NetMRI collects large quantities of low-level device data that can be viewed at any time. During troubleshooting, experienced admins can use low-level device information to help solve problems. The tool for viewing any device's diverse array of information is called the Device Viewer.

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All Device Viewer windows provide a special Device Actions icon at the top. Click this icon for a menu offering useful tools for viewing related information about the chosen device.

• Tools: Run Ping/Traceroute, SNMP Walk, Cisco Command (where appropriate), or run Discovery Diagnostic against the selected device.
• Topology Viewer: Display the topology in which the selected device resides, based on L2 or L3 characteristics of the network. The Topology appears in a separate popup window.

The Device Viewer organizes information about the currently displayed device in the following sections of its accordion menu (some of these sections may only appear for certain device types):

• Network Analysis: section provides.
• Device/Network Explorer: This section provides networking information associated with the current device, including Device Identification, Device Location, Component Inventory, Open Services, CDP Neighbors, L2/L3 neighboring interfaces (Neighbors), Custom Data, LLDP neighbors, and Device History, which lists the Discovery history for the device.
• Interfaces: Provides configuration information, the address table, and performance statistics.
• Router: Provides router-specific information.
• Switch: Provides switch-specific information.
• Settings & Status: Displays device general settings, management status, SNMP credentials, CLI credentials, configuration file collection settings, logs, and device support information.

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The Device Viewer's Issues page (Device Viewer –> Network Analysis –> Issues) lists issues associated with the selected device in the network.

The Detected Changes chart provides an adjustable view of issue trends for the current device. The time period resides on the horizontal X-axis, and the measurement, in the number of issues, is on the vertical Y-axis. Click the Time Selector drop-down menu to change the X-axis time period for the Historic chart.

The Detected Changes chart displays up to the following four data sets: Adds, indicating the number of new issues for each time period, Same, indicating Issues the time period that remain from the preceding time period; Cleared, indicating issues that have been cleared from the system due to administrative remediation or other causes; and Suppressed, which shows the relative quantity of Issues that have been suppressed due to admin configuration of Issues that may be deemed to produce excessive notifications in each time period. Issue counts for each time increment appear as stacked bars in the chart. Move the mouse over any colored bar section to view the count for that Issue type.

• Adds: New issues.
• Same: Issues still present.
• Drops: Issues no longer present.
• Supp: Suppressed issues.

You can also perform the following:

• To change the date covered by the display, click the date hyperlink in the upper left corner.
• To change the period covered by the display, open the Period list (in the header) and click the desired period.
• To view a description of an issue, hover over the issue hyperlink. A description appears in a tooltip.
• To view additional issue details, click the issue hyperlink. The Issue Viewer opens for the specific issue and device.

To filter the issues table by activity type:

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The Policy Compliance page (Device Viewer > Network Analysis > Policy Compliance) lists policies run against the device and the outcomes of those policies. If no policies execute against the device during the time period set by the Date/Period drop-down menu in the Policy Compliance title bar, the page is blank.

Also, see Policy Design Center for more information on NetMRI's Policy Compliance feature set.

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The Device Viewer's Device/Network Explorer section (Device Viewer –> Device/Network Explorer) shows a substantial body of critical information about a selected device relative to other network elements. Device/Network Explorer conveys many details about the relative location of the device in the network, and aspects of its operating state. The "location" of the device is described by its SNMP identity, with many other pieces of information about the network switch, router, or other entity.

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To enter new custom data for the device currently shown in the Device Viewer, complete the following:

1. Click New. The Add new custom field data dialog appears.
2. Open the Name field and select a field by name.
3. Enter a corresponding Value.
4. Click Save & Close.

To edit custom data, complete the following:

1. Click the Edit button for the field.
2. Change the data value.
3. Click the Save & Close button.

To delete data, click the Delete button, then confirm the deletion.

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The Identification page (Device Viewer > Device/Network Explorer > Device Identification) displays identification information — gathered from a variety of collectors — for the device currently displayed in the Device Viewer. This page lists the identification discovery sources used to determine the device (normally SNMP), a listing of the discovered SNMP Data, and the operating system. Identification information is used to initially determine the type of device being accessed. Since identification information from different sources (listed in the Identification Discovery Sources table) is sometimes conflicting or incorrect, it is possible that a device type or name will initially be incorrect. Over time, as more detailed data is gathered from the device, the device type and/or name are corrected.

The SNMP Data table lists SNMP and OS information, if available, about the device.

The O/S History table lists all the OS versions discovered by NetMRI over time, for the specific device.

Checking Device Locations

The Device Location page (Device Viewer > Device/Network Explorer > Device Location) shows the location of a selected device relative to other network elements. Connectivity information is listed across Switchport, Subnet, Network Views, and VLAN tabs. Device Location shows all switch ports adjacent to the selected device where applicable, the subnetworks to which the device connects (in the Subnets tab) and VLANs (in the VLANs tab) containing the device.

In the Network Views tab, the device’s local interfaces are listed with their respective Network View membership and their VRF Network Name if applicable to the device.

Viewing Component Inventory

The Component Inventory page (Device Viewer > Device/Network Explorer > Component Inventory) lists all hardware information for the device, if SNMP data is available. Specific data depends on the vendor platform, and may include hardware revision, firmware revision, model number, and serial number. The page lists all installed interfaces and the chassis for the device. The chassis listing also provides the network device’s serial number and model number. To display or hide columns in the table,  click a column header menu, select Columns in the drop-down menu, and then select the columns you want to display in the table.

