How do you customize Orion?

The Orion product team is working on enhancing the Orion web console. One of the areas we want to look at is customization. We want to know more about what our customers do regarding this functionality?

How do you customize Orion? When you customize Orion, what's the problem you are trying to solve? What do you want to do that you cannot do?

Denny LeCompte
Sr. Product Manager, Orion
SolarWinds

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Mithrilhall

I'm going to attempt to write some code into Orion to show the MAC address of connected devices to our switches along with their IP addresses. I believe the 'Switch Port Mapper' in the Toolset does something to this effect.

I also plan on writing a custom page that'll show the status of my backup jobs (Symantec Backup Exec). Right now I have Backup Exec sending SNMP Traps to Orion but I'm looking for something similar to the Backup Exec 'Job Monitor' tab's 'Job History' section.

FormerMember

When we setup the Top XX endpoint, Top xx Protocols to be displayed on the NetFlow Traffic Analysis Summary page they do not show up even though we have it configured to do so.

Network_Guru

Here's a few for starters;

I'd like my team to be able to manage & unmanage nodes &/or interfaces from the Web Console.

Create reports using the Web Console.
Publish Report Writer reports as a graph & publish multiple data lines on one Graph.

Use AD groups via domain passthru authentication to manage users.
Managing 100's of individual Orion users is a huge task. AFAIK, no one here has been able to get Windows AD groups working for authentication.

-=Cheers=-
NG

~seek & ye shall find---> [url="http://www4.solarwinds.net/SolarWindsForum/search.asp"]

<---no need to wait for answers~

FormerMember

It would be nice to be able to "drag n drop" any orion chart/node from one page to another to add it permenantly to you site. That would avoid all of the clicking and set up you would normally have to perform to add something.

vhcato

1) I would like to have an easy mechanism to control not only the menu bars, but the tabs at the top of the page as well. As it is today, we have created a lot of different groups of views for various functional areas of our network, and it would be nice to be able to tie them to tabs at the top of the page for easy retrieval, while still having the menu bars on the pages associated with each tab for granularity. Furthermore, this could also be used to facilitate connections to other web-based apps or documentation repositories, and would better position Orion as a single touch point for all monitoring and management needs. We do some of this today with links that open in a new window, but it would be nice to be able to do this from a single window.

I've seen other apps with this type of functionality, and the thing I disliked most is the fact that they opened a new session whenever a different tab was selected. I don't know if there's any way to have each tab (session) remain memory resident, so that one can return right to the point at which they were previously.

This is how I would like to eventually be able to access Cirrus, but along with that comes another thing I would like to see, which is for Orion and Cirrus to share a common database. This may just be wishful thinking.

2) When managing a large number of users, it would be quite helpful to be able to assign those users to groups, so that all the parameters such as account limitations, view selections, and such can be controlled from a single place for everyone in the group.

3) The ability to see who's logged in now, rather than just the time of last log in would be nice as well.

Vic Cato
Technical Lead - Network Operations
Georgia Pacific

jtimes

Using the Custom Property editor I have added a "notes" field for Nodes and Interfaces, and added them to the respective views. The purpose of this is to allow my NOC clients to add information pertaining to status. I have also set up Advanced Alerts to trigger off of keywords in "notes"; such as the word "removed." When a node has the word removed in the notes field an email is sent to myself and my backup Orion admin letting us know to remove the node from Orion. The interface notes field is predominantly used for recording Service provider ticket numbers and at the end of the month it is also useful in validating SLAs with the carrier from a MTTR vs. ticket perspective.

Additionally the notes are extremely helpful for the NOC staff in preventing multiple analysts from working on the same issue at the same time; they just put their name in the notes to indicate they are performing the initial problem determination. My biggest demand was for the NOC to be able to Acknowledge down devices/interfaces, as a former manager of the NOC, I have first hand experience with that and I couldn't even begin to count how many times someone acknowledged an issue yet nothing was done... The standard answer was "I took another call." (etc...)

The one downside to the notes field is that I had to check the Allow View Customization box for the NOC staff. Not only did that take a while in the Account List (I miss the old Account Manager on the server), but it opened Pandora's box in that the Edit Resource Icon is now usable from a NOC client perspective. Sure enough, even with graphical instructions, the very first person clicked that instead of the Update Notes button.

