Specify discovery seeds

[This is the Help topic for the Discovery Config: Discovery Seeds tab.]

A discovery seed is a specific node that you want NNMi to discover.

Nodes specified as discovery seeds are always discovered and added to the topology database. As soon as you enter one or more discovery seeds, discovery begins. As part of the seed configuration, you specify a Tenant attribute value (and indirectly a Security Group attribute value).

Default Tenant only: If you create Auto-Discovery Rules, NNMi automatically gathers Hints from each discovered Node and uses that information to find any neighboring devices within your Default Tenant's address range.

If you want to use Auto-Discovery within the Default Tenant:

• Configure at least one Auto-Discovery Rule.
• Configure any number of Auto-Discovery Rules to maintain fine control over the scope of Auto-Discovery within the Default Tenant.

A discovery seed is a hostname (not case-sensitive) or IP address.

Consider devices with the largest neighbor data in your network environment. For example, a good choice for a discovery seed would be a core router connected to a network you want to discover.

If you change your mind and delete a discovery seed from Discovery Configuration, the corresponding node is not deleted from the topology database.

Within the Default Tenant, Auto-Discovery can also use Ping Sweep instead of or in addition to discovery seeds to gather this neighbor information.

All Other Tennants: Only the specified seeds are discovered (no neighbors).

Configure discovery seeds in the console

[This is the Context-Sensitive Help topic for the Discovery Config: Discovery Seeds form.]

Discovery seeds are sometimes optional and sometimes required.

To add a discovery seed using the console:

1. Complete all prerequisites.

2. Navigate to the Seeds view.

   1. From the workspace navigation panel, select the  Configuration workspace.
   2. Expand Discovery.
   3. Select Seeds.

3. Do one of the following:

   • To add a discovery seed, click the  New icon.
   • To edit a discovery seed, double-click the row representing the discovery seed you want to edit.
   • To delete a discovery seed, select a row, and click the  Delete icon.

4. Provide appropriate information (see table).

   NNMi uses information gathered from Routers to establish membership for Subnet connections. Make sure that important Routers in your network environment are SNMP enabled.

   NNMi uses either of the following criteria to identify a Router:

   • The Router responds to an SNMP query with appropriate values for sysServices (1.3.6.1.2.1.1.7) and ipForwarding (1.3.6.1.2.1.4.1). See RFC 1213, MIB-II for details.
   • The Router responds to an SNMP query with an appropriate MIB-II sysObjectID value according to the current settings in NNMi's Device Profile configuration.

   You must provide the appropriate SNMP Community Strings to NNMi.

5. Click  Save and Close to return to the Discovery Configuration form.

   Tip Click the  Save and New icon to continue to adding discovery seeds.

