What's new in this release
Network Manager V4.2 provides new features and enhancements that include the following areas: enhanced upgrade and migration process, enhanced GUI framework that makes uses of Dashboard Application Services Hub features, enhanced search and zoom network visualization features, enhanced GUI responsiveness due to the removal of applet technology, and the ability to aggregate and store significantly more amounts of historical poll data and display this data directly from the network GUIs. Users of IBM Netcool Operations Insight are also able to access the Network Health Dashboard, which provides new capabilities for monitoring and troubleshooting the network. In addition Netcool Operations Insight users can use the Device Dashboard to troubleshoot network issues by navigating the network topology and see performance metric values, anomalies and trends on any device, link, or interface.
Summary of new features
IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition 4.2 offers the following new features and functions. New features for the latest Fix Pack are listed first, followed by those for previous Fix Packs.
This description of the new features and enhancements is also available in Release notes - IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition 4.2.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 20
The following features and functions are introduced in this Fix Pack.
- Discovery events
-
Discovery events can now be enabled in the Discovery Configuration GUI.
For more information, see Discovery events.
- OSPF event changes
-
OSPF events are now raised against the interface, not the chassis.
For more information, see Network Manager network events.
- User-defined collections
-
You can create user-defined collections of network entities, to customize the appearance of your network topology.
For more information, see Managing user-defined collections.
- Seeding discovery with the Database Finder
-
You can now use the Database Finder through the Discovery Configuration GUI.
For more information, see Seeding discovery.
- Support for discovering Cisco Fabric Extender devices
-
A new agent, the CiscoEthernetFEX agent, retrieves Cisco Fabric Extender data from Cisco Nexus 9K switches.
For more information, see Discovery agents that discover connectivity among Ethernet switches.
- New script to retrieve SNMP credentials
-
The itnmCheckSNMPCredentials.pl script checks the SNMP credentials for discovered devices.
For more information, see itnmCheckSNMPCredentials.pl.
- Add labels to the Network Views
-
You can add free-form text labels to the Network Views, if you have administrative permissions.
For more information, see Network Views GUI.
- Troubleshoot discovery agents with the Device Investigator
-
A new right-click tool, the Device Investigator, shows information on discovery agents that were run on a particular device.
For more information, see Identifying agent activity for a device.
- MPLS and cross-domain linking options moved to the GUI
-
Options to control MPLS discovery and cross-domain linking have been removed from stitchers and added to the Discovery Configuration GUI.
For more information, see Link domains and MPLS parameters.
- CDP Agent has moved
-
The CDP agent has been moved to the Full Layer 2 and Layer 3 Discovery group in the Discovery Configuration GUI, and the CDP group has been removed. There is a new restriction that agent names and agent group names, considered together, must be unique. This means that an agent cannot be named the same as a group or as another agent.
To effect this change, the default copy of the $NCHOME/etc/precision/ConfigSchema.cfg file has been changed in Fix Pack 20.
If you have customized the $NCHOME file, you must manually migrate your changes to the new file.
Note: If the only change you made to this file is to add the StandardISIS agent to fix an issue in Fix Pack 19, you do not need to migrate any changes.Ensure that the CDP Agent is enabled or disabled as appropriate for your discovery.
- Software requirements documentation updates
-
The topics for supported platforms, databases, and components have been replaced by the following topics in Fix Pack 20:
- Compatibility requirements: requirements for the latest Fix Pack.
- Compatibility requirements for previous versions: requirements for previous Fix Packs.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 19
The following features and functions are introduced in this Fix Pack.
- New supported operating system versions
-
Support is added for the following operating system versions:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 8.9 (x86-64)
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 9.3 (x86-64)
- SuSE Linux® Enterprise Server (SLES) 15.0 (x86-64) SP5
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 9.3 on IBM z Systems (s390x, 64 bit)
- SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15.0 SP5 on IBM z Systems (s390x, 64 bit)
For more information, see Compatibility requirements.
- Change in cross-domain stitching configuration
-
Cross-domain stitching configuration options were in the LinkDomains.stch file. In Fix Pack 19, the options are in the discoConfig.domain.cfg file.
Note: If you have existing configuration in the LinkDomains.stch file, you must manually migrate it to the discoConfig.domain.cfg after installing Fix Pack 19. - Timetra agent
-
The Timetra agent discovers physical containment information for Nokia7750SR switches.
For more information, see Discovering containment information.
- Cross-domain support for DLA
-
You can enable cross-domain inventory for the Discovery Library Adapter (DLA).
For more information, see Configuring the DLA.
- Basic Device Details report
-
This report allows you to look up basic device details, such as Manufacturer, Device Description, Entity Name, IP and Protocols.
For more information, see Basic Device Details report.
- 5G stitchers
-
Various stitchers are added to build 5G containment information.
For more information, see Main discovery stitchers and DNCIM stitchers.
- Configuring display of link bandwidth
- You can configure the units in which the bandwidth of links is displayed.
For more information, see Displaying performance information on links.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 18
The following features and functions are introduced in this Fix Pack.
- BGP event changes
-
BGP events are now raised against the interface, not the chassis.
