NetMRI discovery depends on a collection of under-the-hood features to ensure that polling and addition of devices in the network proceed smoothly and accurately. This chapter describes the three following critical tasks.
Defining Data Collection and Device Groups: You must define important settings for network polling. This topic involves the processes of data collection and polling of devices across the network, including polling of switched Ethernet devices. The definition of device and interface groups is discussed in other topics later in this Guide. For more information, see Defining Group Data Collection Settings.
Note title Note See Creating Device Groups for information on the Groups tab and its associated functions.
- ManagingSNMPandCLICredentials: Credentials are a critical component for discovery and Configuration Management. You can define global default values for admin account logins, enable passwords, and also define admin account logins and enable passwords on individual devices. For more information, see Adding and Editing Device Credentials.
- DebuggingandManagingCollectionResults: When data collection and polling stops for any reason, NetMRI provides methods for determining the cause of the failure and ways to fix it. See Debugging Issues in Discovery and Data Collection bookmark177 and Running Discovery Diagnostics for more information.
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See Adding and Editing Device Credentials bookmark157for more information on adding logins for specific devices in the Device Viewer. |
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The CC column in the Network Explorer –> Discovery table reveals important debugging information for configuration collection issues. The most important discovery and Config Collection issues are listed in this topic, along with where in NetMRI to fix them.
| Config Collection |
Warning icons in the CC column indicate possible configuration data collection problems. Other locations that report related messages include Device Viewer –> Settings & Status –> Management Status and Settings icon –> Setup –> Discovery Settings –> Seed Router. Specific messages are described below. | |
| Config Not Changed | The configuration for the device has not changed since the previous polling of the device. No problem is indicated here unless you have pushed a changed configuration to the device. Even in those cases, allow some more time for the device to synchronize with NetMRI. If you expect changes to be reflected in device polling. go to Device Viewer –> Configuration Management –> Config Explorer and check the Running Config Saved? status line. If the answer is No, ensure the changes in the device's running-config are saved according to the device's configuration data saving requirements. |
| CLI Credentials Unknown | NetMRI cannot obtain the device configuration due to not having the correct CLI username/password tuple, and credential guessing did not work for the device. Go to the Device Viewer –> Settings & Status –> CLI Credentials page for that device. Click Edit and enter the necessary values for the SSH and/or Telnet login tuple and the Enable Password if necessary. Each attempt at connection and collection is listed in the table. Note that the C column, for CLI Credentials Status, may show an Error, usually listed as Failed to authenticate: Invalid Username and/or password. |
| Configuration Collection Disabled Globally | This message appears for devices that support configuration collection, but the collection was skipped because Config Collection is globally disabled in NetMRI. The same message appears in the Device Viewer –> Settings & Status –> Management Status page. Go to Settings icon –> Setup –> Collection and Groups –> Groups –> Config Management side tab, and enable the Config Collection checkbox. Also, ensure the proper protocols (SSH, Telnet, HTTP) are enabled for config collection. |
| Configuration Collection Enabled Globally, All Protocol Options Disabled | This message appears for devices that support configuration collection, but the collection was skipped because Config Collection is globally enabled in NetMRI but no data collection protocols were enabled. The same message appears in the Device Viewer –> Settings & Status –> Management Status page. Go to Settings icon –> Setup –> Collection and Groups –> Groups –> Config Management side tab, and enable the Config Collection checkbox. Ensure the proper protocols (SSH, Telnet, and/or HTTP) are enabled for config collection. |
| Configuration Collection Disabled at Device Group level | The device showing this message currently has config collection disabled for the Device Group to which the device belongs. Go to Settings icon –> Setup –> Collection and Groups –> Groups, click the Action icon and choose Edit for the selected Device Group. In the Group Settings tab, enable the Config Collection checkbox. |
| Not Included by Discovery Settings | The message indicates that although the device has been detected by NetMRI, it is not included in any IP Ranges or as a Static IP with the Exclude from Discovery Settings option, is not reachable through Device Hints, or is not detectable as a Seed Router. The device in question may also be explicitly excluded from management by previously clicking the Unmanage button in Device Viewer –> Settings & Status –> Management Status page. Go to Settings icon –> Setup –> Discovery Settings and change the appropriate settings in any of the four categories. This message appears only during a manual Get Config operation. |
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| Licensed | The message indicates that the device has not been added automatically to the full NetMRI license for the appliance reporting the Issue. Go to the Device Viewer –> Settings & Status –> Management Status page and click the License button. In the License Status dialog, choose the settings necessary to change the licensing status for the device. This message appears only during a manual Get Config operation. |
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For additional information about NIOS IPAM Sync, see Overlay/Overwrite Logic
Anchor Configuring IPAM Sync Configuring IPAM Sync
Configuring IPAM Sync
| Configuring IPAM Sync | |
| Configuring IPAM Sync |
This section describes the following:
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The following table lists the data fields in the CSV file used for IPAM Sync:
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Data Field in IPAM Sync Export File
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Field Description
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mac_address
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A valid mac address. Must be lowercase. Optional.
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last_discovered_timestamp
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Timestamp of last time the discoverer has seen the device. A UTC timestamp. Required.
