3com 3C15100E User Guide

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3Com® Network Supervisor v5.1 User Guide

3C15100E

http://www.3com.com/

Part No. DUA15100-EAAA02

Published June 2005

3Com Corporation 350 Campus Drive Marlborough MA USA 01752-3064

Copyright © 2005, 3Com Technologies. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be reproduced in any form or by any means or used to make any derivative work (such as translation, transformation, or adaptation) without written permission from 3Com Technologies.

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ABOUT THIS GUIDE

Conventions 20 Feedback about this User Guide 21 Related Documentation 21

1 GETTING STARTED

Introduction 23

What is 3Com Network Supervisor 23 Installation 24 Activation 24

Getting Started 25

Creating a New Network Map 26

Discovery Type Step 26 Specify Subnets Step 26 Monitor Core Devices and Links Step 26 Community Strings Step 26 NBX Voice Network Step 26 NBX Call Processors Step 27

Summary Step 27 Coexistence with other Network Management Applications 27 Upgrading from earlier versions of 3Com Network Supervisor 28

Advanced Package compatibility 29

Main Features 29

Main Window 29 Network Discovery 29 Network Monitoring 30 The Event System 30 Traffic Prioritization 30 Reporting 30 Live Update 30

2 PRODUCT ACTIVATION

Introduction 33 Key Concepts 34 Components 34

About Dialog 34 Activate Now dialog 34

Examples 36

Activating 3Com Network Supervisor 36

Useful Information and References 36

Where can I find the product number for 3Com Network Supervisor? 36

Where can I find the serial number for 3Com Network Supervisor? 36

Key Considerations 37

What if I lose my Activation Key after registration? 37 If I re-install the product after it has been activated, do I need to

activate it again? 37 If I upgrade to Network Supervisor v5.1 from an earlier, activated

version of Network Supervisor, do I need to activate it again? 37 Why can’t I log in to the 3Com support web site? 37

3 MAIN WINDOW

Overview 39 Key Concepts 40

Map Files 40

Components 41

Map 41 Tree 41 Toolbar 41 Status Bar 41 Main Menu 42 File 42 Edit 43 View 44 Device 46 Monitoring 47 Alerts/Events 48 To ol s 48

Help 49 File > Exit Menu Option 49 View > Show Toolbar Menu Option 50 Tools > Options Menu Option 50

General 50

Device Management 52

Internet 53 Alerts 54 Help > Contents and Index Menu Option 54 Help > Launch User Guide 55 Help > About 3Com Network Supervisor Menu Option 55

Examples 55

Finding the Product Version 55 Finding the Serial Number and Activation Key 56

4 DISCOVERING THE NETWORK

Overview 57 Key Concepts 58

The Discovery Process – Detecting Devices 58

IP Ping 59

Device Capability Detection 59

SNMP Type Detection 60

IP to MAC Resolution 60

End Station Type Recognition 60

Web Type Recognition 61

DNS Name Resolution 61

NBX Phone Detection 61

Device Sizing 62 The Discovery Process – Determining Topology 63

Sizing stage 64

Spanning Tree stage 64

Remote Poll Stage (broadcast ARP) 64

Initial Endstation stage 65

Device Resolution Stage 65

Remote Poll Stage (directed pings) 65

Outstanding end station stage 66

Tree Building Stage 66

Clouds – Unknown Topology 66 Wireless Clients Clouds 70

The Discovery Process – Rediscovery 70

Components 71

Launching a discovery 72

The Welcome dialog box 72 File > New 73 Tools > Network Discovery with nothing selected 73 Tools > Network Discovery with a discovered subnet selected 73 Tools > Network Discovery with an undiscovered subnet selected 74

The Network Discovery Wizard 75

Discovery Type Pane 75 Specify Subnets Pane 77 Editing subnets in the list 80 Removing subnets from the list 80 Choosing from a list of known subnets 80 Monitor Core Devices and Links Pane 82 Community Strings Pane 83 NBX Voice Network Pane 84 NBX Call Processors Pane 85 Summary Pane 86

The Network Discovery Progress Dialog Box 87

Network Discovery Summary dialog box 88

The Discovery Report 90

Discovery 90

Topology 91 The Misconfigurations and Optimizations Report 91 The Changes Report 92 The Displayed Map 92

Initial Map Creation 92

Subsequent Map Updates 93

Examples 93

I have four separate subnets - how do I specify them? 93 I am using different SNMP community strings for different devices on my

network - how do I specify this? 94

Useful Information and References 95

Why the discovered map may not exactly reflect the network 95

Some devices haven't appeared 95

Some devices are the wrong type 96

There are clouds in my map 96 Support for 3Com devices 96 Support for third party devices 97

Key Considerations 98

Discovery Report Errors and Warnings 98

Discovery Section 98

Topology Section 100

5 WORKING WITH THE MAP

Overview 105 Key Concepts 106

The Map 106 The Tree 108

Components 110

Map Structure 110 The Grouped Network View 110 The Ungrouped Network View 112

Devices 112

Device Icons 112

Pull-Right Menu for Devices 115

Physical Links 116

Unvalidated Links 116

Physical Link Annotations 117

Spanning Tree Protocol Support 118

Pull-Right Menu for Physical Links 118

Layer-3 Connections 119 Clouds 120

Pull-Right Menu for Clouds 121

Subnets 121

Device Groups 124

Tooltips 127

Map Item Labels and Address Translation 128 Navigation 135

Panning 135

Zoom in 135

Zoom out 136

Fit to page 136 Shortcut Symbols 139 Navigating Around the Map Using the Tree 141 Trace Path 141 Using The Trace Path Wizard 144 Finding Items on Your Network 145 Using Wildcards to Find Partial Matches 146 Searching Within the Search Results 147 Using the Find Dialog Box to Select Items for Operations 148 Finding Devices 148 Finding Links 150 Finding NBX Telephony Components 151

Modifying the Map Layout 153

Manually Modifying the Map Contents 154 Adding Items to the Map 154 Linking Items in the Map 156

Keeping the Map Up-to-date 157 Saving and Opening Maps 157 Printing the Map 160

Examples 161

Selecting all of the SuperStack 3 Switch 4400 Devices in the Network 161

Viewing all of the Physical Connections for a Router 164 Focusing in on a Set of Devices in the Map 166 Adding a Link between Map Items from Different Submaps 169 Adding a New Device on Your Network Into the Map 171

Useful Information and References 174

Graphical Support for Specific Device Types 174

NBX Network Telephony Solution 174

3Com Switch 4007 174

3Com Wireless Access Points 174

Files Associated with Saved Maps 175

6 VIEWING DEVICE DETAILS

Overview 177 Key Concepts 178

Items Supported by the Properties Dialog Box 178

Components 178

Launching the Properties Dialog Box 178 Structure of the Properties Dialog Box 179

The Tabbed Pane 179

The Device Tree 181 Properties Dialog Box for a Node 183 Properties Dialog Box for a Supported Device 184 Supported Device (Stack or Chassis) 185 Supported Device (Single Unit) 186 Properties Dialog Box for an Unsupported Device 186 Properties Dialog Box for an End station 187 Properties Dialog Box for a Phone 188 Properties Dialog Box for a Subnet 190 Properties Dialog Box for a Device Group 190 Properties Dialog Box for a Cloud 191 Properties Dialog Box for a Link 192

Properties Dialog Box for a Link 193 Properties Dialog Box for a Layer-3 Connection 194 Properties Dialog Box for a Multiple Selection 195 Applying Changes to Devices Using the Properties Dialog Box 197

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

Properties dialog box. 197

Changing the Custom Name 197

Setting the IP Address for a Manually Added Device 198

Setting the Port Numbers for a Manually Added Link 200 Changing the Community Strings for a Device 201

Examples 205 Key Considerations 208

Troubleshooting 208

7 MONITORING THE NETWORK

Overview 211 Key Concepts 211

Monitor 211 Monitoring and Event Generation 212 Monitoring State 212

Monitoring State and the Grouped View 214

Monitoring Techniques 214

IP Ping Monitoring 215 SNMP MIB Data Retrieval 215 Service Polling 216 SNMP Trap Receipt 216

Monitor-able Items 217

Monitoring Non-3Com Devices 217

Link Monitoring 217

Components 218

Live Graphs Window 218

Poll Rates 219 Live Graphs Tree 219 Live Graphs Display 220

Displaying Thresholds 220

Live Graphs Toolbar 222 Live Graphs Menu 222 More Detail Dialog Box 223

Configuration 225

Starting and Stopping Monitoring 225

Disabling and Enabling Individual Monitors 226 Controlling Event Generation from Monitors 227 Registering 3Com Network Supervisor as an SNMP Trap

Destination 227

Examples 228

Enabling Monitoring on the Core Devices in the Map 228 Disabling Monitoring on the Whole Network 229

Key Considerations 229

Text Displayed in Graphs 229 Problems Starting Monitoring for a Device or Link 230

8 THE EVENT LOG

Overview 233 Key Concepts 233

Events 233

Event Types 234

Monitor-Based Events 234

SNMP Trap-Based Events 234

3Com Network Supervisor Internal Events 235

Event Severities 235

Information Severity 235 Warning Severity 235 High Severity Events 235 Critical Severity 236 Recurring Severity 236 Event Severity Colors 236

Event Resolution 236

Event Correlation 237 Recurring Event Handling 237 Event Suppression 238 SNMP Trap Filtering 238

Alerts 238

Events List Components 239

Launching the Events Window 239 Events Main Window 240

Events List 241 Events Toolbar 242 Events Menu 243 Status Bars 245

Working With Events 246

Navigating to Event Sources in the Map 246 Commenting on Events 246 Manually Resolving Events 247

Deleting Events 248 Refreshing the Events List 249 Exporting the Events List to a CSV Format File 250 Printing the Events List 251 Find Dialog Box 251 Filter Dialog Box 252

Name Filter 253

Show only voice related events Filter 254

Severity Filter 255

Last number of days Filter 255

Resolved Filter 255

Deleted Events Filter 256

Description Filter 256

Comment Filter 256 Filter Status Bar 257

More Detail Dialog Box 257

Event Tab 258

Event System Configuration 259

Disabling and Enabling Events 259

Disabled Events Dialog Box 260

Selecting Items 261 Controlling How Events are Logged 262 Setting Thresholds for Monitor-Based Events 262

High and Warning Thresholds 263

Launching the Threshold Settings Dialog Box 263

Threshold Settings Dialog Box 263 Managing Event Ageing 266

Ageing Dialog Box 267

Alert System Components 269

Alerts System Overview 269 Configure Alerts Dialog Box 269

Attaching Alerts to Items 270 Configure Global Alerts Dialog Box 271

Enabling Global Alerts 272

If you enable a Sound alert then the alert’s action will only be

successfully performed if you have a correctly configured sound card

and suitable speakers or headphones on the PC running 3Com

Network Supervisor. 273

Configuring Alerts 273

Launching Alerts When Events are Resolved 275

Examples 277

Viewing the Unresolved Events for a Subnet 277 Exporting High Severity Events Generated in the Last Week 277 Undeleting an Event 279 Receiving Notification When A Server Farm Is Unreachable 282

Key Considerations 286

No Events in the Events List 286

Events List Update Was Stopped 286

Filter Has Excluded All Events 287

9 CREATING REPORTS

Overviews 289 Key Concepts 290

Selection-sensitive 290 Feature Reports Types 290 Device Report History - Restriction 290 Custom Report Types 291 Reports History 291 Export to CSV 291

Components 291

Inventory Report 292 Capacity Report 292 Topology Report 292 Free ports Report 293 Reports Dialog Box 293

Generate Report Tab 294

History Tab 295 Custom Report Types Dialog Box 297 Add/Edit Report Type Wizard 298

Columns Step 298

Name and Description Step 302

Summary Step 302

Examples 303

Assessing Network Expansion Capability 303 Ensuring Stacks are Running the Same Agent Version 304

Key Considerations 305

Report Information Out-of-Date 305 Disk Usage 305 Generate Report not Working 306

10 CONFIGURING SINGLE DEVICES

Overview 307 Key Concepts 307

Web Management 307 Telnet Management 308 SSH Management 308 Administration Menu 308

Network Jack Configuration Manager 308

Properties Dialog Box 309

General 309 Addresses 310 SNMP 311

Registering Devices for Warranty 312

Components 312

Device Warranty Dialog Box 312 Device Warranty Wizard 313

Introduction Step 314 Contact Details Step 315 Partner/Reseller Details Step 315 Device Selection Step 317