Mithrilhall

Nice work jtimes, any chance you could upload your custom code to the 'Content Sharing Zone'?

jtimes

I warming up to the Content Sharing Zone, still a little cumbersome

Mithrilhall

When viewing specific nodes (our switches) I would love to have the MAC address and the IP addresses their associated with linked to the port. I plan on doing this myself (if I have to) but it would cut into my Counter-Strike time and I would rather not do that. :-)

jtimes

My work around for the visible Edit Resource Icon:

Backup the existing image first: C:\Inetpub\SolarWinds\NetPerfMon\images\SmallButton.Edit.gif
Then replace it with a tiny 5x5 pixel transparent image.

5x5 is pretty hard to hit, but its still there for the Admin

Network_Guru

Hey John,

I posted something similar a while ago.

I also use a Custom Property called "Comments" for the OPS folks to use for ticketing info etc.
As for the Pandora's box, I got around this by using the "Allow Event Clearing" property of the users account to allow them to add comments & custom Properties.

Have a look at this post -

Now that I can upload some .jpgs, I'll post some more pics of my customizations.

jtimes

I see that now, and you usually beat me to these things... (this one by a year or more)

Both techniques will work, the main difference I see is that when a new release of Orion comes out yours will have to be re-hacked, where as mine "should" flow right in. Don't get me wrong, I like yours, but I am to leary and lazy for that matter to rewrite code.

jkennedy

I would like to have the ability to customize views based on the web server being used. We have two additional web servers, one sits on a DMZ with access to the internet and the other sits on a closed network with no access to the Internet. Due to this setup, I cannot add any live data pulled from the internet to any of my views since the data will not be availabe when someone is using our web server on the closed network.

chris.schear

I would like to have the ability to customize views based on the web server being used.

I have a similar but different need. I would like to be able to customize which views are used for a node that somehow ties into the user settings. I have my node details view set to "by device type", but I would like to somehow differentiate between more technical network support users, and helpdesk users. When my network analysts view "switch 123", I'd like their "by device type" have many more resources of information that the helpdesk staff doesn't need/doesn't care about, but still have "by device type" for all people. Maybe some "by device type for usergroup" - and the ability to create custom user groups and assign a Node Details view FOR that group?

chris.schear

Thoughts on structure...

By Device Type for UserGroup
-------------------------------------------

USER GROUPS
    - Network Group
    - General IT Group
    - User Group

When creating/editing a view under "Manage Views", have a RADIOBOX (multiple selections would create issues) which let the administrator(s) say which user group this view is associated with. When a a Node Details display is set to "By device type for UserGroup", Orion will see MY account belongs to the "Network Group" and show me the Node with the appropriate Node Details. When my Helpdesk users log in, Orion will see THEIR accounts belong in the "General IT Group", etc. - and display THEIR appropriate Node Details view.

jeff.stewart

I'm going to attempt to write some code into Orion to show the MAC address of connected devices to our switches along with their IP addresses. I believe the 'Switch Port Mapper' in the Toolset does something to this effect.

I also plan on writing a custom page that'll show the status of my backup jobs (Symantec Backup Exec). Right now I have Backup Exec sending SNMP Traps to Orion but I'm looking for something similar to the Backup Exec 'Job Monitor' tab's 'Job History' section.

I would love to see something that shows the MAC and IP of connected devices. I would settle for just the MAC and a box to search for specific MAC address on my summary page.

I would also like to have a client for the Orion Systems Manager. This way I could manage my different Orion boxes without having to use remote desktop.

justsomeguy1988

As for searching for the MAC address. You can do that today by adding the Search for Interfaces resource on your summary page. This is like search for Nodes but pulls from the Interfaces table which contains the MAC address of all monitored interfaces.

Hope this helps.

Network_Guru

As for searching for the MAC address. You can do that today by adding the Search for Interfaces resource on your summary page. This is like search for Nodes but pulls from the Interfaces table which contains the MAC address of all monitored interfaces.
Hope this helps.

Hi Stephen, I think you mis-understood the request.

I would love to see something that shows the MAC and IP of connected devices.

Your solution only gives the MAC address of the switch/router port, not the connected devices.
Only Cirrus or Switchport Mapper can give the MACs of connected devices at this time.

floyd.may

My work around for the visible Edit Resource Icon:
Backup the existing image first: C:\Inetpub\SolarWinds\NetPerfMon\images\SmallButton.Edit.gif
Then replace it with a tiny 5x5 pixel transparent image.
5x5 is pretty hard to hit, but its still there for the Admin

Why not disable "Allow View Customization" for those users whom you don't want to see the Edit icon?

