Entities

A Network Manager discovery returns many different types of entity. If you understand the entities that you might encounter, you can more easily restrict your queries to return only required information.

Basic information about discovered network resources is held within the entityData table. Resource-specific attribute data is held in product-specific extension tables that typically have a foreign key relationship with the core-model entityData table. Information on relationships between discovered network resources, such as containment and connectivity, is also held in tables, such as the contains and connects tables.

Records in the entityData table are at least related to a given instance and the domainMgr, manager, and domainMembers tables.

Discovered resources held in the entityData table can be any of the following types:

  • Physical and logical entities, including devices and their physical and logical characteristics, such as slots, cards, ports, and interfaces, and the relationships between them.
  • Protocol end points represent protocol or technology-specific information that is typically associated with an entity representing a port or interface resource.
  • Device collections, including MPLS VPNs, global VLANs and subnets.
  • Hosted services, including BGP and OSPF services hosted on a device.

Network Manager populates the database with information about discovered layer 1, layer 2 and layer 3 entities. To uniquely identify entities as they are discovered, the NCIM database uses a unique key, entityId. The entityId column appears in all database tables that reference entities.

For example, the entityId column appears in the core entityData table, as well as in the physicalChassis, networkInterface, and physicalPowerSupply tables.

The following table describes the discovery-related entities that are stored in the NCIM database.

Some entity types are defined in advance for future use.