Viewing Open Services on a Device

The Open Services page (Device Viewer > Device/Network Explorer > Open Services) lists all TCP and UDP ports that are currently open on the device. This feature not only gives you a picture of what the selected device is doing – but it can also give you a quick view of possible security holes in the device’s basic configuration. Based on the device type, NetMRI will expect certain services to be configured on the device, and those values will appear in the Expected Service column as the protocol name. Devices will often show services such as telnet, BootP, or SNMP as a service. Services that are detected as being actively used on the device appear in the Verified Service column.

Should a Listen Address value appear as 0.0.0.0, it indicates that the service is configured to run on all ports on the device.

Many devices that operate as switches or routers will not run any additional services and will show no records on this page.

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The CDP Neighbors page (Device Viewer > Device/Network Explorer > CDP Neighbors) lists information from any Cisco devices that support and transmit announcements from the proprietary data-link-layer Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP). The table lists all remote devices that have exchanged information with the current device using CDP announcements, including the local interface ID receiving CDP announcements, the neighbor's IP address, the neighboring device's DNS name and interface ID, the reported neighbor's "platform", which is the model of the CDP-supporting switch or router, and the Neighbor Capabilities, which indicates the basic functions of each CDP-neighboring device.

You can also select additional columns of information for detected CDP neighbors, including the following:

• VRF: The local interface's VRF, if applicable.
• Neighbor VRF: The VRF belonging to the neighboring interface.
• Network View: The network view belonging to the local interface.
• Neighbor Network View: The network view to which the neighboring interface belongs, if applicable.
• Neighbor Version: This shows the complete IOS software version for each reported neighbor.
• Neighbor ifindex: This is a Cisco-defined value for SNMP used as a unique identifying number associated with physical and logical interfaces.
• Neighbor MAC: This shows the physical-layer MAC address of each CDP-reporting neighboring interface.

Many device vendors do not support CDP. In those cases, they usually support the IEEE standard Link-Layer Discovery Protocol.

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The LLDP Neighbors page (Device Viewer > Device/Network Explorer > LLDP Neighbors) supports all devices running the LLDP protocol. The table lists all remote devices that are LLDP neighbors of the current device, listed against all local interfaces that report LLDP neighbors, and provides collected information regarding those devices from LLDP, including their identity, capabilities, and their own respective neighbors.

You can also select additional columns of information for detected LLDP neighbors, including the following:

• VRF: The network view belonging to the local interface that is connected to the discovered neighbor. This membership relation is inherited from the 'Network View' assignment of the local VRF in charge of this interface traffic.
• Network View: The network view belonging to the local interface.
• Neighbor Network View: The network view to which the neighboring interface belongs, if applicable.
• Neighbor Version: Shows the complete IOS software version.
• Neighbor ifindex: A standards-defined value for SNMP used as a unique identifying number associated with physical and logical interfaces, in this case for the LLDP protocol.
• Neighbor MAC: Shows the physical-layer MAC address of each LLDP-reporting neighboring interface.

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The Neighbors page (Device Viewer > Device/Network Explorer > Neighbors) lists devices that NetMRI determines to be adjacent to the device at Level 2. This feature does not describe neighboring devices at Level 3.

Layer 2 neighbors can report a substantial body of information. Typically, only the VLAN ID, VLAN Name, Neighbor (in its resolved DNS name), and the Neighbor Interface ID are reported. You can display many more data columns, including (but not limited to) the following:

• VRF Name: The listed name of the local interface's VRF network, if applicable.
• Neighbor VRF Name: The listed name of the neighboring interface's VRF, if applicable.
• Neighbor Network View: The listed name of the neighboring device's network view, if the device is in a different network view.
• Network View: The network view to which the device belongs.
• Root Bridge Address: This is the MAC address ID of the root bridge in the spanning tree.
• Interface MAC and Neighbor MAC: These are MAC addresses of the listed local and neighboring interfaces.
• Neighbor Type: These are typically Switch or Switch-Router in NetMRI.
• Device Assurance: The probability that NetMRI has correctly identified the type of a given device.
• Ifindex: The local interface index value into the SNMP table (ifTable).
• Interface Type: Typically appears as ethernet-csmacd on switched-Ethernet networks.
• Neighbor Location: A plain-language notation of the physical location of the device associated with the neighboring interface.
• Neighbor ifindex: The index value into the SNMP table (ifTable) that the L2 neighbor is associated with.

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The Custom Data page (Device Viewer > Device/Network Explorer > Custom Data) displays any configured custom data fields that are used to provide additional information for user visibility in the Device Viewer. Custom data fields are represented by new columns that can be selected for display in a table.

Custom data also appears in tables available on the Network Explorer > Inventory page. To define custom data, click the Settings icon > General Settings > Custom Fields page.

See Defining and Using Custom Fields and Verifying Field Content In Device Viewer and Interface Viewer for more information on the use of custom fields in the Device Viewer.

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For Ethernet switches and L2/L3 switch-routers, NetMRI provides the device management history for the device currently shown in the Device Viewer. The key values are the First Seen and Last Seen values, which show the date and time when the device was first discovered and polled by NetMRI and the timestamp for the most recent device polling occurrence.