Summary Step 318 Connection to the 3Com Server 319 What Data is Sent to the 3Com server 319 Reports 320

Device Warranty 320

Examples 322

Renaming a Switch 4007 using Telnet 322 Disabling a Port on a Switch 4400 using the Web Interface 322 Registering 3Com Devices for Warranty 322

Key Considerations 324

Troubleshooting 324

The Device Warranty dialog box is not displayed after a Network

Discovery 324

3Com Network Supervisor lists some devices as unregistered, although

you have already registered them on the 3Com website 325 Frequently Asked Questions 325

Why are some registered devices missing from the email? 325

Why is there no warranty associated with some of the devices in the

email? 325

11 PRIORITIZING NETWORK TRAFFIC

Overview 327 Key Concepts 328

Classification 328 Marking 329

Queuing 331 Dropping 333 Service Levels 333 Configuring the Network for End-to-end Traffic Prioritization 334

Components 335

Prioritize Network Traffic Wizard 335

Configuration Type Step 336 NBX Step 337 Servers Step 339 Applications Step 340 Application Field Values 341 Finish Step and Progress 342

Prioritization Reports 342

Agent Upgrades Required for Prioritization report 342 Network Prioritization Report 343 Prioritization Configuration Report 343

Examples 344

Applying an Existing Configuration to New Devices 344 Prioritizing NBX Voice Traffic 345 Prioritizing Traffic To and From a SAP Server 346 Blocking Access to a Streaming Audio Server 348 Prioritizing a Video Conferencing Application 349 Restricting Access to SNMP 352

Useful Information and References 356

User Priority Field 356 DiffServ Codepoint Field 357 Determining Field Values for Applications 358 3Com Network Supervisor Classifier Rules for NBX Phone Traffic 358 3Com Network Supervisor Service Levels 359 Configuration Levels for Supported 3Com Devices 359

Key Considerations 361

Resource Warnings 361 Why Errors Can Occur When Adding a Server 363 Potential Hazards When Blocking Traffic To and From Servers 363 Servers That Cannot be Selected for Blocking 364 Potential Hazards of Blocking Application Traffic 365 Potential Hazards of Blocking SNMP, HTTP and Telnet 366

12 NBX SUPPORT

Overview 367 Key Concepts 367

How 3Com Network Supervisor Discovers the Phone Network 368 How 3Com Network Supervisor Represents the Phone Network

Icons 368

NBX Call Processor 369

Line Cards 369

Analog Terminal Adapter and Analog Terminal Card 369

NBX Phones and Attendant Consoles 370

NBX Applications 370 How 3Com Network Supervisor Monitors the Phone Network 370

Components 371

Discovering the NBX Voice Network 371

NBX Voice Network Step 371

NBX Call Processors Step 371

Add NBX Call Processor/Modify NBX Call Processor 373 Properties dialog box 374 Monitoring the Phone Network 375

Monitoring the NBX Call Processor 375

Monitoring a Phone 375

Monitoring a Line Card 376 Understanding Voice-related 3Com Network Supervisor Events 376

Events related to the NBX Call Processor 377

Events related to phones 377

Events related to other links or devices on the network 377

Examples 377

Discovering Several NBX Call Processors Simultaneously 377 Receiving an Alert when my Phones Stop Working 378

Useful Information and References 379

NBX system 379 NBX Call Processor 379 NBX NetSet 379

Key Considerations 380

Troubleshooting 380

The phones are not shown on the map, although there is a NBX Call

Processor 380

The display of end stations in the map has been disabled 380

The wrong username/password was specified for the NBX Call Processor 381

There is a problem with the HTTP service for the NBX Call Processor 382

The NBX Call Processor stopped responding during the network discovery 382

Frequently Asked Questions 383

Why are there a lot of unconnected phones on the map? 383 The phone was removed from the network 383 The phone cannot be reached 383 The network device the phone is connected to has not been

discovered 384 Why are some phones on the map showing the user name, while

others show the extension number? 384 How do I change the label of a phone or line card? 385

13 LIVE UPDATE

Overview 387 Key Concepts 388

Connection Type 388 Service Packs 388 Live Update Engine 388

Components 389

Live Update Setup Wizard 389

Connection Type Step 389 Use Custom Settings Step 390 Summary Step 391

Live Update Select File Groups Dialog Box 393

Status 394 Table of Available Updates 395

File Group Details 395 Select File Group - Group Name 396 Download Progress 397 Changing the Download Settings 398 Live Update Activity Report 401

Examples 402

Ensuring 3Com Devices are Supported 402 Updating the Connection Information 403

Solution 1 - Automatic Configuration using the Live Update Setup Wizard 404

Solution 2 - Manual Configuration using the Options Dialog Box 405

Useful Information and References 406

Proxy Server 406

Key Considerations 406

The Proxy Settings are not Retrieved 406 Not Enough Space on the Disk 407

A OBTAINING SUPPORT FOR YOUR PRODUCT

Register Your Product to Gain Service Benefits 409 Purchase Value-Added Services 409 Troubleshoot Online 409 Access Software Downloads 410 Contact Us 410 Telephone Technical Support and Repair 410

B SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Operating System 413 Web Browser 413 Additional Software Required 413 Hardware 414

C REPORT EXAMPLES

Overview 415 Discovery Report 416

Discovery Report Example 416 Discovery Report Example Content 417 Misconfigurations and Optimizations Report 419

Spanning Tree Fast Start 419

XRN Fabric 419

Configure aggregated links using LACP 419 Web Cache Redirection 420 Misconfiguration and Optimization Reports 420

Limitations 428

Webcache Redirection and VLANs 428 Redirection on the Cache Port (49XX) 428 Webcache Software Releases 429 Restarting Webcache Traffic Server 429

D ADDING TRAP DECODES

E ADDING MAC ADDRESS VENDOR TRANSLATIONS

F INTEGRATING AN SSH CLIENT

INDEX

3COM END USER SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

This guide is intended for use by those responsible for installing, setting up and managing a network; consequently, it assumes a working knowledge of networks and network management systems.

If the Release Notes provided with this 3Com Network Supervisor User Guide contain details that differ from the information in this guide, follow the information in the release notes.

Most 3Com user guides are available in Adobe Acrobat Reader Portable Document Format (PDF) or HTML on the 3Com World Wide Web site:

http://www.3com.com/

20 ABOUT THIS GUIDE

Conventions Ta bl e 1 and Tab l e 2 list conventions that are used throughout this guide.

Tab le 1 Notice Icons

Icon Notice Type Description

Information note Information that describes important features or

instructions.

Caution Information that alerts you to potential loss of data or

potential damage to an application, system, or device.

Warning Information that alerts you to potential personal

injury.

Tab le 2 Text Conventions

Convention Description

Screen displays This typeface represents information as it appears on the

Syntax The word “syntax” means that you must

Commands The word “command” means that you must enter the

The words “enter” and “type”

Keyboard key names If you must press two or more keys simultaneously, the key

screen.

evaluate the syntax provided and then supply the appropriate values for the placeholders that appear in angle brackets. Example:

To change your password, use the following syntax:

system password <password>

In this example, you must supply a password for <password>.

command exactly as shown and then press Return or Enter. Commands appear in bold. Example:

To display port information, enter the following command:

bridge port detail

When you see the word “enter” in this guide, you must type something, and then press Return or Enter. Do not press Return or Enter when an instruction simply says “type.”

names are linked with a plus sign (+). Example:

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del

Tab le 2 Text Conventions (continued)

Convention Description

Words in italics Italics are used to:

■ Emphasize a point.

■ Denote a new term at the place where it is defined in the

text.

■ Identify menu names, menu commands, and software

button names. Examples: From the Help menu, select Contents. Click OK.

Feedback about this User Guide 21

Feedback about this User Guide

GETTING STARTED

Introduction This chapter contains introductory information about 3Com Network

Supervisor, how to install and activate the application and a brief summary of all its major features.

What is 3Com

Network Supervisor

3Com Network Supervisor is an easy-to-use application that allows you to manage and monitor your network. With 3Com Network Supervisor, you can:

■ Discover all devices on your network

■ View the network topology to show exactly how the network is

configured

■ Monitor all devices on the network, including 3Com NBX

and end stations

■ Be alerted wherever you are (for example by pager or SMS), if any

problems occur

■ Pin-point the source of network problems through a powerful

fault-correlation event engine

■ Automatically register all your 3Com devices for warranty in a single

operation

3Com Network Supervisor also provides:

■ Powerful reporting capability for network asset auditing and

identifying potential misconfigurations

For a list of supported devices, refer to the Supported Device PDF supplied with 3Com Network Supervisor.

telephones

24 CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED

Installation Double-click your downloaded 3com_network_supervisor_v5_0.exe file

to begin the installation process. Once the installation has started (as shown in Figure 1

Figure 1 InstallShield Wizard

), please follow the steps in the installation wizard.

Activation Once you have installed 3Com Network Supervisor, you will have a

60-day evaluation period within which to activate your software. When you launch 3Com Network Supervisor for the first time the Activate Now dialog will be displayed as shown in Figure 2

Figure 2 Activate Now Dialog

Getting Started 25

To activate your software:

1 Click Get Activation Key. 3Com Network Supervisor will direct you to a

3Com activation website to retrieve your activation key.

2 Once you have your activation key, enter it into the Activation Key text

box and click OK to complete the activation process.

If you are upgrading to Network Supervisor v5.1 from an activated copy of Network Supervisor v5.0, you will not need to reactivate Network Supervisor following the upgrade. Network Supervisor v5.1 will retain the activated status from your existing installation.

However, if you are upgrading from an earlier version of Network Supervisor, you will have to reactivate Network Supervisor following the upgrade.

For more information, please refer to “

Product Activation” on page 33.

Getting Started This section details the operations you need to perform before you can

start using 3Com Network Supervisor with your 3Com devices.

26 CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED

When you first run 3Com Network Supervisor, a Welcome dialog is displayed which enables you to:

■ Create a new network map

■ Open an existing map

■ Open the last map you were using

Creating a New

Network Map

To create a new map, select Create a new network map and click OK to launch the Network Discovery wizard. Follow the steps in the wizard to initiate discovery of your network as follows:

Discovery Type Step

You can choose whether you want to:

■ Discover your local IP subnet

■ Discover all subnets connected to your default router

■ Discover one or more specific routers

Specify Subnets Step

If you have chosen to discover specific subnets, enter their details here.

Monitor Core Devices and Links Step

You can choose whether you want 3Com Network Supervisor to monitor the status of your network after it has been discovered. If you select No, you can enable monitoring at any time after discovery is complete.

Community Strings Step

You can enter any non-default SNMP community strings used by your network devices. 3Com Network Supervisor needs to read SNMP information from your network devices in order to successfully create your network map. 3Com Network Supervisor also needs to write to some devices in order to determine network topology accurately.

NBX Voice Network Step

Select Yes, if you have a 3Com NBX voice solution on your network.

Getting Started 27

NBX Call Processors Step

Enter the details for any NBX Call Processors on your network. 3Com Network Supervisor needs to read HTML information from your NBX Call Processors in order to accurately discover and represent telephony equipment on your network.

Summary Step

Use this step to check that all the options you have selected are correct.

Coexistence with

other Network

Management

Applications

For detailed help in stepping through the wizard, see “

The Network

Discovery Wizard” on page 75.

Click Finish to initiate your network discovery. For detailed help in understanding the steps that 3Com Network Supervisor goes through to discover your network see “ on page 87

The Network Discovery Progress Dialog Box”

The Network Discovery Summary dialog box is automatically displayed when the discovery process is complete. Click OK to view your network map or any of the four View Report... buttons for more information on the network discovery operation.

The Network Changes Report button is only displayed when it is applicable, so often there will only be three buttons visible.

Network Discovery Summary dialog box” on page 88 for more

See “ information on the reports that 3Com Network Supervisor generates on a network discovery.

Now that you have discovered your network, you can use 3Com Network Supervisor to monitor and manage your network devices.

You cannot install 3Com Network Supervisor on a PC which has 3Com Network Director or 3Com Network Administrator installed. If you already have either of these applications installed on your PC, please uninstall them before installing 3Com Network Supervisor, or install 3Com Network Supervisor on a different PC.