Table 1. Network Manager entities
Entity type Entity type name Category NCIM table Description
0 Unknown Element    
1 Chassis Element physicalChassis Main node device.
2 Interface Element networkInterface Interfaces with entityType 2 can be discovered and polled.
3 Logical Interface Element networkInterface Interfaces with entityType 3 are inferred but are not directly accessible. Hot Standby Routing Protocol (HSRP) virtual IP interfaces are an example of logical interfaces.
4 Local VLAN Element localVlan VLAN port on a main node device.
5 Module Element physicalCard Card within a switch or router. The term module is used to avoid confusion with the term card which is used in layer 1 networks.
6 PSU Element physicalPowerSupply Power® supply unit within a main node device.
7 Logical Collection Collection   Examples of logical collections include MPLS VPNs, global VLANs and subnets. NCIM can also model OSPF areas.
8 Daughter Card Element   The child of a network card.
9 Fan Element physicalFan Fan component within a main node device.
10 Backplane Element physicalBackplane Backplane component within a main node device. Backplanes usually contain slot entities.
11 Slot Element physicalSlot Slot component within a main node device. Slots usually contain module entities.
12 Sensor Element physicalSensor Sensor component within a main node device.
13 Virtual Router Element virtualRouter Represents a instance of a virtual router within a chassis device.
14 CPU Element cpu Represents Central Processing Units (CPUs).
15 Subnet Collection subnet Logical collection that lists the IP address in a class A, B, or C subnet.
16 Global VLAN Collection globalVlan Collection of VLAN entities across multiple chassis devices that combine to form a virtual network.
17 VPN Collection networkVpn Logical collection of IP address collected within a VPN.
18 HSRP Group Collection hsrpGroup Represents an Hot Standby Routing Protocol (HSRP) group logical collection. The Cisco HRSP implements a virtual router with its own IP and MAC addresses. This virtual router forms an HSRP group that consists of a number of real interfaces, only one of which is active at any given time. The active interface forwards IP traffic that is sent to the virtual router, and the other interfaces in the group stand by ready to become active if the active interface fails.
19 Stack Element   Collection of chassis devices as defined by the Entity MIB.
20 VRF Element vpnRouteForwarding Represents a VPN routing and forwarding table.
21 OSPF Routing Domain Collection ospfRoutingDomain Represents an OSPF routing domain.
22 OSPF Service Service ospfService Represents an OSPF service running on a device.
23 OSPF Area Collection ospfArea Represents an OSPF area.
24 VTP Domain Collection vtpDomain Represents a VLAN trunking protocol domain.
25 Other Element physicalOther Stores attributes of a component whose entity type the discovery was unable to determine. This occurs if the physical entity class is known, but does not match any of the supported values.
26 BGP Service Service bgpService Represents a BGP service.
27 BGP AS Collection bgpAutonomousSystem Represents a BGP autonomous system.
28 BGP Route Attribute bgpRouteAttribute Represents a BGP route.
29 BGP Cluster Collection bgpCluster Represents a BGP cluster.
30 BGP Network Service bgpNetwork Represents a BGP network.
31 ISIS Service Collection   Represents an ISIS service.
32 ISIS Level Element   Represents the ISIS level.
33 OSPF Pseudo-Node Element   Represents an OSPF pseudo-node.
34 ITNM Service Collection itnmService The base type for other services such as ISIS Service.
35 MPLS TE Service Service mplsTEService Represents a Multi Protocol Label Switching Traffic Engineered (MPLS TE) service
36 MPLS TE Tunnel Element mplsTETunnel Represents an MPLS TE tunnel
37 MPLS TE Resource Element mplsTETunnelResource Represents an MPLS TE resource
38 MPLS LSP Element mplsLSP Represents an MPLS Label Switch Path (LSP)
40 IP Connection Element ipConnection Represents a connection using TCP/IP.
41 PIM Service Service pimService Represents a Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) service.
42 PIM Network Collection pimNetwork Represents a PIM network.
43 IPMRoute Service Service ipMRouteService Represents an IP Multicast Routing service.
44 IPMRoute Upstream Element ipMRouteUpstream Stores the upstream (RPF) route statistics for each device or Multicast Distribution Tree (MDT).
45 IPMRouteDownstream Element   Stores the downstream route statistics per device or MDT.
46 IPMRouteMdt Collection ipMRouteMdt Stores the Collection entities representing the MDTs for each Multicast Source or Group.
47 IPMRouteSource Element ipMRouteSource Represents Multicast Sources, as contained by the MDT.
48 IPMRouteGroup Element ipMRouteGroup Represents Multicast Groups, as contained by the MDT.
49 IP Path Collection ipPath Represents a network path between IP devices.
50 IP End point Protocol Endpoint ipEndPoint Represents a logical IP end point that is implemented by a physical interface.
51 VLAN Trunk End point Protocol Endpoint vlanTrunkEndPoint Represents a logical VLAN trunk end point that is implemented by a physical interface.
52 Frame Relay End point Protocol Endpoint frameRelayEndPoint Represents a logical Frame Relay end point that is implemented by a physical interface.
53 OSPF End point Protocol Endpoint ospfEndPoint Represents a logical OSPF end point that is implemented by a physical interface.
54 ATM End point Protocol Endpoint atmEndPoint Represents a logical ATM end point that is implemented by a physical interface.
55 VPWS End point Protocol Endpoint vpwsEndPoint Represents a logical VPWS end point that is implemented by a physical interface.
56 BGP End Point Protocol Endpoint bgpEndPoint Represents a logical BGP end point that is implemented by a physical interface.
57 ISIS End Point Protocol Endpoint   Represents a logical ISIS end point that is implemented by a physical interface.
58 MPLS Tunnel End Point Protocol Endpoint mplsTETunnelEndPoint Represents a logical MPLS tunnel end point that is implemented by a physical interface.
59 TCP/UDP End Point Protocol Endpoint   Represents a logical TCP/UDP end point that is implemented by a physical interface.
60 PIM End Point Protocol Endpoint pimEndpoint Represents the Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) end points discovered in the network and their associated attributes.
61 IPMRoute End Point Protocol Endpoint ipMRouteEndPoint Stores information on the IP Multicast Routing Protocol End Points.
62 IGMP End Point Protocol Endpoint igmpEndPoint Stores information on the Internet Group Membership Protocol (IGMP) End Points.
63 Network Service Entity End Point Protocol Endpoint networkServiceEntityEndPoint Helps model relationships related to the management of frame relay links.
67 LAG End Point Protocol Endpoint lagEndPoint Represents a logical Link Aggregation Group (LAG) end point that is implemented by a physical interface.
68 Probe End point Protocol Endpoint probeEndPoint

