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Q1. What is LANDesk* Network Manager?
A1. LANDesk Network Manager is a network management platform based on SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), part of the Internet Protocol suite. SNMP provides standards for managing SNMP-enabled devices such as switches and hubs. This information is organized into a MIB (Management Information Base), a hierarchy with a branch for each device and its available categories of information.
Q2. What devices are supported by LANDesk Network Manager?
A2. Network Manager provides custom device viewers for the Intel Express 100BASE-TX Switching Hub, Intel Express 10/100 Fast Ethernet Switch, Intel Express 100BASE-TX Stackable Hub, Intel Express 10/100 Stackable Hub and many other common devices, as well as generic device viewers for newer or less common devices.
With these device viewers, you can:
- check traffic statistics in tables and graphs
- change the configuration of a device or one of its ports
- change system information such as the IP address
In addition to device viewers, Network Manager provides:
- commands for creating a map of your network
- a MIB browser for viewing raw MIB information from SNMP devices
- tools for tracking trends in network traffic and other statistics
- an alert mechanism to report errors and other key conditions
- the IP utilities BOOTP, TFTP, and Telnet
Q3. How do I create a network map automatically?
A3. When you first start Network Manager or begin to manage a new network, you need to create a map with nodes for the key devices on the network. IP nodes not running SNMP agents may not be found.
Follow these steps to automatically create a network map:
- If a blank map is not open, choose New Map from the File menu.
- From the Edit menu, choose AutoDiscovery. The AutoDiscovery Setup dialog box appears automatically the first time you create a map. After that, click Setup to see this dialog box.
- In the Starting Addresses box, type the IP address of a heavily-used router, switch, or hub. The program starts from here to find other devices. Click Discover IPX Nodes if you have NetWare* servers or workstations running SNMP agents.
- Click Add, then click OK. AutoDiscovery begins scanning for SNMP devices, displaying found devices in the list. (After you've created a map the first time, click Start to begin scanning.) When the Stop button changes back to Start, the search is over.
- To display only some of the nodes listed, click Filter.
- Click Add to Map and select a node name option (the default is easiest).
- In the AutoDiscovery dialog box, click OK.
The new map is organized by IP subnets. Double-click to see part of the network or manage a network device. You can use the AutoDiscovery Setup dialog box to have AutoDiscovery scan the network periodically for new devices.
Q4. How do I add a node manually?
A4. The best way to place icons for network devices on the map is to use AutoDiscovery. However, you may want to add nodes for non-SNMP devices or shortcuts to other submaps.
Follow these steps to manually add a node:
- From the Edit menu, choose Node Properties.
- Click the Type box and select the type of node you want (Agent, Ping, Goto, or Hierarchy).
- In the Node Name text box, enter a name for the node.
- In the Net Address/Goto Hierarchy text box, type an IP or IPX address (for an Agent or Ping node), a submap name (for a Goto node). Leave it blank for a Hierarchy node.
- Click the Exec box and select auto.exe.
- In the Icon box, click Auto Icon (auto.ico).
- For an Agent node, click Community and enter the SNMP community strings defined for that device.
- For an Agent, Ping, or Hierarchy node, click the Ports button to specify which network the node or submap is attached to.
- Click Add to create the new node.
- To modify the selected node rather than creating a new one, click Change instead of Add.
Q5. How do I set up Notifications or Alerts
A5. Notifications (also called alerts or event filters) let you decide what should happen when an important event happens, for example, when a switch stops working, the collision rate rises sharply, or a server is no longer available, you can have someone paged. Network Manager is already configured for some common events, but you can customize these for your network or add others.
Follow these steps to be notified of an event:
- From the Config menu, choose Notifications and click Edit. The Edit button lets you add as well as edit an event filter.
- Type a number in the Filter # box. This can be any number not yet used in the Notifications dialog box.
- If you want paired events, enter the number of the other event in the Clears Filter # box.
- If you want to be alerted only if a particular device has problems, select the node from the Node list. If you leave the box blank, the event applies to any node.
- In the Message box, type the beginning of the message that would appear in the event log, or leave the box blank to apply to any message.
You can use special characters in messages (see examples). If you leave the Message box blank, any event of the specified event type (Trigger, for example) produces the action you specify.
- Under Event Type, select the type of event you're configuring.
- From the Set Priority list, select the priority you want assigned to this event when it appears in the event log.
