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Re: [nv-l] Names v IP addresses on NetView Maps

To: john.j.mackney@accenture.com, NetView mailing list <nv-l@lists.tivoli.com>
Subject: Re: [nv-l] Names v IP addresses on NetView Maps
From: Jane Curry <jane.curry@skills-1st.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2002 19:59:54 +0100
Hi John,
I would always advocate sorting out your DNS before starting to implement
NetView (or any other application or management system, come to that!).  DNS
is not that hard! and it gives you a consistent, global namespace.

Re networking devices, hopefully such systems already have loopback or
management interfaces configured and they have a single "box" name.  In which
case, put the loopback address into the DNS forward files.  This way if
NetView or a user wants to ping "the box", this gets resolved to the
interface guaranteed to respond, if any can.  If your boxes don't have
loopback addresses, I would use the single address "closest" (in a network
sense), to the NetView box.

The reverse DNS files should have ALL interfaces, resolving back to the
single box name.  Remember that NetView discovery fundamentally finds IP
addresses out of routing tables and arp caches.  NetView will try and resolve
these addresses back to names (although it will still ping all interfaces
separately).  If you have a router that doesn't support SNMP and you find
several "clues" to it through SNMP info from other devices, the chances are
that you end up with several green boxes on NetView maps that are actually
all separate interfaces of the same box.  If DNS can resolve this, you get a
consistent map; if you've no SNMP and no DNS, you get a very confusing
picture.  Worse still if you then delete the icons out of the database and on
a subsequent discovery you find the clues in a different order.  Even if the
router supports SNMP, find it the first time via 1 interface and the box
label will be whatever the address does (or doesn't) resolve to.  Rediscover
the box via a different interface, perchance, and you potentially get a
different box label, if your DNS isn't consistent.

Cheers,
Jane

john.j.mackney@accenture.com wrote:

> What's the consensus on this one.
>
> Is it best practice to give names to network nodes and put them in DNS or
> do most sites just reflect the IP addresses of routers etc on their maps?
>
> John
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