V4.2 FixPack 3: Represents the source or target end point of a probe operation, implemented by a physical interface.
70 Topology Topology   Grouping of connections which belong to a topology.
71 Layer 1 Topology Topology   Grouping of connections which belong to a Layer 1 topology.
72 Layer 2 Topology Topology   Grouping of connections which belong to a Layer 2 topology.
73 Layer 3 Meshed Topology Topology   Grouping of connections which belong to a Layer 3 meshed topology.
74 Converged Topology (Layer 1 - Layer 3) Topology   Based on data available in NCIM, groups together connections at the lowest layer for which data is available.
75 MPLS TE Topology Topology   Grouping of connections which belong to an MPLS TE topology.
77 Pseudo Wire Topology Topology   Grouping of connections which belong to a Pseudo Wire topology.
78 OSPF Topology Topology   Represents an OSPF topology.
79 BGP Topology Topology   Represents a BGP topology.
80 IP Path Topology Topology ipPath Represents an IP path.
81 PIM Topology Topology   Represents PIM topologies.
82 Local VLAN Topology Topology   Represents local VLAN topologies.
83 IPMRoute Topology Topology   Represents an IP Multicast Routing topology.
84 VPLS Pseudo Wire Topology Topology   Respresents a VPLS Pseudo Wire Topology.
85 Virtualization Topology Topology   Represents a virtualization topology.
86 Microwave Topology Topology   Represents a microwave topology.
87 RAN Topology Topology   Represents a radio access network topology.
90 LTE Control Plane Topology   Represents the devices and connectivity that make up the LTE control plane.
91 LTE User Plane Topology   Represents the devices and connectivity that make up the LTE user plane.
92 Probe Topology Topology  

