Network Management

Hi All,

 

So I just installed latest AirWave in my ESXi 4.1 environment and have started using the AW GUI.  I added a Netgear business grade router and  switch that both support SNMP.  But how do I add a non-SNMP device, like a Netgear WNR2000v5 wifi router?  When Aruba tech guy gave me a demo I thought he said devices did not have to support SNMP.  So far, I tried adding it by going to Device Setup->Add->Universal Network Device.  But when I fill out the Device Communications page, a;ll the fields are SNMP related.  If AW does support non SNMP devices, how does it get its information about the device (http, I guess?).

 

I do have a side comment:  I participated in a sales/tech demo call last week and watched the Aruba tech guy using AW for the first time - I was impressed!  I asked how I could get a NFR or eval copy and they steered me to Ingram.  The Ingram person was away this week, so I emailed the Aruba guys and the tech guy got me a 90 day eval key.  Up until this point their presentation and manners were all professional.  But when I emailed the tech guy a few times (2 or 3 times in total) after installing AW - he went ballistic.  Telling me that he did me such a big favor by getting me the 90 day eval before I have even purchased anything.  And that nobody gets support for the eval version and on and on.  I asked about support forums and he steered me here.  I then emailed him that I couldn't find out how to post a new topic - he wasn't interested in helping (out of his jurisdiction).  I've never dealt with such arrogance!  I sure hope this one tech guy (BS) is the exception at Aruba, otherwise I'll be purchasing all my APs elsewhere...

On the Device Communication page, if I leave the SNMP Port field blank, it displays error message "Please provide SNMP Port" after I try to save changes.  So there's no way to configure this device as NON-SNMP?  I'm sure there is, I just don't know how yet :)  The Getting Started Guide briefly mentions adding Universal devices, but doesn't really delve into how to add non-SNMP devices...

Hi,

there are 3 way to get information from a network equipment :

• SNMP
• SYSLOG
• SSH

AirWave don't support SSH for some vendors like Aruba, and it's used to get the configuration , Syslog is used for sendig alert and notification messages, so you need to configure SNMP to get information from your equipment into AirWave.

 

do your router support SNMP or not ?

have you configure router with a specific SNMP port , or you use the well known port ?

 

Regards

@ReedMikel - Apologize for the issue you have seen with the response on the Airwave case. I will reach out to you to address al your concerns w.r.t Airwave and make sure your server is up and running.

Hi MIke, 

I just had it tested. You can only see if the device is up or down, no other information will be given for the Device in the Airwave, if its Non SNMP devices. The communication protocol used here will be only ICMP. This will be to an extent useless unless you just want to see if the device is up or down.

 

To add Non SNMP Device, you could naviget to Device Setup > Add > Select Universal Network Devices > Provide the IP address and select Group and Folders > Add. Then hit poll button, the status will be updated. 

 

Hi - I just saw your PM to me. Where is the “poll” button, I don’t recall seeing it?

Mike

Poll now will be on Monitor page of the Device. 

So once you click on Poll Now, AW knows it’s a non SNMP device and will continue to poll going forward? Suggestion - add this info to the Getting Started Guide. Or, did I miss it?

Mike

It's already documented, thanks for the advise though. Please go through the Airwave User Guide for "Adding Universal Devices" section.

 

"

Adding  Universal Devices

AirWave gets basic monitoring information from any device including switches, routers and APs whether or not they are supported devices. Entering SNMP credentials is optional. If no SNMP credentials are entered, AirWave will provide ICMP monitoring of universal devices. This allows you to monitor key elements of the wired network infrastructure, including upstream switches, RADIUS servers and other devices. While AirWave can manage most leading brands and models of wireless infrastructure, universal device support also enables basic monitoring of many of the less commonly used devices.

Perform the same steps to add universal devices to AirWave that were detailed in Manually Adding Devices.

AirWave collects basic information about universal devices including name, contact, uptime and location. Once you have added a universal device, you can view a list of its interfaces on APs/Devices > Manage.

By selecting the pencil icon next to an interface, you can assign it to be non-monitored or monitored as Interface 1 or 2. AirWave collects this information and displays it on the APs/Devices > Monitor page in the Interface section. AirWave supports MIB-II interfaces and polls in/out byte counts for up to two interfaces. AirWave also monitors sysUptime."