Network_Guru

Why not disable "Allow View Customization" for those users whom you don't want to see the Edit icon?

Because with "Allow View Customization" disabled "those users" will no longer be able to update custom properties in the Web interface.
Hence my workaround/hack to use the "Allow Event Clearing" permission to allow users to update custom properties via the web.
Actually I must give credit to Don Yonce, as he helped me with the .asp code that checked the users web account permissions to allow or deny the CPE updating.

jtimes

[Why not disable "Allow View Customization" for those users whom you don't want to see the Edit icon?

like I stated in one of my earlier posts: Sure enough, even with graphical instructions, the very first person clicked that instead of the Update Notes button...

mwiken

On Node details in the integration icons toolbar I added an icon to link to a web based SSH client and a Secure Web Browse icon.

borgan

That sounds like a potentially valuable customization. Can you provide details of what you did?

mwiken

Sure thing. At your own risk.

In the \Inetpub\SolarWinds\Orion\NetPerfMon\Controls folder you have to edit the IntegrationIcons.ascx file.

Make a backup copy of this file and either change the extension to something like .backup or .saved or move it to a folder outside the website. Otherwise you'll end up with 2 files having the same class name and it'll make things difficult.

Find the section of the file that defines the icons, it looks like this:

<a href='<%= string.Format("http://{0}", this.MyNode.IPAddress) %>'>
    <img src="/Orion/images/ToolsetIntegration/Small.Goto.gif" alt="Web Browse to <%= this.MyNode.Name %>"
         title="Web Browse to <%= this.MyNode.Name %>" />
</a>
<a href='<%= string.Format("telnet:{0}", this.MyNode.IPAddress) %>'>
    <img src="/Orion/images/ToolsetIntegration/Small.Telnet.gif" alt="Open a Telnet session to <%= this.MyNode.Name %>"
         title="Open a Telnet session to <%= this.MyNode.Name %>" />
</a>
...

...

Each icon is defined between the <a and the </a> html tags. For example the bold section above defines the telnet icon.

I copied the http icon defintion and inserted it between http and telnet for secure http. And then another one after telnet for the custom ssh page. So the code section looks like this, new content is bold:

<a href='<%= string.Format("http://{0}", this.MyNode.IPAddress) %>'>
    <img src="/Orion/images/ToolsetIntegration/Small.Goto.gif" alt="Web Browse to <%= this.MyNode.Name %>"
         title="Web Browse to <%= this.MyNode.Name %>" />
</a>
<a href='<%= string.Format("https://{0}", this.MyNode.IPAddress) %>'>
    <img src="/Orion/images/ToolsetIntegration/Small.Goto.gif" alt="Secure Web Browse to <%= this.MyNode.Name %>"
         title="Secure Web Browse to <%= this.MyNode.Name %>" />
</a>

<a href='<%= string.Format("telnet:{0}", this.MyNode.IPAddress) %>'>
<img src="/Orion/images/ToolsetIntegration/Small.Telnet.gif" alt="Open a Telnet session to <%= this.MyNode.Name %>"
title="Open a Telnet session to <%= this.MyNode.Name %>" />
</a>

<a href='<%= string.Format("http://sharepoint/tools/ssh.asp?host={0}", this.MyNode.IPAddress) %>'>
<img src="/Orion/images/ToolsetIntegration/Small.SSH.gif" alt="Open an SSH session to <%= this.MyNode.Name %>"
title="Open an SSH session to <%= this.MyNode.Name %>" />
</a>

You can see I simply added an s to the end of the http icon definition and I changed the Title text. The SSH icon links to a web page on a server where a web based SSH control is opened. It was a free or opensource java based ssh based control I found on the web.

You can also make your own icons by copying an existing one and editing it in Paint or some other graphics software.

In some cases when I edited the file while the web service was running I received an erro and it required I restart the web service.

It might be better to create your own ascx file with your custom icons otherwise I am assuming they'll be overwritten during an upgrade. If you made your own you could just add it back in to the nodedetails after an upgrade. Not too sure about the exact steps necessary though.

grantsewell

I would also like to have a client for the Orion Systems Manager. This way I could manage my different Orion boxes without having to use remote desktop.