For more information, see Network Manager network events.
- Configuring connections from slash 30, slash 31 subnets
-
You can configure how data retrieved by the IPLayer stitcher is handled by using parameters in the DiscoConfig.cfg file. Set
m_RemoveSlash30NonPTPCon
to1
to ignore all interfaces that are not connected to a slash 30 subnet. Setm_RemoveSlash31NonPTPCon
to1
to ignore all interfaces that are not connected to a slash 31 subnet. The default for both values is0
.For more information on the DiscoConfig.cfg file, see DiscoConfig.cfg configuration file.
- itnm_data.pl script
-
You can use the itnm_data.pl Perl script to collect troubleshooting information for IBM Support.
For more information on this script, see itnm_data.pl.
- Queueing discoveries
- You can queue discoveries, that is, configure domains to be discovered one after another.
For more information, see Queueing discoveries.
- Regional aggregation levels
- You can configure the icons used for different levels of regional aggregation.
For more information, see Enabling regional aggregation for geographical views.
- Ping polling timestamp data
- You can configure chassis ping polls to retrieve the timestamp of the first ping failure.
For more information, see Configuring ping data.
- Showing switch connections
- You can use the
GetEndDeviceConnections.pl
script to show physical connections of a target device without needing to discover the entire IP address space.For more information, see GetEndDeviceConnections.pl.
- View data in topology API
- You can use the Topology API to extract
view data from the NCIM topology database to see which network views a given device belongs to.
For more information, see Retrieving view data.
- Enriching device class fields
- You can configure chassis events to be enriched with the class name and device class type of the
device on which they were raised.
For more information, see Enriching device class fields.
- /31 subnets
- The
LinkDomainsViaSlash31Subnet
stitcher has been added. The stitcher creates connections between domains based on /31 subnet connectivity.For more information, see Cross-domain stitchers.
- Encryption reference
- The documentation has been improved to list the types of encryption used in the product.
For more information, see Encryption reference.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 17
The following features and functions are introduced in this Fix Pack.
- Python 3 is a prerequisite for installation
-
Fix Pack 17 requires Python 3. You must install Python 3 before upgrading to Fix Pack 17. You must install Python 3 on the server where the core components are installed. Supported versions of Python are from version 3.8 to 3.11 inclusive. For versions of Network Manager prior to Fix Pack 17, the required version of Python is Python 2 (not Python 3), version 2.6.6 or later on Linux and version 2.7.5 or later on AIX®.
- New Java tool for GRPC Collector
-
A new Java tool,
GrpcQueryCollector.jar
, has been added for GRPC collectors. For versions of Network Manager Fix Pack 17 and above, all the collectors use GRPC instead of XML-RPC.For more information, see GrpcQueryCollector.
- Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 9 and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15.0 SP4
-
These operating system versions are now supported.
On Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 9 (x86-64) and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15.0 (x86-64) SP4, the installation directory for the Network Manager core components is, for root installations, created without the required permissions to install the product. On these platforms, when installing as the root user, you must create the directory into which the core components will be installed, for example, /opt/IBM/netcool/core before installing, and modify the permissions on this directory and its parents using commands similar to the following:
If you do not modify the permissions before installing, the installation process gives an error. You must fix the permissions before proceeding with the installation.chmod o+rx /opt/IBM/netcool/core chmod o+rx /opt/IBM/netcool chmod o+rx /opt/IBM/
For more information, see Compatibility requirements.
- Passing username to WebTools
-
When a user runs a WebTool, you can pass the username of that user to the script. You might want to do this for audit purposes.
For more information, see Passing a username to WebTools tools.
- Conversion of Hex strings to decimal format
-
Retrieved polling data can now be converted automatically from Hex string format to decimal format by using the appropriate data type in the eval statement.
For more information, see Example basic threshold expression.
- 5G topology support
-
The Alcatel5620Sam collector is extended to support 5G Core topology. New entity types are added to support 5G network topology.
For more information, see Predefined collectors and Entity types.
- Collector discovery changes
-
As a result of collector discovery improvements, you must specify the Helper type when configuring Java collector discovery.
For more information, see Seeding an EMS discovery.
- StandardISIS agent
-
This Phase 1 discovery agent discovers connectivity between routers that support the stable ISIS MIB (RFC4444). The agent retrieves ISIS neighbours and ISIS area and circuit information. Before enabling this agent, configure SNMP access and the SNMP helper, and install the DIFFSERV and ISIS MIBs.
For more information, see Connectivity at the layer 3 network layer.
- Dynamic indexing for SNMP polling
-
You can configure a poll policy to poll a specific index within a table of a device's MIB, as well as all indexes of the table. This option is available only for poll policies that use poll definitions that are Basic Thresholds.
For more information, see Creating fully featured poll policies.
- Role to control printing
- The new user role
ncp_printing_allowed
controls visibility of the Save as Image and Print buttons. - Improved rediscovery using traps
-
When using traps to trigger rediscovery of devices, you no longer need to ensure that the
NmosDomainName
field is present in the event.For more information, see Disco plug-in
- Specifying the Oracle client version
-
You can configure a specific version of the Oracle client to be used to connect to the Oracle NCIM database. By default, Network Manager uses version 12, regardless of the version of the Oracle database installed. For Oracle, the supported client versions are 11.2.0.4, 12.1.0.2.0, and 19.13.0.0. These clients are installed with Network Manager.
