Vendor MIB files are widely available on the Internet as a free resource, from vendor support Web sites, provided with equipment documentation, or occasionally as part of a support contract. Combine the correct MIB file with a correctly written Device Support Bundle file (DSB) and custom network device types can be added to NetMRI for management and monitoring. This feature set is called Extensible Device Support (EDS). DSB files are written in the XML language. A full description of XML DSB files, the information they must contain, and how to write them, is provided in the Infoblox Device Support Guide under Additional Documentation.

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Operations with MIB Files Operations with MIB Files

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Operations with MIB Files

NetMRI enables importing of device vendor MIB files, editing of MIB files, and general management of all MIB files in the appliance. In many cases, MIB files are bundled within the DSB, but MIBs can also be obtained elsewhere and added to the appliance. When a DSB is added to the appliance that requires one of these MIBs, and it is not bundled with the DSB, NetMRI will automatically search for the MIB in its database.

All installed MIBs are listed in on the MIB Manager page. To import a new MIB file, do the following:

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Reloading MIBs into the NetMRI system can take several minutes. If a MIB or DSB is imported or removed, the procedure requires several minutes to complete.

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Working With Device Support Bundles Working With Device Support Bundles

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Working With Device Support Bundles

A Device Support Bundle (DSB) is a small collection of files designed specifically to enable installed to discover, communicate with and manage new types and models of network devices that may not be included in the substantial universe of device support already offered by NetMRI. Features in the appliance enable editing, validation, and testing against managed devices for Device Support Bundles that you create. (Make sure to refer to the Infoblox Device Support Guide document under Additional Documentation for more information on DSB creation.)

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1. Go to Settings icon > Setup > Device Support Bundle.
2. Click Import to open the Import file requester.
3. Click Browse and navigate to the location where you have saved the Zip file with the XML file and the directory containing the needed MIB files.
4. Select the Zip file and click Import.
5. An Import Status dialog box showing the import file output appears. The import may take several minutes to complete, and will display the results of each import function. Click Close when the process completes.

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Actions in Device Support Bundle Lists Actions in Device Support Bundle Lists

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Actions in Device Support Bundle Lists

Each table record in a Device Support Bundle list provides an Action icon. Clicking the icon displays a menu for operations working directly with Device Support Bundles in the NetMRI UI.

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Editing Device Support Bundles Editing Device Support Bundles

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Editing Device Support Bundles

NetMRI's Device Support Bundles table provides a simple GUI-based DSB Editor for making on-the-fly changes to text files in the bundle. Clicking the Action icon in a table row and selecting Edit displays the editor, automatically showing the contents of the XML file for the bundle.

The XML is for the descriptor file containing all of the vital DSB descriptor tags for the device definition. It is not related to the MIB files that may or may not be bundled in the DSB. MIB files are usually bundled inside the tarball/Zip file comprising a DSB, that is imported into NetMRI. These MIBs do not have to be included in the bundle, but they are managed using the MIB Management page in the Settings icon > Setup > Device Support Bundles. The DSB editor does not edit these files. You can use the DSB Editor to edit the XML configuration description and the CCS or Perl scripts for the bundle.

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Supporting Custom Device Types Supporting Custom Device Types

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Supporting Custom Device Types

New device types can be created and are fully compatible with the DSB engine. In the DSB Editor (Settings icon > Setup > Device Support Bundle), you can begin by editing the XML file for the new Type:

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Further changes require editing of Perl or CCS files, and possible inclusion of MIB files.

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Validating and Testing Imported Device Support Bundles Validating and Testing Imported Device Support Bundles

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Validating and Testing Imported Device Support Bundles

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If a device of the desired type is not currently discovered by NetMRI, the Test option in Device Support Bundles is disabled.

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1. In the Actions column, click the Actions icon for the bundle you want to test.
2. From the drop-down menu, choose Test.
3. In the Test DSB dialog, select the device against which you want to test the DSB.
4. Click Test to begin.
5. Click Close when finished. The test results will appear in the Device Support Bundles table.

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Automating Device Support Request Data

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Collection Automating Device Support Request Data

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Collection

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Automating Device Support Request Data Collection

A wide variety of devices exist in enterprise networks. NetMRI offers the ability to create a complete and detailed Device Support Request package for network devices, or device OS versions, that are not directly supported by NetMRI.

