Check this out! m_CheckFileFinderReturns and m_PingVerification explained

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IBM Tivoli Network Manager has two options in the DiscoConfig cfg file which seem to generate many questions and lead to a bit of confusion.  The options are m_CheckFileFinderReturns and m_PingVerification.   The knowledge center is always a great place to start.

Options explained in DiscoConfig file

Let's start with PingVerification

from the knowledge center-

Option to check whether an interface is able to be pinged. If the device is not pingable, then Network Manager does not poll the device for alerts

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Here is some information from the stitchers that may help to explain this.

NO ACTUAL PINGING OCCURS AS A RESULT OF THIS OPTION.  

This option is only setting flags, for the determination of future monitoring.

Instead of pinging, PingVerification looks in the discovery table Details.returns.   If an IP address is in Details.returns, then to ITNM that means it must have fulfilled a 'ping' at some point.   After all Details.returns is in most cases IP's that were pinged as part of a ping sweep, or IPs that came into discovery from the file finder.   But IPs can move from file finder to Details.returns without being pinged...

CheckFileFinderReturns

from the knowledge center-

Flag indicating whether to use the Ping finder to check the devices specified in the flat file supplied to the File finder.

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The first thing you will notice now is that this option actually does the pinging.   Setting this to 1 means that IPs from file finder will be pinged before they are allowed as far as Details.returns.   Notice also that this option applies to interfaces and chassis.   Whereas PingVerification is only for interfaces.  

Example

m_PingVerification = 1, m_CheckFileFinderReturns=0, discovery is all from a flat file using file finder.

With CheckFileFinderReturns off, IPs from the flat file go right into the discovery, Details.returns.  PingVerification = 1 looks in Details.returns and all the IPs are there.   This configuration has no pinging at all!

m_PingVerification = 1, m_CheckFileFinderReturns=1, discovery is all from a flat file using file finder.

IPs from the flat file in file finders are pinged for availability before being moved through the discovery into Details.returns.   Now we have some value with the PingVerification.   If an IP could not be pinged during discovery, we do not want to poll it later.

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Advanced discussion

I attempted to simplify these two options but there is more detailed information available on Feedback, or setting the parameter to 2 instead of 0 or 1 for PingVerification

This option can be set to 0, 1, or 2.  

If the option is 2 and m_FeedbackCtrl is <> 0, then setting it to 2 is the same behavior as setting it to 1.

If the option is 2 and m_FeedbackCtrl = 0, then setting it to 2 is the same behavior as setting it to 0.

Although that reads a bit confusing, basically this option is really a 0 or 1.  There really is not a different behavior by setting it to 2.  It only looks at feedback.

More information on Feedback Control