Thanks for the feedback. Let me explain where my head is... The video shows that configuation (shut/no shut) is possible but that's not the big thing. The only reason to open a switch to the "huge" display is diagnostic. I've configured mine to show... Admin status, interface errors, speed, duplex, utilization, cpu error codes, and fan alarm. Yes, all that info is easily available via a few telnet commands.... Or double click and just look at the graphic.
I do 99% of my configuration via the CLI. The only "configuation" SNMPc is good for is shut/no shut. And half the time, I do that from telnet as well. Graphics are a simple pre-configured way to check the normal things. And with a scripted SNMP language, you can code it to show whatever you want. You only open a switch if you need to check status or a problem. Why do I want to know what type of switch it is? Because when it goes down, I *can't* telnet to it, and I certainly can't remember what's where :-). So all I have to do is look at the last view of SNMPc, and I know what type of switch to send out as the replacment. This is all about ease of managmenet. No database to update, no paperwork to keep track of inventory, just glance at the screen, tell my tech to grab a 2960-48TT, or whatever, and hit the road. Easy. And I don't worry about the tech updating a screen to ensure it's reporting the right model when we do an upgrade. It's always right. I'm not certain what you mean about monitoring 800 devices actual size. The initial geographic map you see in the video shows my 100 sites (each one containing 5 to 20 devices). So with one map, I'm monitoring my ~800 devices and I only drill down to the full device view when troubleshooting. You're right, telnet is a configuration tool. SNMPc is a monitoring tool. Intermapper doesn't provide the flexibility to monitor/display SNMP variables like SNMPc can. Your comment about checking temperature or AP clents... That's *EXACTLY* the type of thing I'm talking about. If it's an SNMP variable, SNMPc can display it. And that's what I want to do with Intermapper. Thanks again for your comments. We all want different things. Ed -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jon Myers Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 12:37 PM To: InterMapper Discussion Subject: Re: [IM-Talk] What Intermapper can't do I might be missing something, but I don't see anything too interesting there. I'd rather double click on the switch to ssh/telnet to it like I do now, and make the changes manually. I really don't like the huge pictures of switches taking up my screen, especially when all that info is readily available in a much smaller form factor. We use Intermapper as a MONITORING tool, not a configuration tool. Once Dartware figures out how to properly do the monitoring side, then maybe if they want to jump to the configuring side, then sure... But theres a long way to go, and in the 5 years we've been with them, only meaningless/minor changes have been made. The biggest change so far has been plastering a huge "ifAlias not available" on switch ports with no description, rather than allowing it to just remain blank if its blank. So then I had to write a script to set the description on all unlabeled switch ports to a dot. If you want dynamically changing icons for various switches, perhaps setting up a script to check the switch, and whack on the database of IM to change the icon might work for you. Could be built right into a custom probe. Not quite sure why though. Of course if the custom probe scripting was a little better, you could see the model number right in the status window. The BIG thing that intermapper can't do is send meaningful alerts, like "NOC Temperature is 80 degrees", all it can do is report Alert, warning, or OK. Nor can I even update the label of a temperature device to display the temp without right clicking on it and going to status. Same applies for APs and seeing number of clients, or any other information. So thats why we're looking for a replacement for intermapper. And as for SNMPc, I really don't want to see around 800 devices actual size at the same time to get information at a glance. At 08:50 AM 8/21/2009, you wrote: >Intermapper is a great program I've been using for many years. I was an >original Mac user before Dartware migrated to Windows. But, we're always >looking for new tools and better problem identification. Here's a short >video I captured from my workstation (no audio) showing a product called >SNMPc. > >http://public.leeschools.net/edk/snmpc.wmv > >The reason I'm posting this to the Intermapper list (with their >approval) is to hopefully generate some interest from other users, so >that Dartware moves in this direction. The functionality and graphics >you'll see in SNMPc were created using scripts I wrote in their limited >SNMP scripting language. If Dartware provided similar tools, this could >be even better. > >Notice that the icons are active representations of the actual gear >deployed. By just looking at the maps you can tell what hardware you >have installed. And since it's polling via SNMP, the icon's change when >hardware is changed - no editing necessary. > >Please comment... > >Ed Konowal >Network Operations Supervisor >Lee County School District > >____________________________________________________________________ >List archives: >http://www.mail-archive.com/intermapper-talk%40list.dartware.com/ >To unsubscribe: send email to: [email protected] ____________________________________________________________________ List archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/intermapper-talk%40list.dartware.com/ To unsubscribe: send email to: [email protected] ____________________________________________________________________ List archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/intermapper-talk%40list.dartware.com/ To unsubscribe: send email to: [email protected]