In rare cases you may see this option in the Device Viewer for a Firewall. By default, the Device History table shows eight columns of data, including the following:

• First Seen: The timestamp for the first occasion where the device was successfully discovered by NetMRI.
• Last Seen: The timestamp indicating when the device was last polled by NetMRI. If the device is still connected, this field will reflect current timestamp values from the last network polling by the appliance.
• Device Name: The configured device name.
• IP Address: The IP address of the device.
• DNS Name: The DNS name for the device.
• Description: The description that was collected for the device.
• Poll Duration: The period of time in seconds required for the most recent polling cycle for the device. This value may change from poll cycle to poll cycle.

Other fields can be selected for appearance in the table.

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The Interfaces section (Device Viewer > Interfaces) provides a survey of key discovered data for all interfaces of the chosen networking device. Each interface link in the table provides a shortcut menu with several useful port management features as follows:

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The Device Viewer > Interfaces > Configuration page lists all the interfaces supported by the device and their basic port configurations. By default, the table lists the VRF Name for the interface (if any), the configured speed, administrative state, duplex settings, admin state, and operational state, and the timestamp for the last configuration change. Additional information can be displayed using the Columns option available via column header menus.

The Configuration page conveys a substantial quantity of information about the list of interfaces for a device, much of which is hidden by default. Useful data points include the following:

• VRF Name: The virtual network to which the interface belongs.
• Network View: The NetMRI Network View to which the interface belongs.

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If the administrative and operational states for an interface are inconsistent, data in that row are displayed in red.

• To view comprehensive data for an interface, click a hyperlink in the Interface column. This displays the Interface Viewer in a separate window.

Viewing the Device’s Address Table

The Device Viewer > Interfaces > Address Table page lists the ARP table records captured by NetMRI during device discovery and polling. ARP tables consist of the IP addresses and MAC addresses assigned to the interfaces supported by the device. Effectively, this page shows the ARP table for the selected router or switch device. It also shows the VRF Name for each interface (if any). If the device is running IPv6, the records from the device’s Neighbor Discovery Protocol processes are shown.Should you display this page for a firewall device, you will see a list of the Inside, Outside, and DMZ interfaces for the firewall, appearing as the standard interface information for the device, including the Interface name, Description, IP Address, and MAC Address.

Should you display this page for a switch, the Interfaces table also lists the VLAN assignment for each port.

To view comprehensive data for an interface, click a hyperlink in the Interface column.

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The Device Viewer > Interfaces > Performance page shows performance statistics, including utilization rates, error rates, and broadcast levels for each of the interfaces supported by the device. You can also access performance charts for any interface on the chosen device. The table also lists each interface's VRF membership, where applicable.

By default, the table lists configured speed, throughput, percent utilization, percent errors, percent broadcasts, and percent discards, but additional information can be displayed using the Columns option available via column header menus.

• To view comprehensive data for an interface, click a hyperlink in the Interface column. The Interface Viewer appears, where you can browse through all detected information for the interface.
• To view historical performance charts, click a hyperlink in the Thruput, %Util, %Errors, or %Bcasts columns. The Interface Viewer appears, displaying the series of performance charts for the interface selected when you clicked the link. %Util indicates the utilization level for the port. %Bcasts indicates the level of broadcast traffic on the port.

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You can check licensing status for NetMRI–managed firewall devices in the Device Viewer. The License page (Device Viewer > Firewall > License) applies only to Firewall devices and the information provided is derived from the vendor license information for the device itself (e.g. licensing purchased from Cisco), not for any licensing in NetMRI.

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The Router section (Device Viewer –> Router section) provides protocol and connectivity information for the router or switch/router currently displayed in the Device Viewer, including the complete routing table, information on any dynamic routing protocols the device is running, ARP (IPv4) and Neighbor Discovery records (IPv6). All tables in this category apply for devices supporting both IPv4 and IPv6.

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For devices with routing capability that are locally configured to support virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instances, the VRF Table page provides the complete list of present VRF instances in the device. The VRF Table panel lists the VRF instance with columns in the following order:

• VRF Name: The listed name of each discovered VRF instance in the device.
• Network View: The network view to which the VRF instance is associated.
• VRF RD: 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 uses this value. For related information, see Summarizing Route Targets.
• VRF Description: Displays the description if the VRF instance is configured with a description on the device.
• Route Limit: If configured for the VRF, shows the maximum number of allowed routes permitted for the VRF instance.
• Warning Limit: If configured, shows the warning threshold to prevent exceeding the Route Limit count.
• Current Count: The current number of routes in the VRF instance.
• Timestamp: The date and time during which the device's VRF instances were last polled by NetMRI. By default, rows are sorted ascending alphabetically based on VRF names.

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The ARP/ND Table page displays the MAC address-to-IP address (ARP table) mappings most recently retrieved from the device, applied specifically to IPv4 devices. If the device supports IPv6, Neighbor Discovery mappings, including link-local values, also appear here (hence the ND in the table name). If the device is dual-stack, both sets of values appear. If the IP address matches a device that has already been discovered, the corresponding hyperlink can be used to open the Device Viewer for that device.

A column titled Network View lists the network view in which each local interface is participating. NetMRI hides this column by default. This value appears only for VRF-aware devices. If a device's interface is not attached to a VRF interface, its data is routed through the global routing table for the device and lists the global network view used for that network.

Another column, VRF Name, lists the local virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instance in the router to which the interface is bound.