 

 

I did read that in docs, but it was over my head when it mentioned MIB (Men In Black?) :). And as smart as I think I am at times, I still don’t get the “2 interfaces” part?.  I imagine if you had 10 new, technically savvy, evaluators sit down and try to use AW and understand the docs, 9 would struggle like me.  But companies don’t do that - instead the technical documenters write the docs, taking advantage of their in-depth knowledge of the product.  Let newbies be your testers and you’ll end up with far more usable docs IMO.  But that takes extra resources, so it rarely ever happens...  But seriously, THANK YOU for this information!

 

Reading the docs you listed, it still sounds like AW can do more than just ping non SNMP devices and show if they are online or not.  But I don’t see how, if all it does is “poll” via pings?  And it seems unintutive when doing the initial add of the device using Device Setup->Add->Universal Network Device: the Device Communications settings page ONLY lists SNMP related properties.  There's no hint that a device can be non SNMP, and be polled periodically.  Why not add that as a property to choose from right on the Device Communications page?  And, I was going to suggest the addition of a [Help] button, and then remembered there's a question mark button in upper rgt.  I clicked on it and all I get is a blank page.  Link that loads is:

 

https://10.10.0.7/static/UserGuide/UserGuide.htm#AWUserGuide%2FChapter2_Config%2FManually_Creating_APs.htm

 

I was hoping fopr some context sensitive help here...

 

I did manage to get to the place where I could click on [Poll Now], but the status of my simple Netgear WNR2000v5 residential wifi router remains as DOWN.  I'm sure there's somewhere I should be going to see what the polling results were?  Will it repeatedly poll this device forever, going forward?

 

Sorry for all the questions, but there's a lot going on here.  I really do like the potential of the AW software - it's impressive!  I just have to wrap my brain around how the overall software concept and GUI work...

 

Thanks,

Mike

Not much participation in this "community " :(

A number of people answered your questions before, so that counts as participation.

 

You will get the most out of Airwave when a device can be polled via SNMP.  It is of little value to purchase Airwave just to monitor devices for up/down.  What kind of devices are you looking to monitor?

The only non-Aruba response was from someone that clearly didn't even read the subject line :(. Disappointing...

Some people don't get any answer at all :(.

 

Did you get your question answered or do you have more to ask?

No, I haven’t really got thorough answer yet...

Mike

I mentioned above that it is not really worth monitoring devices using Airwave if they do not have an SNMP component. You could easily monitor that device with a ping scanner. Are you looking to monitor other devices?

I'd like to be able to see a complete picture of my network, including non SNMP devices.  During the Aruba demo I came away with the impression that AW did more than just PING non SNMP devices, but perhaps I misunderstood.  And I'm still not clear on exactly how you add non SNMP devices.  My best guess is you add them just like SNMP devices, since the Device Communications screen only asks for SNMP details.  Then I guess you let the initial audit fail?  Then go to Monitor->Poll Now?  And what exactly does Poll Now do?  What info does it collect?  I'm guessing it simply notates whether device responded to a PING?

 

I'm still surprised at the lack of activity on this forum...  Other than Aruba folks - which I do appreciate!

Here is the information from the online user guide:

 

With regards to user participation, many times users will not engage when someone else has already answered, so that they can give them a chance.  I only posted because you said nobody was answering.

Thanbks _ I have read that section several times, but I'm still unclear as to exactly what AW collects from non SNMP devices?  That paragraph sort of blends a disc ussion of Universal Network Devices with non SNMP devices, so I'm not crystal clear about exactly what, AW collects and monitors from non SNMP devices.  And I'm not sure how you transition a non SNMP device from just being a failed/down device to a monitored non SNMP device?  Looks like you edit it (pencil), and then do something?  And I have no clue what the "2 interfaces" part is talking about...  More questions than answers :)

 

As far as other actual AW users replying here - the only non Aruba person that did reply clearly did not even read the title of my post that states "NON-SNMP".  I appreciate his attempt at a reply, but not just for the sake of replying :(

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@ReedMikel wrote:

Thanbks _ I have read that section several times, but I'm still unclear as to exactly what AW collects from non SNMP devices?  That paragraph sort of blends a disc ussion of

 

Universal Network Devices with non SNMP devices, so I'm not crystal clear about exactly what, AW collects and monitors from non SNMP devices.  And I'm not sure how you transition a non SNMP device from just being a failed/down device to a monitored non SNMP device?  Looks like you edit it (pencil), and then do something?  And I have no clue what the "2 interfaces" part is talking about...  More questions than answers :)

 

As far as other actual AW users replying here - the only non Aruba person that did reply clearly did not even read the title of my post that states "NON-SNMP".  I appreciate his attempt at a reply, but not just for the sake of replying :(

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Devices that can only be pinged, Airwave can only tell if they are pingable or not.  You put in the ip address and no snmp string and all Airwave can tell you is if it is pingable or not.

