[TriLUG] OpenNMS and mapping

Wed Nov 17 12:24:44 EST 2004

Since your network is flat it is going to be rough task.  If there was a way
to figure out the devices traffic was going through to get from one campus to
another then you would be a little more successful.  You will probably have to
put sniffers at each location outside the wan connection to determine where
everything is, but that is still going to be rough.

Good Luck!

gregbrown at mindspring.com (gregbrown at mindspring.com) wrote:
>
>
> Yeah, we've got sniffers by the boat-load.  Literally.  At this time there are two
> networks operating side-by-side, the old DEC and Cabletron network with the 16 bit mask
> and the new Cisco-based "routed" network with the 24.  When we migrate a building we
> physically move connections from the old network to the new, sexy, 10-gig network.   So,
> eventually, all that will be left over on the old network are the gigaswitches,
> cabletron FDDI attached hubs and other edge devices.  So if I look at a map and nothing
> is "hanging off" any edge devices I'm in good shape and I can turn off the old backbone
> FDDI connection points.  Problem is when I do nmap scans of the "old" network I get way
> more IP addresses out there then the amount of core and edge network devices.  So there
> are things out there..  Somewhere.  I'm trying to group them by vendor ID of the MAC
> addresses to determine what is likely to be a user workstation or a network attached
> printer but that is tedious.  And it still doesn't tell  me where the devices are
> located (on which campus).
>
> Sniffers might work too, though.
>
> Greg
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shane O'Donnell <shaneo at nc.rr.com>
> Sent: Nov 17, 2004 2:06 PM
> To: 'Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list' <trilug at trilug.org>
> Subject: RE: [TriLUG] OpenNMS and mapping
>
> So is anything changing other than the netmask?  If not, I don't think your
> map is going to help.  You need a sniffer.  That or I'm missing something.
>
> Surely this "Good Sized Kompany" has sniffers in remote environments -- at
> least it's major ones, right?
>
> Shane O.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On Behalf
> Of gregbrown at mindspring.com
> Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 1:22 PM
> To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list
> Subject: RE: [TriLUG] OpenNMS and mapping
>
> Agreed, maps are evil - except when they are useful in a point situation
> like this.  Here's what is going on:
>
> 1 Company X, who I can't actually name for some legal reason, is migrating
> away from a large, flat class B network to a new class B address range that
> is routed with a 24 bit mask.
> 2. There are multiple campuses seperated by large geographic areas but these
> multiple campuses are still falt - i.e. the "old" class B has a 16 bit
> subnet mask and are all connected via long-range FDDI.
>
> This all means that it is nearly impossible to tell if a given IP address is
> in, say, zebulon, RTP, Durham, or any one of a zillion, it seems, other
> locations.
>
> The reason I want THIS map is for only one reason:
>
> to confirm that any one campus has fully migrated from the old network to
> the new network.   The whole gigantic FDDI ring is going to start breaking
> up campus by campus and I want to visually check to make sure there are not
> stragglers prior to turning the power off to the FDDI switches.
>
> Going through DEC's bizarre interface to try to see where a MAC address is
> located is just getting to costly in terms of time so I've opted to go the
> map route in this case.
>
> Unless anyone has any other suggestions.....
>
> Greg
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shane O'Donnell <shaneo at nc.rr.com>
> Sent: Nov 17, 2004 11:43 AM
> To: 'Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list' <trilug at trilug.org>
> Subject: RE: [TriLUG] OpenNMS and mapping
>
> Both NetSaint/Nagios and OpenNMS' "aftermarket" mapping bolt-on are, to
> reiterate the sentiment of the all-knowing Jon Carnes, kludgey at best.
>
> Depending on what you are trying to do and what level you are trying to map
> -- yet another reason why maps are a bad idea in the first place, but I
> digress -- checkout NetDisco (http://www.netdisco.org/)  They have a running
> demo on their site and a screenshot available of UCSC's network, which
> scales beyond the usefulness of maps -- yet another reason why maps are a
> bad idea in the first place, but I digress...
>
> Network management is about information collection (active and passive) and
> display for someone who requires that information to do their job.  Maps are
> for managers.  Unfortunately, managers also have purchasing budgets, so
> tools that provide maps get bought and sit on the shelf while the people
> that need the tools use OpenNMS, Nagios, MRTG, and the like to get their
> work done.
>
> Don't get me started...
>
> Shane O.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On Behalf
> Of Jon Carnes
> Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 11:13 AM
> To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list
> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] OpenNMS and mapping
>
> On Wed, 2004-11-17 at 11:02, gregbrown at mindspring.com wrote:
> > Does OpenNMS graphically map out networks it manages?  If OpenNMS does not
> does anyone know of a OSS tool that would create graphical maps of a network
> via autodiscovery?
> >
> > Greg
> >
> I run an older version of OpenNMS and it doesn't automap. Jaimie Livingston
> demoed the latest version of NetSaint (not called that anymore) and it *did*
> automap the network. Automap was cool, but a bit kludgey looking.
>
> Jon Carnes
>
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