I agree on a Systems Manager client. It's a pain when I'm trying to do customizations to always have to be remoted into my server. Having dual monitors makes this easier but it would be a huge convenience to be able to use the Solarwinds management tools from my desktop.

aynov

I have made several views for my Custom MIB pollers. What woud be really nice is if I could have graphs of more than one Custom MIB poller (or any data item in Orion). It would be great to be able to have this reporting feature.

I would love to see some kind of ad-hoc reporting in the web.

Additionally, the option to send reports as attachments would be sweet. I am thinking about trying to do this on my own right now.

FormerMember

Some of the things we have had to get creative with in the past:

1. create web pages that show only devices using specific community strings. This is currently difficult to do.

2. bulk remove without shutting down Orion. Discovery works great to add networks, but with thousands of networks, if someone discovers/adds the wrong one, removing it is painful.

3. display or report on MAC attribute.

kjmattakat

It would be nice to have drill down or zoom-able graphs in the netflow portion, instead of having to customize the time frame for the page. By the way - who monitors 2000 interfaces and then runs netflow from 2000 devices? It would be nice if the Netflow license was not Dependant on the Orion License. For example, I have enough devices that would warrant a 2000 or possibly unlimited Orion license, however i would only be interested in running netflow from a dozen or so key devices in the network.

Also, it would be VERY helpful to be able to have Orion run and graph/trend the output of custom polling scripts (Perl for example) for statistics that are not available via SNMP.

RSimmons

One area that I find lacking is the ability to redesign the Web Console. We have purchased additional web server licenses, simply to get around this problem - as we want our customers to see a version themed around our Corporate website, but our Engineers and IT department are fine to use the standard theme. Adding the ability to have website themes (like with the SMARTY engine), especially if you could assign these down to account level - would make our lives so much easier.

All we can do at the moment is to manually edit the code - which of course is replaced every time we update Orion.

-Dakaix

acherman

This is minor, and not something I have done, but would like. It would be nice to be able to set the web page refresh rate manually on the page. There are some views that I have to scroll down in to see all of the information - of course when the refresh occurs it bumps the page back up to the top, and I have to scroll down again. Being able to override the refresh rate on a page would be nice. Something like the attached screenshot from another device...

Also, when the login page for the web server first comes up, how can we get the cursor to be in the username field automatically? It is nice to have the page load and start typing, instead of having to click in the form field. :-D

Aaron

Refresh_Time.jpg

Drid

I want a notes field for nodes, interfaces, events, syslog messages so I can allow NOC staff to associate outages and ticket numbers this is a MUST HAVE.

Also I want to see switchport mapper added to Orion and the web interface.

Also I want to metion that the netflow module to Orion is the weakest link in your product. It needs some serious enhacnments.

FormerMember

First let me say "thank you" for continuing to improve your product and listen to your customers.
1) The ability to have a scrolling banner below the menu bar on the summary page. We currently use a customize WUG page that has 2 scroller functions. The first is to scroll the devices that are down with the amount of down time they have and the other one is to scroll the information inputted by the HelpDesk showing action taken on the down devices (trouble ticket open, etc)
2) Better layout of the pages. It would be a nice feature if you could section the page so that if the content was larger or longer than the section it would scroll rather than disrupt the page flow. For instance depending on how you layout your page the events could scroll the maps out of view. Not a nice thing.....
3) The ability to be able to include Custom Poller data next to a map. For example, I built a map of all of UPS devices and the custom poller view which shows their loads, voltages and temps. I can see the map as laid out in the preview but when I put it on the main map all I see is the map - no custom poller information. Tech support said it isn't possible in a nested map. Would be nice.
4) The ability to have a customizable Network Availability chart. The current Network Availability chart depicts all network assets - there is no way to restrict it to a subset. For example, our top guy wants to know the overall status of the network so we don't restrict what he can see. However, he wants to know at a glance (Network Availability chart) how the infrastructure devices are doing and the servers in another Network Availability chart. He would also like to have a smaller subset or just certain nodes (critical switches).
5) The ability to enter notes into a custom property field (I believe I already saw this mentioned in this post earlier). The HelpDesk or Tech's can edit this field to notate action being done for down items.
6) The ability to have 2 or more detail pages appear on the same view. For instance if the Firewall guys want to view critical gauges for both their firewall and proxy servers they could on the same page. Currently I have to do this on 2 pages and they have them on a side-by-side view.