28 CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED

Upgrading from

earlier versions of

3Com Network

Supervisor

3Com Network Supervisor v5.1 can be installed over 3Com Network Supervisor v5.0, and all files will be upgraded for use with 3Com Network Supervisor v5.1.

3Com Network Supervisor v5.1 can be installed over earlier versions of 3Com Network Supervisor, and all files will be upgraded for use with 3Com Network Supervisor v5.1, but with the following restrictions:

■ All stress monitoring will initially be disabled

■ Any manually disabled stress monitors will be re-enabled

■ Any manually adjusted thresholds will be reset to default values

■ All alert attachments will be removed from devices and links (the alert

templates themselves will be preserved)

■ Information shown in the Properties dialog against a device or link

may be incomplete

■ Saved event logs from earlier versions of 3Com Network Supervisor

("<Mapname Events>.mdb" files) are not compatible with 3Com

Network Supervisor v5.0. 3Com Network Supervisor v5.0 uses a new

event log file format and file extension ("<Mapname> Events.edb").

When you load maps saved using earlier versions of 3Com Network

Supervisor into v5.0, the event log will initially be empty.

To avoid these problems, it is strongly recommended that you rediscover your network using 3Com Network Supervisor v5.1.

If you save an upgraded map from within 3Com Network Supervisor v5.1, you will be unable to subsequently load it back into an older version of 3Com Network Supervisor.

3Com Network Supervisor v5.1 can be used to upgrade from:

■ 3Com Network Supervisor v5.0 (any Service Pack level) - with no

restrictions

■ 3Com Network Supervisor v4.0 (any Service Pack level) - but with the

restrictions listed above

■ 3Com Network Supervisor v3.5 (any Service Pack level) - but with the

restrictions listed above

Older versions of 3Com Network Supervisor are not supported.

Main Features 29

After you upgrade to 3Com Network Supervisor v5.1, do not attempt to reinstall any Service Packs that you may have downloaded for your older version of 3Com Network Supervisor. 3Com Network Supervisor v5.1 includes all functionality and bugfixes present in Service Packs for older versions of 3Com Network Supervisor.

Advanced Package compatibility

3Com Network Supervisor v5.1 is not compatible with Advanced Package v1.0 or Advanced Package v2.0. If you upgrade from an installed Advanced Package to 3Com Network Supervisor v5.1, you will lose your Advanced Package features.

If you have Advanced Package v1.0 or v2.0, 3Com strongly recommends that you upgrade to 3Com Network Director, which offers all the features contained in your Advanced Package, and much more. A discount is available for registered owners of Advanced Package v2.0 who wish to upgrade to 3Com Network Director. For more information please visit

http://www.3Com.com/3ndupgrade.

Main Features This section outlines the main features in 3Com Network Supervisor, with

references to the relevant chapters where each feature is described in more detail.

Main Window The map and tree within the Main Window provide the main interface for

viewing and managing your network. You can choose to view your network in several different ways, show the current health of monitored devices and links within your network and act as a launching point for many of the tools available within 3Com Network Supervisor. The Main Window also contains the main menu, toolbar and status bar of 3Com Network Supervisor.

For more information, see “

Network Discovery The Network Discovery process allows 3Com Network Supervisor to

discover, topologise and map all devices in your network. Using the Network Discovery wizard, you can specify exactly which parts of your network you want to discover.

For more information, see “

Main Window” on page 39.

Discovering the Network” on page 57.

30 CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED

Network Monitoring 3Com Network Supervisor can actively or passively monitor your network

for abnormal conditions which may indicate problems and will alert you when a problem is detected.

You can also provide control over exactly how 3Com Network Supervisor monitors your network and over what conditions should cause an event to be logged.

For more information, see “

Monitoring the Network” on page 211.

The Event System The 3Com Network Supervisor Event System provides a constantly

updated log of activity on your network and can be used to view and take action on abnormal network conditions before they cause problems. The event system offers filtering tools to allow you to view only events of interest.

For more information, see “

The Event Log” on page 233.

Traffic Prioritization Many 3Com devices have traffic prioritization (or quality of service)

features. 3Com Network Supervisor provides the Prioritize Network Traffic Wizard to simplify the configuration of these devices. Using the wizard, you can choose to prioritize or block specific servers or traffic types. To provide an end-to-end quality of service, your configuration can be applied to all supported 3Com devices.

For more information, see “

Prioritizing Network Traffic” on page 327.

Reporting The Reporting facility enables you to retrieve stored information about

your 3Com devices. Many of the features in 3Com Network Supervisor have their own reports but there are other, general purpose reports which give you different views of your 3Com devices. You can also create your own reports using the Custom Report facility.

For more information, see “

Creating Reports” on page 289.

Live Update The Live Update feature keeps your copy of 3Com Network Supervisor

up-to-date with the latest device support and fixes. You can view and download updates specifically for your copy of 3Com Network Supervisor. In addition, 3Com Product News is also available from Live Update to keep you informed with what is happening at 3Com.

For more information, see “Live Update” on page 387.

Main Features 31

32 CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED

PRODUCT ACTIVATION

Introduction 3Com Network Supervisor uses an activation system which allows you to

use your copy of the software beyond the evaluation period. This chapter describes how to activate 3Com Network Supervisor.

Once you have installed 3Com Network Supervisor, you can use it for an evaluation period of up to 60 days without activating it. During this time, you have the opportunity to activate the product each time you launch it.

It is important that you activate 3Com Network Supervisor. This removes the evaluation period and allows you unrestricted access to the product. Activation also starts the product’s warranty period, entitling you to customer support for 3Com Network Supervisor for the duration of the warranty. You can also decide to receive important update information relating to both this and other associated products.

However, if you are upgrading from an earlier version of Network Supervisor, you will have to reactivate Network Supervisor following the upgrade.

This chapter covers the following topics:

■ Key Concepts

■ Components

■ Examples

■ Useful Information and References

■ Key Considerations

34 CHAPTER 2: PRODUCT ACTIVATION

Key Concepts 3Com Network Supervisor uses the following information in the

activation process:

■ The Serial Number — 3Com Network Supervisor automatically

generates this number when it is first installed.

■ The Product Number — the part number of your software, which

starts with ‘3C’.

The part number for 3Com Network Supervisor v5.1 is 3C15100E.

■ The Activation Key — the key returned from the 3Com registration

site. Type this key into the Activate Now dialog to complete the

activation process.

3Com Network Supervisor provides an Activate Now dialog which allows you to activate the product.

Components The following section describes how to activate 3Com Network

Supervisor.

About Dialog 3Com Network Supervisor’s About dialog is used to display general

information relating to the product, such as the name, product number, serial number and activation state.

You can launch the About dialog by selecting the menu option Help > About 3Com Network Supervisor.

Activate Now dialog The Activate Now dialog allows you to activate 3Com Network

Supervisor. The dialog can be launched by clicking Help > Activate Now from the top level menu.

When the evaluation period has expired, most menu options are disabled. However, you can still activate the product using the Help > Activate Now menu option.

The dialog already knows the product number and serial number so you do not need to type them in.

To obtain the activation key for this copy of 3Com Network Supervisor, click Get Activation Key. This launches your default web browser, which displays the 3Com registration web site.

Components 35

3Com Network Supervisor sends the serial number and product number for you. Follow the instructions on the web site to complete the product registration process.

Once registration is complete, the web site displays your activation key. You will also be sent a copy of this key via e-mail.

If you prefer, you can register your product manually at:

http://www.3com.com/register

However, 3Com recommends that you use the Activate Now dialog.

Enter the activation key you receive from the 3Com web site by typing or copying it in to the Activation Key text box and clicking OK in the Activate Now dialog as shown in Figure 3

Figure 3 Activate Now dialog

36 CHAPTER 2: PRODUCT ACTIVATION

Examples The following section provides an example of how you might use the

Activation process.

Activating 3Com Network Supervisor

You have installed 3Com Network Supervisor on your computer and you want to activate it.

1 Start 3Com Network Supervisor. The Activate Now dialog will appear,

showing the number of days remaining in the evaluation period.

2 Click Get Activation Key. Your default web browser is launched which

automatically directs you to the 3Com registration site.

If the wizard fails to launch your web browser, you can go directly to 3Com’s registration system by opening your preferred web browser and entering the following URL into the browser’s address bar:

http://www.3com.com/register

3 Follow the instructions on the registration site to complete the

registration of the product and obtain the activation key. 3Com will also send you a copy of your activation key via e-mail.

Useful Information and References

4 Enter the activation key in the Activation Key text box to activate the

product.

The following section provides useful information and references when activating 3Com Network Supervisor.

Where can I find the product number for 3Com Network Supervisor?

The product number for 3Com Network Supervisor is found on the product’s packaging and is also displayed in the About 3Com Network

Supervisor dialog. To launch the About dialog, select Help > About 3Com Network Supervisor from the menu on the main window. Refer to Finding

the Product Version on page 55 for more information.

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

The serial number for your copy of 3Com Network Supervisor is displayed in the About 3Com Network Supervisor dialog. Refer to F

inding the Serial

Number and Activation Key on page 56 for more information.

Key Considerations 37

Key Considerations The following section contains troubleshooting information when

activating 3Com Network Supervisor.

What if I lose my Activation Key after registration?

You can re-register your copy of 3Com Network Supervisor to obtain your activation key again. You will also receive an e-mail confirmation of your activation key.

When you are re-registering the product, it is very important to enter exactly the same user and product information during the original registration. This includes the username, product number and serial number. Entering different information may result in the registration begin rejected.

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

No - the product activation information is stored on your computer and will remain intact following de-installation and re-installation.

If I upgrade to Network Supervisor v5.1 from an earlier, activated version of Network Supervisor, do I need to activate it again?

If you upgrade from Network Supervisor v5.0, you will not need to activate Network Supervisor again - Network Supervisor v5.1 will retain the activated status from your existing v5.0 installation.

If you upgrade from Network Supervisor v4.0 or earlier, you will need to activate Network Supervisor v5.1.

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

If you experience difficulties logging in to the 3Com support web site, please check your web browser settings to ensure that cookies are enabled. You may also want to check with your system administrator that your site’s firewall settings permit web site cookies.

38 CHAPTER 2: PRODUCT ACTIVATION

MAIN WINDOW

Overview This chapter describes the 3Com Network Supervisor main window. The

main window provides access to all of the features in 3Com Network Supervisor.

This chapter covers the following topics:

■ Key Concepts

■ Components

■ Examples

40 CHAPTER 3: MAIN WINDOW

Key Concepts This section describes some 3Com Network Supervisor key concepts

relating to the main window.

Map Files 3Com Network Supervisor stores device and topology information in map

files. Map files have the file extension

Only one map file may be open at any one time. Opening a new map file will close the current map file.

Two other types of files are saved alongside map files. These files use the same name as the map file but have extensions. These files are used internally by 3Com Network Supervisor. Although the presence of these files is not required to successfully load a map file, previously logged event information will not be available if the former is not present and some user-defined options may not be set if the latter is not present.

.map.

Events.mdb

and

.properties

file

Components 41

Components The following section describes the features of the main window and

describes the operations you can perform from this window.

Map The map provides a graphical representation of the topology of your

network. The map is covered in more detail in “ on page 105

Tree The tree displays the devices within your network grouped by subnet and

device group. The tree, subnets and device groups are covered in more detail in “

Working with the Map” on page 105.

Toolbar The toolbar provides access to the most commonly used map navigation

and administration tools.

Some items in the toolbar are not always applicable. When this is the case, the toolbar button is grayed out.

Hovering the mouse cursor over a button in the toolbar causes a tooltip for that button to be displayed. The tooltip describes the operation associated with the button.

Working with the Map”

The operations provided by the toolbar buttons are equivalent to their corresponding menu items. For more information see “

page 42

Main Menu” on

Status Bar The status bar provides detailed information about items within the map

and tree, as well as providing a location for minimized progress dialog boxes, such as the Network Discovery Progress dialog box.

The status bar provides information on the current selection as follows:

■ For a selected map item the text displayed is:

Selected <map item type> “<map item label>”

For example, if you were to select a router that had the label test, the text displayed would be:

Selected Router “test”

■ For a selected link the text displayed is:

Selected Link from <map item type> ”<map item label>” to <map item type> ”<map item label>”

42 CHAPTER 3: MAIN WINDOW

Main Menu The following tables list each menu item for a given main menu and the

File Ta bl e 3 lists each menu item for the File menu and the associated

For example, if you were to select a link that connected a router with

the label test to a router with the label test2, the text displayed would

be:

Selected Link from Router ”test”to Router ”test2”

■ For multiple selections in the map or tree the text displayed is:

Selected Multiple Items

The status bar also provides detailed information about a menu item when it is highlighted.

associated operation invoked by selecting it.

operation invoked by selecting it.

