3com NETWORK DIRECTOR User manual

http://www.3com.com/

Part No. DUA1550-0AAA01

Published May 2004

3Com

®

Network Director

User Guide

3C15500

3Com Corporation

350 Campus Drive

Marlborough

MA USA 01752-3064

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CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

Conventions 32

Feedback about this User Guide 33

Related Documentation 33

1 GETTING STARTED

Introduction 35

What is 3Com Network Director 35

On the CD 35

Installation 36

Activation 36

Getting Started 37

Creating a New Network Map 38

Discovery Type Step 38

Specify Subnets Step 38

Monitor Core Devices and Links Step 38

Community Strings Step 38

NBX Voice Network Step 38

NBX Call Processors Step 38

Discovery Options Step 39

Scheduled Discovery Step 39

Summary Step 39

Upgrading from 3Com Network Supervisor 39

Coexistence with 3Com Network Director 39

Using saved Network Supervisor maps 40

Using saved 3Com Network Supervisor files 41

The Device Warranty feature 41

Main Features 42

Main Window 42

Network Discovery 42

Network Monitoring 42

The Event System 43

Reports on Historical Data 43

RMON Support 43

VLAN Support 43

Bulk Configuration 44

Backup, Restore and Setup 44

Agent Update 44

Traffic Prioritization 44

Reporting 45

Device Administration 45

Live Update 45

2 PRODUCT ACTIVATION

Introduction 47

Key Concepts 48

Components 48

About Dialog 48

Activation Wizard 49

Obtaining Product Upgrades 51

US, Canada and Latin America 52

Outside US, Canada and Latin America 52

Examples 52

Activating 3Com Network Director 52

Useful Information and References 53

Where can I find the product number for 3Com Network

Director? 53

Where can I find the serial number for 3Com Network Director? 53

Where can I find the license key for 3Com Network Director? 53

What product number is right for me? 54

Key Considerations 54

What if I lose my Activation Key after registration? 54

How do I move my copy of 3Com Network Director to another

workstation? 54

If I re-install the product after it has been activated, do I need to

activate it again? 55

My copy of 3Com Network Director no longer runs, even though it

has been activated. 55

Why can’t I log in to the 3Com support web site? 55

I want to install my upgrade from 3Com Network Supervisor

Advanced Package v2.0 to 3Com Network Director on a different

workstation. 55

I want to upgrade my copy of 3Com Network Supervisor Advanced

Package v2.0 to 3Com Network Director v1.0 56

Troubleshooting 58

My license key to upgrade from 3Com Network Supervisor Advanced

Package v2.0 is rejected 58

3 MAIN WINDOW

Overview 61

Key Concepts 62

Map Files 62

Components 63

Map 63

Tree 63

Toolbar 63

Status Bar 63

Main Menu 64

File 64

Edit 65

Device 69

Monitoring 70

Alerts/Events 71

RMON 71

Tools 72

Help 73

File > Lock Menu Option 73

File > Exit Menu Option 74

View > Show Toolbar Menu Option 74

Tools > Scheduled Tasks Menu Option 74

Tools > Options Menu Option 76

General 77

Device Management 78

Internet 80

Discovery 81

Monitoring 81

Logging 82

VLANs 84

Retry/Timeout 84

Security 85

Help > Contents and Index Menu Option 87

Help > Launch User Guide 87

Help > About 3Com

®

Director Menu Option 88

Examples 88

Finding the Product Version 88

Finding the Serial Number, License Number and Activation Key 89

Key Considerations 90

Scheduled Tasks 90

4 DISCOVERING THE NETWORK

Overview 91

Key Concepts 92

The Discovery Process – Detecting Devices 92

IP Ping 93

Device Capability Detection 93

SNMP Type Detection 94

IP to MAC Resolution 94

End Station Type Recognition 94

Web Type Recognition 95

DNS Name Resolution 95

NBX Phone Detection 95

Device Sizing 96

The Discovery Process – Determining Topology 96

Sizing stage 97

Spanning Tree stage 98

Remote Poll Stage (broadcast ARP) 98

Initial Endstation stage 99

Device Resolution Stage 99

Remote Poll Stage (directed pings) 99

Outstanding end station stage 100

Tree Building Stage 100

Clouds – Unknown Topology 100

Other Clouds 103

The Discovery Process – Rediscovery 104

Scheduled Discoveries 106

Components 106

Launching a discovery 106

The Welcome dialog box 107

File > New 107

Tools > Network Discovery with nothing selected 108

Tools > Network Discovery with a discovered subnet selected 108

Tools > Network Discovery with an undiscovered subnet

