Help:Node View

Description

The Node View displays a list of all nodes in the system. By clicking on the checkbox on the left side of each node you can expand the node to see its component interfaces. Similary, each interface listed has a checkbox on the left side which, when selected, will expand it into its component services that are being monitored.

Outages

If a node has at least one interface or service unavailable it will be marked with this icon:

Node:

A node represents a device in the system that contains IP based network interfaces. If the node has been detected as SNMP capable, the label SNMP will be displayed.

[new]

Clicking on [new] will pop up a window that prompts you for the name of the node. Type the name then 'Enter'. A node will be created.

[open]

Clicking on [open] will pop up a new window with just the selected node. This allows you to expand the node, interfaces and services in a seperate window.

In addition to the node/interface/service tree you will see below three panels for viewing 3 kinds of notifications: Interface, Service and Node.

The Interface panel will show (by default) the interface up/down notifications for today. Optionally, you can select to see the last 3 days, the last week or a date range of notifications. Searching is available (see below).

The Service panel will show (by default) the service up/down notifications for today. Optionally, you can select to see the last 3 days, the last week or a date range of notifications. Searching is available (see below).

The Node panel will show (by default) the node notifications for today. Optionally, you can select to see the last 3 days, the last week or a date range of notifications. Searching is available (see below). Node notifications are events received from aware agents (usually on machines other than the machine running the mgmtui server). These events typically are concerned with the status of the local machine such as filesystem sizes, watched logs, cpu usage, etc.

Controlling the Display in the Panels
The following options control the records displayed, each option is a logical AND with the others if used. For example, filling out the 'From Date' will only show records created from the specified date to now. If, in addition, you also filled out 'To Date' then you will only see records created between the 'From' and 'To' dates (inclusive):

From DateIf 'Range' selected and value filled in only show events created equal to or after specified date.
To DateIf 'Range' selected and value filled in only show events created equal to or before specified date.
SearchIf filled in only show alerts with substring like specified string.

[notes]

Clicking on [notes] will display a list of all notes associated with a node. This is a place for administrators to put specific knowledge associated with the node. For example, special instructions or details of incidents might be put in a note. Clicking on [new] will pop up a window where a new note may be created and associated with the node.

[edit]

Clicking on [edit] will pop up a window allowing you to edit 3 properties of the node: Active/Inactive, Name, and the Asset Information. Once you have made your changes, click the 'Update' button to commit them or close the window.

Active
Selecting the Active checkbox will make node and all interfaces assocaited with the node active. Similarly, deselecting the checkbox will deactivate the node and all interfaces associated with the node. Deactivated nodes,interfaces and services are not monitored and do not generate events or alerts.
Name
You can edit the name of the node by changing the text in the textbox.
Asset Information
You can keep a comprehensive asset database of all your equipment by filling out all the asset information presented in the form.

[delete]

Clicking on [delete] will delete the node. This will delete all interfaces and services associated with the node. Deleted nodes are not active and are not displayed. If you want to see deleted nodes, use the Show Deleted control to see deleted groups and to expose the undelete control.

[alerts]

Clicking on [alerts] will pop up a window with a 2 box select allowing you to assign user groups for events associated with this node. Events for this node will generate alerts for users in the associated groups (typically email or pager alerts). These can be acknowledged in the 'Alerts' screen.

[new interface]

Clicking on [new interface] will pop up a window.

If the node has interfaces available for SNMP monitoring then an icon like this:

will appear. Clicking on the

will popup traffic graphs.

Interface:

An interface in the system is associated with an IP address and may have a set of services associated being monitored (e.g., http).

[edit]

Clicking on [edit] will pop up a window allowing you to edit 6 properties of the interface: active/inactive, performance monitoring, SNMP Community, Traffic Monitoring, Probe Timeout and the Probe Cycletime. Once you have made your changes, click the 'Update' button to commit them or close the window.

