The following document provides the best practices when using Inventory Solution for Network Devices and Network Discovery.

Introduction

The following items were written for the following version of Network Discovery and Inventory Solution for Network Devices:

• Network Discovery 6.0.2120
• Inventory Solution for Network Devices 6.0.1198

This article provides the best way to configure and use the two Solutions, providing steps on how to properly install, configure, and operate the products on an ongoing process. This document may be updated at any time, and the information is provided as recommendations.

Disclaimer: This document contains no warranties, guarantees, and is provided "As Is". Information in this document can be changed without notice, and will be distributed through the regular methods as detailed by Altiris Support.

Processes

The following items cover common processes that will be used throughout this document.

Reconfiguration of Inventory Solution for Network Devices
This process reruns all *.config .NET files for Inventory Solution for Network Devices, restoring database defaults and recompiling core data tables.

1. NOTE! - In the current version the custom data mappings configured are removed when the Solution is reconfigured!
2. Open the Altiris Logviewer (found at Start, Programs, Altiris, Diagnostics) in order to watch the progress of the configuration.
3. Open a command prompt by clicking Start, Run, and type in "cmd" and click OK.
4. Type the path:
   cd "C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\Bin\"
   NOTE: This path should include the correct drive letter for the NS Install Path. Also if the install path was not default, the path should account for the correct install path.
5. Type and execute the following command:
   aexconfig /configure "C:\Program Files\Altiris\NetworkInventory\Config\NetworkInventory.config"
   

   Click to view.

6. Watch the log viewer in case of errors as the configuration runs.
7. When complete, the services should automatically restart.

Re-Importing Data from a Previous Network Discovery
During a Network Discovery, if Inventory Solution is installed a *.top file will be created.

Before running through this process, NOTE the following:

• Inventory Solution for Network Devices must be installed to use this process. Without it, the topology file will not be created.
• Deployment Solution for Network Devices can replace Inventory to provide access to the Topology items.

To Import data previously captured from a Network Discovery, run through these steps:

1. Browse to the directory: \Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\Discovery
   
   NOTE: If the directory does not exist, Inventory or DS was not installed with using Network Discovery. Also note that the above path may be different as it follows the Notificatoin Server install path.
2. The files contained here will be *.top files. The name of the file derives from the name of the Scan Group used to capture the Network data. Default Scan Group.top is the default file if the name of the default policy is used for Discovery.
3. These files contain the full Network Discovery data captured during the policy scan.
4. Once the filename is noted, Open the Registry by clicking Start, Run, typing regedit, and clicking OK.
5. Browse down to and click the key: HKLM | Software | Altiris | eXpress | Notification Server.
6. In the right-hand pane, Right-click and choose New > String Value.
7. Name the value NetworkDiscoveryFile.
8. The value should be the path and filename of the *.top file ie: C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\Discovery\Default Scan Group.top
   NOTE: Do not use "quotes" in the above value.
   

   Click to view.

9. Once complete, browse in the Altiris Console to any of the Scan Group policies configured and click Discover Now in the upper right of the right-side pane. The configuration of this policy does not matter as the existence of the above Registry key and value will bypass the policy details and simply pull the data from the indicated *.top file. Once the data is captured, the regular process for inserting it into the database remains the same.
10. The process will take very little time compared to the original scan.

Network Discovery Configuration

The following process will walk through the steps of how to properly setup Network Discovery.

Adding MIBs to Network Discovery/Inventory
Obtaining updated or adding additional MIBs for Network Discovery is the hard part. We provide many MIBs by default, but not all our MIBs are the latest, and not all manufacturers or available MIBs are included. Obtaining the MIBs desired is a process of checking with the manufacturers of your network devices. Web sites exist that carry many of the newest MIBs. Altiris cannot assist in this process. Once obtained, the following methods can be used to add or update MIBs into the Altiris MIB infrastructure.

Depending on how many MIBs you want to add, the following methods can be used.

Single MIB Import
If only adding one or two MIBs, use the Import MIB feature found under Tasks, Assets and Inventory, Network Devices, Inventory Data Mapping. In the right Pane click the Button 'Import MIB...' and follow the onscreen prompts.

Many MIB Import
If adding a larger number of MIBs, the best method will allow you to populate the MIB directory structure and rerun the Solution's configuration. This will build the MIB selector with all MIBs included in the directory structure. This method can also be used to update MIBs that come default in the Solution with newer versions.