RSimmons

I would also like to have the ability to add CDR (Commited Data Rates) onto the traffic graphs, to allow my customers to view where they are against their CDR. Whilst I know that I could do a similar idea with Custom Bandwidth - this can become confusing for the customer, and obviously doesn't help on a bps graph.

Cheers,

Dakaix

unclegio

I creating a custom read only web page with some some custom reports. I also am running 'Application Monitor', but do not want the 'Application Monitor' tool bar to appear on the new limited report page. I can't find how to be selective with who or which view gets the applicaiton monitor tool bar.

any ideas.

Unclegio

mcobb

I would like to be able to create custom events pages for different types of devices. Since we are montioring over 5500 devices and everything is alarming in one page, when a site goes down it is hard to filter through all of the events. For instance, I want a events page for each of the following:

APC Devices

Servers and Apps

Cisco routers, switches and APs

chris.schear

I customize the icons of the Events. I don't like the 16-bit color versions included with the product. I had previous changed the background colors of the event sets, but as this is overwritten with each upgrade, re-hacking that back in became a pain. It's really easy to copy/paste images into a directory to repair from an upgrade. These icons are still a work in progress and aren't completed.

EventSets.gif

jmorrison

I rarely use the web interface and prefer to use the System Manager. Anything that would duplicate the functionality and look and feel of the System Manager would be ideal.

richfoster1

Hi,

I would like to be able to add a picture (jpg) image of a device into the node details list. We take pictures of all our branch cabinets when they have been cabled up, and it would be good to be able to associate a picture with the node. We currently use Orion a and Cirrus and have the running-config details on the node details screen along with site details.

Mr.Mohr

My post is mostly about what I want... some of this it may do but I haven't managed to get working...

I want to be able to import basic alerts into advanced so I can take advantage of the ease of creating the basic alerts but can also expand on the notifications with conditions.

I want to be able to have sounds played on any web browser at any location when alerts fire.. this appears to be in 8.5 but doesn't work for me.

I want to be able to acknowledge alerts via the web browser from any location so that when I get an alert on my blackberry I can click on a link in the message, acknowledge the alert and it will, based on the conditions, stop alerting or switch to a different alert.

d1g1talm1nd

Right now I am deployed to Iraq and I am using Solarwinds Orion to monitor a wide range of products. We use multiple Line-of-Sight (LOS) links anywhere between 5km and 30km, some with greater lengths that require relay LOS links. We also use about 30 different satellite shots over both FDMA (Point-to-Point) and TDMA (Point-to-MultiPoint). We have numerous fiber lines that run the risk of being cut at any time.

The problem we have is that we have primary, secondary, and other redundant links in case the primary is disrupted. This creates unique network problems, like a primary link going down that is at 4Mb, so the traffic will go over the secondary link that is at 2Mb, but the secondary link is crap because of radio frequency interference. We also have a hierarchy that is strongly modular (i.e. the Division is above the Brigade in command, and the brigade runs its network independently, yet the networks still have to talk to each other). This means a lot of time the Division and brigade do not talk the same over the routers and we have to compensate with programming.

Because of this we use a program called SNMPc to monitor the links because the Solarwinds website will not monitor OSPF neighbor states, and the website has to refresh, these are the only reasons we use SNMPc. We would like to be able to monitor our links using multiple wide screen plasmas displaying:

The network map refreshed every 5 seconds
LOS link error rate(i.e. BER) and bandwidth utilization
All the routes over primary links with little tickers showing latency and bandwidth
Netflow

For Netflow we use Netflow Analyzer. This is because the Solarwinds product is not robust enough to do what we need. We need to be able to make reports about specific interfaces and to be able to name the interface whatever we want. The reports need to be in PDF, and be able to show nice pretty pie charts. We also use it to name ports (i.e. port 489 will say Video Teleconferencing as an example). We were exploring modifying everything on the web page to support AJAX or something similar to have near real time updating.

Haley

For Netflow we use Netflow Analyzer. This is because the Solarwinds product is not robust enough to do what we need. We need to be able to make reports about specific interfaces and to be able to name the interface whatever we want. The reports need to be in PDF, and be able to show nice pretty pie charts. We also use it to name ports (i.e. port 489 will say Video Teleconferencing as an example). We were exploring modifying everything on the web page to support AJAX or something similar to have near real time updating.