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first_discovered_timestamp
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Timestamp of the first time the discoverer has seen the device. A UTC timestamp. Optional.
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netbios_name
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The NetBIOS name of device. String type. Maximum size is 15 characters. Optional.
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os
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The OS of the IP address. String Type. Maximum size is 256 characters. Optional.
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network_component_type
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The type of component connected to the IP address. Eg Switch, Router, Other. Optional. String type. Max size 32.
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network_component_name
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Name of component connected to the IP address. Optional. String type. Max size 64.
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network_component_ description
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Description of component connected to the IP address. Optional. String type. Max size 256.
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network_component_ip
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IP address of component connected to the IP address. Optional. String type. IPv4 address format.
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network_component_port_ number
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Port number on the component connected to the IP address. Optional. Unsigned integer type. Range 0 - 9999.
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network_component_port_ name
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Port name on the component connected to the IP address. Optional. String type. Max size 64.
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network_component_port _description
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Description of the Port on the component connected to the IP address. Optional. String type. Max size 256.
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port_vlan_name
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Name of the Vlan on the Port. Optional. String type. Max size 64.
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port_vlan_number
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Port Vlan Number. Optional. Unsigned integer type. Range 0 - 9999.
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port_speed
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Speed settings on the switch port. Optional. String type. Valid values are 10M, 100M, 1G, 10G, 100G, and Unknown.
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port_duplex
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Duplex settings on the switch port. Optional. String type. Valid values are Full and Half.
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port_status
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Administratively up or down. Optional. String type. Valid values are Up, Down, and Unknown.
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port_link_status
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Connected or not. Optional. String type. Valid values are: Connected, Not Connected, and Unknown.
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IP address of wireless access point.
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The following overlay/overwrite logic applies to IPAM Sync:
- Network sync: Newly-imported subnets are imported as “managed”.
- If the imported subnet conflicts with an existing subnet, it is not accepted. The imported subnet can go into a container as long as there is no conflict.
- If the subnet already exists, no changes are made.
- If the subnet is in IPAM but not in NetMRI, it is left in IPAM.
- IP address sync: New IP addresses are added and marked as “unmanaged”. If an IP address already exists, the field values is overwritten during the import.
- Before NetMRI 7.1.4 and NIOS 8.1, if the IP address exists in IPAM but it is not in the import file, it is left in IPAM.
- As of NetMRI 7.1.4 and NIOS 8.1, if the IP address exists in IPAM but it is not in the import file, its discovered data is cleared out. You can control the time that the IP address stays in the NetMRI database after it is no longer discovered under NetMRI. To do so, go to Setup -> General Settings -> Advanced Settings.
Viewing IPAM Sync Discovered Data in NetMRI and NIOS
In NIOS, you can view the data discovered by NetMRI and synchronized using IPAM Sync as follows:
- IP addresses data: IPAM –> select a network –> IP List.
- Networks data: IPAM –> Networks.
The following table helps to locate IPAM Sync discovered data in the NetMRI UI.
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Network Explorer -> Discovery
Device Viewer
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Attached Device Description
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AP IP address
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Discovered IP address of Wireless Access Point.
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The following overlay/overwrite logic applies to IPAM Sync:
- Network sync: Newly-imported subnets are imported as “managed”.
- If the imported subnet conflicts with an existing subnet, it is not accepted. The imported subnet can go into a container as long as there is no conflict.
- If the subnet already exists, no changes are made.
- If the subnet is in IPAM but not in NetMRI, it is left in IPAM.
- IP address sync: New IP addresses are added and marked as “unmanaged”. If an IP address already exists, the field values is overwritten during the import.
- Before NetMRI 7.1.4 and NIOS 8.1, if the IP address exists in IPAM but it is not in the import file, it is left in IPAM.
- As of NetMRI 7.1.4 and NIOS 8.1, if the IP address exists in IPAM but it is not in the import file, its discovered data is cleared out. You can control the time that the IP address stays in the NetMRI database after it is no longer discovered under NetMRI. To do so, go to Setup -> General Settings -> Advanced Settings.
Viewing IPAM Sync Discovered Data in NetMRI and NIOS
In NIOS, you can view the data discovered by NetMRI and synchronized using IPAM Sync as follows:
- IP addresses data: IPAM –> select a network –> IP List.
- Networks data: IPAM –> Networks.
The following table helps to locate IPAM Sync discovered data in the NetMRI UI.
Fields related to Cisco ACI data (tenant, bridge_domain, endpoint_groups) are specific for SDN elements and controllers.
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NetMRI automatically supports an Infoblox utility, Cisco Discovery Service, that enables network administrators to provide Cisco-validated reporting and analysis. NetMRI operates as a Cisco Discovery Service-enabled system supporting discovery of network systems for analysis and management. You can use the CDS Integration Tool as part of a new NetMRI installation, or use the tool to extract further insight and value from an existing deployment. Cisco Gold Partner status is required for effective use of the software utility.
NetMRI supports CDS API version 2.0 and uses a NetMRI device or virtual machine to inspect all aspects of a network's Cisco infrastructure to collect the following information:
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