10 Replies Latest reply on Aug 23, 2012 10:23 AM by dfairles

    NPM Topology

    dfairles
    dfairles Jun 11, 2012 1:09 PM


      Does NPM topology work for anyone?

       

      We have a pretty much Cisco Network consisting of 6500's and 4500's.  We have also been putting in Cisco Nexus switches.

       

      I have not been able to get topology to work.  I get sporadic information.  Some ports, some ports, etc.

       

      I have an open case, Case #351833, and was told basicslly that my switches were not supported.  So, is it the caase that Cisco 6500's, 4500's, etc. are not supported?

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        • Re: NPM Topology
          mrchesnutt
          mrchesnutt Jun 11, 2012 2:48 PM (in response to dfairles)

          I have the same problem. The topology is mostly right but there are links where NPM can't discover the topology and I can't figure out why. We have an assortment of switches from Arista and Cisco and it works in some cases but not others.

           

          It would be nice if Solarwinds would develop a troubleshooting guide. Does anyone know if there is a log file for topology data?

            • Re: NPM Topology
              dfairles
              dfairles Jun 11, 2012 3:32 PM (in response to mrchesnutt)

              And also what devices are supported.  I was told by tech support that on "Industry Standard" MIBs are supported.  I don't know how much more "Industry Standard" Cisco 4500 and 6500's could be?!?!?

                • Re: NPM Topology
                  Gary O'Carroll
                  Gary O'Carroll Jun 12, 2012 2:34 PM (in response to dfairles)

                  The only issue with topology i've found on my Cisco 6513 and 6504 (both sup 720) is that if the node on the other end isn't monitored by SNMP it won't tell you the interface on the connected node. I have several ESX hosts connected to both switches with CDP and SNMP enabled and a few without SNMP but with CDP still enabled and I'm getting topology info but an unknown interface on the ESX end. My windows servers are reporting similar data.

                   

                  I also don't get topology data for nodes that aren't directly connected (i.e.I don't get topology info for my NTP appliance on the 6513 since it is connected to a different switch, but on the same network)

              • Re: NPM Topology
                wbrown
                wbrown Jun 12, 2012 3:27 PM (in response to dfairles)

                Our network consists of dozens of Cisco 6509's (6509, 6509E)  and a thousand or so 4507's (4507, 4507R, 4507R-E, 4507R+E).

                We're also adding Nexus 7010's and 5548's.

                 

                All the topology info is completely worthless.

                 

                Where switches are directly connected, the uplinks are monitored.  The topology info shows "Unknown" between the switches.

                Where switches have multiple layer 3 hops between them (i.e. different facilities across a MAN), topology shows such switches connected and also with "Unknown" between them.

                And in both cases not all connections are discovered.  A distribution switch with a hundred access switches physically connected may only show a handful of connected switches while an access switch with only 2 uplinks (each to a separate distribution switch) may show dozens of connected devices.

                 

                When we were running NPM 10.1 I had removed the toplogy info from the views.

                NPM 10.2.2 seems to have re-added toplogy info to the views and I just haven't gone through and removed it yet.

                I am curious to see if 10.3 does any better.

                  • Re: NPM Topology
                    dfairles
                    dfairles Jun 12, 2012 3:37 PM (in response to wbrown)

                    I amazes me that Topology, one of the most basic and worthwhile features of a NMS has never worked.  Especially since it works in Lan Surveyor.   Why don’t they take the topology code out of that and put it in NPM?  Heck, it doesn’t even discover duplicate nodes like NPM does.   Much cheaper products do topology maps and discovery very well.

                     

                    This is the main reason my people keep bugging me to move on to something else.  We have no maps, duplicate and missing nodes.

                    • Re: NPM Topology
                      dfairles
                      dfairles Aug 23, 2012 10:23 AM (in response to wbrown)

                      Hello all,

                      My ticket with SolarWinds has been closed on this issue.

                       

                      After speaking with 2 product managers, I was told that topology was not fully developed, and did not discover layer 3 links.

                       

                      They said they would rather release an unfinished product rather than one that was fully complete.  Very disappointed in that answer.  How do we know what works and what doesn't?  They said they never specifically mentioned layer 3 in the marketing, so that is OK with them.

                       

                      What do you guys think?

                    • Re: NPM Topology
                      mint
                      mint Jun 13, 2012 9:18 AM (in response to dfairles)

                      I am also having issues with the topology. In some cases its just missing certain connections on a switch. For example I may have 4 wan links on  switch A (cisco 4507re) and only 1 is not showing topology. I can see topology for Switch C, D , E. Switch B shows other topology info for other connections(Switch F, G) but not the connection to switch A. This are all simple fiber connections in gig ports. Not much difference in configuration between them.

                       

                      Also I am on 10.3, is there any troubleshooting advise? Everything was discovered through discovery, and nothing was manually entered per instructions. All of the interfaces are all monitored resources. CDP info on the switch shows all the connections.

                      • Re: NPM Topology
                        byrona
                        byrona Expert Jun 13, 2012 9:22 AM (in response to dfairles)

                        I haven't attempted to use the Topology functionality recently so I can't really say, I know that in previous versions I have had problems with it.

                         

                        While I admittedly haven't looked; I am curious if SolarWinds has up-to-date documentation on how the Topology stuff actually works with some possible troubleshooting tips?

                        • Re: NPM Topology
                          smartd
                          smartd Jun 15, 2012 9:28 AM (in response to dfairles)

                          One of my main gripes with topology is that is assumes you are managing all the interfaces.  We only monitor uplink interfaces, an often some get missed since NPM has no way to import uplinks in an automated way.  (Suggested adding ports with more than one MAC address).  If the interface isn't monitored, its missing from topology.