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The Route Table page shows the routing information most recently retrieved from the device, including hyperlinks to corresponding interfaces and "next hop" devices. If the device supports IPv6, this table view also shows the current router's neighbors' link-local addresses as next hops in the table.

A column titled Network View lists the network view in which each of the device's local interfaces is participating. NetMRI hides this column by default. If a device's interface is not attached to a VRF interface, its data is routed through the global routing table for the device and lists the global network view used for that network.

Another column, VRF Name, lists the local virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instance in the router to which the interface is bound, if any.

At the top of the Route Table page, the Routing Problems and Unreachables table provides a number of specific issue counts related to the device: No Route Discards, Routing Discards, ICMP Redirect Messages, ICMP Destination Unreachable Messages, ICMP Redirects Sent, and ICMP Time Exceeded Messages.

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The OSPF page lists the characteristics for the selected device if it is running the Open Shortest Path First protocol, a popular internal gateway routing protocol. The Device Viewer OSPF page divides into these two tables:

• OSPF Area Table: Listing the OSPF administrative Areas to which the router belongs.
• OSPF Neighbor Table: Listing all routers and router interfaces to which the current router has established OSPF adjacencies and exchanged link-state databases.

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The OSPF Neighbor Table displays the following information:

• Neighbor Name: The discovered name of the OSPF neighbor router.
• Neighbor IP Address: The IP address of the adjacent neighboring interface.
• Network View: Lists the NetMRI network view associated to the device's interface that connects to its discovered OSPF neighbor. Clicking the link opens the Network View Viewer window, which lists the AssociatedVRFs and the ImportedVRFs for the network view.
• Neighbor Router ID: The configured Router ID for the neighboring OSPF router (different value from the neighboring interface).
• Neighbor State: In a functioning OSPF adjacency, this value will show as Full.

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The BGP Neighbor Table displays the following information by default (other fields can be added to the table):

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The HSRP page lists the characteristics for all Cisco routers supporting the Hot Standby Routing Protocol and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol, which are typically used for Cisco VPN concentrators. Tables in this page list all HSRP groups supported by the device, and additional details for each group.

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The QoS page and its tables apply only to QoS information for Cisco routers, displaying the number of packets and drops per Quality of Service queue during the time period (above the table) selected for the page. The QoS page divides into the three following tabs:

• QoS Table: Shows the broad picture of QoS operation in the chosen device.
• QoS Daily Table: Daily performance records of the current router's QoS configuration.
• Raw QoS Data: Raw packet counts for each of the queues for the currently selected router.

Proper QoS operation depends on two factors. First, the configuration must be done correctly across many devices. Any difference in configuration may result in packets not being properly queued, resulting in high latency, jitter or packet loss, particularly on congested links.

The second factor involves monitoring the operational characteristics of QoS. Operational characteristics include elements such as packet volume per queue and packet drops per queue. These are reflected in the QoS Table and QoS Daily Table. The operational data can indicate network misconfigurations and data flow changes that no longer match assumptions made during the network's design.

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NetMRI automatically identifies routers configured with QoS and collects operational data on each configured queue. There are no configuration options within NetMRI that affect the identification of queues and collection of operational data. The analysis identifies operational signatures of potential problems such as oversubscribed interfaces.

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Any QoS queue that is dropping packets is identified. The relative priority of the queue determines the severity level of the issue that is generated in the Issue List. The table below shows the severity generated for each queue's Per-Hop Behavior (PHB) and DSCP value that are commonly associated with applications. Drops in high priority queues will generate Error issues, while medium priority queues generate Warning issues. The lowest priority queues, including the scavenger queue, generate Info issues.

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Application

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PHB

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DSCP

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Issue Severity

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Link Layer keepalives

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CS7

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56

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Error

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Routing

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CS6

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48

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Error

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Voice

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EF

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46

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Error

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CS5

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40

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Error

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AF43

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38

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Info

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AF42

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36

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Warning

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Interactive Video

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AF41

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34

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Error

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Streaming Video

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CS4

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32

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Error

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AF33

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30

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Info

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AF32

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28

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Warning

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Mission Critical

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AF31

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26

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Error

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Call Signaling

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CS3

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24

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Error

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AF23

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22

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Info

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AF22

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20

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Info

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Transactional Data

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AF21

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18

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Warning

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Network Management

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CS2

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16

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Warning

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AF13

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14

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Info

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AF12

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12

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Info

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Bulk Data

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AF11

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10

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Info

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Scavenger

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CS1

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8

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Info

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Best Effort

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0

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0

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Info

When a high priority queue drops packets, it indicates that insufficient bandwidth may be allocated to that queue. Sometimes this occurs because the queue definition is based on network traffic volume assumptions that no longer apply. For example, a queue configured to handle four simultaneous voice calls may be dropping packets because more than four simultaneous calls are being handled.

Conversely, when many (or all) queues are dropping packets, the entire link may be oversubscribed and the only valid remediation is to add more bandwidth. In this scenario, the high priority queues use nearly all the bandwidth and will still drop packets because the offered load is greater than the available bandwidth. Because there is little remaining bandwidth, low priority queues will also drop packets.

When a QoS queue drop is detected during the analysis of the collected data, an issue appears on the issue list. Clicking on the issue hyperlink opens the issue in the Issue Viewer, where information is displayed about each queue that experienced the drops. The Issue Viewer provides several hyperlinks to access related information.

