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Thoughts on how to "group" nodes at a site?

Our primary monitoring point for any WAN site is the Frame Relay router or VPN appliance they use to connect to corporate. In some sites, we have 2, 3, 4 or more Cisco switches at that location we also have added into Orion. I'm trying to brainstorm a method for displaying all monitored objects in some resource on a Node Details page of that Frame Relay router/VPN Appliance. I could create a Custom Property and have all devices have some "Site ID", but I can't think of how to list all devices whose "Site = 'the same'", or something similar.

Ideally, when I'm looking at the Node Details page for a site's router, I'd like to see listed any/all hardware I'm also monitoring at that location. This save me a step from clicking on my Reports menu, then "WAN Inventory", then finding the devices by name.

Thoughts?

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SamuelB

I use the SNMP location field to populate the site information for each device, but you could easily use a custom property as you have mentioned. On the Node Details page, you could then add an All Nodes resource and use a filter similar to: Location = '${Location}'. Since I use the SNMP location field, that works in my case. You could obviously use a custom property the same way. Is that what you were after?

chris.schear

I think so...let me give CustomProperties a whirl. I can't control the "location" field in all cases, but it wouldn't be a big deal for me to define a "Site ID" property.

chris.schear

How do you keep the devices relevant? I'm thinking a "contains" (like) is going to be what I need. For example, the Node Name I'm going to be viewing may be "T550 - Brooklyn Park, MN". I'm going to create a SiteID of "T550" for each node that is at that location. When I'm view the T550 - Brooklyn Park, MN node I only want the switches that are there, the servers, etc.

However, that Node Details is the same that all other sites use, too. So, when I'm viewing site "T123 Somewhere, CA", I need to have a filter that only shows me Site123's. What filter are you using to accomplish this?

SiteID (LIKE) NodeName

??

"NodeName" doesn't appear to be something to filter on:

----

Bad Filter Specified: Site_ID Like NodeName
Invalid column name 'NodeName'.
----

chris.schear

Here is a specific site I'm using to test with, and its nodes (their names):

T550 - Brooklyn Park, MN (VPN appliance for the site)
T550 - SW01 (first switch)
T550 - SW02 (second switch)
T550 - AP01 (first access point)
...
T550 - AP15 (last access point)

---

I have a custom property called "Site_ID" that I have "T550" entered. I added a resource to my NodeDetails with the following filter:

Nodes.Caption Like Site_ID

...nothing returns. I've also tried Site_ID Like Nodes.Caption. Also, nothing. All of the nodes I monitor at a site will have the site identifier IN their name, somewhere. I'd like to create a Site_ID custom property that is evaluated against devices names, and display within a resource. What's the filter/formula I can use to accomplish this?

chris.schear

Well...I thought I had everything ironed out. I created a report to show me "All Nodes" with this filter:

Caption Like '${Site_ID}*'

The problem I have is that if I have ANY nodes [u]don't[/u] have a Site_ID value in their custom properties, "All Nodes" are actually displayed for that device. Every monitored node is listed. Even if I create an entry on the "Filter Nodes" tab within the report that included, "Site_ID is not empty". The end result is not as intended. With that report filter, when a device has NO Site_ID information, ALL the sites that DO have a value are displayed. So, my T303 and T550 nodes are listed on my "T045" node, because T045 has no Site_ID.

In a perfect scenario, I'd make sure all nodes in my database have a Site_ID configured for them - but the reality is that this will be overlooked from time to time. I need to still figure out how to properly filter out what is displayed when viewing a Node that has NO Site_ID information configured.

chris.schear

And, I should mention, I can't figure out why these nodes WITH Site_IDs would be displayed, anyway. When using either a Report Filter or a Resource Filter, in no case does "Caption Like '${Site_ID}*'" (resource filter) or "Node Name starts with ${Site_ID}" apply.

chris.schear

This is my fix - Resource Filter of:

Caption Like '${Site_ID}*' AND '${Site_ID}' <>''

chris.schear

My Resource with a filter of Caption Like '${Site_ID}*' AND '${Site_ID}' <>'' seems to be working well enough, but I'd rather not have to 'remember' to enter Custom Properties to get this to work, allowing for administrator error in that the Site_ID is not entered correctly on the back end. Is there any such "Left 'x' Charcters" kind of features within the filters in Orion?

All my monitored devices at a site will start with the Site_ID in the name, and will be 'matchable'; i.e. "T303A : VPN01", "T303A : SW01", "T303A : SW02"... If I could create a resource filter that would show my "All Monitored Nodes" whose first 5 characters are the same, that would be ideal. Or, if Orion had a means of grouping nodes or associating nodes by location, a feature that could also be integrated with Alert Suppressions and ordered hierarchy...that would also be swell.

Anything to help me out with the resource on the feature radar?

qle

Have you considering using the "Node List - Custom Grouping and Filtering" resource?