To configure the client version, modify the $NCHOME/precision/bin/ncp_common file and update the value of the
ITNM_ORACLE_CLIENT_PATH
parameter from the default of${ORACLE12_CLIENT}
to either${ORACLE11_CLIENT}
or${ORACLE19_CLIENT}
.Save a copy of this file. Your customizations are overwritten when you upgrade to a new fix pack. You must make the changes again after upgrading to a new fix pack.
- Support for SHA256/SHA512 encryption for SNMPv3 discovery and polling in Network Manager
-
SNMPv3 supports SHA256 and SHA512 encryption algorithms for authenticating the passwords.
For more information, see Configuring device access
- New collector for Nokia Altiplano EMS
-
A new Java™ REST API collector, NokiaAltiplanoRest, has been added. It retrieves data from the Nokia Altiplano Access Controller EMS.
For more information, see Predefined collectors.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 16
The following features and functions are introduced in this Fix Pack.
- Support for AIX 7.3
- Support is added in Fix Pack 16 for AIX 7.3 iSeries and pSeries. For more information, see Compatibility requirements.
- Documentation improvements
-
Topology API queries related to geographic views are documented. For more information, see Retrieving location data.
Information on troubleshooting polling timeouts has been added. For more information, see Troubleshooting polling timeouts.
The table of fix packs in the Release Notes now denotes whether a particular fix pack includes database schema changes. If the fix pack that you want to upgrade to, or any of the intervening fix packs, contain database schema changes then you must run the
update_db_schemas.pl
script.The list of product versions available to download now includes the build number of that Fix Pack. You can run a command to find the build number, and correlate that build number with the Fix Pack version. For more information, see Downloading Network Manager.
- Discovery Library Adapter (DLA) logging changes
- The DLA now uses the same logging mechanism as the GUI instead of log4j. For more information, see Configuring the DLA.
- Displaying performance information on links
- You can configure links between devices to display bandwidth or other performance information from poll policies. For more information, see Displaying performance information on links.
- Configuring device data displayed in geographical views
- You can customize the data that is displayed in a tooltip, or when a device, location, or link is selected in the geographical views. For more information, see Configuring device data displayed in geographical views.
- Cross-domain Link Aggregation Group (LAG) connectivity
- You can configure LAG connections across domains for data from collector discovery. For more information, see Configuring cross-domain links in the GUI.
- Rediscovery based on traps
- The Disco Event Gateway plugin can now discover or rediscover devices by using traps received via Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus. For more information, see Disco plug-in.
- Updates to RemoveNode.pl script
- A new optional command line option is added to the RemoveNode.pl script. The
-cleandisco
option removes a device from discovery cache database tables. For more information, see RemoveNode.pl. - Change the alignment of nodes in the network views
-
You can change the way that nodes are aligned in the network view by right-clicking on the map and using the Align Nodes submenu. The alignment applies to the nodes that are selected at the time. If no nodes are selected, the alignment applies to all nodes.
For more information, see Network Views GUI.
- Restart not needed after changing DB2 password
- The
ncp_sighup_model.pl
script has been added. You can use this script instead of restarting Network Manager, after the DB2 password is updated, if you use DB2 for the NCIM database. For more information, see ncp_password_update.pl. - Updates to Huawei M2000 collector
- The Huawei M2000 collector has additional technology support: GNODEB,GBTS, and multi technology eNodeB (eNodeB,NodeB,GBTS). For more information, see Predefined collectors.
- New optional script on Linux: setup_run_as_capabilities.sh
- On Linux only, a new script is added. The setup_run_as_capabilities.sh script is an alternative to the setup_run_as_setuid_root.sh script. For more information, see setup_run_as* scripts.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 15
The following features and functions are introduced in this Fix Pack.
- Security improvements for Log4j
-
The version of Log4j that is used by Apache Storm, a component of Network Manager, is updated to version 2.17.1.
Log4j version 1, which was used by the
ncp_dla
component, is removed. - Support for resolving duplicate OID labels
-
Some SNMP object labels refer to more than one OID and are thus not unique. The way that the GUI processes ambiguous labels is determined by the
mib_browser.duplicate.mib.label.action
property in the mib_browser.properties file. This property has the following allowed values:always
: Always use the OID instead of the label.never
: Always use the label. This was the behaviour prior to Fix Pack 15.prompt
: If the label is unique, use the label. If the label is not unique, you can choose to replace it with the OID, if the OID is known, choose from a list of multiple OIDs with that label, or use the label. This option is the default.
- Huawei M2000 collector supports neType data
-
The Huawei M2000 collector now processes BSC6900UMTSNE, BSC6910UMTSNE, BSC6900GSMNE, and BSC6910GSMNNE class neType discovery data supplied in CMExportFile format.
For more information, see Predefined collectors.