• To open the Device Viewer, click a hyperlink in the IP Address column.
• To open the Interface Viewer, click a hyperlink in the Interface column.
• To open the Quality of Service Viewer, click a hyperlink in the Policy Name column.

The Quality of Service Viewer provides charts showing dropped packets (quantity and percentage) versus time.

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NetMRI divides Ethernet switch information into a separate Switch section (Device Viewer > Switch) to provide discrete information for the switch currently shown in the Device Viewer.

The Switch pages provide a substantial amount of information, divided into five categories: VLAN, VLAN Trunks, VLAN Changes, Port Config, and Forwarding. Consult the topics below for more information.

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The device viewer VLANs page (Device Viewer > Switch > VLANs) provides a summary table for all of the VLANs provisioned in the selected switch.

The Active VLANs (Device Viewer > Switch > VLANs > Active VLANs) table provides some important information for checking the switch's VLAN configuration and its status in the network.

The Active VLANs table lists all VLANs being supported by the device, including the root bridge for each VLAN and elements such as the Root Priority, Switch Priority, Root Cost, and the Spanning Tree Protocol. Root Bridge Priority values are used in the election process of a root bridge for a particular VLAN.

A root bridge is selected by setting a switch's root priority value to a lower value in comparison to other switches. The root bridge priority value defaults to 32768 for most platforms and the maximum value is 65535; the minimum value is 0. The bridge priority value is combined with the MAC address ID for the switch to determine the spanning-tree root bridge for the network. This resulting value propagates through the switched network in Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs) from the root bridge, to ensure that the devices in the switched network agree on the identity of the root bridge.

Should all switches in the network retain the same value, an election takes place in which the switch with the lowest MAC address becomes the root bridge. Many older Ethernet switches may have lower Ethernet MAC address values and may thus be automatically elected as the root bridge for many VLANS in the network, even though the switch will not have the processing or memory to handle the load. To ensure the 'correct' switch is elected as the root, the best practice is to set the desired core switch's bridge priority to a relatively low value such as 8000; then, a second root bridge is chosen as a backup root and its priority set to a slightly higher value.

Listed in the Active VLANs page, the switch priority of a VLAN is the value defined in the local switches' configuration as the candidate value for election as the root.

The root cost value in the table is the cumulative cost of all links in the current VLAN leading to the root bridge. VLANIDs that show a value of 0 are not participating in the spanning tree.

The Spanning Tree Protocol column reports the version of the spanning tree protocol being run on each switch interface. A normal value for this column is ieee8021d.

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The VLAN Configuration table (Device Viewer > Switch > VLANs > VLAN Configuration) lists configuration information for each VLAN supported by the device. Configuration settings for each VLAN include the three key STP timers Hello Time, Max Age and Fwd Delay for both the local bridge (on each VLAN, these are called Current values) and its root bridge (called Bridge values). For the current switch's VLANs, the Current Hello Time shows the time intervals between the transmission of configuration bridge PDUs (BPDUs), which flow outward from the root bridge as notifications of its root status to the other switches in the spanning tree.

The Current Max Age is the time period that an installed root's BPDU is stored by the selected switch. The Cisco default value is 20 seconds. The Current Fwd Delay value is the time period, in seconds that the current device spends in the Listening and Learning states. Among other things, it indicates how long the bridging table ages before the device switches from Forwarding mode to Listening mode. Fwd Delay also affects how quickly the switch responds to a change in topology.

The Bridge Hello Time, Bridge Max Age, and Bridge Fwd Delay values are the corresponding values dictated by the root bridge through its BPDUs to all the other bridges in the switched network, including to the current device. Most deployments require careful consideration before changing spanning tree protocol timing values, and such values should normally be modified only at the root bridge.

The figure above illustrates the principles. The root bridge advertises its Bridge Max Age = 2000, Bridge Hello Time = 200, and Bridge Fwd Delay = 1500 in the BPDUs it sends to the other switches in the network through VLAN 60. Those values are in turn used by the other switches in the network to configure their respective Max Age, Hello Time, and Fwd Delay settings (all labeled as Current in the table). In the current switch, those three STP timer values are set to the same values because they are determined by the three values communicated through the root bridge BPDUs.

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The VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) is a Cisco-proprietary method for communicating VLAN information across switch ports between Catalyst switches. Other solutions to the same problem include the non-proprietary 802.1Q. NetMRI supports and reports upon both varieties of VLAN trunking depending upon the switch vendor.

The VLAN Trunks page (Device Viewer > Switch > VLAN Trunks) presents all ports on the current switch that have 802.1Q or VTP configured in some way, whether the protocol is in operation or is simply enabled. The complete list of interfaces in the current switch device appears, showing both the Dynamic State (on, off, or auto) and the Dynamic Status of each port (trunking or notTrunking). Should a port be set as a VLAN trunk, its Dynamic Status will show trunking. The VLAN Trunks page also lists links for each Peer switch and Peer Interface.

Clicking the link for the trunking interface in the VLAN Trunks list displays the Interface Viewer. Its VLAN Name listing appears as TRUNKING, along with the peer switch name, the neighbor MAC address (not the MAC for the neighboring interface), and the neighboring port ID.

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The VLAN Changes page (Device Viewer > Switch > VLAN Changes) presents a zoomable bar chart reflecting the frequency of VLAN topology changes in the network. You can perform basic troubleshooting of problems in the spanning tree network, as VLAN changes usually occur as a result of topology changes in the network, as for example when a switch port goes down and the spanning tree has to reconverge around a different set of designated ports. To display the history for a specific VLAN, open the VLAN list (in the header), then click the VLAN name. Clicking a bar object in the chart displays the event log describing the change.

