Network Management

PacketTrap releases new network management system - Perspective

PacketTrap is a new “startup” network management company. I have been a fan of their free “pt360″ tool that gives you a single console for a variety of network management & troubleshooting tools. Besides the free version, they also have commercial versions of the pt360 that offer more features like built in Cisco management tools.

Recently, PacketTrap launched a whole new product - a network management & monitoring product called “perspective”. Perspective is solely a commercial product but there is the option to “try/eval” it. The name comes from the concept that it shows you the network from the “perspective” of the device that you are monitoring/managing. Perspective competes with products like IPSwitch WhatsUp, Solarwinds Orion, and others. Perspective is meant to be a true enterprise network management & monitoring application. It also integrates with the pt360 troubleshooting tool.

While I am not here to sell you anything, I just like to share the word about new & innovative products (especially the free ones). So, if you are looking for a tool for network management & monitoring, I encourage you to evaluate PacketTrap’s Perspective. Additionally, for network troubleshooting, you should look at pt360 (especially as you can use the free version to start with).

Does your network management utility manage VMware?

More and more of the typical “physical computer” management & monitoring tools are being retooled to manage the new virtual infrastructure. I have talked with both Packettrap and Solarwinds and both have rumored that they will soon offer versions of their well known network management tools that will now recognize, not only network devices and physical servers, but the virtual guest operating systems that are on those physical servers.

For example, your network management & monitoring tool could query either each individual ESX server using traditional SNMP calls or it could query the VMware Virtual Center server using VMware’s API to obtain an inventory of what virtual guest is on what physical server, performance statistics for both host and guest systems, and status of guest systems (ie: which are powered on or off).

There are a few challenges that these vendors face:

• do you go directly to each virtual host or to a centralized management server?
• do you support only VMware ESX Server or do you try to support other virtualization platforms such as Microsoft’s Hyper-V?
• how do you learn about guest VMs that have been “VMotion’ed” (for lack of a better term) from one host system to another? And what about the performance statistics when the storage for a guest is “SVMotion’ed” from one datastore to another?

So, “stay tuned”, as they say, for physical tools to now recognize the virtual world. And, if your vendor isn’t already doing this or doesn’t have plans to do it, I recommend that you pressure that vendor to make their product “virutalization ready” (or else you may have to go find another vendor).

Monitor Cisco routers and switches using the IOS environment command

How do you know what the temperature is where your router or switch is? This can tell you if the device is overheating due to fans being out or improver ventilation in the room where the Cisco device is. Additionally, you would want to know if the fans were running and what their speed is. Oh yeah, and what about the status of your power supplies?

You can find out all this and more using the Cisco IOS show environment command. You can also configure the switch or router to alert you when there is an environmental alarm.

To see how it is done,  read my article Monitor Cisco routers and switches using the IOS environment command

David’s new websites - HappyRouter.com & VMwareVideos.com

I wanted to take a moment to let everyone know that my personal website, HappyRouter.com has  whole new look! We have new Cisco training videos posted, tons of Cisco articles, a RSS feed, and a Cisco-oriented newsletter.

Additionally, I have launched a new website devoted just to VMware and Video training. I have a ton of VMware-related videos posted on the site and much more to offer to any VMware ESX Server or VMware Server Administrator. If you are interested in VMware, you should add VMwareVideos.com to your RSS Feed subscriptions!

I hope you will take a moment to check out Happy Router & VMwareVideos!

Configuring a Cisco 871W with an Excel template - Its so easy!

A very sharp Cisco expert - George Ou - wrote an article that I have recommended many Cisco admins to. This article covers how to configure the Cisco 871W all in one router/switch/wireless AP. Along with the excellent technical explanations, he has a spreadsheet with macros that allows you to enter some basic information and automatically have a full IOS configuration created! Amazing! I hope you will take a look. Here are the URLS:

Configuring the Cisco 871W wireless router: SOHO setup

Generate your own ready-to-use Cisco 871W configuration with this handy tool

How to configure a Cisco IOS Router to use Windows AD Authentication

Why have a separate username/password database on all your routers? What a pain to have to keep seperate accounts to login to all the routers and switches? And what if you want to change the “root” password? Do you have to go to EVERY router and switch to make the change?

Not anymore… Why not use Windows Active Directory (AD) as the username/password database for all your routers & switches? This is very easy to configure. In fact, in my article How to configure the Cisco IOS to use Windows AD Authentication, you will find out how to do it, step by step. Check it out!

PacketTrap pt360 - new version 2.0 with Cisco features!

The very cool PacketTrap pt360 all-in-one network management application has a new version out - version 2.0.

With this version, you get the new Cisco Configuration features (what I have personally been waiting for)!

You can download a free 21 day trial version of the software from the PacketTrap Download site (and don’t forget that they have a FREE version too)! I have used this myself and it has been very helpful and has reduced the amount of time it takes to troubleshoot and configure my network. Trust me, it is much better than some of the other all-in-one network management applications because it is all integrated - not a bunch of seperate applications

So, give it a try! What the heck, its free, right?

PacketTrap Download

Continued »