One day, perhaps very far in the future, I imagine a more automated version of Orion NPM that will :
- Detect newly added network infrastructure
- Notify site administration about polling expansion needs
- Obtain quotes for the additional element polling requirements
- Install new VM-based pollers in the correct locations
- Add the new nodes to NPM and start polling all physical interfaces
- Share NPM's new node information with NCM, which would automatically:
- Download startup and running configs for the new nodes
- Add newly discovered nodes into NCM's scheduled jobs
- Detect L3 hardware and configure routing interfaces for use with NTA
I was just playing with Cisco ISE this morning, thinking of how the automatically downloaded ACLs reconfigure Cisco switch ports to provide the appropriate access for every different kind of device on every port. That feature makes a chassis switch look like a 384 port firewall, and each port will automatically get the ACL's required for the type of device attaching to it. And those ACLs change automatically when a different device attaches.
Why not make Orion modules work similarly? Enter in the router information once, then discover additional switches and routers by hops. And then those new switches & routers are automatically added into NPM, NCM, and NTA, with all their ports & elements monitored, their configs backed up and automatically added to jobs, and they're all added to standard and custom Reports and Compliance Remediation.
