Chapter 4. Classes
Understanding Classes
Networks are usually designed and build using hardware - routers, switches etc - of a certain type. For example in a company’s network all routers are of type Cisco 3600, the switches are Hewlett Packard 5300, the workstations are Windows XP etc.
Monitor one takes advantage of this fact by using the Class model to group objects that share certain characteristics and provides class-assigned functionality to the individual objects of the same Class. Each individual object is an instance of the Class it belongs to. It is recommended to create a Class for each different type of device.
The SNMP agent of Windows NT4 pretty much differs from the agent implemented in Windows 2000/2003/XP. Therefore, it is preferable to define separate Classes for each OS version.
Adding, Modifying or Removing a Class
Adding a new Class
- Switch to Designer mode.
- Select Edit|Manage Classes to open the "Manage classes" window.
- Right-click anywhere on this window and select Add a new Class.
- The "Add/Modify a class" window opens. (See the snapshot below)
- Fill out the form.
- Press Save.
- The new Class appears in the "Manage classes" window.
- Class name
- A Class name can be up to 16 in length and may not contain spaces. Use descriptive names for better readability.
- R/W Communities
- Use the Read- and Write Community boxes to assign default communities for devices of the Class. The community names entered here are automatically filled-in if a new device object is added to the map, but can be overridden at the device level. The default read/write community is "public".
- SNMP Version
- Most equipment support SNMP version 1. You can use the SNMP Version control to modify the supported SNMP version to v2 for a Class of devices that don not support v1.
- SNMP Port
- The SNMP Port control lets you specify the default port to use for SNMP querying at the Class level. The SNMP port setting at the Shooters level overrules this "Class level" setting!
- Status polling interval
- Use the Status poller polling interval control to set the polling interval at which devices are polled for status. In order to protect the performance of your Monitor one system and to keep the used bandwidth low, make cautious decisions. Define short time intervals for key devices in your network (Routers, Backbone switches..) and longer intervals for less important ones (Workgroup switches, PC's ..).
See the table below for an example.
| Class | Polling interval in seconds |
|---|
| ATM switches | 10 |
| Backbone routers | 10 |
| Backbone switches | 10 |
| Servers | 20 |
| Unix systems | 20 |
| Workgroup switches | 50 |
| Hubs | 60 |
| Terminal servers | 80 |
| Workstations | 90 |
- Class image
- Press the Browse button to select an image for the Class. You can choose one of the default images or you can create one yourself.
- Class Priority Level
- You can adjust the importance (priority level) of a Class by setting the Class Priority Level. Specify high values for key devices in your network and lower values for less important devices. The Class Priority Level plays an important role in the Alerting mechanism.
Example Class Priority Levels:
| Class | Class Priority Level |
|---|
| ATM Switches | 10 |
| Routers | 9 |
| Backbone switches | 8 |
| Servers | 7 |
| Unix systems | 7 |
| Workgroup switches | 5 |
| Hubs | 5 |
| Terminal servers | 3 |
| Workstations | 1 |
- Typical usage
- By selecting one of the Typical usage radio buttons, you assign a character to the Class you are creating. Monitor one uses this setting to automatically create a number of Class specific default Shooters (i.e. if you select "Router", a Shooter that retrieves the routing table is created, if you select "Host/Server with TCP", a Shooter that retrieves the IP sessions table is created..)
- This device forwards traffic
- This setting is extremely important for Error control. Error Control does not work correctly if you do not set this option correctly. Checking this checkbox means that this device routes data between one or more network interfaces. Leaving this option unchecked indicates that this device is an end-node and does not route data.
Examples:
- For routers, switches and hubs (or repeaters) check this checkbox.
- Firewalls, check the checkbox.
- Modems used in a WAN link, check the checkbox.
- Multi-homed Windows servers with routing disabled, uncheck the box
- Multi-homed Windows servers with routing enabled, check the box
- Windows servers with more than one interface connected to one ore more switches, from which only one interface is active and the others "hot-standby", uncheck the box.
- Description
- The Description box is for informational use only.
- Alarm parameters
- Use the Alarm parameters portion of the window to specify how to react on different type of events. You can specify which script or executable to execute and which arguments to provide to the executed program or script regarding the event type.
Note that what you specify here has nothing to do with the Monitor one Alerter! The Monitor one Alerter computes the severity of an event by multiplying the Class Priority Level and the Event Weight and compares it against a threshold! If the result exceeds the threshold value, an alert is generated (A signal is sent to a message-gateway or a program or script is start etc…). The programs you specify here are executed regardless of whatever level or weight and are not controlled by the Alerter! See the chapter that discusses Alerting for more information about executing programs or scripts triggered by events!