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You can click the Action icon for any Request entry, and choose Edit or Delete.

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Defining and Using Custom Fields Defining and Using Custom Fields

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Defining and Using Custom Fields

The Custom Fields page (Settings icon > General Settings > Custom Fields) enables you to define custom data fields for uncovering and recording any information about network devices, changes and jobs. For devices, custom fields are useful for recording important c

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ontextual data such as asset tag numbers and physical location — information that NetMRI does not gather on its own.
Administrators can add extensible data in the following contexts, with examples suggested for each:

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1. In the upper left corner of the Settings icon > General Settings > Custom Fields page, open the Type menu and then select the custom data type.
2. Click the Action icon for the field and then choose Delete.
3. Click Yes.

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Importing Custom Field Data Importing Custom Field Data

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Importing Custom Field Data

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As a labor-saving move, and a way to enforce a design and data standard for all custom data fields you wish to define in the appliance, you can create one or more device custom data fields in any of the six categories (Changes, Devices, Interfaces, Job News, Jobs or Components), or import bulk data to populate the fields for Devices, Interfaces or Components data types. Each record is comma-delimited. Place the data in a CSV file having the following syntax:

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Also see Viewing Changes in the Network for more information about the Changes page in NetMRI.

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Adding Custom Data Fields in Network Exp Adding Custom Data Fields in Network Exp

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Adding Custom Data Fields in Network Explorer Inventory Pages

NetMRI enables custom information to be applied to the Inventory pages for any category within Network Explorer > Inventory > (Devices, Interfaces, OSs and Models.).

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1. Under Network Explorer > Inventory, select any of the four categories of information (Devices, Interfaces, OSs or Models.)
2. Choose any of the sub-categories of information and the corresponding table appears. For example, under Devices, choose Device Components (you are not limited to this choice).
3. Move the mouse over any column in the table, and click the down arrow at the right end of the column heading.
4. In the drop-down menu, hover over Columns.
5. In the Columns submenu, check the custom field column(s) you want to appear in the table. The table will update to display the new column of data.

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Adding Custom Data Fields in Job Managem Adding Custom Data Fields in Job Managem

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Adding Custom Data Fields in Job Management

Job Management accommodates custom data fields to provide extremely flexible ways of reporting data and presenting different types of information beyond job defaults.

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1. In the upper left corner of the Settings icon > General Settings > Custom Fields page, open the Type menu and select the Jobs custom data type.
2. Click New.
3. In the Create Custom Field dialog box, select the type (Date, Number, or String), enter the name for the new data field.
4. To create more than one field, click Save. The new field is added to the table in the background. You can then enter another new field.
5. When finished, click Save & Close.
   Custom fields can be displayed on the Scheduled Jobs page (Config Management > Job Management > Scheduled Jobs).
6. Move the mouse over any column in the table, and click the down arrow at the right end of the column heading.
7. In the drop-down menu, hover over Columns.
8. In the Columns submenu, check the custom field columns you want to appear in the table. The table will update to display the new column of data.

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Adding Custom Data Fields in Network Ana Adding Custom Data Fields in Network Ana

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Adding Custom Data Fields in Network Analysis

NetMRI tracks all configuration changes made to managed devices in the network. Custom fields are used to display new data types that are not present in the Change Summary dashboard.

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Also see Viewing Changes in the Network for more information about the Changes page in NetMRI.

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Enabling Custom Data Field Editing for N Enabling Custom Data Field Editing for N

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Enabling Custom Data Field Editing for Non-Admin Users

You may enable non-Admin users with limited privileges to edit custom field data within device groups, jobs, interfaces, network components or change events for which they have responsibility.

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For Jobs and Changes types, custom fields could be used to record data such as trouble ticket numbers. Admin users may define new Custom Fields in the Settings icon > General Settings > Custom Fields page.

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Verifying Field Content In Device Viewer Verifying Field Content In Device Viewer

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Verifying Field Content In Device Viewer & Interface Viewer

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After any custom data fields have been created in the Settings icon > General Settings > Custom Fields page, you can verify them and begin using them in the appliance by doing the following:

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