I noticed that you stated several limitations with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer; however, all of these features are currently available today. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer provides out-of-the-box NetFlow Reports and the ability to customize the reports to only include specific interfaces or to create your own custom reports. The interface names that are displayed within the website and within the reports can easily be renamed to suit your needs. The reports have several export options including exporting to PDF, Excel, Comma Delimited File, HTML, and MHTML. Pie Charts and Bar Charts are available for just about every monitored metric and ports can be renamed to whichever names you choose. AJAX support is currently available for the main Orion Network Performance Monitoring solution and we are incorporating more of this support within our Orion modules this year. You can check out our live demo of Orion Network Traffic Analyzer at oriondemo.solarwinds.com/.

d1g1talm1nd

I am sorry, I did not know you had started to use AJAX, the version we currently have does not. I will see about upgrading our version. The Netflow reports that I tried out could not do what I wanted, is there an easy way I could test that on my current system. Right now I have to put the Netflow Analyzer on a different server because it maxed out the load on the Solarwinds Orion SLX server we have setup (2x Dual Core Xeon 2.4ghz with 4 gig of memory). I know we need another polling engine, but it is hard to get for us right now. The reason ask is because about 50 routers and 500 switches have been setup to point to 3 servers and it is hard to get approval to take down any router short of it dying. Almost anything we do is done on a live system that has to have 0% down time. The live Demo that you linked to is not what we need it still will not show OSPF neighbor states and have about 5-10sec update. Please show me how to do that on a network map, that would be very beneficial. If I can show a need and way to implement we can purchase just about anything that will improve the network over the current one we use. Right now we are still running V7.8, from what can be read on the website there has not been a need to upgrade. I wish I could show you how we have things setup, but everything is Classified. The Solarwinds we use also has no way to the internet, because it is the Army's secure network that has no ability to get to the outside world.

unclegio

My counter part in our infrastructure group uses google maps images of the areas around our hospitals, and highlights the buildings. This is then linked to other visio maps of the buildings and then down to closets and finally the switches themselves. it is a complete graphical view of the entire network. I am working on the same idea for our datacenters, but it is more difficult with so many items in one confined space.

d1g1talm1nd

I found something after trying out the new Orion Demo, you allow custom MIB poller’s now which is what we have needed. I was wondering if you could show me how to add that as an interface status for the Map Maker program.

- I want to poll the interface of a router but not the interface status but if it has a OSPF neighbor status or a BGP status.

- I would like to allow for the maps I make on Visio to import into Map Maker and use the Icons I currently use out of Visio.

- Right now I do that but I made it so that I have the Led’s just about hidden in the graphic; I would just like a direct import.

- I want the router view to show interface port status and the OSPF neighbor status (i.e. Green Router port but Amber or Red OSPF status).

- I would also like a "on mouse over" Bandwidth and latency hover window over both the router and link line.

We currently use 5 widescreen Plasma monitors showing the network map of all the important links, routers and switches. We do this to allow for quick reaction to a down link. The problem is that we have half the network on a Solarwinds network map and the other half on SNMPc. We use SNMPc for the OSPF and BGP neighbor states and Orion to make maps that are more logical to the less technically inclined personnel (Boss’s).

Haley

I am sorry, I did not know you had started to use AJAX, the version we currently have does not. I will see about upgrading our version. The Netflow reports that I tried out could not do what I wanted, is there an easy way I could test that on my current system.

To modify the default NetFlow reports, you will want to ensure the you have the NetFlow evaluation installed on an Orion server and check out the Report Writer. Within the Report Writer, you can filter by interface and select File > Export.. and select PDF. The pie charts and bar charts are part of the website and you can view this information on the NetFlow Live Demo.

HCL

What do you want to do that you cannot do?

1) Be able to show graphs in reports

2) Be able to show SNMP Tables in web views

3) Filter on an SNMP Trap messages in the same way I can with SYLOG messages

Clive

bvig

Customize Orion:

Mobile friendly webpage i.e. http://servername/m. From mobile device have the ability to check device status (on-call, etc). I have setup a URL Redirect of the folder "m" which redirects to "Nodes with Problems" link. Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324000
Real-time Weather Maps. See my post here in Content Sharing Zone:
Wish List: Ability to display image (embedded object?, link to jpeg) of equipment instead of standard background image maps (Floorplans, Equipment Rack, Cabling, etc). Multiple images on a single map.

d1g1talm1nd

I want to be able to do everything you said.

