Operations Center Appliances and Requirements

You can use the NetMRI Operations Center on physical or virtual NetMRI appliances.

Infoblox offers NetMRI appliances in several models:

• NetMRI-1102-A (Discontinued–NetMRI 1102-A appliances may operate as collectors only)

NetMRI-1102-A appliances are equipped with two Ethernet ports, labeled MGMT and SCAN. The MGMT port may be used singly as a dedicated management port for the appliance or may operate as the only active port, carrying both management and network monitoring traffic. By default, the appliance is configured to use the MGMT port for both system administration and network analysis functions.

• NetMRI NT-4000

NT-4000 appliances are a next-generation 2U appliance that supports a larger CPU, memory and storage configuration, along with field-replaceable power supplies and disk drives in a RAID-10 array. The NT-4000 appliance may operate as an Operations Center and as a collector appliance. The appliance is equipped with two active Ethernet ports, labeled LAN1 and MGMT. MGMT connects the NT-4000 appliance to the management network and is used for managing the appliance. The LAN1 port is the primary connection to managed networks. (LAN1 may operate as the only active port, carrying both management and network monitoring traffic.) If activated, LAN2 also connects the appliance to managed networks.

• NetMRI NT-1400

The NetMRI NT-1400 is designed for smaller enterprise deployments and for use as a collector for Operations Center deployments. The appliance is equipped with two active Ethernet ports, labeled LAN1 and MGMT. MGMT connects the NT-1400 appliance to the management network and is used for managing the appliance. The LAN1 port is the primary connection to managed networks. (LAN1 may operate as the only active port, carrying both management and network monitoring traffic.) If activated, LAN2 also connects the appliance to managed networks.

• NetMRI NT-2200

The NetMRI NT-2200 appliances are higher-capacity and higher-speed appliances that may operate as both Operations Center appliances and as collectors. The appliance is equipped with two active Ethernet ports, labeled LAN1 and MGMT. MGMT connects the NT-2200 appliance to the management network and is used for managing the appliance. The LAN1 port is the primary connection to managed networks. (LAN1 may operate as the only active port, carrying both management and network monitoring traffic.) If activated, LAN2 also connects the appliance to managed networks.

• NetMRI VM

A virtual machine version of NetMRI installed in a virtual infrastructure platform. You can use NetMRI VMs as collectors and as an Operations Center. A NetMRI VM performance should be sufficient to handle a required number of devices. For more information on how to ensure this, see Benchmarking for the Operations Center. Also, see Virtual Machine Best Practices.

Note: In the Operations Center context, when an appliance acts as the Operations Center it uses only a single port, which is the MGMT port for the NT-1400, NT-2200, or NT-4000. Collectors may use multiple interfaces for network discovery and management, including 802.1q virtual scan interfaces. Typically, both the LAN1 and LAN2 ports are used in this manner on each Collector appliance. For more information, see Configuring Network Interfaces for Operations Center.

In this document, all hardware models are treated generically and referred to as a "NetMRI appliance." Any currently sold appliance model can operate as a NetMRI Operations Center central node.

Infoblox NetMRI appliances should always be supported by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to avoid data corruption problems in cases of a power outage.