Discovering containment information

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An important principle used by the network model is containment. A container holds other objects. You can put any object within a container and even mix different objects within the same container.

Containment information includes a physical breakdown of all parts held within the container, as well as detailed information on each of these parts. The parts that can be held within a container are:

Chassis
Interface
Logical interface
Vlan object
Card
PSU
Logical collection, such as a VPN
Module

There is also an Unknown category, which covers entities for which no part type has been defined.

The following table describes the discovery agents that discover containment information.

Table 1. Discovery agents that discover containment information
Agent name	Function
AKCPSensor	The AKCPSensor agent discovers physical containment of AKCP sensor devices connected to AKCP Site devices by querying the AKCP SPAGENT-MIB mib. Run the AKCPSensor agent if you want to monitor environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, and so on, from AKCP sensor devices. You can control which sensor data the AKCPSensor agent retrieves from the AKCP MIB by setting the following variables in the AKCPSensor.agnt file: GETSENSORDESCRIPTIONDATA GETSENSORTYPEDATA GETSENSORVALUEDATA GETSENSORUNITDATA GETSENSORSTATUSDATA
AvayaPhysicalInventory	The AvayaPhysicalInventory agent queries RAPID-CITY MIB for each physical entity and retrieves containment information for that physical entity. Run the AvayaPhysicalInventory agent if you want to model physical containment and perform asset management. Enable this agent if you have Avaya (formerly Nortel) devices in your network. Note: Configure SNMP access and the SNMP Helper before enabling this agent.
BrocadeEntity	The `BrocadeEntity` agent queries `FOUNDRY-SN-ROOT-MIB`, `IF-MIB` and `ENTITY-MIB` MIBs for Brocade ICX and VDX devices for each physical entity. The agent retrieves containment information for that physical entity. Run the `BrocadeEntity` agent if you want to model physical containment and perform asset management for `ICX6430`, `ICX7430`, `VDX8770` and `VDX6470` devices. Enable this agent if you have Brocade devices in your network. Note: Configure SNMP access and the SNMP Helper before enabling this agent.
CiscoUCSSnmp	The CiscoUCSSnmp agent discovers a type of logical containment called blade servers on Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) devices. When this agent is enabled and run in a discovery, stacked chassis and blade server information is available in the topology database and in the Structure Browser. Note: You must obtain the following MIBs, copy them to the NCHOME/precision/mibs directory, and load updated MIB information by running the ncp_mib command before using this agent: CISCO-UNIFIED-COMPUTING-COMPUTE-MIB.mib, CISCO-UNIFIED-COMPUTING-MIB.mib, and CISCO-UNIFIED-COMPUTING-TC-MIB.mib.
IBMSystemNetworkingSwitch	The IBMSystemNetworkingSwitch agent retrieves Layer 2 connectivity and VLAN containment information (including VLAN tags, VLAN Trunk, and Trunk Group information) using SNMP.
Entity	The Entity agent queries the MIB for each entity and retrieves containment information for that entity. Before enabling this agent, you must configure SNMP access and the SNMP Helper. Running the Entity agent during a discovery is optional. Some containment information is gathered during a discovery even if the Entity agent is not run. Run the Entity agent to model physical containment and perform asset management. Note: During a discovery, the Entity agent retrieves a large amount of data. This slows down the discovery. You should therefore only use this agent if you need to perform asset management on the retrieved data. For information on Entity agent configuration, see Entity agent configuration.
IfStackTable	The IfStackTable determines the interface stacking hierarchy on devices that support the RFC 2863 MIB. Note: Configure SNMP access and the SNMP Helper before enabling this agent.
JuniperBoxAnatomy	The JuniperBoxAnatomy agent retrieves information about which modules and components are installed in a Juniper device and their containment. The agent uses vendor-specific MIBs such as the Juniper Box Anatomy MIB.
JuniperERXIfStackTable	The JuniperERXIfStackTable determines the interface stacking hierarchy on Juniper ERX devices. This agent determines virtual-router and VRF context-sensitive stacking information for Juniper ERX devices. When a context-sensitive discovery is enabled this agent can be disabled, as the IfStackTable agent also determines this information. This will improve the performance of discovery. Note: Configure SNMP access and the SNMP Helper before enabling this agent.
JuniperLAGStack	The JuniperLAGStack agent retrieves Link Aggregation Group (LAG) information from Juniper devices. LAG information is needed to accurately represent the interface stacking hierarchy.
JuniperVlanTagTelnet	Discovers VLAN tagging configuration for Juniper E, ERX, M and MX Series routers. For Juniper model MX, M and T series, the agent issues the telnet command `show configuration interfaces` and captures the vlan-id from the output. For Juniper model E and ERX series, the agent retrieves juniVlanSubIfVlanId and juniVlanSubIfVlanStackId from the Juniper-ETHERNET-MIB. Note: Configure the SNMP Helper and the Telnet Helper before enabling this agent.
Timetra	Discovers physical containment information for Nokia7750SR switches. The agent queries the MIB for each Timetra entity and retrieves containment information for that entity. You must ensure that the Timetra MIBs are installed before running the agent. Note: Configure the SNMP Helper and the Telnet Helper before enabling this agent.