Tab le 3 File Menu

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

File > New Ctrl+N Creates a new empty map file and

File > Open

File > Save

File > Save As Saves the current map file using a

File > Print Ctrl+P Prints the current contents of the

Ctrl+O

Ctrl+S

launches the Network Discovery wizard. Prompts for a save if the current map has changed. For more information see “Saving and Opening

Maps” on page 157.

Opens an existing map file. Prompts for a save if the current map has changed. See “Saving and Opening

Maps” on page 157 for more

information.

Saves the current map file. Prompts for a filename if the map has not been saved previously. See “Saving and

Opening Maps” on page 157 for

more information.

specified name. See “

Opening Maps” on page 157 for

more information.

map. See on on

page 160 for more information.

“Printing the Map”

Saving and

Components 43

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

File > Most Recently Used File List

File > Exit Exits 3Com Network Supervisor.

Opens the map selected from the Most Recently Used File List.

See “Saving and Opening Maps” on

page 157

Prompts for a save if the current map has changed. For more information see “

page 49

for more information.

File > Exit Menu Option” on

Edit Ta bl e 4 lists each menu item for the Edit menu and the associated

operation invoked by selecting it.

Tab le 4 Edit Menu

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

Edit > Add Map Item Launches the Add Map Item dialog

Edit > Add Link Links the two map items currently

Edit > Delete Ctrl+Delete Deletes the selected map item or link.

Edit > Grouping > Group Devices

Edit > Grouping > Move Devices to Group

Edit > Grouping > Ungroup Devices

Ctrl+G Groups the selected map items

Ctrl+M

box. This dialog box allows you to add new devices and clouds to the map. See “

Manually Modifying the Map Contents” on page 154 for more

information.

selected. See “

Map” on page 156 for more

information.

See “

Deleting Items from the Map”

on page 156

together into a single logical group. See “

Device Groups” on page 124 for

more information.

Moves the selected devices to an existing device group. See “

Groups” on page 124 for more

information.

Ungroups the selected device group. See “

Device Groups” on page 124 for

more information.

Linking Items in the

for more information.

Device

44 CHAPTER 3: MAIN WINDOW

View Ta bl e 5 lists each menu item for the View menu and the associated

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

Edit > Find Ctrl+F Launches the Find dialog box. This

dialog box allows you to find items in the map by various attributes, such as Name, IP or MAC address. See

“

Finding Items on Your Network”on

page 145

Edit > Select All Ctrl+A Selects all map items in the currently

viewed submap. See “

in the Map and Tree” on page 133 for

more information.

Edit > Select All Core Devices Selects all core infrastructure devices

in the map. See “

the Map and Tree” on page 133 for

more information.

for more information.

Selecting Items

Selecting Items in

operation invoked by selecting it.

Tab le 5 View Menu

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

View > Show Toolbar Toggles whether the toolbar is

displayed or not. For more information see “

Toolbar Menu Option” on page 50.

View > Show End Stations Toggles whether end stations are

displayed in the map or not. See

“

Devices” on page 112 for more

information.

View > Show Undiscovered Subnets

View > Annotate Aggregated Links

View > Annotate Duplex Mode

Toggles whether undiscovered subnets are displayed in the map or not. See “

page 122

Toggles whether the link annotations for aggregated links are displayed in the map or not. See “

Annotations” on page 117 for more

information.

Toggles whether the link annotations for link duplex modes are displayed in the map or not. See “Physical Link

Annotations” on page 117 for more

information.

for more information.

View > Show

Undiscovered Subnets” on

Physical Link

Components 45

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

View > Annotate Resilient Links

View > Group Map by Subnet Toggles whether devices in the map

View > Labels > Custom Name

View > Labels > User Name Selects the display of the User Name

View > Labels > DNS Name Selects the display of the DNS Name

View > Labels > System Name Selects the display of the System

View > Labels > IP Address Selects the display of the IP Address

View > Labels > MAC Address

View > Relayout Map Performs an automatic relayout of the

Toggles whether the link annotations for resilient links are displayed in the map or not. See “

Annotations” on page 117 for more

information.

are grouped by subnet or not. See

“

The Grouped Network View ” on page 110 Network View ” on page 112 for

more information.

Selects the display of the Custom Name label for map items in the tree and map. See “Map Item Labels and

Address Translation” on page 128 for

more information.

label for map items in the tree and map. See “

Address Translation” on page 128 for

more information.

label for map items in the tree and map. See “Map Item Labels and

Address Translation” on page 128 for

more information.

Name label for map items in the tree and map. See “Map Item Labels and

Address Translation” on page 128 for

more information.

label for map items in the tree and map. See “

Address Translation” on page 128 for

more information.

Selects the display of the MAC Address label for map items in the tree and map. See “Map Item Labels

and Address Translation” on page 128

map items in the currently viewed submap. See “Automatic Relayout of

Maps” on page 153 for more

information.

and “The Ungrouped

for more information.

Physical Link

Map Item Labels and

46 CHAPTER 3: MAIN WINDOW

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

View > Go Up Ctrl+Up Navigates to the parent submap of the

currently visible submap when you are viewing the devices in your network grouped by subnet. See “ on page 135

View > Enter Submap Ctrl+Down Navigates to the submap associated

with the currently selected subnet or device group. See “

page 135

View > Zoom > Zoom in Ctrl+Page

Down

View > Zoom > Zoom out Ctrl+Page UpZooms out from the map. See

View > Zoom > Fit to page Centers the map on the display and

Zooms in towards the map, centering the current selection in the display if applicable. See “

page 135

“

Navigation” on page 135 for more

information.

zooms in or out as necessary so that the entire map is visible in the display. See “ more information.

for more information.

Navigation” on

for more information.

Navigation” on page 135 for

Navigation”

Navigation” on

Device Ta bl e 6 lists each menu item for the Device menu and the associated

operation invoked by selecting it.

Tab le 6 Device Menu

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

Device > Web Management Launches the web interface for the

selected device. See

“Web

Management” on page 307 for

more information.

Device > Telnet Management Launches the Telnet management

interface for the selected device. See

“

Telnet Management”on page 308

for more information.

Device > Administration >

Network Jack Configuration

Device > Properties Launches the Properties dialog box for

Launches 3Com Network Jack Configuration Manager for the selected device. See “

Configuration Manager” on page 308

for more information.

the selected items. See “

Device Details” on page 177 for more

information.

Network Jack

Viewing

Components 47

Monitoring Ta bl e 7 lists each menu item for the Monitoring menu and the associated

operation invoked by selecting it.

Tab le 7 Monitoring Menu

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

Monitoring > Start Monitoring

Monitoring > Stop Monitoring

Monitoring > What’s Wrong Launches, or brings to the front, an

Monitoring > Live Graphs Launches the Live Graphs window for

Starts the monitoring of the selected items by 3Com Network Supervisor. See “Starting and Stopping

Monitoring” on page 225 for more

information.

Stops the monitoring of the selected items by 3Com Network Supervisor. See “

Starting and Stopping Monitoring” on page 225 for more

information.

instance of the Events window filtered to show unresolved events for the selected items only. See “

Unresolved Events for a Selection:” on page 240

the selected item. See “

Menu” on page 222 for more

information.

for more information.

Viewing

Live Graphs

48 CHAPTER 3: MAIN WINDOW

Alerts/Events Ta bl e 8 lists each menu item for the Alerts/Events menu and the

associated operation invoked by selecting it.

Tab le 8 Alerts/Events Menu

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

Alerts/Events > View Filtered Events

Alerts/Events > All Events Launches, or brings to the front, an

Alerts/Events > Configure Alerts for Selected Items

Launches, or brings to the front, an instance of the Events window, filtered to show events for the selected items only. See “

Components” on page 239 for more

information.

unfiltered instance of the Events window. See “Events List

Components” on page 239 for more

information.

Launches the Configure Alerts dialog box for the selected items. See

Events List

“Configure Alerts Dialog Box”

page 269 for more information.

Alerts/Events > Configure Global Alerts

Launches the Configure Global Alerts dialog box for the selected items. See

“Configure Global Alerts Dialog Box”

page 271 for more information.

Tools Ta bl e 9 lists each menu item for the Tools menu and the associated

operation invoked by selecting it.

Tab le 9 Tools Menu

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

Tools > Reports Launches the Reports dialog box. See

Tools > Network Discovery Launches the Network Discovery

Tools > Trace Path Ctrl+T Launches the Trace Path toolbar to

Reports Dialog Box” on page 293 for

“

more information.

wizard for the selected subnets. See

“The Network Discovery Wizard” on page 75

show the possible physical paths between the two selected devices, or launches the Trace Path wizard if two devices are not selected. See “

Path” on page 141 for more

information.

for more information.

Trace

Components 49

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

Tools > Prioritize Network Traffic

Tools > Live Update Launches the Live Update wizard. See

Tools > Device Warranty Ctrl+W Launches the Device Warranty wizard.

Tools > Options Launches the Options dialog box. See

Launches the Prioritize Network Traffic wizard for the selected devices. See

“

Prioritize Network Traffic Wizard” on

page 335

Live Update Setup Wizard” on

“ page 389

See “

page 313

“

Tools > Options Menu Option” on

page 50

for more information.

Device Warranty Wizard” on

for more information.

Help Ta bl e 10 lists each menu item for the Help menu and the associated

operation invoked by selecting it.

Table 10 Help Menu

Menu Item Hot Key Operation

Help > Contents and Index Launches the online help. For more

information see “

Index Menu Option” on page 54.

Help > Launch User Guide Launches the user guide. For more

information see

Help > Contents and

“Help > Launch

User Guide” on page 55

Help > Activate Now Launches the Activation dialog box.

Help > About 3Com Network Supervisor

For more information see “

Now dialog” on page 34.

Launches the About 3Com Network Supervisor dialog box. For more information see “

Network Supervisor Menu Option” on

Help > About 3Com

Activate

page 55.

File > Exit Menu

Option

This operation closes 3Com Network Supervisor. The following message will be displayed if there are outstanding changes to the map that need to be saved:

50 CHAPTER 3: MAIN WINDOW

Figure 4 Exit Before Save Dialog Box

View > Show Toolbar

Menu Option

> Options Menu

Tools

Option

This menu item toggles between a visible or hidden toolbar. If you find you do not use the toolbar, hiding it provides more space for the map and tree.

This menu item launches the Options dialog box, which is used to configure the default behavior of 3Com Network Supervisor. The Options dialog box consists of the following tabs:

■ General — default file locations and how the application should

behave.

■ Device Management — options for managing devices in your map.

■ Internet — how 3Com Network Supervisor should connect to the

Internet.

■ Alerts — options to launch alerts when events are resolved.

Any option set in the Options dialog box applies to all maps opened within 3Com Network Supervisor, not just the map that was open when the option was set. All options are automatically saved, and are retained for future use in 3Com Network Supervisor.

General

This tab, as shown in Figure 5

, displays the following:

■ Default File Location — change the default location where map files

are saved to a different location. Click Browse to choose the directory you want. If the path you enter does not exist, you are warned of this when you click OK.

The default directory is:

dir>\maps\my_maps

Saving and Opening Maps” on page 157 for more information.

See “

< 3Com Network Supervisor install

Figure 5 General Tab

Components 51

■ MAC Addresses — for any MAC address displayed, you can append

the manufacturer’s name to the start by enabling the Translate MACs option. For example, 08-00-8F-xx-xx-xx becomes 3Com-xx-xx-xx. This option is disabled by default. See “

Vendor Translation of MAC

Addresses” on page 130 for more information.

■ Show the Live Update Setup Wizard next time — this option is

enabled by default, See “

Live Update Setup Wizard” on page 389 for

more information.

■ Show the Device Warranty dialog box after a refresh operation

— this is enabled by default. See “

page 312

■ Auto-expand product information banner on toolbar - this is

for more information.

Device Warranty Dialog Box” on

enabled by default. Unchecking this option will prevent the product information banner on the toolbar from expanding when you hover the mouse over it.

52 CHAPTER 3: MAIN WINDOW

Device Management

This tab allows you to change the management application that is launched when a device is double clicked in the list as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6 Device Management Tab

Choose from Web Management, which is the default, Telne t Management or Administration Application. If a device does not support the preferred Web Management application, Teln et is launched instead.