Active
Selecting the Active checkbox will make the interface and all services associated with the interface active. Similarly, deselecting the checkbox will deactivate the interface and all services associated with the interface. Deactivated nodes,interfaces and services are not monitored and do not generate events or alerts.
Performance Montor
By selecting this checkbox you will enable performance monitoring of 'ping's to the interface. Once an interface has been enabled for performance monitoring, an icon like this: will appear on the right side of the interface listing. Clicking on the will popup performance graphs.
SNMP Community
If the node associated with this interface is known to have SNMP enabled, then set this to a SNMP community string string that would allow read only access to system and interace data.
Traffic Montor
If the SNMP Community was correct for this node then there will be a check box labled 'Traffic Monitor' and the name of the interface being monitored beneath it. Selecting the checkbox will begin traffic monitoring for the interface and enable you to see traffic graphs. Once an interface has been enabled for traffic monitoring, an icon like this: will appear on the right side of the interface listing. Clicking on the will popup traffic graphs.
Probe Timeout
Set this to the number of seconds of unresponsiveness that would indicate an outage.
Probe Schedule Method: Cycle
Select the 'Cycle' radio button to run the probe on a regular simple cycle.
- Probe Cycletime
  Set this to the number of seconds between probes.
Probe Schedule Method: Calendar
Select the 'Calendar' radio button to run the probe at specific times specified by the times in the selection boxes. This control is similar to the Unix 'crontab' specification. You must specify at least one element in each column, the union of which represents the times to run. For example, selecting every item in all columns specifies a cycle of every minute. Selecting all items in each column except for the minute's column where you select just 0 specifies a cycle of every hour on the hour.
Note: with this method the maximum cycle time is 1 minute.
Maintenance Schedule
Select the checkbox to NOT run the probe at specific times specified by the times in the selection boxes. See above description of Probe Schedule Method: Calendar for details on the control. During the selected period no probes will be run and no events will be generated.

[move]

Move this interface to another node. Selecting [move] will pop up a window with a drop down listing all the nodes. Select the node and then select 'Submit', else click on 'Cancel'. This is useful when IP addresses are changed or when interfaces are detected during discovery and not correllated with the correct node.

[delete]

Clicking on [delete] will delete the node. This will delete all services associated with the interface. Deleted interfaces are not active and are not displayed. If you want to see deleted interfaces, use the Show Deleted control to see deleted groups and to expose the undelete control.

[new service]

Clicking on [new service] will pop up a window allowing you to add a service to the interface. There are a number of ways to create a new service:

Selecting a standard service from the drop down.
Selecting a standard service from the drop down and then overiding its name with your own (e.g., instead of http you might want 'my web server').
Totally custom service, where you specify the name, the port and the protocol (TCP or UDP). NOTE: the only UDP service probe currently implemented is DNS.

Service:

A service is assocated with an interface's IP address and a port number. These services are network applications such as http and ftp that listen on the port for service requests.

[edit]

Clicking on [edit] will pop up a window allowing you to edit 5 properties of the interface: Active/Inactive, Performance Monitoring, Name, Probe Timeout and the Probe Cycletime. Once you have made your changes, click the 'Update' button to commit them or close the window.

Active
Selecting the Active checkbox will make the service active. Similarly, deselecting the checkbox will deactivate the service. Deactivated nodes,interfaces and services are not monitored and do not generate events or alerts.
Performance Montor
By selecting this checkbox you will enable performance monitoring of service checks. Once a service has been enabled for performance monitoring, an icon like this: will appear on the right side of the service listing.
Name
Edit the name of the service. You might want to change the name to something specific to your environment (e.g., Oracle is changed to Customer Data Mart).
Probe Timeout
Set this to the number of seconds of unresponsiveness that would indicate an outage. NOTE: some network services are regularly slow to respond causing availability alerts (i.e., flapping). Setting this to a higher number may stop this behavior.
Probe Schedule Method: Cycle
Select the 'Cycle' radio button to run the probe on a regular simple cycle.
- Probe Cycletime
  Set this to the number of seconds between probes.
Probe Schedule Method: Calendar
Select the 'Calendar' radio button to run the probe at specific times specified by the times in the selection boxes. This control is similar to the Unix 'crontab' specification. You must specify at least one element in each column, the union of which represents the times to run. For example, selecting every item in all columns specifies a cycle of every minute. Selecting all items in each column except for the minute's column where you select just 0 specifies a cycle of every hour on the hour.
Note: with this method the maximum cycle time is 1 minute.
Maintenance Schedule
Select the checkbox to NOT run the probe at specific times specified by the times in the selection boxes. See above description of Probe Schedule Method: Calendar for details on the control. During the selected period no probes will be run and no events will be generated.

[delete]

Clicking on [delete] will delete the service. Deleted services are not active and are not displayed. If you want to see deleted services, use the Show Deleted control to see deleted groups and to expose the undelete control.

[go]

This is only available on services that typically have browser support (e.g., http, ftp, telnet). Clicking on [go] will launch a browser with a URL directed at the service. This is useful for quickly testing a service.

Show Edit Controls and Show Deleted

If you have permission to update the data, then you will see displayed on the lower left hand part of the screen two check boxes. One checkbox is labeled Show Edit Controls, if this is checked you will see the various editing controls described in this help page. If this is not checked then the display will be decluttered by removing the edit controls. The Show Deleted check box, if checked will cause the display to show all deleted objects and an associated control to un delete. You may control these display options by clicking on the check box to toggle the checkmark.