- Retrieve number of monitored entities
-
You can use the monitoredEntities.py script to retrieve the total number of currently monitored network entities in a particular domain.
For more information, see Retrieving the number of monitored entities.
- Poll definitions can use multibyte data type
-
You can now use the
multibyte
data type in poll definitions.For an example of using the multibyte data type in an eval statement, see Example generic threshold expression.
- Network paths can use discovered topology
-
Path views created from the Trace Network Path window or the itnm_pathTool.pl script can use the discovered topology in the NCIM database instead of querying the network devices.
For more information, see Creating path views and itnm_pathTool.pl.
- Enable or disable the overlay icons for managed status in Topoviz
-
The administrator can enable or disable the display of overlay icons for managed status in Topoviz (Network Hop View, Network View and Path Views GUI). This is useful if users are not interested in managed status, or if it takes a long time to calculate. Managed status can be slow to calculate for devices that contain a large number of interfaces. Disabling the display of managed status also disables the Manage and Unmanage tools on the right-click menu.
For more information, see Configuring the display of extra information associated with a device.
- Copy tooltip text
- You can use the Copy Tooltip right-click menu option to copy the text that is displayed when hovering the cursor over a network entity or link in the Network Hop View.
- Cisco DNA Rest collector
- A collector is added to retreive data from Cisco DNA Element Management systems. For more information, see Configuring the Cisco DNA REST collector.
- NCIM audit logging
-
You can configure the GUI to keep a log of HTTP requests made by a GUI user that interact with the NCIM topology database. NCIM audit logging is disabled by default. For more information, see NCIM audit logging.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 14
The following features and functions are introduced in this Fix Pack.
- Fix nodes in network view
-
A new network view setting, Keep old nodes in place after discovery, fixes the position of existing nodes. This setting overrides the global
topoviz.node.freezeold
parameter in the topoviz.properties file for an individual view.For more information, see Configuring position of nodes in Network Views after rediscovery.
- Support for connecting Multiple Event Management Systems
-
The Alcatel SAM 5620 collector can be configured to switch between a primary and secondary EMS.
For more information, see Configuring the Alcatel5620Sam Java collector.
- NokiaOMS1350 Java collector supports new EMS Version 20.11
-
The collector uses single-step authentication when the
DataSource.emsVersion
value is greater than or equal to20.11
, because these EMS versions do not support three-step authentication. - Tellabs collector supports upgraded EMS
-
The Tellabs INM8000 collector has been extended to support the new SR8.0 SP3 version of the EMS server.
- Support for index-based OIDs in SNMP poll definitions
-
You can now use full index-based OIDs in poll definitions.
For more information, see Creating basic threshold poll definitions.
- Cisco UCS support
-
Blade server containment information on Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) devices is now discovered by the new discovery agent CiscoUCSSnmp.
For more information, see Discovering containment information.
- New Event Gateway Stitcher
-
A new stitcher, LookupChassis.stch, has been added.
For more information, see Topology lookup stitchers.
- New collector for Cisco DNA Center
-
A new collector, the CISCO DNA REST collector, has been added. It retrieves topology and event management information from the Cisco DNA Center EMS.
For more information, see Predefined collectors.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 13
The following features and functions are introduced in Fix Pack 13.
- New Stitcher: LAGLayer
- A new Stitcher, LAGLayer, creates Layer 2 connectivity between the LAG (Link Aggregation Group) physical member ports, and Layer 3 connectivity between LAGs.
- Restricting access to domains in GUI
-
You can control the domains in which users of the GUI can access network views, poll policies, and other domain-specific information. To restrict access to domain-specific information, you must enable role-based access to domains, create the appropriate roles, and assign the roles to users.
For more information, see Restricting access to domains in the GUI.
- Assign the value of the
SuppressionState
field in the table field on Omnibus -
If the
SuppressionState
field value is added or updated, then the value is visible in event details published on Omnibus GUI.
- Support for Nokia 5529IDM AMS version 9.7 discovery
- Nokia IDM 5529 Java collector has been extended to support 9.7.03 and 9.7.05 IDM/ASM version EMS discovery.
- S11, Gx, SGI interfaces and connectivity for SAEGW/PGW devices
- Alcatel5620Sam java collector has been extended to support Interfaces/connectivity/topology for
System Architecture Evolution Gateway (SAEGW)/Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW)
devices onS11/SGI/Gx
interfaces.
- Support discovery of device Huawei U2020 in IBM Tivoli Network Manager
Huawei M2000 (HuaweiM2K)
java collector has been extended to support theeNodeB
/NodeB
devices from theCMExport
files.
- Populating VLAN info in Nokia SAM NSP V19.9 eMS
- Alcatel5620Sam collector has been extended to support the
VLAN
entities andVLAN
association for ports.
- Process the netw.RadioPhysicalLink.xml
- Alcatel5620Sam collector has been extended to support the Link Aggregation Groups (LAG) and
physical port connections coming through the
netw.RadioPhysicalLink.xml
inventory file.
- Support for Cisco NCS2000 Platform
- Added new integration support for Cisco NCS2000 EPNM (Evolved Programmable Network Manager) EMS
discovery to IBM Tivoli Network Manager through java collector.