For further information on the Device Management options see

Configuring Single Devices” on page 307.

“

Components 53

Internet

This tab, as shown in Figure 7

■ Use Web browser settings — this is the default option. If your web

, allows you to set the following options:

browser uses a proxy server to access the Internet, 3Com Network Supervisor will use the same system.

Figure 7 Internet Tab

■ Direct connection to the Internet — use this option if your

management station connects to the Internet directly through a Local Area Network, without using a proxy server.

■ Custom proxy settings — specify the address of the proxy server

followed by the proxy port number. If your proxy server requires authentication click the My proxy server requires authentication checkbox and enter the username and password.

Live Update” on page 387 for more information.

See “

54 CHAPTER 3: MAIN WINDOW

Alerts This tab, as shown in “Alerts Tab”, allows you to specify whether 3Com

Network Supervisor should launch alerts for resolved events.

Figure 8 Alerts Tab

Help > Contents and

Index Menu Option

For further information, see “

Launching Alerts When Events are

Resolved” on page 275

This launches the Contents and Index pages of the online help.

The 3Com Network Supervisor online help system is a browser-based help system, and uses the default browser for displaying help. If you do not have a default browser configured on your system then 3Com Network Supervisor will be unable to launch the online help system.

Examples 55

Help > Launch User

Guide

Help > About 3Com

Network Supervisor

Menu Option

Examples

Finding the Product

Version

This launches the 3Com Network Supervisor User Guide.

You must have a suitable PDF reader correctly installed on your PC in order to launch the user guide.

When you launch 3Com Network Supervisor for the first time, the About dialog box is displayed.

The dialog box shows the product name, product number, serial number and the major version number. Any service packs installed are also listed.

You have a query about an aspect of 3Com Network Supervisor functionality and want to contact 3Com support. The support engineer asks you for your 3Com Network Supervisor product version.

1 Launch the About dialog box using Help > About 3Com

Network

Supervisor:

Figure 9 About Dialog Box

2 The product version number and service pack level are listed in the first

line of the dialog box.

56 CHAPTER 3: MAIN WINDOW

Finding the Serial

Number and

Activation Key

You have a query about an aspect of 3Com Network Supervisor functionality and contact 3Com support. The support engineer asks you for your 3Com Network Supervisor serial number and activation key.

1 Launch the About dialog box using Help > About 3Com

Network

Supervisor:

2 The serial number is located on the second line of the dialog box.

3 The activation key is located on the third line of the dialog box.

If you have not yet entered the activation key then the About dialog box will not display them, but will instead show the remaining evaluation period.

DISCOVERING THE NETWORK

Overview This chapter describes how 3Com Network Supervisor discovers

information about your network.

Before you can use 3Com Network Supervisor to manage your network you must instruct it to perform a network discovery. This chapter explains the discovery process, and how to tailor it to work best on your network. It also describes any problems you may encounter with the discovery process and the steps you can take to overcome them.

This chapter covers the following topics:

■ Key Concepts

■ Components

■ Examples

■ Useful Information and References

■ Discovery Report Errors and Warnings

58 CHAPTER 4: DISCOVERING THE NETWORK

Key Concepts The discovery process can be initiated in a number of ways detailed later

in this chapter. This section explains the key concepts behind the discovery process itself.

The process is divided into two distinct operations – detecting the devices that exist on the network (discovering devices), and subsequently establishing how they are physically connected together (determining topology). Both of these operations are divided further into several stages. The main concepts associated with these operations and associated stages are outlined in this section as follows:

■ How 3Com Network Supervisor discovers devices on the network

■ How 3Com Network Supervisor determines the network topology

■ How 3Com Network Supervisor re-discovers information about a

network it already knows about

The Discovery Process

– Detecting Devices

This operation determines which devices exist on one or more IP subnets. It also finds out more about each discovered device, such as its type and capabilities. The operation is initiated with a list of subnets to discover. Within each subnet 3Com Network Supervisor attempts to locate devices across one or more specific IP ranges. You can control the ranges of devices to be detected within each subnet, but the default behavior is to attempt the full range for each subnet. Fine-tuning the discovery process, including specifying subnet ranges, is described later in this chapter.

The detecting devices part of the discovery process consists of a number of discrete stages:

P Ping

1 I

evice Capability Detection

2 D

3 SNMP Type Detection

4 IP to MAC Resolution

5 End Station Type Recognition

6 Web Type Recognition

7 DNS Name Resolution

BX Phone Detection

8 N

9 Device Sizing

Key Concepts 59

With the exception of the sizing stage (explained below), each of the stages runs sequentially, and the sequence is repeated for each subnet that is being discovered. The sizing stage runs once only, when all the other stages have been executed for all of the subnets being discovered.

The purpose of each stage is described below:

IP Ping

In order to detect which IP nodes exist, this stage performs an IP Ping over the specified ranges of addresses for the subnet. If no ranges are specified, a default range is deduced from the subnet address and subnet mask of the subnet being discovered. This range excludes the subnet address itself (lowest address value) and the subnet broadcast address (highest address value).

Device Capability Detection

This stage is applied to each device that responded to a ping in the previous stage. Its purpose is to determine if a device supports certain network protocols. Specifically, these are:

■ SNMP

■ HTTP

■ Tel ne t

The most detailed information is generally obtained from devices that support SNMP. For these devices 3Com Network Supervisor initially starts the communication using the read community string as originally specified in the Network Discovery wizard. Having successfully communicated using the read community string it then attempts communication using the write community string(s), again obtained from the Network Discovery wizard. While the write community string is not heavily used by the discovery process (except a small part of topology), it is used extensively by other features of 3Com Network Supervisor. Consequently, if the write community cannot be successfully determined, discovery will continue, but add a warning to the report provided at the end of discovery.

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3Com Network Supervisor detects HTTP and Telnet capabilities by attempting to open a TCP connection to the device using ports 80 and 23 respectively. The purpose of this detection is to decide whether to enable the Web and Telnet menu options on the right-click menu. For certain 3Com devices additional information can be obtained using HTTP – see

Web Type Recognition” and “NBX Phone Detection” on page 61

“

SNMP Type Detection

This stage only applies to devices that were found to support SNMP during the Device Capability Stage. 3Com Network Supervisor reads standard SNMP MIBs in order to determine additional information about each SNMP node, in particular the type of the device (based on MIB-II sysObjectID), its IP addresses and its MAC addresses. Where a device has multiple IP addresses that respond with the same information, e.g. list of MAC addresses, 3Com Network Supervisor ensures that it is represented as a single device on the map. Certain devices which have multiple IP addresses respond with different information. Initially they are detected as separate nodes, which 3Com Network Supervisor attempts to resolve in the sizing stage.

If a router is detected when discovering a given subnet, that router information will be made available to any subsequent subnets included as part of the whole discovery operation. This ensures that the router is not interrogated more than once for the same information by several stages.

IP to MAC Resolution

This stage is responsible for obtaining the MAC addresses of non-SNMP nodes. For the local subnet, i.e. the one to which the 3Com Network Supervisor PC is attached, this is achieved by reading the ARP cache of the 3Com Network Supervisor PC. For remote subnets this is achieved by querying any routers that have been discovered on these subnets. This stage is not normally required for determining the MAC addresses of SNMP nodes, since that can be achieved in the SNMP type detection stage.

It is important for 3Com Network Supervisor to determine the MAC addresses of nodes in order to be able to subsequently determine their position in the network topology.

End Station Type Recognition

This stage is responsible for attempting to determine the operating system type for devices that are IP-only or unrecognized (generic) SNMP.

Key Concepts 61

The end station stage attempts to determine an end station’s type by performing the following steps:

1 Attempting to start a Telnet session with the device and subsequently

parse the Login banner if the Telnet service is supported.

2 Determining if the node is operating as a file server. This is achieved by

attempting to connect to the device via TCP port 2049.

3 Determining if the node is operating as a print server. This is achieved by

attempting to connect to the device via TCP port 515.

4 Using Microsoft Windows API calls to obtain the Windows operating

system information, provided the node is a member of domain/workgroup.

Web Type Recognition

Certain 3Com devices have Web (HTTP) management interfaces but do not support SNMP. Some of these devices identify their type using a hidden tag in their home page. For devices that have been recognized as supporting HTTP but not supporting SNMP, 3Com Network Supervisor looks for this tag in order to recognize the device.

DNS Name Resolution

During this stage 3Com Network Supervisor attempts to retrieve a DNS name for each IP address that has been detected. 3Com Network Supervisor uses information from the Windows registry in order to establish potential DNS servers that exist. It then communicates with them directly making DNS queries using UDP.

NBX Phone Detection

This stage obtains detailed information about any Network Branch eXchange (NBX) devices that were discovered as part of the Web Type Recognition Stage.

The Network Discovery wizard allows you to specify the IP addresses of individual NBX call processors (NCPs) on the network, and a separate username/password for each.

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This stage is required because the NBX chassis and phones do not support SNMP. Many of the phones will not have IP addresses and consequently will not respond to a ping. The NBX chassis contains a non-visible Web page which 3Com Network Supervisor downloads using HTTP. The page provides 3Com Network Supervisor with a list of phones that are associated with that NBX chassis. This allows 3Com Network Supervisor to identify the existence of phones which would not normally be detected.

NBX phones can be configured to work with or without an IP address. Those with just a MAC address will be added to the 3Com Network Supervisor map in the same subnet as the NBX chassis, i.e. the subnet currently being discovered. Those phones that additionally have an IP address are only added to the map if the subnet they belong to is discovered as part of the current discovery operation.

Device Sizing

During this final discovery stage further details are obtained about individual SNMP devices that have been discovered. This is done for devices which 3Com Network Supervisor knows how to interrogate further, often using proprietary MIBs. Sizing basically means obtaining detailed configuration information. Normally this includes determining: the number of units in a stack or number of modules in a chassis, their type and software version, the number and type of ports on each unit or module and their link status, the VLANs configured on the device.

This stage is executed once only when all the other stages have been run on all of the desired subnets. The reason for this is that during the other discovery stages some IP addresses may have been discovered as separate devices, but it is desirable for 3Com Network Supervisor to display them as a single device on the map. Typically this applies to devices, with their own IP addresses, that can contain intelligent modules, also with their own IP addresses. In particular this applies to routing modules, since they tend to have IP addresses on subnets not known to the host device chassis or stack. By communicating with the chassis and its intelligent modules, 3Com Network Supervisor can deduce that they are physically part of the same chassis, and consequently merge them into a single device on the map.

Key Concepts 63

The Discovery Process

– Determining

Topology

The second part of the discovery process is to determine the topology of a network, by establishing what links exist between the different devices that have been discovered. The operation determines how the devices discovered by the previous detecting devices operation are physically connected together.

The topology process starts when all discovery operations have completed. The topology process is applied to one subnet (or more specifically multinet) at a time.

3Com Network Supervisor uses the term multinet to describe a situation where more than one subnet is attached to a single router port. This can result in devices on different subnets sharing the same switched infrastructure. Consequently, although devices may logically be on different subnets they may learn the MAC addresses of the devices on the other subnet(s) in their bridge tables. Switches learning the MAC addresses of other switches is an important concept in determining the network topology.

The topology algorithm uses Bridge Forwarding Database (FDB) tables to determine on which ports a switch has learned the MAC addresses of other switches in the network. It uses the information of switch ports that have learned the addresses of other switches in order to build a tree of network devices representing the physical connectivity. In reality, each subnet/multinet may not physically appear to be a tree, for instance if spanning tree is used to employ resilient paths. The algorithm used to deduce the topology takes such scenarios into consideration.

Before the tree-building process can take place 3Com Network Supervisor needs to obtain the list of learned addresses for each switch. In practice this involves more than just reading the FDB tables, as different device types have different port and unit numbering schemes. For efficiency purposes an initial attempt is made to determine the positions of most of the end stations. This is done by checking for ports that have only learned the address of a single device that is not a switch. Because the positions of many end stations are resolved here, the amount of information required to be read from the switches is reduced. A summary of the main topology stages is given below.

Unlike the discovery stages described in the previous section these stages are all represented on a single progress bar in the Network Discovery Progress dialog box.

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Sizing stage

This stage determines the units and ports that belong to each switch. It establishes which ports have a link present so that it knows which ports to consider during topology. Since the detecting devices operation has already sized each device, it does not need to communicate with the devices again.

