Rusdyanto Tardjono <Rusdyanto@MULTIPOLAR.CO.ID> writes:
> Hi Bernard,
>
> In order for switches to appear on the map, must they all be set an IP for
> each switch? My environment, I have a number of switches with no IPs set and
> those switches do not appear on the map. I'm wondering why? No problem with
> routers because they all are set to IPs.
For a switch to be manageable in NetView it must have an IP address.
For a switch to be discovered by netview, it has to send out traffic
from that ip address such that it gets into discovered device's arp
caches. As was discussed earlier, switches rarely send any traffic
out those IP address interfaces. By design, they're just switching
traffic at the layer 2 MAC address level and quietly sitting
transparently on the network.
> I heard about new product Tivoli Switch Analyzer. Must I use it? By
> the way, what's the Tivoli Switch Analyzer all about? I have not
> tried it. Pardon me for a simple question as I'm still new to
> NetView.
IBM Tivoli Switch Analyzer (ITSA -- which is fun to say with an
Italian accent by the way) is a product that brings layer2 correlation
to the fray. You don't need it to manage a switch per se, but without
it, NetView has only a layer 3 (IP address, network layer of the ISO
model) view of the network.
Example: Suppose a switch goes down in your network between a group of
devices and your netview server. Your netview server is going to
sense that a ton of stuff is down and generate a boatload of interface
downs and node downs. If you are in an environment where tickets are
automatically opened for such events, you've suddenly got a ton of
tickets and alerts.
Ideally, you'd like to just get one ticket that says "The switch is
dead." A product that only has a layer3 view of the network can't do
that. The native NetView topology database has no idea that this
switch with a given IP address is the means by which other stuff on
the map is actually interconnected.
ITSA addresses that by adding a layer 2 (data link layer, MAC
addresses, switches) angle to all of this and provides the ability to
correlate events back to the failure of a layer 2 device such as a
switch.
At least that's the best of my understanding about it....
Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/
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