We have an application here @Fidelity that is not getting much use, and I am
curious how the NV community might feel about either just using it (free, if
I can convince Fidelity to allow it) and/or taking over the source. I hate
to see it unused as it is quite spiffy. Here is a quick description:
Response (which is about 5 years old now) was designed to monitor & manage
network response time and packet loss, to provide more end-to-end and
SLA-type data for operations. It requires the cisco ping MIB (e.g. on a
cisco router) as PING sources; destinations can be any reliable box that
responds to ping. Metrics supported by cisco PING MIB are: min, max, avg
response time, and packet loss%.
Response is a GUI-driven Netview app. "Response" submaps are created by the
"Response-->New Map" menu item. Then you locate/select/copy/paste objects
into the submap(s), and connect them together using either
NV:Add-->Connector or some of Response's convenience functions (e.g.
RM:Connect--> Selected to Acknowledged). Then you configure ping parameters
and thresholds (RM:Connector-->Configure) , and "activate" the connectors
(RM:Connector-->Activate Selected or RM:Maps-->Start Selected Map). It takes
only a few minutes to set up a massive map. Response can be used for ad-hoc
or long-term response time collection, if you don't mind an occ'l outage for
ovtopofixing.
Connector colors (red, yellow, black) are used to indicate response-time or
packet loss threshold states, so you can watch the map and see how things
stand. Connector line-style (solid, dashed) is used to indicate if the
connector is active or inactive.
You have lots of control over the generation of SNMP traps.
You have lots of control over the generation of snmpCollect data.
"Connector-->Graph Selected" brings up beautiful NV graphs.
Application options that aren't supported by the menu interface can be
changed via X resources.
Netview's notion of R/W and Read-Only is supported. User's w/ a R/W map can
create, edit, and run Response submap(s) that can generate Traps and write
snmpCollect data. RO users can only start up a copy of a response map (which
BTW duplicates polling) and graph data already collected or being collected
(by a RW Response).
RM is pretty scalable. We've run it for weeks on hundreds of connectors w/
no important CPU or disk impact. When NV is brought down for ovtopofix
breaks and database backups, Response goes down w/ it. This is an "Achilles'
heel".
Main Limitations:
* It is GUI-driven. There is no way to configure it with vi.
* Netview GUI must be running. Runs fine on NV 5.1.2/AIX 4.1.3.
* Works today only w/ cisco routers as sources. No RMON. Only PING.
* Need set community name for sources.
* Won't work on NT or Solaris unless ported (AIX only)
* Response submaps can not contain containers, only regular objects
and connectors (this should be fixed)
If you have an interest in this or have questions, pls. respond. If there is
anyone willing to manage and extend the source and make it available to NV
users without charge, pls. respond as well.
Depending on interest level, I will poke around to see if it can be released
(or what hoops will need jumping through). We've received quite a bit of
help over the years from the NV community through this medium, and I'd like
to give something back.
Ken Twombly
NSM Engineering
FISC-Telecommunications
* 617-563-4644
* ken.twombly@fmr.com <mailto:ken.twombly@fmr.com>
* 800.SKYPAGE Pin #106-8534
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