selected 109

The Network Discovery Wizard 109

Discovery Type Pane 110

Specify Subnets Pane 111

Editing subnets in the list 114

Removing subnets from the list 114

Choosing from a list of known subnets 114

Importing subnets from a file 116

Monitor Core Devices and Links Pane 117

Community Strings Pane 118

NBX Voice Network Pane 120

NBX Call Processors Pane 120

Discovery Options Pane 122

Scheduled Discovery Pane 124

Summary Pane 126

The Network Discovery Progress Dialog Box 128

Network Discovery Summary dialog box 130

The Discovery Report 131

Discovery 132

Topology 132

The Misconfigurations and Optimizations Report 132

The Changes Report 133

The Displayed Map 133

Initial Map Creation 133

Subsequent Map Updates 134

Examples 134

How do I discover my network every day at midnight? 134

Directly From the Options dialog box 134

I have four separate subnets - how do I specify them? 137

One of my subnets is over a slow WAN link - can I discover it, and if so,

what settings should I use? 138

I am using different SNMP community strings for different devices on my

network - how do I specify this? 139

Useful Information and References 140

Why the discovered map may not exactly reflect the network 140

Some devices haven't appeared 140

Some devices are the wrong type 141

There are clouds in my map 141

Support for 3Com devices 142

Support for third party devices 142

Key Considerations 143

Discovering over slow/expensive links 143

Discovery Report Errors and Warnings 144

Discovery Section 144

Topology Section 146

5 WORKING WITH THE MAP

Overview 151

Key Concepts 152

The Map 152

The Tree 154

Components 156

Map Structure 156

The Grouped Network View 156

The Ungrouped Network View 158

Devices 158

Device Icons 158

Pull-Right Menu for Devices 161

Physical Links 163

Unvalidated Links 164

Physical Link Annotations 164

Spanning Tree Protocol Support 165

Pull-Right Menu for Physical Links 165

Layer-3 Connections 166

167

Clouds 167

Pull-Right Menu for Clouds 169

Subnets 169

Device Groups 172

Tooltips 174

Map Item Labels and Address Translation 175

Navigation 182

Panning 182

Zoom in 182

Zoom out 183

Fit to page 183

Shortcut Symbols 186

Navigating Around the Map Using the Tree 187

Viewing the VLANs on Your Network 188

Trace Path 188

Using The Trace Path Wizard 191

Finding Items on Your Network 192

Using Wildcards to Find Partial Matches 193

Searching Within the Search Results 194

Using the Find Dialog Box to Select Items for Operations 195

Finding Devices 195

Finding Links 197

Finding NBX Telephony Components 198

Modifying the Map Layout 200

Manually Modifying the Map Contents 202

Adding Items to the Map 202

Linking Items in the Map 204

Keeping the Map Up-to-date 205

Dynamic Network Login Support 205

Saving and Opening Maps 206

Exporting Maps to Microsoft“ Visio“ 208

209

Printing the Map 210

Background Images 210

Examples 212

Selecting all of the SuperStack 3 Switch 4400 Devices in the

Network 212

Viewing all of the Physical Connections for a Router 215

Focusing in on a Set of Devices in the Map 217

Adding a Link between Map Items from Different Submaps 220

Adding a New Device on Your Network Into the Map 221

Useful Information and References 225

Graphical Support for Specific Device Types 225

NBX Network Telephony Solution 225

3Com Switch 4007 225

3Com Wireless Access Points 225

Files Associated with Saved Maps 226

Network Login 227

6 VIEWING DEVICE DETAILS

Overview 229

Key Concepts 230

Items Supported by the Properties Dialog Box 230

Components 230

Launching the Properties Dialog Box 230

Structure of the Properties Dialog Box 231

The Tabbed Pane 231

The Device Tree 233

Properties Dialog Box for a Node 236

Properties Dialog Box for a Supported Device 237

Supported Device (Stack or Chassis) 238

Supported Device (Single Unit) 239

Properties Dialog Box for an Unsupported Device 240

Properties Dialog Box for an End-Station 241

Properties Dialog Box for a Phone 242

Properties Dialog Box for a Subnet 244

Properties Dialog Box for a Device Group 245

Properties Dialog Box for a Cloud 245

Properties Dialog Box for a Link 247

Properties Dialog Box for a Non-WAN Link 247

Properties Dialog Box for a WAN Link 249

Properties Dialog Box for a Layer-3 Connection 250

Properties Dialog Box for a Multiple Selection 251