Cisco EPNM REST Collector
designed to support the discovery ofCisco EPNM EMS
.
- Update Juniper support MX / SRX device support
- The support has been extended for
MX/SRX
series devices for Juniper. AlsoJUNIPER-CHASSIS-DEFINES-MIB
has been upgraded to the latest version to supportMX/SRX
series devices.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 12
The following features and functions are introduced in Fix Pack 12.
- Tabular network views to display severity icons
-
You can now select the option to display the status as text or icon for
severity
andmanagedStatus
columns.For more information, see Configuring column display in the tabular view.
- Support for storing the Poll Data for Float Value
-
IBM Tivoli Network Manager now allows you to store float, 64-bit integer, and 32-bit integer values in DB table for Db2 and Oracle.
For more information, see Storing Poll Data for DB2 and Oracle section Historical polled data collection and storage tasks.
- Connectivity between MME and HSS IMS
- ALU SAM Collector is now extended to support the Mobility Management Entity (MME) to Home Subscriber Server (HSS) over S6a interface.
- Nokia 5529 IDM collector extended for additional parameters
- The Nokia 5529 IDM collector is now extended for additional parameters. The collector allows you
to add any additional attributes mapping to the properties file for all the managed objects coming
in the EMS export file. All those additional attribute will be populated as name or value pairs in
workingEntities.finalEntity
.
- Warning if domain name is not all uppercase
- If the name of the new domain contains any lowercase letters, the script prompts to ask if you
want to create a domain with that name. The script also now has a
-force
command-line option, which suppresses this question and creates the new domain unconditionally. If you have any custom scripts that calldomain_create.pl
, you may need to add the-force
option to them to preserve existing behavior.
- Support for 5G gNodeB
- IBM Tivoli Network Manager now supports 5G NR GNodeB devices.
- Support for Apache Storm
-
Apache Storm has been upgraded from version 2.1.0 to 2.2.0.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 11
The following features and functions are introduced in Fix Pack 11.
- Tivoli Common Reporting is not supported
-
Tivoli Common Reporting is no longer supported. You must use Cognos Analytics on all platforms.
All references to Tivoli Common Reporting have been updated to Cognos Analytics in the Fix Pack 11 documentation.
- Link Status Option
-
Your administrator can now configure links to display link status information from poll policies. Links can be displayed as colored, or colored with an associated severity icon.
For more information, see Monitoring links.
- Warning if a user is about to create an excess number of views
-
If the system contains a large number of views, this can adversely affect performance. The administrator can restrict the number of child views that a dynamic view is allowed to contain when a user creates or edits a dynamic view. If the number of child views that a dynamic view would contain is greater than the
topoviz.tree.size.warning
property intopoviz.properties
, the GUI displays a warning,For more information, see Creating dynamic network views.
- New usageStringsRef string
-
This is a new array reference that contains an element for each of the non-standard command line argument scenarios. If the application takes only standard arguments, this constructor argument should be set to
undef
.For more information, see RIV::Param Constructor.
ncp_gis
able to display custom icons based on the device class-
You can now customize the node icon for a device class in a geographical view.
To customize the node icon, see Configuring the appearance of geographical views.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 10
The following features and functions are introduced in Fix Pack 10.
- Hop view can now search across domains
-
You can now search for network entities across all domains at once.
For more information, see Using the basic search.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 9
The following features and functions are introduced in Fix Pack 9.
- New Telnet agent
- The HuaweiLLDPTelnet agent discovers the Layer 2 physical switch-to-switch links between Huawei switches. For more information, see Discovery agents that discover connectivity among Ethernet switches.
- Change encryption strength
-
You can change the strength of the encryption used by the Network Manager core components and GUI components. You can also change the type of encryption. For more information, see Configuring encryption length and type.
- Configure the display of interface information in the Structure Browser
-
The Structure Browser displays the interface name in the Device Structure Tree by default. You can append the interface alias to the interface name by configuring a properties file.
For more information, see Customizing Structure Browser preferences.
- Configure the display of the Bookmarks and Libraries tabs
-
The Network Views display the Bookmarks tab by default. You can show the Libraries tab by default instead, and hide one of the tabs, by configuring a properties file. You can also open the Network Views by using a URL parameter that defines which tab is opened by default.
For more information, see Configuring the tabs displayed in the Network Views and Network Views URL parameters.
- All entity attributes can be retrieved from a network view query
-
You can use the
allAttributes=true
parameter to retrieve all entity attributes from a network view Topology API query, instead of only the entity IDs.For more information, see Extracting topology data for all chassis devices within a specified network view.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 8
The following features and functions are introduced in Fix Pack 8.
- All view maintenance settings can be enabled at once
-
You can enable or disable all automatic view maintenance properties at once by setting a single property,
topoviz.engine.views.enabled
.For more information, see Setting up automatic view maintenance.
- Structure Browser table columns widths can be adjusted
-
You can control the width of columns in the Structure Browser Devices table in the same way as for the Structure Browser Interfaces table. For more information, see Customizing Structure Browser preferences.
