I'm a brand new UDT user, and I've got FAR to go in learning how to make it do what we want. Maybe some of my ideas below are already available, and I simply don't know how to make them happen.
Please send me your solutions, if any of these wish-list items are already achievable with no further modifying of NPM & UDT!
1. Universal Search in NPM should be able to work with a user name, a NON-FQDN (trim off the suffix, please!), as well as an FQDN, an IP address, and a MAC address. But wait--that's not all!
As part of Wish #1, when I search for one of the above variables, why not just have the responding node's full information show up? I can find the workstation I want, but now I have to click on it to discover the switch port it's attached to. There's a wasted click, and with 50,000 devices on my network, it really adds up!
Wish #1 continued: So I click on the node that was found by UDT and open up a typical NPM page. Which does NOT show the switchport the device is attached to. And THAT's what I want first. I've tried searching for / adding a widget to put the UDT information onto this page, but it doesn't show up--it's not compatible, apparently. Let's get that widget made, and made compatible with the NPM page for the node so I don't have to follow a separate process to get the switch port info to which the node is attached. Please?
2. Similar to some of the items in Wish #1, the Universal Search button in NPM should somehow give me the option to search UDT info or general NPM info. Maybe it takes TWO search windows along side each other in NPM? Or a radio button selecting which one is queried? Actually, better yet would be to have the NPM and UDT information shown in the same search results, wouldn't it?
3. Using the search window in UDT, there's no drop-down to let me see and select previous search history. That'd be REALLY handy instead of having to key in the mac address--ugh! Can do?
4. Once UDT shows the details on an end point, the Current Network Connections widget shows two rows. The upper is apparently L2, and the lower is L3. Is there room for that L2/L3 label for that information? Maybe under Connection Type? Maybe at the far left, to be used as a description for each row?
5. After discovering a device with UDT's search, and clicking on its Node Port link, I expected the switch port to open in NPM. Instead it stays in UDT for Details. That's not intuitive, perhaps because I'm used to NPM. Is that an option to select/change, maybe under the covers from an NPM admin view standpoint? Maybe allow us to choose how this link is handled by either going to the switch port in NPM, or staying with the UDT node details?
6. Allow us to remove any options to Shutdown or Turn on a port show in the UDT Node Details. Or is this already an option to select when customizing UDT in some advance settings, or via NPM's Views? I don't want to see that "shutdown" option for any port from UDT. Worse, it shows up in certain UDT port discovery screens, and I sure don't want someone to be able to shutdown multiple ports from UDT. At least, not without them being an advanced Admin, and preferably not without Change Control permission. I DO appreciate the fact that it checks for the Write SNMP credential when I hover over the Shutdown and Turn On links! But having them there is a shortcut to making a mistake, even though I can see the convenience of being able to bounce a port right from UDT. For now, I won't give Write privileges to Solarwinds, and I require my team to SSH to the switch if they want to bounce the port. The reasons are many, but the nice thing is that using SSH forces the user to go through TACACS, and gives me a complete record of who & what & when, and assures me that any changes are done by authorized people, and that I can look up their actions in the TACACS logs easily.
7. Staying in the Device Tracker Port Details screen (but this also applies to ANY UDT screen), the FQDN suffix is undesirable. It doesn't properly fit in the Port History window until I manually edit the page and change the width from the default 600 to 800 pixels. Can we have an option to NOT display the FQDN, and set it from some intuitive UDT Admin View Configuration screen? It's OK to have the option to show it or not show it. Maybe that option's already IN the UDT configuration area, and I just haven't found it?
That's all for today. I'm sure I'll have more ideas as I learn UDT better.
Please vote this up, even if you may not agree with ALL my items. Just use the Comments section to call out where I've made a mistake in judgement, or been simply ignorant of ways to accomplish what I've requested here.
Thanks for your consideration, and Swift Packets to you & your clients!
Rick Schroeder