1. Browse to \Program Files\Altiris\Network Inventory\Mibs\Vendor\
2. If the manufacturers of the MIBs you are updating or adding already exists as a folder, copy the MIBs into the respective folders.
3. If the manufacturers of the MIBs does not exist as a folder, create folders with the appropriate manufacturer name.
4. Copy all MIBs into the directory named after the manufacturer of the MIBs.
5. In cases of updating, overwrite the existing MIB with the newer version. It is advised to rename the old MIB to *.old in case you have to revert to the older version before copying in the newer version.
6. Once all MIBs are in place, the configuration needs to be rerun for Inventory Solution for Network Devices. Please see Page 4 under 'Reconfiguration of Inventory Solution for Network Devices'.

Network Discovery Settings
Under the Network Discovery Settings node under Configuration, Solution Settings, Network Discovery in the Altiris Console., you can have the Discovery automatically Enable and create the "Managed" Resources. At this location choose those resource types you want this to occur automatically for.
NOTE: Resource Creation is required to use Inventory Solution for Network Devices or Deployment Solution for Network Devices. Also note that you can also Enable devices after discovery, to be covered later.

The Settings are as shown here:

Click to view.

Initial Network Discovery

Once you've added the MIBs for devices you know are on your network, no additional configuration items need to be done at this point. Browse to the Default Scan Group policy in the Altiris Console by clicking on the Configuration tab, browsing under Solution Settings, Network Discovery, Scan Groups. Please note the following when setting this policy up to run a Network Discovery:

• Under the Method tab, input the IP Address of a Seed Device (Router, Switch) that has access to the rest of the Network. Generally this device will query other switch/routers for additional device details.
• You can also use an IP Address range.
• More than one policy can be created for different segments on the Network.
• Usually the default settings for scan properties will suffice.
• Under the SNMP/ICMP tab, please include all applicable Community Strings for your network devices. Without the proper strings, Inventory cannot later be collected from devices that do not respond to the provided Strings.
• To watch the progress of the discovery, click on the node under Configuration, to Solution Settings, Network Discovery, and select Discovered Devices. A progress bar will show the progress. There are 4 phases.

Device Classification
Once you've Discovered all devices on your network, the next step is to review the data and pinpoint what devices have not been correctly Classified.

Setting up Classifications for Unknown Devices
Use the following method to pinpoint unknown classified devices.

1. In the Altiris Console, browse under Configuration, to Solution Settings, Network Discovery, and select Discovered Devices. Make sure all devices are returned by looking at the setting Rows per Page and selecting All.
2. Click on the column Class to sort by Classification type. Devices that show Unknown do not have a Classification setup for them.
   
   *NOTE: Once you've classified an OID, it is unnecessary to classify other devices with that same OID or within the same OID class.
3. Select a device from the list which has Unknown in the Class column.
4. In the lower-left click the button Classify.
   
   NOTE: You cannot classify a device that did not return an OID, found in the column SysObjectID
   

   Click to view.

5. The SysObject ID will already be populated with the specific OID of the selected device. This can be altered to include additional devices by choosing an OID up the tree from this device.
   
   NOTE: This should be done carefully as it may cause devices to be misclassified. Duplicate OIDs will cause problems with classifications and should be avoided.
6. Choose the appropriate Category. If a Category doesn't exist for the device type (ie: IP Phones) choose Other and type in the Category you wish to add.
7. Under Class you can type in what the device is. Note that Category should be a broader device type category, and Class a more specific device.
8. Click Apply when done.
9. IMPORTANT! The following steps only need to be completed if the hotfix section has not been completed.
10. You should add all possible Classifications at the same time as this process requires a reconfiguration of the Solution.
11. Once all Classifications have been added/configured, the configuration needs to be rerun for Inventory Solution for Network Devices. Please see Page 4 under 'Reconfiguration of Inventory Solution for Network Devices'.

Repeat Network Discovery
As a best practice, a Discovery can be run again to properly classify those devices that match the classifications you configured in the above process. You can do this with two methods:

• Run the same Network Discovery Scan Group policies you ran originally to populate your discovery data.
• Use the *.top files generated from your previous scans to repopulate the database. The Classification segment will happen as the data is placed into the database. See the section Re-Importing Data from a Previous Network Discovery previous.

Enabling Network Devices
Enabling Network Devices creates Notification Server "Managed" Resources. Non-managed resources will only show up in the Discovered Devices utility, and cannot have Inventory collected on them. Two methods exist to create "Managed" Resources. Not all discovered devices can be enabled.

Managed Resource Criteria
The Primary key can be one of two items captured by the Discovery.

1. NetBios Information: Name.Domain (Note: It must be both halves: the name and domain)
2. MAC Address

If the discovered device doesn't provide the above information, the resource cannot be created into a "Managed" device. NetBios will be used as the primary key if present; otherwise the MAC Address will be used.

