Configuring device role identification settings

To determine if a device is a certain role, WhatsUp Gold can use several different types of criteria ranging from simple DNS and TCP port checks to complex SNMP queries.

To configure how a role is identified:

  1. From the Discovery console available from the WhatsUp Gold console, select Advanced > Device role settings. The Device Role Settings dialog appears.
  2. Select the device role you want to modify, then click Configure.

    - OR -

    Click Add to create a new device role. The New Role dialog appears.

    Note: You cannot modify the role identification criteria of a default role. You can, however, duplicate a default role and modify the new role's criteria, then disable the default role.

  3. Select the Role identification tab.
  4. To add a new criterion, click Add. The Select an identification criterion type dialog appears.

    - OR -

    To edit an existing criterion, click Edit. The Edit Criterion dialog appears. Skip to step 7 to continue.

  5. Select a criterion from the list.
    • DNS hostname contains. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the polled SNMP object (OID) contains the specified hostname value. For example, you can check that a device name contains "ATL," the prefix used in the Atlanta office computer names.
    • SNMP object contains. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the polled SNMP object (OID) contains the specified value. For example, you can check for devices that contain the OID value 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0 (Microsoft branch) with "Version 5.1" system description information to determine the devices that are running Windows XP.
    • SNMP object has a child which contains. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the polled SNMP object (OID) includes a child object. For example, you can check for devices that contain the OID value 1.3.6.1.2.1.17 (dot1dBridge, the root of the bridge MIB). If this OID has a child, it means the device supports the Bridge MIB, and therefore the device must be a switch.
    • SNMP object has a number of children greater than. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the polled SNMP object (OID) includes child objects greater than x number of children. For example, you can check the number of instances of a device interface by discovering instances of the interface table. This criterion could be used to identify "critical" network switches by identifying switches with 200 or more interface tables.
    • SNMP object has a value. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the polled SNMP object (OID) contains the specified value. For example, you can check for devices that contain the OID value 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.6 (sysLocation) with "Server Room" system description information to determine the devices that are network servers.
    • SNMP object has at least one child. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the polled SNMP object (OID) includes at least one child object. For example, you can check that a printer OID includes at least one child printer OID. This criterion determines that the device is definitely a printer device. Printer OIDs must include a printer child OID.
    • SNMP object is. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the polled SNMP object (OID) is equal to the specified value. For example, you could poll the sysContact object to make sure the configured contact information is equal to "Jane Doe."
    • SNMP object matches regular expression. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the polled SNMP object (OID) matches the specified regular expression value. For example, you could check for devices that contain the OID value 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0, the Catalyst switch sysDescr. If this system description matches the regular expression value (.*Catalyst), the criteria is matched.
    • SNMP object starts with. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the polled SNMP object (OID) starts with the specified value. For example, you can check for devices that contain the OID value 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.2.0, an HP enterprise OID. If this OID starts with 1.3.6.1.4.1.11, the root of the HP Enterprise MIB space, it means the specified device is supported.
    • SNMP SysObjectID is. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the polled SysObjectID object the specified value. For example, the criterion could poll the SysObjectID and check that it starts with 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.1.502, a Catalyst switch SysObjectID. This criteria will pass only if the polled device is a Catalyst machine.
    • SNMP SysObjectID starts with. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the polled SysObjectID object starts with the specified value. For example, the criterion could poll the system object ID and check that it starts with 1.3.6.1.4.1.9, the root of the Cisco Enterprise MIB space. This criteria will pass only if the polled device is a Cisco machine.
    • NIC card brand name matches regular expression. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the device NIC card brand name matches the specified regular expression value. For example, SNMP is used to identify all NIC MAC addresses and they are converted to NIC vendor strings. The criterion could use the regular expression .*intel to check for a criteria match on all Intel NIC cards.
    • TCP port is open. Select to set criteria that passes if the value of the of the device port open is equal to the specified port open value. For example, if you want to find devices that have TCP ports 1234 open, then enter the port number "1234" for the port check criteria.
    • Is always a successful match. Select to set all criteria to always match when the option is selected.
    • Device is a VMware host server (ESX/ESXi). Select to set criteria that passes if the device type is a VMware host server.
    • VMware server is hosting a number of VMs greater than. Select to set criteria that passes if the number of VMs hosted is greater than the specified value.
    • Name of VM hosted by VMware server is. Select to set criteria that passes if the name of the VM hosted by the VMware server is the specified name.
    • Name of VM hosted by VMware server contains. Select to set criteria that passes if the name of the VM hosted by the VMware server contains the specified value.
    • Device is a VMware vCenter Server. Select to set criteria that passes if the device type is a VMware vCenter Server.
  6. After selecting a criterion, click OK. The Edit Criterion dialog appears.
  7. Configure the settings for the criterion, then click OK. For specific information about the criterion's settings, click Help.

Note: By default, a device must match ALL role identification criteria to be identified as that device role. To identify devices that match ANY of the role identification criteria, clear Match all criteria.

See Also

Using Device Roles

Configuring device role settings

Using the percent variables in the Discovery Console

Managing device roles