Information obtained from the devices is also used to establish whether they are supported by 3Com Network Supervisor. For instance, it checks the agent version along with other parameters. Warnings are logged in the Discovery report. For non-3Com devices an attempt is made to use standard MIBs when considering them as part of the topology process. Since different devices use differing numbering schemes for units and ports and often use proprietary MIBs, the information displayed about the topology of third party devices will not be as detailed as that of 3Com ones, and sometimes may not be as accurate.

Spanning Tree stage

Having obtained a list of supported switches, determine those whose spanning tree links are blocked. This information is generally provided by standard bridge MIBs. This is an extension of the Device Sizing stage, but the information obtained is only required for topology.

this stage attempts to

The ports participating in such links are eliminated from the remainder of the topology process until the tree-building stage.

Remote Poll Stage (broadcast ARP)

The purpose of this stage is to attempt to force each switch to learn the addresses of other switches on the same subnet/multinet. It uses remote poll to instruct each switch to ping an unused address on the subnet, thus forcing it to transmit a broadcast ARP. This causes other switches on the subnet to learn the addresses of the source switch.

Remote Poll, sometimes called Remote Ping, is a mechanism, using SNMP,

to instruct a device to ping another IP address. This requires an SNMP set instruction to be sent to the device, which relies on 3Com Network Supervisor having correctly determined the SNMP write community string during the Device Capabilities Detection stage. If the write community string has not been correctly established or the device does not support the remote poll feature (e.g. third party devices) then the accuracy of the deduced topology may be reduced.

Key Concepts 65

Initial Endstation stage

During this stage an attempt is made to identify the ports that have only learned a single address. This is done by reading bridge address tables. The purpose of this stage is two-fold:

■ to eliminate the need for many end station addresses having to be

considered in the rest of the topology, which can reduce the amount of processing and network traffic generated in the remainder of the topology process;

■ to detect the existence of non-IP (MAC-only) nodes. If a port has a

functioning link and has learned exactly one MAC address then that address is assumed to be a single node attached to that port. If no IP address was found to map to this MAC address during the IP to MAC Resolution stage then 3Com Network Supervisor will assume that this MAC address belongs to a new node. Consequently 3Com Network Supervisor will show the MAC-only node on the map.

You may have deliberately instructed the discovery operation to only detect IP ranges relevant to your switches which are outside the ranges of your endstations. Consequently the depiction of MAC-only nodes may not be required.

Device Resolution Stage

During this stage 3Com Network Supervisor attempts to establish which switches have learned the addresses of other switches, and on which ports. Since some addresses have already been read from the bridge tables in the previous stage, 3Com Network Supervisor may not need to communicate with all switches during this stage.

At the end of this stage, 3Com Network Supervisor analyses whether it has enough information to determine the network topology.

Remote Poll Stage (directed pings)

If insufficient information was obtained from the Device Resolution stage, then an attempt is made to force devices to learn the addresses of others by instructing them to ping each other (remote poll).

As with the previous remote poll stage the write community string of the relevant switches is required. Also, as with the previous stage some devices may not support remote poll. If either the write community string is not known for a device or it does not support remote poll then the accuracy of the deduced topology may be reduced.

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Outstanding end station stage

Not all end stations will be resolved by the Initial Endstation stage. For instance, some ports may have multiple addresses in their bridge tables even though only a single device is attached (if, for example, older addresses not have aged out). Therefore a similar process to the Device Resolution stage is used to locate the switches that have learned the addresses of known end stations. As with the Device Resolution stage it may not be necessary to communicate with all switches since their address tables will have been cached from the previous stages.

Tree Building Stage

This does not require any device access. It is the point at which 3Com Network Supervisor analyzes all the information it has obtained from the previous stages. It builds a tree view of the subnet/multinet, placing end station devices appropriately. It also adds back in any blocked spanning tree links.

Clouds – Unknown Topology

When 3Com Network Supervisor builds the network tree, there may be certain parts where it is unable to exactly determine the network topology. In such cases you will see clouds on your map depicting the areas of uncertainty. Typically these tend to be ports that have seen the addresses of multiple devices, but those learned devices do not provide any further topology information about the network.

For example, there may be a case where a switch port is connected to an unmanaged hub, and that unmanaged hub is directly connected to two end stations (e.g. PCs). The port on the first switch will learn the addresses of the two end stations. It will not learn the address of the hub (because it does not have one) and 3Com Network Supervisor will not detect the existence of the unmanaged hub because it won’t respond to a ping. 3Com Network Supervisor depicts this scenario as follows:

Key Concepts 67

Figure 10 Clouds – Unknown Topology

The switch port cannot be physically connected to two end stations, and as such 3Com Network Supervisor inserts the cloud to indicate that there is something missing. In this case the cloud is where the unmanaged hub should be.

A similar situation can also occur when insufficient topology information has been obtained from one or more switches, possibly because 3Com Network Supervisor lost communication with that switch during the topology process. If the problem device were an edge switch that is actually connected to many end stations, 3Com Network Supervisor would show this as below:

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Figure 11 Edge Switch – Unknown Topology

You can identify which switch is the problem device here by checking if unit and port information has been successfully retrieved for each link to each switch. Hover the mouse over the end of the link nearest each switch to show tooltip information on the link. The switch with missing unit and port information is probably the cause of the problem. In the situation above, it is clear that the bottom switch is at fault.

If information was available, the problem switch would be positioned where the cloud is, and the cloud would not be shown. The above situation occurs because the switch to the left of the diagram has learned the addresses of all the end stations, and also the bottom switch. However, because 3Com Network Supervisor lost communication with the bottom switch, it also gets treated as if it were an end station (since topology information could not be read from it).

Key Concepts 69

If a problem was encountered when communicating with the switch you should see an error in the Discovery report produced by 3Com Network

Supervisor at the end of the discovery process. Always check the Discovery report first when your discovered network map appears to be

incorrect.

Sometimes clouds appear in the core of the network when a key, core device has not been discovered properly:

Figure 12 Clouds – Core Device Failed to be Fully Discovered

Hover the mouse over the links to each of the Switches. If one of them shows no unit or port details, it is likely that this switch should have been positioned where the cloud is. If all the switches give unit and port details, it is likely that there is another device that should be positioned where the cloud is, but that was not detected by 3Com Network Supervisor.

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Wireless Clients Clouds

Wireless client clouds are shown directly connected to a Wireless access point on your map. They are used to indicate the number of wireless clients connected to the access point.

The Discovery Process

– Rediscovery

When the first discovery operation is fully complete the information 3Com Network Supervisor has obtained will be displayed on the map. You can then instruct 3Com Network Supervisor to perform additional discoveries (rediscoveries). You may wish to do this because:

■ There are some additional subnets that you wish to see on your map

that either weren’t specified in the original discovery or didn’t exist on your network at the time you performed the initial discovery.

■ Some new devices have been added to your existing subnets or some

of the existing devices have changed configuration.

When you perform a rediscovery on existing subnets 3Com Network Supervisor will remember and reuse some of the options you specified on

the previous discovery, including additional community strings that you specified and the NCPs in your network.

When 3Com Network Supervisor performs a second or additional discovery it does not update your map as it progresses. It adds all the information it acquires to a temporary database. This means that you can continue to work with your current map until the new discovery completes, though certain tasks are restricted. Although 3Com Network Supervisor is populating the temporary database with the new information, it does obtain some parameters from the main, working database, for example any community strings that were successfully determined for devices that are subsequently being rediscovered.

Once 3Com Network Supervisor completes its additional discovery it then updates the main database (and subsequently the map) with the newly discovered information. It does this by comparing the information that exists in the main database with that in the new, temporary database. The basic rules it applies, when updating the main database, are as follows:

■ Any new subnets are simply added to the new database as they would

be on an initial discovery

■ Any new devices are simply added to the appropriate subnets (either

existing or new).

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■ Any devices that have changed (e.g. unit added/removed) are updated

– you can view their new details using the Properties dialog box.

■ Devices that exist in the main database but have been removed from

the network and/or simply did not respond in the second discovery will not be deleted from the database or the map. The exception to this is if a device’s IP address now belongs to another device. For example: device A initially has address x, device B has address y. On a subsequent discovery device A now has both addresses x and y. In this scenario device A’s information will be updated to reflect its new addresses and device B will be deleted.

■ Any new links (that is, connections between devices and/or device’s

ports) detected by the topology process will be added to the relevant devices on the map.

■ If a port previously had a link to a device and that port is subsequently

detected as being connected to a different device, the old link will be deleted and the new one created. A port can only be connected to one other node.

■ If a port previously had a link and the second discovery could not

successfully establish that the same port was connected (for example, 3Com Network Supervisor lost communication part way through) then that link will not be deleted. Instead it will be marked as unconfirmed and as a result will appear as a dashed line on the map.

Any changes detected as a result of additional discoveries are fully described in the Changes report, automatically generated by 3Com Network Supervisor at the end of a rediscovery operation. See “

The

Changes Report” on page 92.

Components The following section describes the features of the discovery tool and

how you can use them to tailor the discovery process to your needs. It includes the dialogs and wizards that you can use to control the discovery, and any appropriate reports that may be generated as a result of a discovery operation.

You cannot launch the Network Discovery wizard while an existing discovery operation is in progress. Instead, 3Com Network Supervisor will simply display the Progress dialog box for that discovery.

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Launching a

discovery

This section describes how your instruct 3Com Network Supervisor to start the discovery process. You can initiate network discovery from a number of places:

■ The Welcome dialog box

■ File > New menu option

■ Too ls > Network Discovery menu option with nothing selected

■ Too ls > Network Discovery menu option with a discovered subnet

selected

■ Too ls > Network Discovery menu option with an undiscovered subnet

selected

The Welcome dialog box

When 3Com Network Supervisor is opened it displays the Welcome dialog box:

Figure 13 Welcome Dialog Box

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If you have not yet registered 3Com Network Supervisor and it is still in the evaluation period, the first dialog box you see when launching the application is the About dialog box. Closing this takes you to the

Welcome dialog box.

When you select the Create a new network map option and click OK, the Network Discovery wizard is launched.

File > New

From the main menu, when you select the New option from the File menu the Network Discovery wizard is launched. This is identical to choosing Create a new network map from the Welcome dialog box.

Tools > Network Discovery with nothing selected

With no subnets selected in the tree or map, select Network Discovery from the tools menu. The Network Discovery wizard will be launched at the first pane Discovery Type.

Tools > Network Discovery with a discovered subnet selected

If you select one or more discovered subnets in the map or the tree and select Network Discovery from the tools menu, the Network Discovery wizard will be launched at the Specify Subnets pane. (See Specify Subnets

Pane on page 77.) The subnets you selected will be included in the list on

this pane:

Figure 14 Specify Subnets Pane

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The subnet mask and range information are also filled out. You can modify the range information by selecting the appropriate subnet in the list and clicking Edit. If you choose not to modify the range information then the discovery operation will include all ranges that have currently been added to that subnet. If you do modify the range then only the ranges you specify will be used in the discovery operation. However, old ranges will not be discarded, and you can still view them by launching the properties dialog box against the subnet.

You can also start a Network Discovery by right-clicking on a discovered subnet, and selecting Network Discovery. This has the same effect as selecting Network Discovery from the Tools menu.

Tools > Network Discovery with an undiscovered subnet selected

If you have already performed a discovery operation, and a router was detected during that discovery, then it is likely that you will have some undiscovered subnets on your map. These subnets will be those to which the router is directly attached and were not specified in the original discovery.

Figure 15 Undiscovered Subnet

If you select one or more of these subnets in the map or the tree and select Network Discovery from the To ol s menu, the Network Discovery wizard will be launched at the Specify Subnets pane. As with selecting an existing subnet, the subnet information will be included in the list. The range information will always default to All, although you can change this if you wish by selecting the desired subnet in the list and clicking the

Edit button.

As with selecting discovered subnets, if you select an undiscovered subnet in the tree or the map the right-click menu contains the Network

Discovery option. Selecting this has the same effect as selecting Network Discovery from the tools menu.

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You can also launch the Network Discovery wizard for an undiscovered subnet by double-clicking on its icon in the map or tree. This has the same effect as selecting Network Discovery from the tools menu.

The Network

Discovery Wizard

This step-by-step guide takes you through the Network Discovery wizard in order to customize the discovery process. When you complete the wizard the discovery process will be started.