Represents the probe source/target connectivity.
110 Generic Collection Collection genericCollection A collection that is not of any other type.
111 Geographic Location Element geographicLocation Represents a geographic location.
112 Geographic Region Collection geographicRegion Represents a geographic region.
113 VLAN Ports Collection vlanCollection Represents a collection of the ports on a given named VLAN or, if no name is provided, on a given VLAN identifier.
120 IGMP Service Service igmpService Represents an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) service.
121 IGMP Groups Collection igmpGroup Stores multicast group collections for which there are associated Internet Group Membership Protocol (IGMP) end points in the igmpEndPoint table.
122 VSI (Virtual Switch Instance) Element virtualSwitchInstance Represents a virtual switch instance (VSI) configured on a Provider Edge (PE) device that is associated with a Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) Virtual Private Network (VPN) instance.
123 Data Center Element   Represents a data center.
124 Virtual Cluster Collection virtualCluster Represents a cluster of virtual machines.
125 Virtual Management Service Service virtualMgmtService Represents a virtual management service.
126 Hypervisor Element hypervisor Represents a hypervisor.
127 Port Group Collection portGroup Represents a port group.
128 EMS System Element emsSystem Represents an EMS system accessed by a collector.
130 RAN GSM Cell Element ranGSMCell Represents a GSM cell.
131 RAN UTRAN Cell Element ranUtranCell Represents a UTRAN cell.
132 RAN Sector Element ranSector Represents a RAN sector.
133 RAN NodeB Local Cell Element ranNodeBLocalCell Represents a NodeB Local Cell.
134 RAN Location Area Collection ranLocationArea Represents a RAN Location Area.
135 RAN Routing Area Collection ranRoutingArea Represents a RAN Routing Area.
136 RAN Packet Core Collection   Represents RAN packet switch core entity.
137 RAN Circuit Core Collection   Represents a RAN circuit switched core entity.
138 RAN Radio Core Collection ranRadioCore Represents a RAN radio core entity.
139 RAN Transceiver Collection ranTransceiver Represents a RAN transceiver.
150 LTE Sector Element eUtranSector Represents a geographic area of radio coverage and is implemented and supported by physical radio equipment. An LTE sector implements one or more LTE cells.
151 LTE Cell Element eUtranCell Represents a geographical area of radio coverage and is implemented and supported by physical radio equipment, such as towers, amplifiers, and antennas.
152 MME Function Element mmeFunction The Mobility Management Entity (MME) is the main signalling control element in the core network and is the key control node for enabling user equipment access to the core network. The role of the MME is implemented within a network hardware node and is modelled by NCIM using the mmeFunction entity type. Multiple mmeFunction instances can be implemented within a single network hardware node.
153 Tracking Area Collection trackingArea Represents an LTE tracking area.
154 SGW Function Element sgwFunction The Serving Gateway (SGW) resides in the user plane where it forwards and routes packets to and from the eNodeB and packet data network gateway (PGW). The role of the SGW is implemented within a network hardware node and is modelled by NCIM using the sgwFunction entity type. Multiple sgwFunction instances can be implemented within a single network hardware node.
155 PGW Function Element pgwFunction The Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW) provides user plane connectivity to packet data networks. The role of the PGW is implemented within a network hardware node and is modelled by NCIM using the pgwFunction entity type. Multiple pgwFunction instances can be implemented within a single network hardware node.
156 ENB Function Element enbFunction The eNodeB device manages the radio air interface communication with users of the LTE network. Each eNodeB device controls one or more cells, which are geographic areas of radio coverage. The role of the eNodeB is implemented within a network hardware node and is modelled by NCIM using the enbFunction entity type. Multiple enbFunction instances may be implemented within a single network hardware node.
157 LTE Pool Collection ltePool Generic modelling mechanism for groups of pooled LTE entities, and currently used to model MME pools, PGW pools, and SGW pools. As an example, in order to model an MME pool, the relationship between the ltePool entity and associated mmeFunction entities is modelled using the collects table.
158 PLMN Element plmn Models a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN). A PLMN is a network that provides land mobile telecommunications services to the public. Each operator providing mobile services has its own PLMN.
159 HSS Function Element hssFunction Models the LTE Home Subscriber Service (HSS). The HSS manages subscriber identities, service profiles, authentication, authorization, and quality of service (QoS), and acts as the master repository for subscriber profiles, device profiles and state information.
160 PCRF Function Element pcrfFunction Models the LTE Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF). The PCRF manages the policy and charging for uplink and downlink service flows and the permitted EPS bearer QoS.
161 EIR Function Element eirFunction Models the LTE Equipment Identity Register (EIR). The EIR keeps track of mobile devices which should either be banned from using the network or monitored. When a mobile phone is stolen its identity it is added to the EIR blacklist and the result is that this phone will never be able to attach to the network for service. Usually each network has its own EIR which is often combined with the HSS node. It is possible for multiple operators to share a common EIR which enables the blacklisted information to be more easily and widely available.
163 LTE Control Plane Collection

controlPlaneViewCollection

 Supports the dynamic collection views under LTE Network Topology > Control Plane by Tracking Area in the Network Views. Each instance of this entity type collects the eNodeBs in the corresponding tracking area, together with the devices that these eNodeBs are connected to on the control plane.
164 LTE User Plane Collection

userPlaneViewCollection

 Supports the dynamic collection views under LTE Network Topology > User Plane by Tracking Area in the Network Views. Each instance of this entity type collects the eNodeBs in the corresponding tracking area, together with the devices that these eNodeBs are connected to on the user plane.
170 Aggregated Link Collection aggregatedLink Represents a network link between Link Aggregation Groups (LAGs)
171 Link Aggregation Group Element aggregationGroup Represents a Link Aggregation Group (LAG).
190 Probe Service Service probeService

V4.2 FixPack 3: Represents the service that provides probes on a device.
191 Probe Collection probe

V4.2 FixPack 3: Represents configured network probes and their attributes.
192 Probe Collection Collection probeCollection