Related to this feature, the
entityId
andentityType
columns can now be in any order in the table definition for the Structure Browser and the Network Views table mode. The default layout for the Network Views table mode and the Interfaces view in the Structure Browser is coded differently in the ncimMetaData.xml file. You must observe the new conventions if you change the column display for these views. For more information, see Configuring column display in the tabular view and Configuring column display in the Structure Browser. - Topology API can filter by sub-chassis
-
An optional Boolean parameter, includeSubChassis, has been added to
nm_rest/topology/devices/all
andnm_rest/topology/devices/classes
. Using this property, you can include or exclude results from sub-chassis.For more information, see Extracting topology data for all chassis devices and Extracting topology data for all chassis devices that belong to a set of classes.
Note:As part of this feature, the definition of the
ncim.mainNodeDetails
database view has been changed. ThedomainMgr
table has been replaced with thedomainMgrExcludeManual
view, to filter out duplicated rows for manual devices. If you have changed the definition of thencim.mainNodeDetails
database view, incorporate your changes into the new view definition.For an upgrade, the script that changes the
mainNodeDetails
database view is in $ITNMHOME/scripts/sql/updates/$server/4.2-fp8.sql, where$server
isdb2
ororacle
.For a new installation, the script that defines the
mainNodeDetails
database view is in $ITNMHOME/scripts/sql/$server/createPrecisionIPDb.sql, where$server
isdb2
ororacle
.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 7
The following features and functions are introduced in Fix Pack 7.
- Changing GUI properties does not require a restart of the Dashboard Application Services Hub
- If you edit a
.properties
file in the $NMGUI_HOME/profile/etc/tnm directory, which contains properties used by the Network Manager GUI, you no longer have to restart the Dashboard Application Services Hub in order for the changes to take effect. - Backing up ncp_store cache files
-
You can back up and restore the
ncp_store
cache, so that you have a copy of the topology.For more information, see Configuring backups of the ncp_store cache.
- Topology API can filter by class
-
The Topology API can now include or exclude devices that belong to a specified class or set of classes.
For more information, see Extracting topology data for all chassis devices that belong to a set of classes.
- Support for Google Chrome Browser
-
Google Chrome is now a supported browser for using the Network Manager GUI.
For more information on supported browsers, see Browsers for Web applications.
- Hiding the option to enable caching of discovery tables
-
Caching discovery tables can significantly affect discovery performance. An administrator can now remove the option to enable this feature from the GUI. Caching can still be enabled on the command line.
For more information, see Advanced discovery parameters.
- Configuring displayed columns in the Structure Browser
-
You can choose which columns are displayed in the Structure Browser tabular view.
For more information, see Configuring column display in the Structure Browser.
- Customize horizontal alignment of text in the Structure Browser and tabular views
-
You can change the horizontal alignment of text to be left, right or center-aligned.
For more information on this feature in the Structure Browser, see Configuring column display in the Structure Browser.
For more information on this feature in the tabular views, see Configuring column display in the tabular view.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 6
The following features and functions are introduced in Fix Pack 6.
- Support for cloud-based MMEs and Nokia SAE Gateways
- The Alcatel5620Sam Java Collector has been extended to support cloud-based, or virtual, MMEs (Multimedia Extensions), and to support Nokia SAE Gateway devices, which have both LTE PDNGateway and ServingGateway functionality. If the data has been discovered, you can select LTE S1-U, LTE S5-U, and LTE S8 connectivity from the topology views. For more information, see Predefined collectors.
- Support for IBM Db2 version 11.1 Advance Enterprise Server Edition
- IBM Db2 version 11.1 Advance Enterprise Server Edition is supported for use a topology database. For more information, see Compatibility requirements.
- Customize the Structure Browser view for a single device
-
You can specify the view in which the Structure Browser portlet opens when a single device is displayed.
For more information, see Customizing Structure Browser preferences.
- Third-party library upgrade
- Tom Sawyer libraries have been upgraded to version 7.6. This is intended to improve performance in the GUI.
- Support for TLS protocol versions in Cisco APIC collector
-
You can specify the version of TLS protocol that you want the collector to use.
For more information, see Configuring the Cisco APIC REST collector.
- Support for discovering Cisco CRS LAG information
-
The IEEE8023LAG agent discovers the LAG (Link Aggregation Group) Link entities and physical ports associated with the LAG between two network devices. The agent discovers information from Cisco Carrier Routing System (CRS) LAG networks.
For more information, see Discovery agents on other protocols.
- Support for discovering Nokia OMS 1350 EMS
-
The NokiaOMS1350 Java collector retrieves data from the Nokia OMS 1350 EMS.
For more information, see Configuring the NokiaOMS1350 Java collector.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 5
The following features and functions are introduced in Fix Pack 5.
- New IP SLA agents
-
Discovery support is introduced for Huawei NQA and Juniper RPM devices by using two new agents:
- HuaweiNQA
-
The Huawei Network Quality Analyser (NQA) agent discovers IP SLA-related data from Huawei NQA devices that support the NQA-MIB MIB. The agent retrieves data such as information on the configured probes.
- JuniperRPM
-
The Juniper Realtime Performance Monitoring (RPM) agent discovers IP SLA-related data from Juniper RPM devices that support the DISMAN-PING-MIB and JUNIPER-PING-MIB MIBs. The agent retrieves data such as information on the configured probes.
- View device information in the Device View
-
The Device View is a composite GUI that displays information about a device. Select a device in the Network Hop View widget to display the following information in the other portlets within the Device View:
- The Top Performers widget shows poll data for the device.
- The Event Viewer widget shows events for the device.
- The Structure Browser widget shows the containment of the device.
For more information, see Using the Device View.
- Export a network view
-
You can export the contents of a network view to a comma-separated values (CSV) file.
For more information, see Visualizing devices in tabular layout.
- Add columns to the tabular view
-
You can add and remove columns when the network topology is displayed in tabular layout.
For more information, see Configuring column display in the tabular view.
- Geographical maps updates
- You can choose from available base mapping layers and custom mapping layers in the geographical
views. For more information, see Viewing devices in geographical context.Important: The syntax of the config.json configuration file is different in Fix Pack 5. Before installing Fix Pack 5, back up your existing config.json configuration file. Migrate any configuration changes that you made, referring to the new syntax as described in Adding custom map layers.
- You can change the default connectivity in the Network Hop View
-
When the Network Hop View is opened from the Dashboard Application Services Hub menu, Structure Browser, or Event Viewer, it displays layer 2 connectivity by default. You can change this default setting.
For more information, see Changing the default topology layer for the Network Hop View.
- PDF guides reorganized
-
The PDF documentation deliverables have been consolidated into the following items:
- The IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition Release Notes give important and late-breaking information about Network Manager. This publication is for deployers and administrators, and should be read first.
- The IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition Installation and Configuration Guidedescribes how to install Network Manager. It also describes necessary and optional post-installation configuration tasks. This publication is for administrators who need to install and set up Network Manager.
- The IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition Administration Guide describes administration tasks such as how to start and stop the product, discover the network, poll the network, manage events, administer processes, and query databases. This publication is for administrators who are responsible for the maintenance and availability of Network Manager.
- The IBM Tivoli Network Manager Reference contains reference information including the system languages, databases, and Perl API used by Network Manager. This publication is for advanced users who need to customize the operation of Network Manager.
- Show or hide layout buttons in the Path Views GUI
-
You can use the new property
topoviz.pathview.layout.enabled
in the $NMGUI_HOME/profile/etc/tnm/topoviz.properties
file to show or hide the layout buttons for the Path Views GUI.The default value for this property is
false
, which hides the layout buttons.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 4
The following features and functions are introduced in Fix Pack 4.
- Monitoring IP Service Level Agreement (IP SLA) configurations
-
You can configure discovery to discover and visualize probes that are configured to monitor IP SLA response times. Collections of probes are displayed in the network views. You can also view the status of events on the probes and the links between them.
Important: You must install version 4.8.7 of the Netcool/OMNIbus Knowledge Library and configure it for use with the IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus SNMP Probe. For information on how to install and configure the Netcool/OMNIbus Knowledge Library, see http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSSHTQ/omnibus/probes/nckl/wip/concept/nckl_intro.html.For more information about monitoring IP SLA, see Monitoring IP Service Level Agreement (IP SLA) configurations.
- Firefox 52 support
-
The Network Manager web applications now run on Firefox 52.
For more information, see Browsers for Web applications.
- Updates to Telnet Helper encryption algorithms
-
The Telnet Helper now supports the AES-128-CTR , AES-192-CTR and AES-256-CTR encryption algorithms.
For more information, see Helpers.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 3
The following features and functions are introduced in Fix Pack 3.
- Support for SLES 12.0
-
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 12.0 (x86-64) is a supported operating system in Fix Pack 3.
- Support for Db2 version 11.1
-
IBM Db2 version 11.1 Enterprise Server Edition is supported for use as the topology database in Fix Pack 3.
- Support for Linux on IBM z Systems
-
Network Manager is now supported on Linux on IBM z Systems. The following versions are supported:
- SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 12.0 SP2 and SP3 on IBM z Systems (s390x, 64 bit)
If you use Network Manager on Linux on IBM z Systems, Tivoli Common Reporting is not supported. Use Cognos Analytics for reporting. For more information about Cognos Analytics, search for Cognos Analytics in the IBM Order Management Software Knowledge Center at https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SS6PEW.
- Offline geographical maps
-
You can use an appropriate mapping provider to enable access to geographical maps without an internet connection. For more information, see Integrating an online or offline Web Map Service.
- Custom geographical map layers
-
You can add custom layers to geographical maps. For example, you can add geographical information that is made available by a public server. For more information, see Adding custom map layers.
- Regional aggregation for geographical maps
-
You can group locations into cities, group cities into states, and group states into countries. This grouping is called regional aggregation. For more information, see Enabling regional aggregation for geographical views.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 2
The following features and functions are introduced in Fix Pack 2.
- Geographical views
-
You can configure geographical discovery to enrich devices with location information. These devices can be displayed in the new GIS Device Health View and GIS Device Map. Devices can be grouped into locations. Status is shown on devices, locations, and links.
Note:If you installed a beta version of this feature, you must uninstall the geographical views feature before updating to Fix Pack 2 or later. Run the following command from the top level directory where you unpacked the beta
.zip
file:sh bin/install.sh -u
The application WAR files are removed and the WebSphere Application Server is restarted.
To download the beta files again, contact IBM Support.
For more information about this feature, see Configuring geographical views.
- Network Views GUI: background images can be set for Network Views
- When you create views, you have the option to provide background images for Network Views.
New product features and functions in Fix Pack 1
- Applying NCIM topology database schema updates for one or more fixpacks or interim fixes
- It is now possible to run a script to apply all necessary NCIM topology database schema updates for one or more fixpacks or interim fixes.
- Device Dashboard to enable operators to troubleshoot network issues on any device, link, or interface
-
Netcool Operations Insight users can use the Device Dashboard to troubleshoot network issues by navigating the network topology and see performance metric values, anomalies and trends on any device, link, or interface.
Netcool Operations Insight users can also launch to the new Device Dashboard directly from the Network Health Dashboard.
New product features and functions in Interim Fix 2
The following additional support is provided in Interim Fix 2.
- Support for Oracle Database version 11g
- Network Manager V4.2 Interim Fix 2 supports Oracle version 11g, Enterprise Edition with Partitioning option.
- Support for Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus on Windows
- Network Manager V4.2 Interim Fix
2 provides the ability to configure an existing Windows ObjectServer for use with Network Manager. This configuration is done by
a new script called
config_object_server_for_itnm.sh
, which supports an ObjectServer running on Windows as well as UNIX. If you want to use this ObjectServer as the user repository, then you must also run scripts to configure the users and assign roles to these users.
New product features and functions in V4.2
The following new features are provided in V4.2.
- Ability to seed discoveries based on third-party database content
- Network Manager V4.2 provides a new discovery finder process. Discovery finder processes are responsible for determining device existence. Network Manager V4.2 introduces a new Database finder, ncp_df_dbentry. The Database finder reads a database to retrieve a list of devices to find on the network.
- AIX support
-
Network Manager V4.2 introduces support for AIX platforms.
- Default optimization of network polling
- Two instances of the network polling process, ncp_poller, are configured on installation. The ncp_poller_admin poller performs administrative tasks such as monitoring the size and age of the poll data database tables, updating caches, dropping partitions, and MIB Grapher support. The ncp_poller_default poller is used for SNMP and Ping polling. This distribution of functions can help to improve performance. In previous versions of Network Manager, the administrator had to configure an administrative poller. In Network Manager 4.2, this configuration is done automatically.
- Enhanced network map features, including enhanced search and zoom features
- The network map function is extended and now includes enhanced search and zoom functions.
- Enhanced upgrade and migration process
- The upgrade and migration process was redesigned with ease of use in mind. The number of files that typically need to be manually migrated is now reduced.
- GUI responsiveness
- The Network Manager GUI no longer uses Java applets. This redesign aims to help the GUI responsiveness for users.
- Installation process now uses IBM Installation Manager
- Network Manager V4.2 uses IBM Installation Manager for installation. IBM Installation Manager is used by most other IBM® products, and is designed for speed and ease of use.
- Network Health Dashboard to enable operators to monitor and troubleshoot network health
- Netcool Operations Insight users can use the Network Health Dashboard to monitor and troubleshoot network health. The Network Health Dashboard monitors a selected network view, and displays device and interface availability within that network view. It also reports on performance by presenting graphs, tables, and traces of KPI data for monitored devices and interfaces. A dashboard timeline reports on device configuration changes and event counts, enabling you to correlate events with configuration changes. The dashboard includes the Event Viewer, for more detailed event information.
- New mechanism for aggregating raw poll data into historical polling data
-
Network Manager now uses the Apache Storm real-time computation system to aggregate raw poll data into historical poll data, and stores raw and historical poll data in the NCPOLLDATA database. You can access this data on a per device or link basis from the topology map within the Network Hop View GUI, Network Views GUI, and Path Views GUI. Raw and historical poll data is also presented in graphs and tables in performance reports, and for Netcool Operations Insight users in the Network Health Dashboard.
- Right-click option to display historical poll data for all metrics on a device or interface
- Within a topology view, users can right-click on a device, multiple devices, a subview, or a
subnet to display the historical poll data. To do display historical poll data, first right-click a
device, and then select Note: This new feature replaces the SNMP MIB Grapher historical data function.
.
- Support for Mozilla Firefox ESR 38
- Network Manager V4.2 introduces support for Mozilla Firefox Extended Service Release (ESR) 38.
- Using the new Dashboard Application Services Hub features
-
Network Manager now uses functions of the Dashboard Application Services Hub within Jazz® for Service Management to administer pages, folders, views, widgets, and console preference profiles.
The integration between Network Manager V4.2 and Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Web GUI V8.1 is simpler, because both products are now hosted by Dashboard Application Services Hub. The Network Management Integration for Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V8.1 is no longer required.
For more information, see Administering the GUI framework.