 

Devices that have SNMP we can tell how many interfaces or VLANs they have, and interface statistics like errors, etc.

 

You should message the user privately if you have problems with that user's comments.

I think a little more written explanation in the online docs would really help newbies better understand exactly what AW does with non SNMP devices.  And I'm still not clear on how you demote a newly added device to be a non SNMP (aka "polled" ?)  device?  I've seen a [Poll Now] (or some verbiage like that) button - is that how you make the transition to non SNMP?  Once you do a [Poll Now], does it them continue to poll it every x minutes?

 

There's no point in telling a user that they did not read the post - that's just a waste of time and space IMO...

I agree that the documentation could be clearer on this point.

 

We do not encourage users who only want to ping devices to use Airwave primarily for those devices, because Airwave would not provide much more information than a ping scanner.

 

"Poll Now" is only for SNMP-based devices where you would want to gather SNMP information outside of the 5-minute SNMP poll window.

I guess I’m not being clear - most devices I add will be SNMP. But I also want to be able to see, if only a devices up/down state, a small handful of non SNMP devices. I’m still not clear on how to most efficiently add a device that you know is non SNMP? And what will it’s default query/ping schedule be?
Thanks

The best answer to that is here:  http://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Network-Management/Discovering-unsupported-unrecognised-devices/m-p/304837#M7485

 

The default (and minimum) SNMP query time is 5 minutes.

Hmmm, I looked at that link, but it was over my head.  "MIB" - all I know is the movie Men In Black :)

 

Is it not described in the docs anywhere - ie the adding of non SNMP devices (when you know the device is non SNMP at the start)?  Querying schedule for non SNMP, data (if any) gathered etc?

The group that the device is added into determines the polling schedule:  http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/AirWave_8_0_Web_Help/UserGuide.htm#AWUserGuide/Chapter3_Groups/Configuring_Basic_Group_S.htm

 

The reason why information about snmp-only or ping-only devices is not detailed, because few people deploy those with airwave, because it is not designed for those devices specifically.

 

Again, Airwave is geared to mainly monitor devices from Aruba/HPE and you get the most information from those devices.  Any other devices are get generic support based on their capabilities.  Airwave should be deployed primarily for HPE/Aruba Devices.  It is not worth it for other devices.

Hmmm, that's not what I heard when I had my AW demo - he said non SMTP devices could be added, albeit with less data being gathered about them.  The docs are still very unclear about non SMTP devices in my opinion.  Why would I want any non SNMP devices to show in AW you ask?  So I have a *complete* picture of all devices on the network.  Even if all AW could determine if device's state was up/down, that's useful.  It's also useful just to "see" these non SNMP devices - like "oh yeah, we still have that cheap switch or router at the location...".  So, going back to my prior posts - any more answers you can provide?

I think you should go back to the person that did your Airwave demo to get clarity.

Hmmm, he pointed me to this Community forum...

 

So basically you don't have access to any concise documentation that explains how non SNMP devices are added (when you know in advance that a device is non -SNMP), monitored/polled (though I think poll is not the correct term, as someone said polling is of SNMP data) etc?

I told you three times how to add a non-snmp device.

 

I will now give others a chance to answer you.

Sorry, but I really don't think you explained it thoroughly :(  I am a NEWBIE, so yes, I might not "get it" the first time.  But I've asked very specific questions and only gotten vague, or incomplete  - IMO - answers :(

 

Sorry to have troubled you.  Perhaps it is time to let a fellow user, if there are any out here, provide more useful, user-friendly, answers...

 

 

You are not troubling me, but I need to give someone a chance to give you answers that make sense to you.

Maybe off topic a bit: I wonder why software developers don’t test their software and documentation on a range of users, seasoned pro down to novice? I guarantee if you sat 10 techically savvy users down and had them use AW for the first time, they would be scratching their heads when it comes to adding non SNMP devices! Just sayin...

It is possible that you are not their target audience. If you are, it would need to be reviewed.

What IT person wouldn’t want a complete picture of all devices on their network, including non SNMP devices? Granted, the most detailed info will be of SNMP devices. But the docs sort of imply more than just the ping status of non SNMP devices is gathered by AW. It’s just a murky mess trying to decipher that part of the docs. OTOH the docs for the most part are excellent!