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Add Devices

Though we might have, auto-discovered devices on our networks, but sometimes we don’t want to add all the available devices on the network to the inventory or it may be that all our devices may not be found. To compensate for both these scenarios, Zenoss allows us to add one device at a time to the device inventory.

To add a single device, select Add Device from the navigation panel. The Add Device page is divided into multiple sections for general device information, Attributes, and Relations as shown in the following screenshot. We can be as detailed as we want to be when we add the device manually. However, at a minimum, we should enter a Device Name, Device Class Path,and Discovery Protocol.

The Device Name identifies the IP address or resolvable hostname, while the device class sets the monitoring properties we want our device to inherit by default. If the device is not SNMP-enabled, select None, otherwise Zenoss will not add the device.We’ll continue

Device Management in Zenoss Core Network and System Monitoring

We’ll continue monitoring our Mill Race location by adding a new Linux server with the following configuration:

  • Device Name: 192.168.1.110
  • Device Class: /Server/Linux
  • Discovery Protocol: None
  • OS Manufacturer: Ubuntu
  • Location: /Mill Race/Second Floor
  • System: /Development
  • Group: /Developers/Software Testers

The Add Device Options table lists the available configuration information we can set when adding a device manually

Add Device Options

Field Name

Description

IP Address

Enter either an IP address or resolvable host name to identify the device.

Device Class Path

Select the appropriate device classifications: Ex: /Server/Linux.

Discovery Protocol

Choose either SNMP or None depending on whether or not you monitor the device with SNMP or not.

SNMP Community

Enter the community string of the device. The most common default is public.

 

 

Attributes

SNMP Port

The default port for SNMP communication is 161.

Tag Number

If the device has a tag number, such as a service tag number, enter the value.

Serial Number

Record the manufacturer’s serial number.

Production State

Select the current state of the device: Ex. Production, maintenance, decommissioned.

Priority

Highest, high, normal, low, lowest, trivial.

Rack Slot

Record the physical rack location of the device.

Comments

Use the comments to enter device specific information, including a description, device users, or who is responsible for the device.

 

 

Relations

HW Manufacturer

Select a manufacturer name from the list. Ex: Cisco or Linksys.

HW Product

Select a product from the list. The HW Product lists gets populated based on the HW Manufacturer selection.

OS Manufacturer

Select a manufacturer name from the list. Ex: Microsoft or Fedora Core.

OS Product

Select from a product from the list. The OS Product lists gets populated based on the HW Manufacturer selection.

Location Path

Select the location of the device. Create a new location by typing the name in the New Location field and clicking Add.

Systems

Select a system organizer. Create a new system by typing the name in the New System field and clicking Add.

Groups

Select a group organizer. Create a new group by typing the name in the New Device Group field and clicking Add.

Status Monitor

Select a status monitor to define how often the device availability is monitored. The default is localhost. Create a new status monitor by typing the name in the New Status Monitor field and clicking Add.

Refer to chapter 06 for configuration information.

Performance Monitor

Select a performance monitor to define how often device performance data is collected. The default is localhost. Create a new performance monitor by typing the name in the New Performance Monitor field.

Refer to chapter 06 for configuration information.

The Add Device Status page provides a hyperlink at the bottom of the page that says, “Navigate to device 192.168.1.110.” If we click on the device name, the Device Status page is displayed.

Device Status

The Device status page displays an overview of our device and contains the same information we encountered on the Add Device page. As we look at the Device Status table for 192.168.1.110 as shown in the following screenshot, we can determine several important monitoring statistics in one glance.

In our example, the device name and IP address are the same, but they do not need to be the same. If the host has multiple CNAMEs or interfaces, we can specify a name other than the name we used to find the device, via DNS resolution. We may find that we want to implement a custom naming scheme for devices. Regardless of what we name the device, Zenoss uses the IP address to monitor, not the name

The Device Status table lists the number of events by severity and color code. The Device Severities table lists Zenoss’s severity:

Device Severities

Color

Severity

Red

Critical

Orange

Error

Yellow

Warning

Blue

Information

Grey

Debug

The Device Status page also lists important statistics of the device. The Availability and Uptime values are automatically calculated, and the Production State and Priority values can be changed via the device’s Edit page. We can lock the device to prevent Zenoss from removing or updating the device configuration. The Last Change, Last Collection, and the First Seen values provide a quick way to verify the modeling history of the device by listing the last time Zenoss detected a change with the device configuration and the last time the device was modeled.

In the Device Status page, we also see a list of Component Types and the Status of each monitored component. As we build our monitoring solution, the components we monitor will change per device, but common components include SNMP, ipServices, Windows event logs, and syslogs

Device Management in Zenoss Core Network and System Monitoring

If we look closely at the previous screen shot that shows the status of 192.168.1.110, we notice that the SNMP component displays an error condition. This indicates that our device does not have SNMP installed or is not configured correctly.

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