- Custom Menu Items
- The Custom menu-items box allows you to define customized menu-items for a device's right-click menu. This can be very useful when you - for example - regularly connect to a host using SSH instead of telnet (SSH is not a default right-click menu option for a device). The Custom menu-item box allows you to specify which external program to execute and which parameters to provide to the executed program.
The image above shows an example of how SSH (we used putty as the SSH terminal program in the example) can be added to a device's right-click menu. The -ssh parameter in the command line is used to tell putty.exe to use it's SSH mode, the <IPaddress> parameter is replaced at runtime by the actual IP address of the device that is being right-clicked. Another example of a frequently used program for server management is Microsoft Terminal-server Client --> MSTSC /v: <IPaddress>
Adding, Modifying or Removing a custom menu-item
- To add a new right-click menu item, right-click anywhere in the Custom menu-items box and choose Add a custom menu-item. The "Add a custom menu-item" window opens (see the snapshot below)
- To modify an existing item, right-click the item and choose: Modify this custom menu-item.
- Finally, an existing menu-item can be removed by right-clicking the item and choosing Remove this custom menu-item.
Custom Menu Items are also available in the web interface via java scripting, provided that your browser's security policy supports this and that the directory where the external program resides is accessible via the system path!
In Microsoft Internet Explorer you can add the IP address of your Monitor one station as a trusted site (In IE select Tools|Internet options, Security tab, click Trusted sites and click the Sites button, uncheck the Require server verification checkbox and add the IP address)
Defining your own Class images
By default, a number of predefined Class images are available for creating new and/or modifying existing Classes. You can use these default images but you can also create your own images and make them available by adding them to the Monitor one "Images" folder.
An image must meet with the following requirements:
- It must be a bitmap file (*.bmp)
- Its size must be 32 x 32 pixels.
- Use a background color that is not already used in the image itself. (Usually fuchsia is doing fine!) This background color is treated as the transparent color for the image!
Make your images accessible for Monitor one by copying them to the Monitor one "Images" directory "c:\Program Files\FineConnection\Monitor one\Images\"
It is not important which program you use to create your images. Only the format (*.bmp) matters.
Modifying a Class
- Switch to Designer mode.
- Select Edit|Manage Classes to open the "Manage classes" window.
- Right-click a Class icon and select Modify this Class.
- The "Add/Modify a class" window opens.
- Modify the Class properties of your choice
- Press Save.
Removing a Class
- Switch to Designer mode.
- Select Edit|Manage Classes to open the "Manage classes" window.
- Right-click a Class icon and select Remove this Class.
A Class can only be removed if all instances of the Class have been removed from the map first!
Class files / Class Packages
About Class packages
All Class related data can be saved to a so called Class file or Class Package. Class packages let you transfer Classes from one Monitor one station to another or from a test project to an operational project.
A Class file contains:
- The Class definition.
- The Class properties (Polling interval, Image ..)
- Its Shooters and related MIB files
- All related Trap definitions
Creating a Class file or Class package
- Switch over to Designer mode
- Select Edit|Manage Classes to open the Manage Classes window.
- Right-click a Class icon and select Create a Class Package (export a class).
- The "Create a Class Package: Export Class <ClassName>" window opens. See the snapshot below.
- ClassName, Created with Monitor one version and CreationDate
- The boxes ClassName, Created with Monitor one version and CreationDate are automatically filled-in and cannot be updated.
- Author and email
- The Author and email fields are optional and can be left blanc
- Vendor Hard- and Software
- Enter the Vendor’s Name and the hardware or software that your Class file describes, into the appropriate fields.
- Free text from author
- Use the Free text from the author box to enter some comments. Use this box to enter a few lines about the Shooters you added to the class, about exceptions, special instructions for use etc....
- Export
- Press the Export button to create the Class Package. A Class file named <Class name>.pck is saved into the directory: "<Project directory>\ClassPackageFiles\". If this directory not already exists, it is created automatically.
Importing a Class package
- Switch over to Designer mode
- Select Edit|Manage Classes to open the "Manage classes" window.
- Right-click anywhere in the Manage Classes window and select Import a Class Package (import a class).
- The "Import a Class Package" window opens.
- Use the Browse button at the right of the File to import box to select the Package file to import.
- Click the Import button
If the Class package defines a Class that already exists in your project than a message box will pop up asking you to confirm updating the existing Class!
Not all Class parameters are updated. From existing Classes only Shooters and MIB related data is updated. Project specific Class settings as polling intervals, community names, severity levels etc is kept unchanged!
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