To better organize your network map, use hierarchy nodes to set up the network map in much the same way a physical network would be organized.

Networks are usually grouped into clusters. At the lowest level, a room may contain a set of workstations. The next level would be an organizational department, consisting of many rooms. A building may contain several departments, and so on. Hierarchy nodes depict groups of nodes such as rooms, buildings, and cities. Each hierarchy node may contain any number of networks, nodes, and other hierarchy nodes.

To create a hierarchy node

1. From the Edit menu, choose Node Properties.

2. Enter the node name and network address (IP or IPX address) in the corresponding text boxes.

3. Select Auto Icon as the icon.

4. Select Hierarchy as the type and click Add.

The new hierarchy node is added to the active map.

Moving nodes into a hierarchy

A hierarchy node is empty until you move other nodes into it. Then the hierarchy becomes the parent to the nodes it contains.

1. Double-click the hierarchy icon to enter the hierarchy. A new, empty map window is displayed.

2. From the Window menu, choose Tile to organize the two windows (map and submap) side by side.

3. Hold down s and click each node you want to move.

4. Drag the contents from one map window to the other. The nodes are now "inside" the hierarchy node.

Setting default values for new nodes

You can set default values for new nodes. This is useful if you are manually adding many nodes with similar properties.

1. From the Edit menu, choose Default Node Properties.

2. Select a default icon from the Icon box. This is usually set to auto.ico, which lets Network Manager select an icon that reflects the node type.

3. Select a default API program from the Exec box. This is the program launched when you double-click the icon. It's usually set to AUTO.EXE, which lets Network Manager select an appropriate device viewer.

4. Click the Community, Poll Int, and Poll Vars buttons to set default values for the SNMP community strings, poll interval, and poll variables, respectively.

5. Click OK. The values you selected are set as the defaults for new nodes that you create manually.

Deleting nodes and hierarchy trees

1. Select each node or hierarchy tree you want to delete.

2. Press D. The selected items are removed from the map.

This applies to:

LANDesk* Network Manager