low-level interface data and network phenomena affecting the selected interface during a specified time period. The top panel lists basic information about the chosen interface, including the Type, Speed, Status (Up or Down, along with the date the interface was discovered to be changed in state), the host device's Network View, the Device IP, its interface MAC Address, the Interface IP (if any), and Ethernet Port Fast and Encapsulation settings where applicable (this value appears only when the interface is using 802.1Q tagging).

If a physical interface also contains logical subinterfaces that are locally assigned to VRFs, the Encapsulation field will appear in the top panel of the Interface Viewer window, also listing the protocol.

When an interface is locally assigned to a Network View, the Local VRF field appears in the top panel of the Interface Viewer window.

By default, the Interface Viewer displays any neighboring interface information for the selected interface. The assumption is that the selected interface is actually administratively On and active on the network. Otherwise, the Interface Viewer shows a blank page.

The Interface Viewer also provides a list of Access Control Lists that are bound to the current interface. To change the date or period for data displayed in the Interface Viewer, see Setting the Date and Period.

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The Neighbors page (Interface Viewer –> Interface –> Neighbors) lists the MAC addresses, associated VRF Name, Neighbor VRF Name (if any), the Network View, IP addresses, interfaces, and other data for neighbors of the currently displayed interface. If you select an interface that is administratively On and is active in the network, the Interface Neighbor information automatically appears. Otherwise the neighbor information remains blank.

Associated information provided includes the VLAN and/or trunk interface, the neighbor's MAC address, the neighbor type, and the Neighbor Assurance value.

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Under Performance in the Interface Viewer, the Summary page (Interface Viewer –> Performance –> Summary) lists high-level statistics for inbound and outbound traffic for the selected interface. A table appears in the Interface Viewer, showing Counts, Rates and Percentages for Inbound and Outbound Octets, Packets, Unicast packets, Non-Unicast packets, Multicast packets, Broadcast packets, Discards, Errors, Changes, Alignment Errors, FCS Errors, and Late Collisions. The following statistics cover the entire selected interface, cumulative for all subinterfaces if any.

• Rates: This page (Interface Viewer –> Performance –> Rates) shows inbound and outbound throughput and related rates for the interface, including Packet Rate, Broadcast Rate, Discard Rate, and Error Rate.
• Percents: This page (Interface Viewer –> Performance –> Percents) shows inbound and outbound traffic statistics expressed as a percentage of the total output, including % Utilization, Broadcast Percent, Discard Percent, and Error Percent.
• Counts: This page (Interface Viewer –> Performance –> Counts) displays inbound and outbound traffic statistics expressed as counts, including columns of statistics for Octet Count, Packet Count, Broadcast Count, Discard Count, and Error Count.
• Charts: This page (Interface Viewer –> Performance –> Charts) provides charts that show throughput, broadcasts/second, errors/second, and discards/second. Use the Measure list at the top of the page to select Rate or Percent for the charts' vertical axes.

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The General Settings page (Interface Viewer –> Settings –> General Settings) enables you to apply or override the parent group's performance data collection setting, under the Performance Statistics Collection setting. Group settings are defined in the Settings icon –> Setup section –> Collection and Groups page –> Groups tab –> Interface Groups side tab.

To ensure collection of all performance data for the specific device, choose the Enabled option.

Choose the Use Default option if you want performance information collection to only use the parent Interface Group's settings.

Interface performance data covers a broad selection of network phenomena, including but not limited to the following: port throughput, bandwidth utilization, packet errors percentage, broadcast packet percentage, and packet discard percentage.

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Interface histories consist primarily of First Seen and Last Seen values, indicating the date and time when the interface was first seen by the appliance, and the date and time when the appliance last polled the device and interface. Other information fields in the Interface History table include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Device Name: The name of the device hosting the interface.
• IF MAC: The MAC address of the interface.
• If Oper Status: Shows whether the interface is operationally Up or Down.
• If Admin Status: Shows whether the interface is administratively Up or Down.

