Resource for Modular Switches

[RomeoG]

One of the things I have been working on in between the important stuff is a graphical way to represent the status of modular switches, i.e., 4507, 6509, Nexus, etc... I thought that maybe someone else in the community has thought of this idea and/or done some work on it. This is in the very early stages. Here's my idea and what I have so far:

These drawings were built using standard templates. The modules and the chassis are all individual objects. I am sure everyone here is familiar with Visio.

I have added all the necessary OIDs into Solarwinds as UnDPs to poll the status of all the various modules, including power supplies. The idea is to run a script in the background using something like Image Magick that dynamically builds this image (from the individual modules) along with an image map for tooltips or hyper-links based on the currently polled data. Module status would be represented by color shading as well as tooltips.

The biggest value here is eye candy for management. But, this is also a quick way to see the full status of a loaded switch chassis. Plus, it provides a way for lower level techs who may not have access to login to these devices an alternative to "show module".

Any thoughts, ideas, criticisms, or funny limericks?

Romeo

[bluefunelemental]

like publishing your New Years resolution- I will map out all my switches AND keep them up to date

i did the same and decided on several things

1. I do like the idea of visual switch views and also decided on the same front/back that you show.
2. I found it easy to lay them out in Visio /OmniGraffle and also found switchport status images easy to overlay
3. ctrl-arrow nudge and zoom works well to layout the switchport status overlay images and cut/paste of whole modules and switches between maps work great
4. I have a full time engineer position open for someone who in part will drag/drop the interfaces, hardware components and now undp onto the visual map
5. *** feature request is needed to be able to have a dynamic map shown per node details page in the same way I use for groups - see this thread:Custom Maps for Group Details Page

vote here

[cahunt]

Very nice.. The setup is a good idea to sub a show anything.. we have contractors that do not have a lot of access so this would be useful.

Can you give insight on your OIDs for module status on the 4500 series?,, 4507r+e , 4510, etc.

[RomeoG]

Hi cahunt! I explained the OIDs I use and how i use them in this thread. This seems to work for the different variations of the 4500s we have as well as Nexus 7k chassis.

I need to get back to this project. I haven't done any more work on this since my original post. Can't believe it's been almost a year!

Romeo