Applying Changes to Devices Using the Properties Dialog Box 254

This section describes how you can apply changes to items with the

Properties dialog box. 254

Changing the Custom Name 254

Setting the IP Address for a Manually Added Device 255

Setting the Port Numbers for a Manually Added Link 257

Changing the Community Strings for a Device 258

Changing the Monitoring Settings 261

Changing the Retry and Timeout Settings for a Device or Subnet 262

Changing the Discovery Options for a Subnet 263

Examples 264

Key Considerations 269

Troubleshooting 269

7 MONITORING THE NETWORK

Overview 273

Key Concepts 273

Monitor 273

Monitoring and Event Generation 274

Monitoring State 274

Monitoring State and the Grouped View 276

Monitoring Techniques 276

IP Ping Monitoring 277

SNMP MIB Data Retrieval 277

Service Polling 278

SNMP Trap Receipt 278

Monitor-able Items 279

Monitoring Non-3Com Devices 279

Link Monitoring 279

Components 280

Live Graphs Window 280

Poll Rates 281

Live Graphs Tree 281

Live Graphs Display 282

Displaying Thresholds 283

Live Graphs Toolbar 284

Live Graphs Menu 285

More Detail Dialog Box 286

Detailed Graph Dialog Box 287

Viewing a Monitor’s Component Values 288

Showing Thresholds 289

Showing Plot Points 290

Exporting a Graph 290

Zooming into a Graph 291

Poll Rates 293

Configuration 293

Starting and Stopping Monitoring 293

Disabling and Enabling Individual Monitors 294

Controlling Monitoring Type and Polling Rates 296

Monitoring Mode 296

Poll Rate 298

Specifying Monitoring Mode and Poll Rates at the Whole Map

Level 298

Specifying Monitoring Mode and Poll Rates at the Subnet Level 300

Specifying Monitoring Mode and Poll Rates at the Device Level 301

Specifying Monitoring Mode in the Discovery Wizard 302

Changing Retry Periods and Timeouts 304

Controlling Event Generation from Monitors 304

Registering 3Com Network Director as an SNMP Trap Destination 304

Configuring the Storage of Monitoring Data 306

Examples 308

Enabling Monitoring on the Core Devices in the Map 308

Disabling Monitoring on the Whole Network 308

Configuring Monitoring for a Remote Office 309

Extending the Length of Maintained Monitor History 313

Key Considerations 314

Monitoring and Logged Data 314

Text Displayed in Graphs 314

Problems Starting Monitoring for a Device or Link 315

8 THE EVENT LOG

Overview 319

Key Concepts 319

Events 319

Event Types 320

Monitor-Based Events 320

SNMP Trap-Based Events 321

3Com Network Director Internal Events 321

Event Severities 321

Information Severity 321

Warning Severity 322

High Severity Events 322

Critical Severity 322

Recurring Severity 322

Event Severity Colors 323

Event Resolution 323

Smart Event Analysis 324

Event Correlation 324

Recurring Event Handling 324

Event Suppression 325

SNMP Trap Filtering 325

Alerts 325

Events List Components 326

Launching the Events Window 326

Events Main Window 327

Events List 327

Events Toolbar 329

Events Menu 329

Status Bars 331

Working With Events 332

Navigating to Event Sources in the Map 332

Commenting on Events 333

Manually Resolving Events 334

Deleting Events 335

Refreshing the Events List 336

Exporting the Events List to a CSV Format File 337

Printing the Events List 338

Find Dialog Box 338

Filter Dialog Box 339

Name Filter 340

Show only voice related events Filter 341

Severity Filter 341

Last number of days Filter 342

Resolved Filter 342

Deleted Events Filter 343

Description Filter 343

Comment Filter 343

Filter Status Bar 343

More Detail Dialog Box 344

Event Tab 345

Graphs Tab 346

Trap Decode Tab 348

Event System Configuration 349

Disabling and Enabling Events 349

Disabled Events Dialog Box 350

Selecting Items 351

Controlling Smart Event Analysis 352

Controlling Global Smart Event Analysis 353

Controlling SNMP Trap Filtering 354

Controlling Per-Event Advanced Settings 355

Setting Thresholds for Monitor-Based Events 356

High and Warning Thresholds 356

Launching the Threshold Settings Dialog Box 356

Threshold Settings Dialog Box 357

Configuring the Storage of Monitoring History for Events 360

Managing Event Ageing 361

Ageing Dialog Box 363

Alert System Components 364

Alerts System Overview 364

Attach Alerts Dialog Box 364

Attaching Alerts to Items 366

Configuring Alerts 366

SNMP Trap Alerts 369

Examples 370

Viewing the Unresolved Events for a Subnet 370