If you have previously created a network map, you can use this wizard to rediscover all of your network, part of it, or discover a completely new part. The discovery process verifies the devices and links on the network map and incorporates any changes. To do this, you must open the map before starting the wizard.

Discovery Type Pane

This is the first pane of the wizard:

Figure 16 Discovery Type Pane

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It allows you to specify how the list of subnets to discover is determined:

■ Local subnet – Select this radio button and click Next to discover only

the subnet to which the 3Com Network Supervisor PC is attached. The discovery process queries the operating system to determine the subnet mask for the local subnet. The wizard moves onto the Monitor Core Devices and Links pane. (See M

Pane on page 82.) This means that you cannot specify IP ranges when

using this option. If you wish to specify ranges for the local subnet discovery you will need to use the Specify Subnets option and add the details of the local subnet to the list of subnets to discover.

■ LAN subnets connected to the default router or gateway - Select

this radio button and click Next to discover all devices on the local subnet (to which the 3Com Network Supervisor PC is attached) and any additional subnets that are one router hop away (but only via LAN connections). 3Com Network Supervisor establishes which subnets are one hop away by querying the default router. As with the Local Subnet option it is not possible to specify the IP address ranges for the subnets to be discovered.

■ Specify subnets – Select this radio button and click Next to specify

exactly which subnets you wish to discover and also limit the ranges of IP addresses to discover on each subnet. Use the Specify Subnets pane to enter the subnets you want to discover.

onitor Core Devices and Links

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Specify Subnets Pane

This pane is shown if you chose the Specify Subnets option on the first pane of the wizard.

Figure 17 Specify Subnets Pane

If you select one or more subnets in the tree or map view prior to launching the Network Discovery wizard then you will be immediately taken to this step, with the details of the subnets you selected added to the list box.

Once you are happy with the list of subnets you have configured in the list in the Specify Subnets pane of the wizard, and with the address ranges associated with each, click Next to move to the next step of the wizard.

Adding subnets to the list

To add a new subnet to the list you wish to discover, use the Add button. This will launch the Add Subnet dialog box below:

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Figure 18 Add Subnet Dialog Box

You must enter at least the IP address and subnet mask into the appropriate fields for the subnet you wish to specify.

You can use the dot ‘.’ key to move to the next segment of an address field.

If you wish to limit the ranges of addresses that 3Com Network Supervisor will detect for your specified subnet, you must first select the Discover custom ranges radio button and the ranges table and Add button will become enabled.

The Discover full range and Discover custom ranges radio buttons are only enabled if you have entered a valid Address and Mask pair.

The ranges table lists the ranges of IP addresses that 3Com Network Supervisor will detect for your specified subnet. To add a range to the list of ranges to detect, use the Add button. This will launch the Add Range dialog box below:

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Figure 19 Add Range Dialog Box

This allows you to enter the start and end IP addresses of the range to detect.

To discover a single IP address on a subnet, add a range with the same start and end IP address.

An existing range can be modified by selecting the range and clicking Edit. This will display the same dialog box as for adding subnets, described above, with the Start and End fields completed with the information you originally supplied. Modify the fields as necessary and select OK to update the range.

To remove ranges from being detected, select the ranges and click Delete.

Removing discovered ranges from the list, or modifying discovered ranges so that previously detected IP addresses will not be detected, does not remove them from the map, but simply removes them from the list of ranges to rediscover when the Network Discovery is started. The ranges will remain in the map but will be unchanged by the Network Discovery process. See “

Deleting Items from the Map” on page 156 for details of

how to remove devices permanently from the map.

Click OK to return to the Specify Subnets pane of the wizard. The subnet you have just specified has been added to the list box. Note that if you enter information that conflicts with a subnet already in the list, the dialog box will report an error and will not be dismissed. For example, the two subnets 1.2.3.0 / 255.255.255.0 and 1.2.3.192 / 255.255.255.192 cannot both exist – one is a superset of the other.

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Editing subnets in the list

You can modify the details of any of the subnets in the list by selecting the item and clicking Edit. This will display the same dialog box as for adding subnets, described above, with each of the fields completed with the information you originally supplied. Modify the fields as necessary and select OK to return to the wizard. 3Com Network Supervisor will not allow you to modify the subnet if it conflicts with another one in the list.

Removing subnets from the list

Select a subnet and click Remove to remove a subnet from the list.

Removing discovered subnets from the list does not remove them from the map, but simply removes them from the list of subnets to rediscover when the Network Discovery is started. The subnet will remain in the map but will be unchanged by the Network Discovery process. See

Deleting Items from the Map” on page 156 for details of how to

“

remove subnets permanently from the map.

Choosing from a list of known subnets

The Find Subnets button instructs 3Com Network Supervisor to attempt to locate the subnets immediately neighboring your local subnet. The located subnets are displayed in the Find Subnets pane.

Figure 20 Find Subnets List

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Select one or more subnets from the list, and click s to add them to the list of subnets to be rediscovered. You can then edit their range as normal.

3Com Network Supervisor communicates with the routers on your local subnet in order to populate the above dialog box. It uses SNMP to communicate with the routers and consequently requires their read community strings in order to query them. By default, it uses public. If that is not the correct read community for any of the routers, the query will fail and the following dialog box displays:

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Figure 21 Query Failure Dialog Box

If you want 3Com Network Supervisor to continue searching for subnets using the router highlighted in this dialog box, enter the correct read community for the router and select OK. Click Cancel to move onto the next router.

Monitor Core Devices and Links Pane

The next step of the wizard allows you to configure how core devices will be monitored for stress when the discovery process is complete.

The Monitor Core Devices and Links pane is displayed as follows:

Figure 22 Monitor Core Devices and Links Pane

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If you choose the Yes radio button then monitoring of the discovered devices will be started when discovery is complete. By selecting the No radio button no monitoring on the new devices will start at the end of discovery. However, you can subsequently enable monitoring on selected devices from the updated map.

Community Strings Pane

This step of the wizard allows you to specify the SNMP community strings to use for devices while attempting to discover them.

Figure 23 Community Strings Pane

Typically, for security reasons, you will modify the community strings on your SNMP devices from their factory default settings. In this case, you will need to specify the modified community strings in this pane, otherwise 3Com Network Supervisor will not be able to access them using SNMP.

3Com Network Supervisor attempts to use different community strings in the following order:

1 If a device already exists on your map, it will attempt to use the

community strings already stored against it in the database

2 It will then attempt to use the community strings you provide in this pane

of the wizard

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3 Finally, it will attempt the default community strings. The default read

community for all devices is public, and the default write community string depends upon the device type. If 3Com Network Supervisor successfully establishes the read community string then it will be able to deduce the type of device and consequently know what the default write community is for that device (assuming it is a 3Com device).

If you are discovering the subnet for the first time (that is, not a re-discovery), and you have changed the community strings on your devices from the factory defaults, then you will need to add the strings to the Read and Write list boxes. If you have assigned different community strings to some of your devices (for instance you may have assigned different strings to your routers and switches) then you should add all the entries to the list boxes.

If you are rediscovering an existing subnet and haven’t changed the community strings on the devices it contains then there should be no need to specify any additional community strings here.

NBX Voice Network Pane

This step of the wizard asks you to indicate whether you have a NBX voice system on your network, or specifically, on the subnets you are about to discover.

Figure 24 NBX Voice Network Pane

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By choosing Yes the next step of the wizard will ask you for username and password details. By specifying No this step of the wizard will be bypassed.

NBX Call Processors Pane

This step of the wizard will only be shown if you selected the Yes option button on the NBX Voice Network pane, indicating that you have an NBX voice system on your network.

The step asks you to provide the access passwords for your NBX Call Processor (NCP) devices. The NCP devices support Web management (HTTP) only – they do not support the SNMP protocol. When you access an NCP device with you Web browser you will be asked for a username and password. 3Com Network Supervisor uses the same username and password to obtain information from NCP devices. See “ on page 58

. It is likely that you will have modified the username and/or

Key Concepts”

password from the defaults. Therefore, you will need to specify the new values here. If you have not modified the username and password, then leave the default option Use factory defaults selected and click Next to move to the next step of the wizard.

■ If you only have one NCP on your subnet(s) or you have modified all

NCP devices to use the same username and password, specify the values by selecting the Custom option and entering the Username and Password into the fields on this pane.

■ If you have multiple NCP devices and have modified them to use

different usernames and passwords then you will need to add each one individually to the list of NCPs using the Add button. You need to provide the IP address of each one individually specified along with the Username and Password. You can still use the Custom settings to cover any NCPs which use common settings.

86 CHAPTER 4: DISCOVERING THE NETWORK

Figure 25 NBX Call Processors Pane

Summary Pane

This is the final pane of the wizard. It summarizes the options you selected throughout the course of the wizard.

Figure 26 Network Discovery Wizard - Summary Pane

Components 87

When you click Finish on this, or any other step of the wizard, 3Com Network Supervisor attempts to start the discovery process, using the options you have specified.

If there is a conflicting task currently running, the standard Tas k I n Progress dialog box will be displayed, giving you the option of:

■ Allowing the current task to run to completion.

■ Cancel the current task and start the discovery.

■ Discard the discovery request completely.

The Network

Discovery Progress

Dialog Box

The Network Discovery Progress dialog box is displayed while the discovery process is running. The process starts when you click Finish on the Network Discovery wizard.

Figure 27 Network Discovery Progress Dialog Box

Figure 28 Network Discovery Progress Dialog Box - Minimized

88 CHAPTER 4: DISCOVERING THE NETWORK

You can use the Stop button on the status bar to cancel the discovery operation, and the Restore button to restore the full Network Discovery Progress dialog box.

The Network Discovery Progress dialog box shows how complete each stage of the discovery is. The top two progress bars relate to the discovery process.

■ The upper of these shows progress through the various discovery

stages on the current subnet. See “

Devices” on page 58 for details of the stages involved in discovering

each subnet. This will reset each time the discovery process moves onto a new subnet.

■ The lower of these indicates progress on the current discovery stage.

This will reset each time the discovery process moves onto a new stage within the current subnet. After completing discovery of all specified subnets, this progress bar is used to indicate progress of the sizing stage.

The table in the center of the dialog box periodically displays the devices that have been detected. This is updated each time the discovery process establishes the exact type of a device it has discovered.

The Discovery Process – Detecting

When the sizing stage is complete the discovery process moves on to topology (discovering links). The bottom progress bar on the dialog box is used to show the progress of each multinet. See “

The Discovery Process –

Determining Topology” on page 63 for more information

Click the Cancel button to abort the discovery process.

Click the Minimize button to hide the dialog box and reduced progress information is then displayed on the status bar.

You can perform other operations on you map while discovery is running, although certain tasks are restricted.

Network Discovery Summary dialog box

The Network Discovery Summary dialog box is automatically displayed when the discovery process completes:

Components 89

Figure 29 Network Discovery Summary Dialog Box

The summary dialog box provides you with the following information:

Discovery problems: This shows the number of problem conditions, such as timeouts, that 3Com Network Supervisor encountered during the discovery process. It allows you to view the Discovery report, using the View Report button, to find out what the problems were. Note that this button will be disabled if no problems were encountered.

Network Misconfigurations: When the discovery process is complete 3Com Network Supervisor analyses the results in an attempt to establish if any part of your network has been misconfigured. This could be due to the way a device is set up or the way it is connected to another device. The number of misconfigurations detected is shown here. You can view the Misconfigurations and Optimizations report, using the View Report button, to find out what the problems are. Note that this button will be disabled if no misconfigurations were detected. Also note that this analysis is performed against the whole, updated map, not just the parts that were discovered in the recently completed discovery.

90 CHAPTER 4: DISCOVERING THE NETWORK

Network Optimizations: As part of the post-discovery analysis, 3Com Network Supervisor looks for any areas of your network that could be improved. The number of potential optimizations is shown here. You can view the Misconfigurations and Optimizations report, using the View Report button, to find out what the suggestions are. Note that this button will be disabled if there are no suggested optimizations. Also note that this analysis is performed against the whole, updated map, not just the parts that were discovered in the recently completed discovery.

Network Changes: This entry will only be displayed on the dialog box for a rediscovery of a non-empty map. It indicates the number of changes detected, such as new devices, compared to the contents of your existing map. You can view the Changes report, using the associated View Report button, to find out what the changes are. Note that this button will be disabled if no changes were detected.

