Availability Management

Table Of Contents

Availability

Setting Views and Polling Options

Viewing the Reachability Dashboard

Determining Current Network Availability

Viewing Device Reloads

Viewing Stack Decoder Trace and Analysis

Determining the Protocol Distribution of Devices

Availability

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You have added devices to your network and created some views with which to generate reports. You have also generated the reports you need. Now you want to monitor the devices in your network inventory and determine their availability.

You can use Availability features to do the following:

•Monitor network availability and response time for a set of user-configurable critical devices.

•Detect and report device reloads.

•Display protocol distribution for routers.

The following sections are presented in this chapter:

•Setting Views and Polling Options

•Viewing the Reachability Dashboard

•Determining Current Network Availability

•Viewing Device Reloads

•Viewing Stack Decoder Trace and Analysis

•Determining the Protocol Distribution of Devices

For detailed information on Availability, refer to the online help.

Setting Views and Polling Options

Scenario: You want to monitor device availability, but first you must select Availability views.

To set views and polling options, perform the following steps:

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Step 1 Select Admin > Availability > Change Polling Options.

The Select Polled Views dialog box appears. (See .)

Figure 6-1 Select Polled Views Dialog Box

Step 2 Select the views you want to poll from the All Views list, then click Add.

Step 3 Select the views you want to delete from the Polled Views list, then click Delete.

Step 4 Click Next.

The Change Polling Options dialog box appears. (See .)

Figure 6-2 Change Polling Options Dialog Box

Step 5 Select values from the drop-down list boxes to change any of the polling options, then click Finish.

Viewing the Reachability Dashboard

You can use the Reachability Dashboard to view device reachability and learn when a device last responded. The Dashboard window is updated every minute.

Scenario: You want to determine the availability (or reachability) of the devices in all your views.

To view the Reachability Dashboard, perform the following steps:

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Step 1 Select Tasks > Availability > Reachability Dashboard.

The Reachability Dashboard displays a report for each of the views. (See .)

Figure 6-3 Reachability Dashboard

The Reachability Dashboard refreshes automatically every minute. Therefore, you can keep it on your desktop to receive constant updates. The down arrows indicate unreachable devices and the up arrows indicate reachable devices.

Step 2 Click the Device Name links to access the Device Center for more detailed information. (See .)

Figure 6-4 Device Center

Step 3 Click Close to close the report.

Determining Current Network Availability

Scenario: You want to determine the overall availability of your network devices.

To determine network availability, perform the following steps:

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Step 1 Select Tasks > Availability > Availability Monitor.

The Select Devices dialog box appears. (See .)

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Note   The Select Devices dialog box lists only the views being monitored for availability.

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Figure 6-5 Select Devices Dialog Box

Step 2 Select All in the Views column, click All in the Devices column, then click Finish.

The Availability Monitor report appears. (See .)

Figure 6-6 Availability Monitor Report

The down arrows on the Availability Monitor report indicate unreachable devices; the up arrows indicate reachable devices.

Availability Monitor information is updated at half the SNMP polling rate.

Step 3 The Availability Monitor report contains several links for each device. For more detailed device information, click on any of the following links:

•Device Reachability (%)—to view the corresponding Device Reachability graph. (See .)

•Response Time (ms)—to view the Response Time report. (See .)

•Interface Status—to view the Device Finder, which displays information about the selected device.

Figure 6-7 Device Reachability Graph

Figure 6-8 Response Time Report

Step 4 Click Close to close the reports.

Viewing Device Reloads

Scenario: Several devices on the network have crashed and reloaded overnight. You want to determine which devices reloaded and why.

To view your reload history, perform the following steps:

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Step 1 Select Tasks > Availability > Reloads Report.

The Select Devices dialog box appears. (See .)

Step 2 Select All from the Views column, then click All.

Step 3 Click Finish.

The Reloads Report appears. (See .)

Figure 6-9 Reloads Report

Step 4 Select the time (for example, 1 Day) from the Reports drop-down list box to view reload information for a specific time, then click Reports.

A results window displays information for the last 24 hours.

Viewing Stack Decoder Trace and Analysis

Scenario: One of the devices in your reloads report has a hyperlinked entry in the Reload Reason column. You view the Stack Decoder analysis to find out why the device reloaded.

To view the Stack Decoder analysis, perform the following steps from a reloads report:

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Step 1 Click on a hyperlinked entry in the Reload Reason column. (See .)

The Stack Decoder Trace and Analysis window displays error information.

Step 2 Click Back to return to the Reloads Report.

Determining the Protocol Distribution of Devices

Scenario: You are preparing for a network rollout and want to determine the protocol distribution of devices on the network.

To determine the protocol distribution of a region, perform the following steps:

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Step 1 Select Tasks > Availability > Protocol Distribution Graph.

The Select Devices dialog box appears. (See .)

Step 2 Select devices from the Views column, click All, then click Finish.

The protocol distribution bar chart appears. (See .)

Figure 6-10 Protocol Distribution Bar Chart

Step 3 Select Pie Chart from the Reports drop-down list box, then click Reports.

The Protocol Distribution pie chart appears. (See .)

Figure 6-11 Protocol Distribution Pie Chart

Step 4 Click Close to close the report.

This completes the chapter on Availability.