Exporting High Severity Events Generated in the Last Week 371

Undeleting an Event 373

Obtaining Events for Received SNMP Traps 376

Getting Events As Soon As Your Network Has A Problem 377

Receiving Notification When A Server Farm Is Unreachable 378

Key Considerations 382

No Events in the Events List 382

Events List Update Was Stopped 382

Filter Has Excluded All Events 383

No Graph Available for an Event 383

9 PERFORMANCE REPORTING

Overview 385

Key Concepts 385

Automated logging 385

Data resolutions 386

Reporting 386

Components 386

Historical report 386

Link monitors 389

Logging options 390

Database 391

Examples 392

Determining the cause of high errors on a link 392

Predicting demand for bandwidth requirements 392

Web server analysis 393

Useful Information and References 395

RRDTool 395

Mapping file format 395

Devices 395

Links between switches/hubs 395

Links between a switch/hub and an end station/cloud 395

Database file format 396

Database management 398

Key Considerations 399

Troubleshooting 399

Mapping file not updating 399

Changing the logging data directory 399

Missing data within RRD database files 400

Empty historical report states 3Com Network Director cannot monitor

device/link 400

10 RMON

Introduction 403

Key Concepts 404

What is RMON 404

Statistics 404

History 404

Host 405

HostTopN 405

Matrix 406

HC-RMON 406

Components 407

3Com support for RMON 407

The RMONView window 407

The Menu bar 408

414

The Toolbar 414

The Table View 416

416

The Graph View 417

Viewing data from the RMON Statistics group 417

Viewing RMON Statistics data for a selected device 417

3Com Switch 4007 418

Viewing data from the RMON History group 423

Viewing RMON History data for a selected device 423

3Com Switch 4007 424

Viewing RMON history data for a selected link 425

History View dialog box 427

History Entries 429

Viewing data from the RMON Host group 431

Viewing RMON Host data for a selected device 431

3Com Switch 4007 432

Viewing RMON host data for a selected link 433

Host View dialog box 436

Viewing data from the RMON Matrix group 440

Viewing RMON Matrix data for a selected device 440

Stations 446

Matrix Flow 446

Managing RMON tables 447

Deletion of RMON Tables 448

Examples 450

How do I graph errors on my core switch links? 450

How do I graph utilization on a specific VLAN? 451

How do I view the data associated with an aggregated link? 451

Useful Information And References 452

RMON 452

RMON Support on individual 3Com devices 452

RMON Limits on individual devices (for table creation) 452

Key Considerations 452

11 CREATING REPORTS

Overview 453

Key Concepts 454

Selection-sensitive 454

Feature Reports Types 454

Device Report History - Restriction 455

Custom Report Types 455

Reports History 455

Export to CSV 456

Components 456

Inventory Report 456

Capacity Report 457

Topology Report 457

Free ports Report 457

Reports Dialog Box 458

Generate Report Tab 459

History Tab 460

Custom Report Types Dialog Box 462

Add/Edit Report Type Wizard 463

Columns Step 463

Name and Description Step 467

Summary Step 467

Examples 468

Assessing Network Expansion Capability 468

Ensuring Stacks are Running the Same Agent Version 469

Key Considerations 470

Report Information Out-of-Date 470

Disk Usage 470

Generate Report not Working 471

12 CONFIGURING SINGLE DEVICES

Overview 473

Key Concepts 474

Web Management 474

Telnet Management 474

SSH Management 474

Administration Menu 474

3Com Device View 475

3Com Switch Manager 475

3Com Router Manager 475

Network Jack Configuration Manager 475

IP Ping 475

Trace Route 476

Properties Dialog Box 478

General 478

Security 479

Unit Information 480

VLANs 481

Registering Devices for Warranty 483

Components 483

Device Warranty Dialog Box 483

Device Warranty Wizard 484

Introduction Step 484

Contact Details Step 485

Partner/Reseller Details Step 486

Device Selection Step 488

Summary Step 489

Connection to the 3Com Server 490

What Data is Sent to the 3Com server 490

Reports 491

Web Management 491

Device Warranty 491

Examples 493

Renaming a Switch 4007 using Telnet 493

Disabling a Port on a Switch 4400 using the Web Interface 493

Viewing Connected Ports using Device View 494

Registering 3Com Devices for Warranty 494

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