If you choose not to view any of these reports at this point in time, you can view them later from the history tab of the Tools > Reports dialog box. The reports are saved with your current map. See “

Reports” on page 289 for further information.

Creating

When you close this dialog box, using the OK button, your map will be updated to reflect the changes detected by the discovery process.

The Discovery Report The Discovery report is produced at the end of a successful discovery, that

is, a discovery that was not cancelled. It lists any problems that the discovery process encountered while performing the discovery. Typically these relate to 3Com Network Supervisor not being able to retrieve all the information it requires to accurately depict your network. For example it may have lost communication with some of the devices during the discovery process.

The report is divided into two main sections:

Discovery

This section lists any problems encountered in the detecting devices part of the discovery process. There is a separate sub-section for each subnet that was discovered. Within each subnet section the report lists the problems encountered and the devices to which the problems apply. For instance, it may have failed to determine the write community string for a device.

Components 91

Topology

This section lists any problems encountered in the discovering links part of the discovery process. There is a separate sub-section for each multinet that it attempted to determine the topology of. Within each multinet section the report lists the problems encountered and the devices to which the problems apply. For instance, it may have lost communication with a device when reading the bridge FDB tables.

Each of the problems listed within the report has a severity level associated with it, either Warning or Error. For instance, failing to determine the write community string is considered a warning, since, although it is required for other areas of 3Com Network Supervisor it is not essential for discovery. However, a loss of communication is considered an error since it is likely to adversely affect how 3Com Network Supervisor depicts your network.

Discovery Report Errors and Warnings” on page 98 for a full list of

See “ the possible errors and warnings

The

Misconfigurations

and Optimizations

Report

When a discovery operation is complete, 3Com Network Supervisor analyses the results in order to establish if any devices have been misconfigured, or if any improvements could be made to the configuration of your network in order to improve its efficiency. Both the misconfigurations and improvements (optimizations) are included in the same report, but in separate sections. If there are no misconfigurations or if there are no optimizations then the entire corresponding section will be omitted from the report.

Note that the analysis is always performed on the whole of your map, not just the recent additions. You can force a new version of the report to be generated from the Tools > Reports dialog box, although generally there should be little need to do this since it should be the same as the one from the most recent discovery, unless you have manually changed the map.

Report Examples” on page 415 for a full list of the

See “ misconfigurations that may be detected, and possible suggested optimizations.

92 CHAPTER 4: DISCOVERING THE NETWORK

The Changes Report When a rediscovery is performed on a map that already contains some

devices, 3Com Network Supervisor compares the contents of the current map with the newly acquired information. Any differences it finds are used to populate the Changes report. Typical changes are, a device has changed configuration (e.g. a new unit has been added), or a device has been moved and as a result its link properties have changed.

The Changes report will not produce information on IP address changes to avoid large reports being generated on networks using DHCP. For a similar reason, the Changes report will not produce information on devices that appear between network discoveries as users log in and log out due to the Network Login support.

Also see “

Report Examples” on page 415 for a full list of the changes

that may be detected.

The Displayed Map After a discovery operation has completed and you have dismissed the

Network Discovery Summary dialog box, the map and tree views will be updated to reflect the new information.

Initial Map Creation

After the first discovery on a new map, 3Com Network Supervisor simply adds all the new devices to the map as it feels appropriate. The map is initially shown at the top-level map of the Grouped Network View. This map shows all the subnets it has detected and any routers it discovered on those subnets. It also includes the additional subnets that were detected, when communicating with the routers, that weren’t part of the list of subnets to discover. These are shown as undiscovered subnets. 3Com Network Supervisor attempts to arrange (layout) the devices and subnets so that they do not overlap. For information on using the map, and navigating between the subnets, see “

page 105

Working with the Map” on

Examples 93

Subsequent Map Updates

Whenever you perform a discovery on a map that already contains subnets and devices, 3Com Network Supervisor intelligently attempts to update the existing map. Any newly discovered devices and subnets will be added to the map, while any existing devices and links will be updated. See “

The Discovery Process – Rediscovery” on page 70 for the

rules on how device and link properties are updated. If you have modified the position of devices on the current map 3Com Network Supervisor preserves the layout of the changes you have made and attempts to position the new nodes relative to your changes. If you are not happy with the results you can manually move the nodes yourself or you can force 3Com Network Supervisor to perform a clean layout of the view by selecting View > Relayout Map.

Examples This section provides examples of how you may use the Network

Discovery features of 3Com Network Supervisor to accurately discover the areas of your network you are interested in.

I have four separate

subnets - how do I

specify them?

While 3Com Network Supervisor is capable of automatically discovering your local subnet and its immediate neighbors, you may only want to discover selected subnets. In the following example, you want to specify four subnets. To do this:

1 Launch the Network Discovery wizard (e.g. by selecting Tools > Network

Discovery).

2 On the first pane of the wizard, select the Specify Subnets radio button

and click Next

3 On the Specify Subnets pane of the wizard, add the subnets you wish to

discover

■ If the subnets are all within one router hop of your work station you

can use the Find Subnets button to save having to enter all the information, go to step 8, below.

■ If the subnets are not all within one router hop, you should continue

from 4, below.

4 Click the Add button to launch the Add Subnets dialog box

5 Enter the information for your first subnet (you must enter at least the

network address and subnet mask of the subnet).

94 CHAPTER 4: DISCOVERING THE NETWORK

6 Click OK on the Add Subnets pane to return to the wizard. Your subnet

should now appear in the list on the wizard.

7 Repeat 4 to 6 above for your remaining three subnets

8 You can now click Finish on the wizard if you do not wish to change any

of the remaining defaults. Alternatively, continue through the wizard using the Next button.

Once you click Finish on the wizard, 3Com Network Supervisor will start discovering your subnets.

I am using different

SNMP community

strings for different

devices on my

network - how do I

specify this?

3Com recommends that you change the community strings on your network devices from the factory defaults. You may want to leave the read community strings as public for your switches but may wish to change them to something more secure for your routers.

To specify a community string for a network device for use during discovery, do the following:

1 Launch the Network Discovery wizard (e.g. by selecting Tools > Network

Discovery).

2 Navigate through the wizard until you reach the Community Strings pane

Figure 30 Community Strings Pane

3 Select the Yes option. The Add… buttons will now be enabled.

Useful Information and References

Useful Information and References 95

4 Use the Add button below the Read list box to enter the read community

string of your routers.

5 Use the Add button below the Write list box to enter the write

community string of your routers, and additionally the write community string of your switches.

6 Click Finish if you do not wish to change any of the remaining defaults.

Alternatively, continue through the wizard using the Next button.

Once you click Finish, 3Com Network Supervisor will discover the devices on your network, using any default community strings, and also attempting to use the ones you specified in the wizard.

Why the discovered

map may not exactly

reflect the network

This section covers the common problems encountered with Network Discovery.

Some devices haven't appeared

3Com Network Supervisor attempts to detect which devices exist by pinging them with an ICMP ping message. A device may not respond in time if it or the network is very busy, or potentially may not receive, or be able to respond to, the ICMP ping message if it is placed beyond a firewall. If a device fails to respond to a ping then 3Com Network Supervisor will not add it in to the map as an IP device (although it may still be added as a MAC-only device).

If a device responds to a ping, 3Com Network Supervisor then attempts to determine if it supports other protocols, in particular SNMP. See

Device Capability Detection ” on page 59. If the device supports SNMP,

“

it reads the IP address table to establish if the device has any additional IP addresses. If any of those addresses conflict with the addresses of another device then one of the two nodes may be discarded.

It is possible to inadvertently assign duplicate IP addresses to some devices. Certain 3Com devices provide resilient management by allowing you to assign an IP address to each of the units in a stack. If you reconfigure your network and move a unit from one stack to another, if the unit has been assigned an IP address, then that address will move with it. If you do not want the address to move you should delete the IP address from the unit when you transfer it.

96 CHAPTER 4: DISCOVERING THE NETWORK

Some devices are the wrong type

SNMP-capable devices can appear as generic IP icons on the map if the wrong read community string was specified for the device or if SNMP requests to the device timed-out.

If a device appears as a generic SNMP icon it usually means that 3Com Network Supervisor does not recognize the sysObjectID returned by the device. 3Com Network Supervisor only recognizes a limited number of third party sysObjectIDs.

All 3Com devices should be recognized by 3Com Network Supervisor. However, for new devices that have been released after the version of 3Com Network Supervisor you are using, the devices may be shown as Generic SNMP or 3Com Device. In this case you should check the 3Com web site for 3Com Network Supervisor service packs that support these newer devices.

There are clouds in my map

If 3Com Network Supervisor cannot deduce exactly how devices are connected together it sometimes creates clouds during topology process. This is quite common with third party devices, particularly hubs. Wireless links are also depicted using clouds. See “ further information.

Clouds” on page 120 for

Support for 3Com

devices

For a detailed list of FAQs about the discovery process refer to the Advanced Help that is supplied with 3Com Network Supervisor. You can view this by launching any previously generated Discovery report and following the hyperlink Discovery and Topology Frequently Asked Questions in the first line of the report. To view a previously generated discovery report select Tools > Reports from the main menu, and click on the History tab of the Reports dialog.

3Com Network Supervisor has support for all 3Com devices. The most recent 3Com devices may not be fully recognized, but support should be available in the latest 3Com Network Supervisor service pack, available from the 3Com Web site. For many non-SNMP 3Com devices (i.e. Web-managed), 3Com Network Supervisor will only retrieve a limited amount of information from them, typically just their type. However, most web-managed devices are not switches or routers, so this limited recognition should not significantly affect 3Com Network Supervisor's topology map of your network.

3com 3C15100E User Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

3Com® Network Supervisor v5.1 User Guide

CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

Conventions Ta bl e 1 and Tab l e 2 list conventions that are used throughout this guide.

Feedback about this User Guide

Related Documentation

GETTING STARTED

Introduction This chapter contains introductory information about 3Com Network

Installation Double-click your downloaded 3com_network_supervisor_v5_0.exe file

Activation Once you have installed 3Com Network Supervisor, you will have a

Getting Started 25

Main Features 29

Main Window The map and tree within the Main Window provide the main interface for

Network Discovery The Network Discovery process allows 3Com Network Supervisor to

Network Monitoring 3Com Network Supervisor can actively or passively monitor your network

The Event System The 3Com Network Supervisor Event System provides a constantly

Traffic Prioritization Many 3Com devices have traffic prioritization (or quality of service)

Reporting The Reporting facility enables you to retrieve stored information about

Live Update The Live Update feature keeps your copy of 3Com Network Supervisor

PRODUCT ACTIVATION

Introduction 3Com Network Supervisor uses an activation system which allows you to

Key Concepts 3Com Network Supervisor uses the following information in the

Components The following section describes how to activate 3Com Network

About Dialog 3Com Network Supervisor’s About dialog is used to display general

Activate Now dialog The Activate Now dialog allows you to activate 3Com Network

Examples The following section provides an example of how you might use the

Useful Information and References

Key Considerations 37

MAIN WINDOW

Overview This chapter describes the 3Com Network Supervisor main window. The

Key Concepts This section describes some 3Com Network Supervisor key concepts

Map Files 3Com Network Supervisor stores device and topology information in map

Components 41

Tree The tree displays the devices within your network grouped by subnet and

Toolbar The toolbar provides access to the most commonly used map navigation

Status Bar The status bar provides detailed information about items within the map

Main Menu The following tables list each menu item for a given main menu and the

File Ta bl e 3 lists each menu item for the File menu and the associated

Edit Ta bl e 4 lists each menu item for the Edit menu and the associated

View Ta bl e 5 lists each menu item for the View menu and the associated

Device > Administration >

Monitoring Ta bl e 7 lists each menu item for the Monitoring menu and the associated

Alerts/Events Ta bl e 8 lists each menu item for the Alerts/Events menu and the

Tools Ta bl e 9 lists each menu item for the Tools menu and the associated

Help Ta bl e 10 lists each menu item for the Help menu and the associated

Alerts This tab, as shown in “Alerts Tab”, allows you to specify whether 3Com

Examples

DISCOVERING THE NETWORK

Overview This chapter describes how 3Com Network Supervisor discovers

Key Concepts The discovery process can be initiated in a number of ways detailed later

Components 71

The Discovery Report The Discovery report is produced at the end of a successful discovery, that

The Changes Report When a rediscovery is performed on a map that already contains some

The Displayed Map After a discovery operation has completed and you have dismissed the

Examples 93

Useful Information and References