Click and drag the mouse across any part of the chart to zoom into a data set. To zoom back out, click Show All in the chart.

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The Port Config page (Device Viewer > Switch > Port Config) lists all the ports on the chosen switch, the VLAN provisioned for each port, and basic information such as the port state, the Port Fast state, and the administrative and operational state of each switch port (Up or Down). Non-normal data appears in red. The port state can show one of five different values, as follows:

• Forwarding: The port is sending and receiving user data.
• Learning: The switch is building the bridging table.
• Listening: The switch port is sending and receiving bridging PDUs in an effort to determine the active switching topology.
• Blocking: Where the port is only allowed to receive bridging PDUs but otherwise passes no user traffic.
• Disabled: The port is administratively down.

In a stable spanning-tree network, only Blocking and Forwarding states will typically be seen. The Forwarding state is the only state in which the switch port transmits user data PDUs.

The Interface column provides links to the Interface viewer for every switch port. The VLAN ID and VLAN Name columns column provides links to the VLAN viewer, in which you see the list of devices participating in the VLAN.

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This page provides a quick view of the forwarding configuration for all switch ports in the current device. The Forwarding page lists the VLAN ID, local interface IDs, MAC address, IP address, neighboring device name, and device type, and the neighboring interface ID for each switchport in the current device. Each Local Interface and neighboring Interface listing is a link to the Interface Viewer for the port.

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The Config page displays information about the selected wireless access point device. Information includes the following:

• Timestamp: The date and time when the device was last queried by NetMRI.
• Interface: Lists the interface for the device. As an example, for Cisco devices, you will typically see interfaces such as Do0 for dot11radio 0. This item is also a link to the Interface Viewer.
• Station ID: If configured, the numeric value station ID number for the device defaults to 0.
• Service set ID (SSID): The natural-language service set identifier.
• Role: Indicates the role in the radio network defined for the device, if any (uses the Cisco station-role command). Possible values include Root Bridge (roleRoot), Non-Root Bridge, Root Bridge with Wireless Clients, Non-Root Bridge with Wireless Clients, and Universal Workgroup Bridge.
• WEP Enabled: Indicates whether the WEP protocol is enabled for use on the device. WEP uses static encryption keys and is generally considered to be obsoleted by the newer WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) protocol.
• WEP Allowed: Indicates whether WEP authentication is allowed on the device.
• WEP Errors: The count of WEP errors detected by the wireless device.
• Key Len 1-4: The specified WEP key lengths, if any.

For devices running Aironet or Cisco IOS-based software, the page displays information about the auxiliary SSID configuration and algorithms used on the device.

Viewing Wireless Forwarding Information

The Forwarding page displays the forwarding information collected from wireless devices. The table displays the following information:

• Timestamp: The date and time when the device was queried by NetMRI.
• MAC: The MAC address of the mobile station.
• Remote IP: The discovered IPv4 network address of the device.
• Remote Device: The name or ID of the device.
• Status: The status of the mobile station.
• Username: The user name of the mobile station if applicable.
• Class: The discovered general 802.11 classification of the device.
• SSID: The service set identifier (SSID) provided by the mobile station.
• Vlan: The VLAN ID of the interface the client is associated with.
• Bss Device: The ID or name of the base station subsystem (BSS).

Viewing Wireless Access Points

The Access Points page displays information about access points for wireless controllers. The table displays the following information:

• IP: The IP address of the access point.
• Sub Device: The identification number of the access point.
• Name: The name assigned to the access point.
• Location: The user-specified location of the access point.
• MAC: The MAC address of the access point.
• OP Status: The operation state of the access point.
• SW Version: The software version of the access point.
• Boot Version: The boot version of the access point.
• Model: The model of the access point.
• Serial Number: The serial number of the access point.
• Type: The type of the access point.
• Vlan: The name of the VLAN the access point is associated with.
• Admin Status: The admin state of the access point.
• OS Version: The IOS version of the IOS Cisco access point.
• Num of Slots: The number of radio interfaces on the access point.
• Monitor Only: The status of the Monitor Only setting.

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The SSIDs page lists the service set identifiers defined on the current wireless access point device. The SSID is a unique identifier that wireless networking devices use to establish and maintain wireless connectivity. Multiple access points on a network or subnetwork may use the same SSIDs. As an example, Cisco Aironet devices support up to 16 SSIDs and support different configuration settings for each SSID. All SSIDs are simultaneously active, depending on configuration, wireless client devices can associate to the access point using any SSID.

Data points include the following:

• Interface: Lists the interface for the device. As an example, for Cisco devices, you will typically see interfaces such as Do0 for dot11radio 0. This item is also a link to the Interface Viewer.
• SSID Index: The index value for the listed service set ID.
• SSID: The natural-language service set identifier.
• Max Stations: A radio setting defining the maximum number of connected client stations for the wireless device. The default setting is 255.
• MIC Algorithm: A WEP encryption setting that prevents certain attacks on WEP-encrypted packets. If none is used, this value reads micNone.
• Permute Algorithm: Lists the WEP permute algorithm configured for each SSID. This setting defines how the WEP encryption key is permuted between key renewal periods for stations associated with the radio interface.
• Broadcast SSID: Also called Guest Mode in Cisco IOS. The default guest SSID is identified in Aironet devices as tsunami. Any access point will have either a single guest-mode SSID or none. This data point identifies the guest SSID advertised by the access point beacon for guest use, if any.

