Network Management data flow
Use this information to understand how event data is retrieved from a monitored application environment and transferred between the products and components of Network Management in order to provide Topology Search, Network Health Dashboard and Device Dashboard capabilities.
The following figure shows a simplified data flow between the products of Network Management and, where appropriate, Operations Management.
Figure 1. Simplified data flow
- Collection of network topology, polling, and configuration data
- 1 : Network discovery is run
- Based on configurations set up by network administrators, Network Manager gathers data about the network. The discovery function identifies what entities, for example routers and switches, are on the network and interrogates them, for example, for connectivity information.
- 2 Network topology is stored
- Network Manager classifies and stores the network topology that was discovered in step 1 in the NCIM topology database.
- 3 : Network devices and interfaces are polled
- Based on configurations set up by network administrators, Network Manager polling policies are run to determine whether a network device is up or down, whether it exceeds key performance parameters, and identifies inter-device link faults.
- 4 : Changes to device configuration and policy changes are detected
- Netcool Configuration Managerdiscovers whether there are any changes to device configuration or policy violations.
- Collection and enrichment of alert data
- 5 : Alerts are received from applications and devices
- Alert data is captured by probes and forwarded to the ObjectServer.
- 6 : Network events are generated if polls fail
- Network Manager generates fault alerts if device and interface polls (step 2 ) fail. Network Manager converts the results of the relevant polls into events, and sends these network events to the ObjectServer.
- 7 : Network configuration events are generated if device configurations change
- Netcool Configuration Manager generates events for the configuration changes and policy violations (referred to hereafter as network configuration events) that were detected in step 3 . Configuration change and policy violation events are sent via the Probe for SNMP to the ObjectServer.
- 8 : Events are enriched using topology data
- Network events (generated in step 6 ) and network configuration events (generated in step 7 ) are passed to the Event Gateway, where they are enriched with network topology data. For example, the system location, contact information, and product serial number can be added to the events. The events are returned to the ObjectServer.
Once steps 5 to 8 are complete the
Netcool/OMNIbus
ObjectServer contains the application events from the probes, network events from Network Manager, and the network configuration
events from Netcool Configuration
Manager.
- Visualization of events and topology
- 9 Event are visualized and monitored
- The Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Web GUI displays the application events, network events, and network configuration events that are in the ObjectServer.
- 10 Event information is shared
- The event information is shared between the Web GUI and the Network Manager GUIs, for example, the Network Views and Hop View.
- 11 Network topology is visualized
- The Network Manager GUIs display the network topology data that is in the NCIM database. This data is enriched by the configuration change and policy event information from the ObjectServer.
- 12 Network configuration events are analyzed
- Configuration changes and policy violations are displayed for further analysis in the following GUIs:
- Network Manager GUIs
- Web GUI Event Viewer
- Netcool Configuration Manager Activity Viewer, wizards, and other Netcool Configuration Manager user interfaces
- Topology search data flow
- 13 Event data is transferred for indexing to Operations Analytics - Log Analysis
- The Gateway for Message Bus sends the event data via an HTTP interface to the Operations Analytics - Log Analysis product where the event data is indexed. The Network Manager Insight Pack parses the event data into a format suitable for use by Operations Analytics - Log Analysis.
- 14 Topology search data is visualized
- Topology search results are visualized in Operations Analytics - Log Analysis event dashboards and timelines by performing right-click actions on two nodes in the network between which the analysis is required. This is done in one of the following ways: either select two network nodes in a network map within one of the Network Manager GUIs, or two events in the Web GUI Event Viewer.
- Dashboard data flow
- 15 Network health information is visualized
- In the Network Health Dashboard, selection of a network view enables you to visualize availability summary data, top 10 performance data, and configuration timeline data for the devices in that network view. Data used to populate the Network Health Dashboard is retrieved from the ObjectServer, Network Manager polling databases, and Netcool Configuration Manager.
- 16 Device and interface health is visualized
- You can right click to the Device Dashboard from any topology view or event list. In the Device Dashboard, selection of a device enables you to visualize top 10 performance data for the device or any of its interfaces. You can also visualize timeline data for any of the performance metrics associated with the device or any of its interfaces. Data used to populate the Device Dashboard is retrieved from the ObjectServer, Network Manager polling databases, and from Network Performance Insight.
Parent topic: About Network Management
Related concepts:
