Automated/periodic node import from Orion

Question

Cirrus provides the ability to do a one time import from Orion.  However, many of you own both Orion and Cirrus and have asked for the ability to keep both systems in synch.  We're are considering the possibility of making the Orion node import an automated/periodic process in Cirrus.

I have a couple of questions for those who are interested in this feature:

* Are you primarily interested in new nodes added to Orion?  If so, would you want all new nodes from Orion to be included in existing scheduled jobs in Cirrus (e.g. download configs, inventory, etc.)?

* If you're looking for a full node import with merge, how would you expect your Orion Node attributes (e.g. custom properties) to merge with Cirrus Node attributes?

If you're available for a short phone conversation to talk through this, please let me know.

Thanks!

DGoodale · Answer

Maybe a wizard to walk you through a few options during the intial sync setup? Since my company has mostly Cisco gear but a few other pieces I monitor but don't want in Cirrus, I'd prefer a checkbox so I can tell Cirrus to only import Cisco devices. Heck, you could use an advanced filter like the alert or reporting filters and you could let the customer write a query that matches whatever they want. :-)

vangelar · Answer

I am primarily interested in nodes added to Orion.  I use Orion to add nodes, place nodes on maps, and add custom properties to the database. It would be very handy for an on-demand sync, or even a nightly scheduled sync with Cirrus, as I use that to automate inventory and configuration collection.  It would be nice to be able to bring over the custom properties created in Orion to Cirrus, also.

jonchill · Answer

It would be a great facility to keep both databases in syn but we currently only manage our Cisco devices and 1 or 2 severs in Cirrus but have a multitude of different devices being monitored in Orion so some sort of custom property in Orion that identified it as a device needing to be synced with Cirrus would be the best way forward for us.

As to Custom properties we've pretty much used the same ones as we use in Orion so this wouldn't be a problem, you could just look at having a single interface for Custom properties that are available for both Orion and Cirrus if its possible.