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The Authentication page lists the current wireless access point’s authentication settings groups. Each group has at least one unique setting to distinguish it. Data points include the following:

• Interface: Lists the interface for the device. As an example, for Cisco devices you will typically see interfaces such as Do0 for dot11radio 0. This item is also a link to the Interface Viewer.
• Auth Enabled: Shows whether authentication is required in the authentication configuration group. This field will show a value of Yes or No.
• EAP Required: Indicates whether the access point requires the Extensible Authentication Protocol to provide dynamic WEP keys to wireless devices. This field will show a value of Yes or No.
• EAP Method: If enabled, possible EAP values include Open or Shared Key authentication.
• MAC Auth Required: Indicates whether the AP uses MAC Address authentication, using the wireless client's MAC address to verify with an authentication server whether the MAC is allowed on the network. This field will show a value of Yes or No.
• MAC Auth Method: If enabled, this indicates whether EAP authentication is required for MAC address authentication or if a MAC address list is being used. An access point configured for EAP authentication forces all client devices that associate to it, to perform EAP authentication.
• Default VLAN: Cisco Aironet wireless access points use three VLANs: VLAN 2, VLAN 20, and VLAN 30. One is set as the 'native' VLAN, one as the SSID administrative VLAN, and one as the SSID guest VLAN. The value shown here is the discovered listing for the default native VLAN on the radio interface.
• Auth Algorithm: The discovered SSID authentication algorithm that is configured for each settings group.

Viewing Wireless Hot Standby Information

The Hot Standby information page displays information about hot standby monitoring. The table displays the following information:

• Monitored IP Address: The IP address of the monitored device.
• Monitored Device: The ID or name of the monitored device.
• MAC: The MAC address of the target unit which is being monitored.
• In Standby: Indicates whether the current unit is in its monitoring mode which means that the unit is or will be a hot standby device.
• Status: The current status of the hot standby device.
• State: The current state of the hot standby device.
• Polling Frequency: How often the monitored target unit is being polled for health testing. The frequency value is displayed in seconds.
• Timeout: How long the monitoring unit can fail to collect information from the monitored target unit. After this time, one more failure of the polling triggers the standby unit to assume the role of the monitored unit. The timeout value is displayed in seconds.

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The Device Viewer provides a General Settings page (Device Viewer > Settings & Status > General Settings) in which you can perform the following:

• Enable/disable SNMP data gathering for the device.
  Under SNMP Status, select Enabled to enable SNMP collection for the current device, and select Disabled to disable SNMP collection.
• Enable SNMP debugging as a troubleshooting aid.
  Under SNMP Debug, select Enabled to enable SNMP debugging for the device. For more information, see the Collecting Troubleshooting Data topic.
• Enable SDN debugging as a troubleshooting aid.
  Under SDN Debug, select Enabled to enable SDN debugging for the device. For more information, see the Collecting Troubleshooting Data topic.
• Override the device Name and Type determined automatically by the appliance. This triggers rediscovery. For more information, see Overriding Device Names and Types in the Device Viewer.
• Override the config change setting specified in the Device Group to define config collection for the device as Locked or Unlocked.
• Set the Reboot Time, in YYYY-mm-dd hh:mm:ss format, for devices up longer than 497 days.

The Device Group Membership section lists the device groups of which the device is a member.

The Device Group Settings section lists the settings for the highest-ranking device group that includes the device as a member, and a number of scanning and discovery-related statuses specific to the device, including the following:

• SNMP Collection: Whether SNMP collection is enabled or disabled.
• Port Scanning: Whether TCP/UDP port scanning is enabled or disabled.
• Finger Printing: Whether fingerprinting is enabled or disabled.
• NetBIOS Scanning: Whether NetBIOS Name scanning is enabled or disabled.
• ARP Cache Refresh: Whether ARP cache refresh is enabled or disabled.
• Config Collection: Whether configuration file collection is enabled or disabled.
• CCS Collection: Whether CCS scripting data collection is enabled or disabled.
• Vendor Default Collection: Whether vendor default SNMP credentials collection is enabled or disabled.
• Analysis: Whether the device allows analysis functions from NetMRI.
• Config Change: Whether configuration file editing is enabled or disabled.
• Switch Port Mgmt: Whether Switch Port Manager is enabled or disabled for the device.
• Privileged Polling: Whether CLI polling in privileged exec (enable) mode is enabled or disabled for the device.

In all cases, a state of N/A indicates either the device has not been fully discovered and cannot currently support the feature, or the feature does not apply to the device.

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To rename a device, type a new name in the Name field, and then click the Update Device button. You can also define the network through which the device will be managed by NetMRI, change its discovered device type, and change the device's data collection settings.

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• For VRF-ignorant devices, this page shows a Management Network View drop-down menu. The list shows all network views for the device's associated Collector or standalone NetMRI appliance, that each has an assigned scan interface. You may see multiple network views. In cases of this type, possible route-leaking may be taking place from other VRF-aware devices that makes it possible for the current device to be managed from within two or more VRFs; though the device is VRF-ignorant, you can choose the network for which you consider the device to be a member for management purposes.
  • If the NetMRI appliance manages only one network, the Management Network View drop-down will not appear.
  • When the selected device in the Device Viewer is configured to allow only one of its interfaces as its management address, the Management Address drop-down will not appear. Therefore, it is possible for a device to show neither menu or to show both.