- If you want a program to run when the event occurs, select the API Exec option and select a program from the list.
The most useful option is pager.exe for the Event Pager. If you have the Notify! application from ExMachina, you can select not!alph.exe (alphanumeric pager) or not!num.exe (numeric pager).
- Select any other action you want to take place when the event occurs: Log, Forward, Beep, or Alarm.
- Specify a minimum length of time for ignoring duplicate entries in the event log, or select Clear Dups to prevent any duplicates.
- For example, if a node goes down and Network Manager polls it every 10 seconds, you could have a large number of needlessly duplicated alerts.
- Click Add to create the new event. If you're editing an existing event filter, click Change.
- When an event occurs that matches the message and event type you selected, the specified action takes place.
Q6. Can LANDesk Network Manager be integrated with HP OpenView?
A6. LANDesk Network Manager can be used as a fully integrated application for HP OpenView for Windows* v7.2. You can access Network Manager commands from the LANDesk Network Manager menu in the OpenView map window. You can access Network Manager device viewers by double-clicking icons in the OpenView map. Network Manager will poll OpenView nodes, add entries to the OpenView log file, and change OpenView icon colors.
Available under HP OpenView:
- Automatic icon selection
- HubView and BitView device specific GUI's
- RMON device support
- Historical SNMP polling and Thresholds (Trend Watch)
- Historical statistics viewing (TrendView)
- Custom MIB tables
- Display MIB tables, graphs, and charts
- SNMP MIB Browser
- Custom Menu Tool application
- TCP/IP applications: Telnet, TFTP, BOOTP
Not available under HP OpenView:
- Network Manager node discovery
- SNMP polling for ports and networks
- Cut and Paste node properties
- Multiple node map move or copy
- Map Navigation Tree
- Map Snake and Ring layout
- Multiple simultaneous log views
- Log file event filters and actions
- Multi-user, multi-level login
See the LANDesk Network Manager Help file for detailed implementation instructions.
Q7. Why can't AutoDiscovery find anything on my network?
A7. AutoDiscovery uses the starting IP address you supply in the AutoDiscovery Setup dialog box to find other devices. AutoDiscovery contacts that device, finds what devices it knows of, contacts them, and so on.
However, because network devices keep track of the address of other devices for only a short while, a device that isn't centrally located or doesn't get much traffic may not be a useful starting address. You can try the following:
- Add the IP addresses of several other devices that you know are active on your network.
- Turn off the Limit to Starting IP Class Networks. This gives the discovery process a broader reach.
- Exit Network Manager, open the SNMPC.INI file in Notepad, and change the NumSequentialSteps setting in the [AutoDiscovery] section to 5 or 10.
Q8. Can I use an RMON probe with LANDesk Network Manager?
A8. RMON is the Remote Network Monitoring MIB. It is available in network monitoring devices called probes and in some switches, routers, hubs, and bridges. Network Manager includes a set of application programs, accessible from the RMON Menu, that provide a simple interface to RMON probes.
The main function of an RMON probe is to capture all network frames and record statistics about network traffic. RMON saves statistics about traffic from particular devices and conversations between devices. RMON probes have these benefits:
- RMON probes are non-intrusive. Probes do not depend on the existence of SNMP Agents in network devices; they are protocol independent; and they do not generate any network traffic that affects performance.
- RMON probes can be deployed throughout the internetwork, preferably one per physical segment, and can be used to diagnose a problem while it is occurring.
The RMON probe acts as a proxy for networks and nodes displayed on the Network Manager map. You can select a network, node, or set of nodes, and display statistics and other information for the selected objects as if the objects contained the RMON functionality themselves. Network Manager correlates tables in the probe with map nodes.
The proxy approach lets you display information for devices that do not have SNMP agents, such as Novell servers and clients. You can also add devices to the map which do not have IP or IPX, such as DECnet or AppleTalk nodes.
To use an RMON proxy, configure the Network Manager map in this way:
- Each network that has an RMON probe attached to it must have an Agent node for the probe attached to the network. The correct probe port number must be attached to the network.
- Each network that has an RMON probe attached to it must have the probe selected into the network using the Network Probe command.
- Every device that is attached to the same network as an RMON probe must have a port attached to the same network in the map, and it must have an Ethernet MAC address set for the port.
If you use AutoDiscovery to create the map, steps 1 and 3 are done automatically.
This applies to:
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