Mars

Hi,

i really would like to have the Application Performance Monitor more integrated.
I am having a summary map that i use as a dashboard and i would like to include the application status of the business critical applications within the map now it is not possible to do just that.

Future i would like to see the applications i am monitoring on the device when i look at the Node details

Greetings,

craig999

We would like to remove the modules tab/bar(top of the web screen) if a user does not have access to any modules.

RSimmons

We would like to remove the modules tab/bar(top of the web screen) if a user does not have access to any modules.

Ditto!

-Dakaix

papitts

Like the custom event icons!

More like what I would like customised/added opposed to what I have customised!

Have to agree with some of the other that a management console for the Orion Systems Manager would be extremely useful.

The ability to manage and unmanage groups of nodes with the Orion Systems Manager would be a god send!

FormerMember

For the web interface. I would like to be able to define containers into which I could drop related elements. I have about 75 remote sites, each site is essentially a router, some switches, 1 data ethernet segment and a second seg for voice. I would like to be able to create say a container named "Chicago", put its router and segments into the bucket. I'd like the bucket to be green when all is well and to turn RED if something critical goes south, a router, a switch or the VOIP control box and maybe some servers if the site has important ones. I'd like the container to be clickable and open up to show the elements that make up the container.

I'm very new to this system having run HP Openview for the last 12 years. This one's got quite a bit more capability.

Thanks.

bvig

For the web interface. I would like to be able to define containers into which I could drop related elements. I have about 75 remote sites, each site is essentially a router, some switches, 1 data ethernet segment and a second seg for voice. I would like to be able to create say a container named "Chicago", put its router and segments into the bucket. I'd like the bucket to be green when all is well and to turn RED if something critical goes south, a router, a switch or the VOIP control box and maybe some servers if the site has important ones. I'd like the container to be clickable and open up to show the elements that make up the container.
I'm very new to this system having run HP Openview for the last 12 years. This one's got quite a bit more capability.
Thanks.

You should be able to do this now using Nested Maps. Basically create a map at the lowest level for the remote site and nest this map into other maps. We have 100 remote sites, nested in regional maps, nested in a map of the US.

Create a map for each remote site "RemoteSite##"
Add the site's node objects to the corresponding "RemoteSite##" map (router, switch, server, etc)
Create a rollup map (Region, State, City, RemoteSites, whatever
Drag the "RemoteSite##" map to the rollup map.

jeff.stewart

I think I've already made mention of a MAC search feature, but this is really what we would like to see. I really don't think this would be hard for Orion to do.

MacTrack - Overview

Submitted by thewitness on Fri, 2006-08-04 21:11.

MacTrack is an easy to use tool that allows you to track your organizations MAC Addresses to the Site, Device, and Port level. It has a poller that can scan all of your network devices one to many times a day and record where each MAC Address has been throughout each day.

You can store up to months of scanning results and export them as required to meet your organizations needs. MacTrack also provides general Device level usage and Site level IP Accounting information such as the number of IP Addresses and Number of Active ports on a site by site basis.

More recently, it also allows you to alert when the MAC Address of a stolen device is hooked to your network and allows you to authorize which MAC Addresses are allowed to connect to your network, and then alternatively report on violations to the authorized MAC Address policies.

It currently supports many Cisco and Enterasys devices, but does provide generic scanning functions to allow you to scan and record information from just about any vendor product. MacTrack is customizable so that if you find yourself with a device that does not fit well into an existing scanning function, you can write and publish your own.

richfoster1

I would like to see the ability to view the status of a node (including any associated APM monitors) from the network mapping facility. I have a services map that would list the nodes hosting specific services, but when you hover over the nodes you only get the network status and not the application statuses. It would also be good if you hover over an interface icon for it to show current utilisation snapshots.

FormerMember

I would like to see the ability to view the status of a node (including any associated APM monitors) from the network mapping facility.

We're definitely planning to add applications to maps in a future release.

FormerMember

The ability to add lines or simple graphics to maps without having to add it to the background.....

FormerMember

It would be REALLY nice that there would be a constant (static) section on the top of the Orion web screen that would scroll right to left any down devices and their length of downtime.

This is currently a feature we are using on our WUG page and allows the viewer to see what is happening at the top level if they are on another map or a node detail.

Currently we only hear a sound or other notification then we have to go to the summary page.