SysAdmin users can also change a device management IP using the change_device_management_ip API call. For example: your_NetMRI_URI/api/docs#change_device_management_ip. For more information, refer to the online NetMRI API documentation.

NetMRI attempts to determine the device Type when the device is first discovered. If this determination is incorrect, you can override the device type as described above. To change the device type determined by NetMRI, open the Type list, click the correct device type, and then click the Update Device button.

If a device matching the new type already exists for this IP address, NetMRI deletes the current device and no further action is allowed in the current Device Viewer window.

To stop collecting SNMP data from the device, set the SNMP Status option to Disabled, and then click Update Device.

• You can disable SNMP data collection if a specific device has a memory leak in its SNMP process, or if you do not need detailed information about the device. If disabled, existing network data (if any) remains available for analysis and reporting, and no additional monitoring data is added until this option is enabled.
• If SNMP Status is enabled for a device, SNMP collection will also be determined by collection settings for groups and for the entire network.

To use SNMP debugging as a troubleshooting aid, select Enable for SNMP Debug.

To use SDN debugging as a troubleshooting aid, select Enable for SDN Debug.

To enable or disable the option CLI polling in privileged mode (i.e. Enable mode) for this device in particular, select the necessary option for Privileged Polling. This setting overrides the device group's CLI polling in privileged mode setting. You can also specify to use the Group Default setting here.

To show or hide passwords, in the Show Passwords field, select Yes (to show) or No (to obscure).

To change the community string, type the correct string in the RO Community field, and then click Update Device.

NetMRI automatically attempts to determine the SNMP community string for each discovered device, and periodically checks the community string to determine whether the string has changed.

To specify the SNMP version understood by the device, choose the correct SNMP Version option, and then click Update Device.

To specify whether a configuration change is authorized for the device, select the appropriate Config Change option, and then click Update Device.

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The SNMP sysUpTime counter wraps back to zero at about 497 days, making it difficult to determine exactly how long the device has been operating. Use the Reboot Time field to record the true uptime, as described above.

To remove the device from the network database, click Delete Device, and then click OK in the confirmation window. This deletes the device and closes the Device Viewer window.

If a non-network device (e.g., workstation, printer) does not appear in the network-wide ARP table during a given day and NetMRI cannot contact during that day, the device is automatically removed from the database. Further, any device (regardless of type) is removed from the database if the appliance has not been able to contact it for seven days in a row.

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On rare occasions, Infoblox Technical Support may ask you to collect information about SNMP or SDN communications between NetMRI and a device. You will then be directed to send the SNMP or SDN log to Infoblox for analysis.

1. Open the Device Viewer and then click Settings & Status > General Settings.
2. Set the SNMP Debug or SDN Debug option to Enabled and then click Update.
3. Allow NetMRI to run for a time (typically an hour or two) specified by Infoblox Technical Support.
4. As directed, send the SNMP log to Infoblox for analysis.
5. Set the SNMP Debug or SDN Debug option to Disabled, and then click Update.

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The Management Status page (Device Viewer > Settings & Status > Management Status) displays the same visual indicators as shown for the device in the Network Explorer > Discovery page. Each discovery indicator shows a related status message.

Device credentials are a critical element in ensuring a device can be managed. You can add SNMP and CLI credentials to any individual discovered device. For more information, see Adding and Testing SNMP Credentials for a Device and Adding and Testing CLI Credentials for a Device.

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NetMRI provides an intelligent interface to the selected device's event logs. Event logs are collected only for interactions that the device has with NetMRI.

The Logs page (Device Viewer > Settings & Status > Logs) displays logs documenting interactions NetMRI has had with the device.

To download the log, click the Text hyperlink above the left corner.

After a moment, the browser will show a dialog requesting to download an archive file for the logs from the selected device. The archive contains a concatenated text file, with the logs from the last few days of device operation.

Device credentials are a critical element in ensuring a device can be managed. You can add SNMP and CLI credentials to any individual discovered device. For more information, see Adding and Testing SNMP Credentials for a Device and Adding and Testing CLI Credentials for a Device.

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You can verify data collection activity in the Device Viewer. The Device Support page (Device Viewer > Settings & Status > Device Support) contains three tabs:

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• Licensed: Indicates whether the selected device is counted toward the limit allowed by the NetMRI license. A No listing indicates that NetMRI has discovered more network devices than the license allows.
• Network Device: Indicates whether the device is considered one of the device types that are fully analyzed and eligible to be counted as a licensed device.

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You manage data collection settings through Device Group configuration (see Creating Device Groups for information about group settings for data collection). For example, a simple Cisco router does not support VLANs, and its listing shows No under the Supported column, and a Last Collected: Never message in the Value column. In this case, NetMRI will not attempt to collect VLAN data as the device is not classified as a Switch. When NetMRI encounters a device that it classifies as a Switch but hasn't previously supported, the system will attempt VLAN data collection from the device. The Supported column will reflect No but the Last Collected value may reflect that data collection was possible.

Device credentials are a critical element in ensuring management for a device. You can add SNMP and CLI credentials to any individual discovered device. For more information, see Adding and Testing SNMP Credentials for a Device and Adding and Testing CLI Credentials for a Device.: