Network Manager data flow

Use this information to understand how the components of Network Manager fit together

The following figure shows the main areas of functionality within Network Manager and depicts how data flows between them.

Network Manager dataflow — Figure 1. Network Manager data flow

1 Network administrators configure and run a discovery: Batch-mode discoveries can be run on demand or can be scheduled. In batch mode, the whole network can be discovered (this is known as full discovery), or just a single subnet or device (partial discovery). Essential discovery configuration information consists of device seeds, network scope, and device access details such as SNMP community strings.
2 Data is gathered from the network: Devices are found on the network by the Ping finder, File finder, Database finder, or collector framework when interrogating Element Management Systems (EMS) such as the Alcatel 5620 SAM. Discovery agents are invoked when devices of specific types are found on the network by the Ping or File finder. The agents request connectivity information from devices that the finders have discovered. Discovery agents interrogate network devices for information using methods such as ICMP, SNMP, SSH, and TELNET
3 Network topology is created: Data gathered from devices is processed and a network topology is created and stored in a discovery database.
4 Network devices are classified by type and the network topology is stored: Following discovery, topology data is classified according to device type, and the topology data is stored in the NCIM topology database. Topology data is also made available to the Event Gateway, ncp_g_event, which uses this data to enrich events and to the Root-cause analysis plug-in to the Event Gateway, which uses this data to identify root cause events.
5 Network administrators configure device polling: Network Manager has a default set of polling policies. These polling policies include simple device or interface pings and more complex threshold polls against specific MIB variables. Network administrators can configure polling policies to poll a more restricted set of devices, to change polling frequency, to change the data collected, and to make other custom changes.
6 Network Manager polls the network: Network Manager polls the network based on default and configured polls.
7 Network Manager converts relevant poll results into Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus events and sends them to Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus: Network Manager converts the results of relevant polls into Tivoli® Netcool/OMNIbus events, and sends these events to the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus ObjectServer, which stores the events. Poll results that are converted into Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus events include those polls where the response indicates a device or other network failure of some sort, such as a threshold violation or an ICMP ping fail.
8 Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus and other event sources populate the ObjectServer: Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus probes, and potentially other network event sources, populate the ObjectServer with network events.
9 Events are enriched with topology data: Events are passed to the Event Gateway, ncp_g_event, where they are enriched with topology data. Some events are passed directly back to the ObjectServer. Event Gateway plug-ins subscribe to certain types of events. Based on these subscriptions, events are passed to the Event Gateway plug-ins.
10 Event Gateway plug-ins perform root cause analysis and other actions based on events: Event Gateway plug-ins perform various actions based on events received from the Event Gateway. For example, the RCA plug-in performs further event enrichment. The SAE plug-in generates synthetic service-affected (SAE) events based on events received. Other plug-ins take other actions based on the occurrence of certain events; for example, the Failover plug-in initiates failover based on the occurrence of Network Manager health check events. Plug-ins pass enriched events back to the ObjectServer.
11 Network Manager gathers device performance data on demand: At any time a network administrator can set up polling of specific SNMP and ICMP data on one or more network devices. Network Manager gathers this data and stores it in the NCPOLLDATA historical polled data database.
12 Topology visualization software accesses the NCIM database: The topology visualization web application, running within the Dashboard Application Services Hub application, accesses the topology within the NCIM database. Network operators can now log into the Dashboard Application Services Hub and view their network devices and components using the Network Manager topology visualization GUIs, including multi-widget views, such as the Fault-Finding View and the Network Health View, and single-widget views, such as the Network Hop View, Network Views, and Path View.
13 Event visualization software accesses the ObjectServer: The Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Web GUI requests the latest set of events from the ObjectServer. Any changes network operators make to these events using the Web GUI are sent back to the ObjectServer. Network operators can now log into the Dashboard Application Services Hub and view events using the Event Viewer.
14 Event information is requested: The Topology Visualization Web application requests event information from the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Web GUI application.
15 Report data for performance reports is retrieved from the NCPOLLDATA historical polled data database: Network operators log into the Dashboard Application Services Hub, access Tivoli Common Reporting, and run performance data and other reports. The report data for performance reports is retrieved from the NCPOLLDATA historical polled data database.