V4.2 FixPack 3: Provides a collection facility for probes or probe collections.
193 Internal Monitor Element   Reserved for use in Agile Service Manager Network Discovery.
200 LTE S1-U Topology entityData Topology type for LTE S1-U connectivity.
201 LTE S5 Topology entityData Topology type for LTE S5 connectivity.
202 LTE S8 Topology entityData Topology type for LTE S8 connectivity.
203 LTE S1-MME Topology entityData Topology type for LTE S1-MME connectivity.
204 LTE S10 Topology entityData Topology type for LTE S10 connectivity.
205 LTE S11 Topology entityData Topology type for LTE S11 connectivity.
206 LTE SGi Topology entityData Topology type for LTE SGi connectivity.
207 LTE Gx Topology entityData Topology type for LTE Gx connectivity.
208 LTE S3 Topology entityData Topology type for LTE S3 connectivity.
209 LTE S4 Topology entityData Topology type for LTE S4 connectivity.
210 LTE S6a Topology entityData Topology type for LTE S6a connectivity.
211 LTE S13 Topology entityData Topology type for LTE S13 connectivity.
212 LTE X2 Topology entityData Topology type for LTE X2 connectivity.
213 LTE X2C Topology entityData V4.2 FixPack 17:Topology type for LTE X2C (X2 Control Plane between GNodeB and 5G GNodeB).
214 LTE X2U Topology entityData Topology type for LTE X2U (X2 User Plane between GNodeB and 5G GNodeB).
215 N5g Control Plane Topology entityData Topology type for 5G Core Control Plane topology.
216 N5g User Plane Topology entityData Topology type for 5G Core User Plane topology.
217 OLT ONT Topology entityData Topology type for OLT ONT connectivity.
250 NR Sector Element eUtranSector 5G New Radio Sector Entity.
251 NR Cell DU Element NRCellDU Represents a geographical area of radio coverage and is implemented and supported by physical radio equipment for 5G LTE, such as towers, amplifiers, and antennas.
252 NR Cell CU Element NRCellCU Represents a geographical area of radio coverage and is implemented and supported by physical radio equipment for 5G LTE, such as towers, amplifiers, and antennas.
253 GNB DU Function Element gnbFunction The gNodeB device manages the radio air interface communication with users of the 5G network. Each gNodeB device controls one or more cells, which are geographic areas of radio coverage. The role of the gNodeB is implemented within a network hardware node and is modelled by NCIM using the gnbFunction entity type. Multiple gnbFunction instances may be implemented within a single network hardware node.
254 GNB CUCP Function Element gnbFunction The gNodeB device manages the radio air interface communication with users of the 5G network. Each gNodeB device controls one or more cells, which are geographic areas of radio coverage. The role of the gNodeB is implemented within a network hardware node and is modelled by NCIM using the gnbFunction entity type. Multiple gnbFunction instances may be implemented within a single network hardware node.
255 GNB CUUP Function Element gnbFunction The gNodeB device manages the radio air interface communication with users of the 5G network. Each gNodeB device controls one or more cells, which are geographic areas of radio coverage. The role of the gNodeB is implemented within a network hardware node and is modelled by NCIM using the gnbFunction entity type. Multiple gnbFunction instances may be implemented within a single network hardware node.
256 AMF Function Element AMF Function

The Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) is one of the control plane network functions of the 5G core network (5GC). The 5G AMF is an evolution of 4G MME, continuing with the Control Plane and User Plane Separation, and with further simplifications like moving the Sessions Management functions to the SMF and, providing common SBA interfaces.
257 SMF Function Element SMF Function Data for 5G Session Management Function (SMF) in 5G core components.
258 UPF Function Element UPF Function Data for 5G User Plane Function (UPF) in 5G core components.
259 PCF Function Element PCF Function Data for 5G Policy Control Function (PCF) in 5G core components.
260 NEF Function Element NEF Function Data for 5G Network Exposure Function (NEF) in 5G core components.
261 NRF Function Element NRF Function Data for 5G NF Repository Function (NRF) in 5G core components.
262 AUSF Function Element AUSF Function Data for 5G Authentication Server Function (AUSF) in 5G core components.
263 AF Function Element AF Function Data for 5G Application Function (AF) in 5G core components.
264 UDM Function Element UDM Function Data for 5G Unified Data Management (UDM) in 5G core components.
265 NSSF Function Element NSSF Function Data for 5G Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) in 5G core components.
302 User-defined collection Collection userDefinedCollection V4.2 FixPack 20:User-defined collection of network entities.