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• Admin Status: Set the port to administratively Up or administratively Down;
• Interface Description: A text label describing the port;
• VLAN ID/Name: Change the VLAN assignment for a switch interface. Click Edit for any feature.
  • For Admin Status, ports can be set to Up or Down from the drop-down menu.
  • For VLAN ID/Name, the feature will work for switch or switch-router ports that support VLAN assignment. Choose the VLAN ID from the VLAN ID drop-down list (new values are not entered in this location) and the VLAN Name from the VLAN Name drop-down list. A port can be set to disable any VLAN assignment by enabling the No VLAN checkbox.

In all cases, click Save to commit settings.

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Ports listed in the Port List page (Settings icon –> Setup –> Port List) are probed when Port Scanning is enabled at Settings icon –> Setup section –> Collection and Groups –> Global tab –> Network Polling panel.

To add a port to the list, complete the following:

1. In the Add Port panel, select the port's Protocol, either TCP or UDP.
2. Type the Port number.
3. Type the port's Service.
4. Click Add.

To delete a port from the list, click the Delete button for the respective port.

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The Collector Status page (Settings icon –> Setup –> Collector Status) shows the internal processing being performed by NetMRI. This page is used primarily for technical support purposes.

A property group is a collection of SNMP variables that NetMRI polls from a given device type and vendor at a given frequency. The collection of SNMP variables in a property group are not visible to the user.

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The Interface Live Viewer allows you to view and track traffic and event trends for any chosen network interface, and save chart data and images for the results. The Interface Live Viewer displays near-real-time graphs for the following interface properties:

• Throughput in / utilization in
• Throughput out / utilization out

Throughput/Utilization graphs depend on the Display Mode setting, either choosing Rate displays throughput or choosing Percent displays utilization.

• Broadcast in
• Broadcast out
• Errors in
• Errors out
• Discards in
• Discards out

To access the Interface Live Viewer, complete the following:

1. Right-click any interface hyperlink, then click Interface Live Viewer in the pop-up menu.

–or– In the Interface Viewer, click the Viewer Tools icon, then click Live Viewer in the drop-down menu.
–or– In the Interface Viewer –> Performance section –> Charts page (which displays static data), and then click the Live Viewer link next to the Measure field.

Within the graph:

• To see underlying data at a specific time, hover over that time in the graph.
• To hide or show a line, click the box to the left of the name in the legend below the graph.

If too many lines make it difficult to interpret the graph, hide lines having less value by clicking the colored check box for any data type at the bottom of the chart window.

To hide or show data callouts within the graph, complete any of the following:

• In the graph, click the line for which you want to hide/show data.
• In the legend, click the name (underlined = data callout displayed, name not underlined = data callout hidden).

In the Interface Live Viewer's control bar above the graph, you can perform the following:

• To change the time period shown in the graph, select the time in the Display Window drop-down list.

The display window of 5 or 15 minutes is based on an ideal polling frequency as defined in the Live Interface Poll Frequency setting (at Settings icon –> General Settings –> Advanced Settings). The display window depends on the following factors: load on the device being polled, load on the appliance polling the device, and network round trip time between the device and NetMRI. Therefore, the actual display window time may be longer than the value selected in the Display Window drop-down list.

• To view historical data, click Show History at the left end of the control bar. In the Show Historical Data dialog, specify the day and time for the historical data's starting point. Historical data is always shown in a 15-minute window.
• To pause the display, click the Pause button. This does not pause the underlying data collection.
• To resume playing the display (after pausing), click the Play button.

• To change the vertical axis units, select the desired units in the Display Mode drop-down list.
• To export data used to create the graph, click the CSV Export button.
• To export the graph as an image, click the Image Export button.

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Two settings for the Interface Live Viewer are provided in the Settings icon –> General Settings –> Advanced Settings page under Data Collection:

• Live Interface Poll Frequency sets the SNMP polling frequency (5 seconds to 60 seconds in 5 second increments).
• Live Interface Poller Limit sets the maximum number of interface pollers that can run simultaneously (1 to 10).

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