For example, rack number. Rack number cannot be polled so it would have to be added manually. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Typically you can add this information using Custom Properties and you can add the information to alerts using ${RackNumber} for example.
If you are not already utilizing the SNMP location configuration on your network devices, this is one way to do it easily. You could configure it whenever you deploy devices:
snmp-server location RACK_NUMBER
Solarwinds polls for SNMP location by default so you would automatically be pulling that data.
Another way to deal with it is to add a Custom Property for Rack in the Custom Property Editor. It just adds another field in the database where you can populate data.
Here are a couple of links to shed some light
http://thwack.solarwinds.com/docs/DOC-171859
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek8KfL4vNeU&list=PLSAG2TJPvS5Y1nq9rtjcLeP1sfzpZIi8q&index=5
So for the rack number to be displayed in NPM I must add a new Alert using the Alert Manger on the Orion Sever correct?
On the Manage Nodes Tab see the double arrows pointing to the right? (Bottom right of the inserted picture)
Select this and this will appear. Now select your custom property and it will be displayed on your manage nodes page.
Hope this helps.
To make the RackNumber and/or other Custom Properties viewable in NPM, you will need to add the Custom Properties for Nodes resource to the view node details view. Once you have the resource added, you can select edit it to show the desired custom properties.
The Custom Properties for Nodes resource can be found under the Node Detail Reports - Resources that Apply to a Single Node section when adding a resource.
This helps but I wanted the rack numbers to be viewable under Server Details > Summary> Nodes Detail Pane in NPM so that all our users will know what rack the node is located on. In case of outage or trouble shooting issues where users need to physically log into node. I don't want to limit any users to just be able to view only rack numbers but, to add the rack numbers to their already existing views.
This is where I would like to have the Rack # for all users when they go to this view.
Good one...
Do you mean like this? I've achieved this by grouping nodes into racks that they belong to
Johnuk- [serious] how many datacenters and rows do you have cause that looks both awesome and about impossible to maintain. Reminds me of when I tried to create switch interface maps, fast forward to Nexus and FEX and now I have a a single switch with 780 interfaces reporting. Not gunna happen.
Wow thats great! How did you accomplish this? I want to be able to group my main network devices into a topology map similar to this.
And you would be right, Its not quick to do but after the first couple you get into a rhythm. If like Fujitsu your preferred hardware has volumes of images in google images. I create an empty CAB scaled and once my models are scaled also it becomes a copy and paste then to create the cab content. Bare in mind, the time it takes to create has to be weighed up against the time you refresh your hardware and decide if its worth your time. As this is our hospital data centre, any time I can save when diagnosing the cause of a fault, is crucial to the smooth running of the place. Also, I am quite "arty" by nature anyway so find it therapeutic in some ways.
Once the cab is finished and this is the absolute most important part. Name the image exactly the same as the group name you are going to associate with it in Solarwinds, right down to case sensitive characters. You wont get the transition or drill down from one image to the next unless this is done. So when I click on a red alert on the datacentre view, I then get the cab content view with the group member having the problem. Its as simple as I can get it for our uptime people to correctly report the fault to the right server and any dependencies it effects. It was definitely time saved for me in the long term.
Hello cppalum, As I just replied to bluefunelemental once your cab view is completed in visio or paint or google sketchup in my case, Make sure your image is named EXACTLY the same as the GROUP name you used for your devices. Get one character different or use an upper case letter for one and not in the other, it just doesn't work. Then it becomes a simple matter of going into network Atlas, adding your .jpg and dropping the nodes onto the top of your image. Let me know if you need any help and sorry for the delay in replying
