In social media, the phrase 'tagging' scares us.  There is a potential that unwanted attention will be brought upon us.  However when we review the tagging of entities in an IBM Tivoli Network Manager (ITNM) discovery, these tags will give special attention to entities.  These tags allow for some unique monitoring and visualization capabilities.

A file finder discovery is based upon a flat file on the ITNM core server.   This is very common and is typically a list of names and IP addresses.   Take a look at my Halloween themed flat file.

[root@server precision]# cat /etc/ghosts
ServerWest,192.168.0.1,okpoll
ServerCentral,192.168.0.2
ServerEast,192.168.0.3,okpoll
[root@server precision]#

I discover three servers, but I have included an additional 'tag', I call    okpoll

My goal is that I don't want to continually manipulate my device filters in my poll policy, but have devices I poll predetermined by my file finder file.   I'm interested in polling ServerWest and ServerEast, but not ServerCentral.

Here are the changes to populate my tags, in $NCHOME/etc/precision

DiscoFileFinderParseRules.DOMAIN.cfg

 

insert into fileFinder.parseRules
(
        m_FileName,
        m_Delimiter,
        m_ColDefs
)
values
(
        "/etc/ghosts",
        "[,]+",
       [
              {
                        m_VarName="m_Name",
                        m_ColNum=1
                },
                {
                        m_VarName="m_UniqueAddress",
                        m_ColNum=2
                },
              {
                      m_VarName="m_CustomTags->pollflag",
                      m_ColNum=3
              }

        ]

);

 

DbEntityDetails.DOMAIN.cfg

insert into dbModel.entityDetails
(
    EntityType,
    EntityDetails
)
values
(
    1,  -- chassis
    {
        Pollflag = "eval(text, '&ExtraInfo->m_CustomTags->pollflag')",
        NetworkEdge = "eval(text, '&ExtraInfo->m_NetworkEdge')"
    }
);

Service disco will show these tags are available after the discovery

 

|server:1.> select * from scratchTopology.entityByName where Address(2) like '192.168';
|server:2.> go
.
{
        EntityName='ServerCentral';
        BaseName='ServerCentral';
        Address=['','','192.168.0.2'];
        EntityType=1;
        IsActive=1;
        Status=0;
        ExtraInfo={
                m_DNSName='ServerCentral';
                m_BaseName='ServerCentral';
                m_AddressSpace=NULL;
                m_AccessProtocol=1;
                m_IpAddress='192.168.0.2';
                m_ChassisIPNotInIPTable=1;
        };
}
{
        EntityName='ServerEast';
        BaseName='ServerEast';
        Address=['','','192.168.0.3'];
        EntityType=1;
        IsActive=1;
        Status=0;
        ExtraInfo={
                m_DNSName='ServerEast';
                m_CustomTags={
                        pollflag='okpoll';
                };
                m_BaseName='ServerEast';
                m_AddressSpace=NULL;
                m_AccessProtocol=1;
                m_IpAddress='192.168.0.3';
                m_ChassisIPNotInIPTable=1;
        };
}
{
        EntityName='ServerWest';
        BaseName='ServerWest';
        Address=['','','192.168.0.1'];
        EntityType=1;
        IsActive=1;
        Status=0;
        ExtraInfo={
                m_DNSName='ServerWest';
                m_CustomTags={
                        pollflag='okpoll';
                };
                m_BaseName='ServerWest';
                m_AddressSpace=NULL;
                m_AccessProtocol=1;
                m_IpAddress='192.168.0.1';
                m_ChassisIPNotInIPTable=1;
        };
}
( 3 record(s) : Transaction complete )

These tags carry from discovery to model and are finally placed in ncim

 

|server:1.> select * from ncim.entityDetails;
|server:2.> go
{
        ENTITYID=8503251;
        KEYNAME='Pollflag';
        KEYVALUE='okpoll';
}
{
        ENTITYID=8503253;
        KEYNAME='Pollflag';
        KEYVALUE='okpoll';
}
 2 rows(s)

 

No extension of the ncim database is necessary!   Take a look at the documentation and create a network view for the

Pollflag->okpoll

Creation of views from tagged entities

So many options are now available.

Poll only the devices that are 'okpoll'.   This is done by polling on the specific view I created based on the tag in the above link.

Create a view based upon a tagged entity

And entities can be tagged not only from the file finder, but also based upon

IP address tagging

Or tagging based upon a subnet

subnet tagging

Continue to check the IBM Education Assistant page for a future detailed presentation of tagging.

IBM Education Assistant
 

 

 

 

Etiquetas:  entities itnm tagging