Availability Management

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 the availability management 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

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

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

Step 1

Log in with administrator privileges.

Step 2 Click Admin on the button bar, then select Availability > Change Polling Options.

The Select Polled Views dialog box appears. (See Figure 5-1.)

Figure 5-1: Select Polled Views Dialog Box

Step 3 Select the views you want to poll from the All Views list, then click Add.

Step 4 Select the views you want to delete from the Polled Views list, then click Delete.

Step 5 Click Next.

The Change Polling Options dialog box appears . (See Figure 5-2.)

Figure 5-2: Change Polling Options Dialog Box

Step 6 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 check device reachability and when it last responded. Dashboard window is updated each minute.

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

To view the reachability dashboard, perform the following steps:

Step 1

Click Tasks on the button bar, then select Availability > Reachability Dashboard.

The Reachability Dashboard appears with a report for each of the views. (See Figure 5-3.)

Figure 5-3: Reachability Dashboard

Note The Reachability Dashboard refreshes automatically each 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.

Step 3 When you are finished, click Close.

Determining Current Network Availability

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

To determine network availability, perform the following steps:

Step 1

Click Tasks on the button bar, then select Availability > Availability Monitor.

The Select Devices dialog box appears. (See Figure 5-4.)

Figure 5-4: Select Devices Dialog Box

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

The Availability Monitor report appears. (See Figure 5-5.)

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

Figure 5-5: Availability Monitor Report

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

Note 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, choose from the following links:

(a) Click the Device Reachability (%) links to view the corresponding Device Reachability graph.

The Device Reachability graph appears. (See Figure 5-6.)

Figure 5-6: Device Reachability Graph

(b) Click the Response Time (ms) links to display the response time in milliseconds.

The Response Time report appears. (See Figure 5-7.) Print or save the report.

Figure 5-7: Response Time Report

The Interface Details report appears. (See Figure 5-8.) Print or save the report.

Figure 5-8: Interface Details Report

Viewing Device Reloads

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

To determine your reload history, perform the following steps:

Step 1

Click Tasks on the button bar, then select Availability > Reloads Report.

The Select Devices dialog box appears. (See Figure 5-4.)

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

Step 3 Click Finish.

The Reloads Report appears. (See Figure 5-9.)

Figure 5-9: Reloads Report

Step 4 To view the most recent reloads information for a specific period of time, select the period (for example, 1 Day) on the Reports drop-down list box, then click Reports.

A results window appears containing the most recent reloads information for the last 24 hours.

Determining the Protocol Distribution of a Region

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:

Step 1

Click Tasks on the button bar, then select Availability > Protocol Distribution Graph.

The Select Devices dialog box appears. (See Figure 5-4.)

Step 2 Select All, then click Finish.

The protocol distribution bar chart appears. (See Figure 5-10.)

Figure 5-10: Protocol Distribution Bar Chart

Step 3 To see the pie chart format, select Pie Chart on the Reports drop-down list box, then click Reports.

The Protocol Distribution appears. (See Figure 5-11.)

Figure 5-11: Protocol Distribution Pie Chart

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