The following items are also used when creating the resource to avoid potential Resource Device duplication:

• IP Address
• Hostname

Resource Creation Methods
The methods to create "Managed" devices are as follows:

• Use the Enable button on the Discovered Devices utility found under Configuration, Solution Settings, Network Discovery in the Altiris Console.

Under the Network Discovery Settings node under the same location as above, you can have the Discovery automatically Enable and create the "Managed" Resources.

• Note that after Clicking the Enable button the Notification Server will attempt to create a Managed Resource out of the selected devices. Devices that are selected but cannot be enabled will throw an error indicating it could not be enabled. See the Managed Resource Criteria above for details.

The left-most column will show an '*' for Enabled Devices.

Network Inventory Configuration

The following process should not be conducted until Network Discovery has been properly configured and run. This process details how to configure Inventory Solution for Network Devices to capture details on your network.

MIB Configuration
This process can be the most exhausting. Note that desired MIBs should already have been imported using the method detailed previously. If you have to add MIBs later it can be done and Inventory will use the MIBs correctly, but Discovery will not use it.

Determining OID Usage
The following steps can be used to create additional tables to hold data on SNMP calls you configure.

1. The first thing to always do before creating a table is to check to see if the OID you wish to map is already mapped in another table. The following query will accomplish this:
   

   SELECT * FROM SNMPTableMap
   WHERE Oid = '<The OID number>'
   
   

2. Example:
   

   SELECT * FROM SNMPTableMap
   WHERE Oid = '1.3.6.1.4.1.1991.1.3.27.2'
   
   

3. If the above query returns data, you can use the following process to determine where that OID is already being called from.
4. Using the above results, take an OID to discover the GUIDs of the tables the OID resides in:
   

   SELECT DataClassGuid, Oid
        FROM SNMPTableMap
        WHERE Oid = '<OID taken from step 1 query>'
   
   

5. Take the GUIDs from the above query and use the following query to obtain the Table name:
   

   SELECT [Name], Guid
        FROM Dataclass
       WHERE Guid = '<Guid from step 2 query >'
   
   

6. Unlike previous versions of Inventory Solution for Network Devices you can place the same OID and thus the same data in multiple locations if you so desire.

Configuring a New Table
To add a new table, and thus configure the engine to capture additional SNMP information, use the following process.

1. Browse in the Altiris Console under the Tasks tab, under Assets and Inventory, Network Devices, and select Inventory Data Mapping.
2. Click the button New next to the Table: drop down at the top of the page.
3. Give the table a name (NOTE: For consistency purposes, it is recommended you use Inv_SNMP_ as the prefix to your tables). The name cannot be an existing table name in the Altiris database.
4. The MIF Class is only required if you will be forwarding the table to Microsoft's SMS.
5. Add a row by clicking the Add button under the column grid.
   
   

   Click to view.

6. Next, click on the Object ID field to open up the MIB mapping utility. This utility is how you generate a workable column for the new table.
7. From the top drop-down, select the MIB containing the OID and value details desired to be captured. The Object IDs contained in the MIB will be displayed in the window below the drop-down. Select the desired value.
   
   

   Click to view.

8. Note that applicable details are shown in the details display beneath, as shown:
   
   

   Click to view.

9. Important: Note the Type. This must be correctly input into the Data Type for the data-base column. Incorrectly setting this will cause the captured data to fail on database insert.
   
   

   Click to view.

10. Name should be short but descriptive for the value being captured. The Length should allow data of the type selected to be properly captured.

'Get Next' - Understanding the method
Inventory Solution for Network Devices uses the 'Get Next' call to obtain the value for a supplied OID. This is used to avoid issues with improper responses to a 'Get' request. However we use a 'Walk' method within the same SNMP branch to traverse for the next value. See the below Examples for clarification.

Example 1 - Next value in the same branch
This example shows the next value that we will return should the supplied OID not provide a response:

1.3.6.1.2.1.4.21.1.8 = No Response > 1.3.6.1.2.1.4.21.1.9 = No Response > 1.3.6.1.2.1.4.21.1.10 = Value.

Example 2 - Next value not in the same branch
This example shows the next value that we will not return should the supplied OID not provide a response:

1.3.6.1.2.1.4.21.1.8 = No Response > 1.3.6.1.2.1.4.21.1.9 = No Response > …1.3.6.1.2.1.4.46.2.1 = Value.

SNMPutilg.exe - Testing against devices
For testing, use this Download available from Juice (snmputilg.exe).

Conclusion

This document will be updated as information becomes available. If this document does not address any issues you are troubleshooting, please search the Altiris Knowledgebase (kb.altiris.com). Contact Altiris Support if you cannot find a resolution to the issue you are experiencing. The information in this document will likely become obsolete as newer version of the Products are released. Please check the version information in the Introduction.