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After successfully starting the server and connecting client, comes the next step - adding devices to the inventory. As the name itself indicates, Inventory, in simple terms, deals with the listing of all the available devices. This listing is done by discovering all the devices present in your network.
Discovery of SNMP-enabled devices can be initiated through the 'Discover Devices' wizard in the web interface. The devices discovered through this process get added to the inventory. DeviceExpert provides the option of manually adding the devices to the inventory too. This section explains Device Discovery and Manual Addition of Devices. In addition, there is provision to import devices from a text file.
Next to inventory discovery, credential information has to be supplied to the added devices for establishing communication with the device and for authenticating access to the device. A common set of credential information can be shared among many devices in the network.
As stated above, devices can be added to the inventory in three ways:
Discovering the device using the 'Discover Devices' wizard
Manual Addition of devices - Add Device
Importing Devices from a text file
This section provides detailed information on how to add devices through the three ways stated above.
The SNMP-enabled devices available in the network can be discovered and added to the Inventory Database. The devices are listed in the inventory UI in the web interface. You can discover specific devices, devices present in a specific IP range and even multiple devices. To initiate discovery, you need provide some configuration details using the 'Discover Devices' Wizard present in the "Inventory" tab.
click "Discover Devices" action item present in the top-right corner of the "Inventory" tab
All SNMP-enabled devices are discovered. The discovery wizard provides the option for discovering the devices with specific IP addresses or devices falling under a specific IP range and multiple devices whose details are present in a file.
Based on your need for discovery, choose any one of the options available under "Discover Devices by":
Click the "Hostname/IP Address" radio button and enter a single IP address to discover the device. If you want to discover more than one device, provide the IPs or hostname(s)as comma separated values
Provide SNMP Settings,
Select the SNMP version - v1 or v2c
Enter the value for SNMP community - You can enter either a read community or write community. The default community displayed is "public" which is the default "read community" in most of the devices
SNMP port
snmp timeout value in milliseconds
Set retry count for discovery - that is, the number of times DeviceExpert has to repeatedly try to discover the device in case, the device is not getting discovered during the first attempt
To initiate discovery, click the button 'Discover'
The wizard will discover the desired device(s) and add them to the inventory
You will find the new device(s) in the inventory list
Click the "IP Address Range" radio button and enter the lower and upper IP range - For example: 192.168.1.30 to 192.168.1.35
Provide SNMP Settings,
Select the SNMP version - v1 or v2c
Enter the value for SNMP community - You can enter either a read community or write community. The default community displayed is "public" which is the default "read community" in most of the devices. If you want to discover multiple devices and each device having different community, you enter multiple values in comma separated form
SNMP port
snmp timeout value in milliseconds
Set retry count for discovery - that is, the number of times DeviceExpert has to repeatedly try to discover the device in case, the device is not getting discovered during the first attempt
To initiate discovery, click the button 'Discover'
The wizard will discover the desired devices and add them to the inventory
You will find the new devices in the inventory
list
You can even discover multiple devices by simply loading a file containing the device details. Entries in the file need to be in a specific format as detailed below.
You have the option to enter hostname or IP address or both of the devices to be discovered.
Each entry has to be entered in a separate line.
When you enter both hostname and IP address of a host, you need to separate the entries with a space or a tab.
For example, typical entries in the file
would be something like the ones below:
cisco805
catalyst2900 192.168.117.12
foundry2402
192.168.111.2 cisco1710
Click the radio button "Load Hostname/IP list from file" and provide the file name containing the devices list to be discovered
Provide SNMP Settings,
Select the SNMP version - v1 or v2c
Enter the value for SNMP community - You can enter either a read community or write community. The default community displayed is "public" which is the default "read community" in most of the devices. If you want to discover multiple devices and each device having different community, you enter multiple values in comma separated form
SNMP port
snmp timeout value in milliseconds
Set retry count for discovery - that is, the number of times DeviceExpert has to repeatedly try to discover the device in case, the device is not getting discovered during the first attempt
To initiate discovery, click the button 'Discover'
The wizard will discover the desired device(s) and add them to the inventory
You will find the new device(s) in the inventory list
After starting discovery of devices, you can track the status of discovery on real time basis. You can find the progress of discovery (that is percentage of completion) and finally the result - whether the device/devices was/were discovered successfully and added to the inventory. In case of failure of discovery process, the probable reason for the failure is also reported.
Apart from viewing the status of discovery of a particular attempt on real-time basis, you can even view historical information pertaining to all device discovery attempts made so far and their respective status / result.
Status of Current Discovery
Once you initiate discovery (that is once you click the button 'Discover'), the 'Discovery Details' page showing the status of current discovery opens up. This page provides the following details:
Hostname/IP/IP Range of the device being discovered
Date and time at which discovery was invoked
Status of Discovery - number of devices that were successfully added to the inventory
In the case of failure, the reason for the failure for each case
Discovery Status - Historical Information
You can view the status of all discovery attempts made since the previous cold start of the DeviceExpert server, along with the result of each attempt through the 'Discovery Status' page. This page provides a snapshot all discovery attempts. Upon clicking each item in the list, you can view the details about the status of that particular discovery attempt.
To view the historical information, click the link "Discovery Status" present in the 'Discover Devices' page.
You can add new devices through Manual Addition also. To add a device manually,
click "Add Device" action item present in the top-right corner of the "Inventory" tab
'Add Device' UI will pop-up
The device can be added through a three-step process:
Providing device details
Providing device specifications
Adding the device
To identify the device you wish to add, you need to provide the hostname and IP address of the device, its make (vendor) and type. In the UI, you need to fill-in the hostname and IP address in the text field. Device make and type can be chosen from the drop-down menu
After doing this, click the "Next" button
Note: When you complete this step and click 'Next' - DeviceExpert tries to establish connection with the IP. In case, the device is not up or if there is no such device with the name/IP specified, you will see the message "Could not establish connection with <IP address>. To proceed anyway, click 'Next'". If you wish, you may proceed further and add the device. Once the device is up, it will get added to the inventory. |
To classify the device, you need to choose the following details about the device:
Series
Model
OS Type
You also need to type the OS Version of the device in the text field against 'OS Version'. [OS version is mandatory]
Click the "Next" button
This step is just for verifying the details filled-in through the previous two steps
After verifying the details, click the "Add" button
Manual Device addition is complete
DeviceExpert provides the option to import devices from a text file and add them to the inventory. To import devices from a text file, DeviceExpert requires that the entries in the file conform to a specific format.
Ensure that the entries in the file are in the following format: (column names should be in the same order as shown in the format below with each name separated by a comma):
Format : <Hostname>,<IP Address>,<Device Type>,<Vendor>,<Series>,<Model>,<OS Type>,<OS Version>
Example: catalyst2900,192.168.111.10,CiscoSwitch,Cisco,2900,2924,IOS,12.0
cisco805,192.168.111.11,CiscoRouter,Cisco,800,805,IOS,12.2
cisco2501,192.168.111.12,CiscoRouter,Cisco,2500,2501,IOS,11.3
To import devices from a text file,
click "Import Devices" action item present in the top-right corner of the "Inventory" tab
'Import Devices' UI will pop-up
ensure that the text file conforms to the required format as explained above
click "browse" and locate the file
click "Import"
check the inventory and see if the device has been added
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