Mike_C

If someone customized a Resource for a web view, and renamed it (nodes down--changed to group by type [adsl, cable, DIA] and created a different name, does anyone know where to find that so it can be edited? Name was changed from down nodes to Lexington Clinics and I can not find it anywhere.

mikelgray

I would like to be able to use a percent value for the column widths instead of a hard number.

Thanks,

Michael Gray

dbatten

Many of the same requests as others, but here are some significant ones:

Topology discovery with Intelligent Alert suppression--Orion figure out that if a router or gateway interface is down--do not alert on the nodes downstream.
Chronological switch inventories--know capacity and what is plugged in where and when
A location / site web page (similar to the flexibility of the home page) and table to add custom fields common to many nodes
- Like to be able to select a "location" and have a customizable web page open that shows all the nodes, interfaces, netflow, application, alerts, events, syslog, etc. associated with that site
- Be able to add custom resources to show all the circuits, diagrams/maps, etc. associated with that location
- Identify upstream and down stream locations.

This is just a few... I also like many of the other suggestions provided by other users!

Dale

mhh351

I would like to see a way to AUTOMATICALLY fillout a ticket in Remedy/Remedy version 7.

Could you look into that?

FormerMember

Have you tried forwarding the alert as a Syslog message, Trap, or email using Orion variables? What do you want to do that you can't do today? I appreciate your suggestion but it's too broad for me to figure out what a sufficient solution would look like.

colins

I customize the Vendor/Product MIB in Discovery file, add Vendor line and Product MIB line and Icon . So Orion can know the new device, and show them separate in NodeEvent View

But I can't add Windows Server 2008 support to Orion in this way, as standard sysoid is still 1.3.6.1.4.1.311.1.1.3.1.2 , maybe Orion use custom way to distinguish Server 2000/2003.

I add Icon files to /NetPerfMon/image/Vendors/ , so in web Node View, vendor icon can be seem.

I add custom MIB to monitor device CPU/memory and Version change. But I have no way to keep the data in Node Column[CPULoad/TotalMemory/MemoryUsed/IOSImage/IOSVersion] as they are erased by Orion.

I can only add data to CPULoad_Detail and Orion can show them in Node Detail view.

I hope there is an official way to keep custom MIB pooler data to the above columns.

FormerMember

We were in need of an inventory system...and due to our frequent use of Orion, I figured it would be perfect. After a few new tables and some code,
I arrived at the "Machine Details" resource for the nodes:

It is just a bunch of static data- most of which was unfortunately manually entered, but we think it's worth it. I have also written a simple
"map like" view for peripherals. It just pulls all of the DNS names after parsing the subnet out- then a device can be added to any host,
it can be removed (back into "available"), or deleted completely. In the below example, no devices have been added...

Just my .02

FormerMember

Cool! Please post the resource....

FormerMember

There are actually 3 resources- a view, an edit, and a SQL action (bouncing in ASP) also, because it uses the old ASP classic, the view.asp must go through the legacyproxy. Either way, the first 2 resources are HUGE...and then the tables that are needed- I think there are around 20 new tables I added. The "Connected Devices" view is actually fairly short...but it goes off a lot of the fields created by Machine Details view.

If you are interested in this, shoot me a PM- and I can try to walk you through this.

dbatten

Have you tried forwarding the alert as a Syslog message, Trap, or email using Orion variables? What do you want to do that you can't do today? I appreciate your suggestion but it's too broad for me to figure out what a sufficient solution would look like.

We too want to be able to create Remedy Incident tickets. Populating specific fields in Remedy is not the most significant issue for us. What we need is a bi-directional mechanism to indicate that an Incident ticket actually was created for a specific alert.

Required customizations is to send the unique alert number and node/interface ids to the Incident ticket system (Remedy, MOM, etc.)

Have additional fields (custom properties) for the alerts that can contain the matching incident ticket; comment field; progress/update field; additional 3rd party incident ticketfields (i.e. Telco system). The progress update field would be appended records to the alert with the date/time, username, details (rich text).

There are occations when we have Incidents that need to contain the corresponding ticket numbers from additional systems--sometimes as many as five!

bentleys

I'm interested in knowing if you were able

to do that, and if so, could you share how

to do it?

Thanks

deleonne

Would you be able to provide info on how you accomplished the notes field? I been looking for something along these lines to allow our operations to update nodes. New to the adminstration of orion so details would be great!