6. Click  Save and Close. As soon as you enter one or more discovery seeds, discovery begins.

Discovery Seed Definition

Attribute	Definition
Hostname / IP	To identify the node, enter one of the following: Fully-qualified hostname of the discovery seed (not case-sensitive) IP address of the discovery seed If you specify an IP address, NNMi uses that IP address only during initial discovery of the Seed. NNMi then requests the current Management Address (the address from which the node's SNMP Agent responds) and uses that IP address for all communication after initial discovery. To discover wireless access points, provide the IP address or FQDN of the wireless LAN controller where the access points belong. NNMi shows wireless LAN controllers in the Nodes inventory view and lists the wireless access points in the Lightweight AP inventory view. Caution For nodes with addresses provided by Network Address Translation (NAT) protocols, use the appropriate address: Static Network Address Translation (NAT): If the NNMi management server is outside the NAT domain - use the node's external IP address If the NNMi management server is inside the NAT domain - use the node's internal IP address Dynamic Network Address Translation (NAT) - use the node's internal IP address. Dynamic Port Address Translation (PAT/NAPT) - use the node's internal IP address. (NNMi Advanced) When providing IPv6 addresses as discovery seeds, use IPv6 notation as defined in RFC 2373. Click here for more information. 16-byte (128-bit) address, composed of eight groups of 2-byte (16-bit) hex values separated by colons (XXXX:XXXX: XXXX:XXXX: XXXX:XXXX: XXXX:XXXX) Uppercase and lowercase (A-F/a-f) permitted for the hex digits. Note NNMi displays IPv6 addresses as all lowercase. Optional. Omit leading zeros in each 2-byte hex value. :: means a single contiguous sequence of all zero 2-byte hex values. However, :: is permitted only one time per address. For example, the following three IPv6 address notations are equivalent: 2001:0D88:0000:0000:0008:0800:200C:417A 2001:d88:0:0:8:800:200c:417a 2001:d88::8:800:200C:417a For the right-most 32-bits, IPv4 dotted-decimal notation can replace the pair of 2-byte hex values. For example, the following two IPv6 address notations are equivalent: 2001:D88::5efe:10.7.150.201 2001:D88::5efe:a07:96c9 Types of IPv6 Addresses IPv6 Address Range Explanation 0::to 1fff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff unassigned or reserved 2000:: to 3fff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff global unicast address(2000:: to 3fff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff) A publically routable IPv6 unicast address, used for communication between nodes anywhere on the internet. The first part of the address is a global routing prefix in the 2000::/3 address space for your organization (assigned by the Internet Service Providers). The complete host address can either be manually configured or automatically assigned using IPv6 auto-configuration and neighbor discovery. fd00:: to fdff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff unique local address(fd00:: to fdff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff) A privately routable IPv6 unicast address used only for communication between nodes within your organization. The unique local addresses cannot be routed to the public internet. The address consists of a routing prefix in the fd00:/8 address spaces, assigned locally by your organization. And the full host address might be manually configured or automatically assigned using IPv6 auto-configuration and neighbor discovery. The IP addresses in the following table cannot be used as Discovery Seeds or Auto-Discovery Hints. NNMi still Discovers and Monitors these addresses within the context of a Node, but NNMi does not gather information about neighbors from these addresses. Invalid IP Addresses for Discovery Seeds or Auto-Discovery Hints IPv4 Address Range IPv6 Address Range Explanation 0.*.*.* not applicable Reserved IP addresses 0.0.0.0 ::0 Any Local (listen) address 127.*.*.* ::1 Loopback addresses not applicable fe80::*:*:*:* IPv6 link-local addressA non-routable IPv6 unicast address only used for communication with other nodes on the same link (LAN or VLAN). Link local addresses cannot be used for communication that must be forwarded through a router. IPv6 auto-configuration automatically assigns a unique link local address in the fe80::/10 address space to each IPv6-enabled interface on a system. 224-239.*.*.* not allowed (ff00:: to ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff) multicast addressUsed to identify a group of hosts joined into a group. IPv4 multicast addresses are in the range 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255 and IPv6 multicast addresses have the prefix ff00::/8. 255.255.255.255 not applicable Broadcast address
Initial Discovery Tenant	For the Initial Discovery Tenant setting, do one of the following: Leave this attribute empty (blank). NNMi assigns each Node to the Default Tenant (and whichever Initial Discovery Security Group attribute value is currently assigned to the Default Tenant). Optional. Assign a Tenant to a particular seed before discovery. Click the drop-down icon to see the list of previously configured Tenant names or Tenant UUIDs. Use the auto-complete feature to quickly specify which tenant. Tip You can also click the  Lookup icon and select  Quick Find for the list of previously defined tenants. To define a new Tenant, click the  Lookup icon and select  New.
Discovery Seed Results	An automatically generated value. The most recent discovery status for this discovery seed.
Last Modified	The date and time of the last change in Discovery Seed Results.
Notes	Provide any additional information about this discovery seed that would be useful to you or your team.   Type a maximum of 1024 characters. Alpha-numeric, spaces, and special characters (~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _+ -) are permitted.

Add discovery seeds from the command line

Discovery seeds are sometimes optional and sometimes required.

Use the following command-line tool to configure discovery seeds:

• See the nnmloadseeds.ovpl Reference Page.

  This command can be used in combination with a text (TXT) file.

  The directory and filename of the seed file must be accessible for non-root users.

• Use nnmloadseeds.ovpl -list to list all configured seeds and to report seed status.

Add multiple seeds

Discovery seeds are sometimes optional and sometimes required.

To add multiple discovery seeds using a seed file:

1. Complete all prerequisites.

2. Using a text editor, create a list of seeds, one per line, using the following syntax (see table below for more details):

   <IP Address or HostName>, "<optional Tenant Name or UUID>" # <optional Notes text>

   The directory and filename of the seed file must be accessible for non-root users.

3. Navigate to the Seeds view.

   1. From the workspace navigation panel, select the  Configuration workspace.
   2. Expand Discovery.
   3. Select Seeds.

4. Select any row and do one of the following:

   • Click Actions > Add Multiple Seeds.
   • Right-click any row and select Add Multiple Seeds.

5. Follow the instructions in the Add Multiple Seeds dialog.

Discovery Seed Definition

Attribute	Definition
Hostname / IP Address	To identify the node, enter one of the following: Fully-qualified hostname of the discovery seed (not case-sensitive) IP address of the discovery seed If you specify an IP address, NNMi uses that IP address only during initial discovery of the Seed. NNMi then requests the current Management Address (the address from which the node's SNMP Agent responds) and uses that IP address for all communication after initial discovery. Caution For nodes with addresses provided by Network Address Translation (NAT) protocols, use the appropriate address: Static Network Address Translation (NAT): If the NNMi management server is outside the NAT domain - use the node's external IP address If the NNMi management server is inside the NAT domain - use the node's internal IP address Dynamic Network Address Translation (NAT) - use the node's internal IP address. Dynamic Port Address Translation (PAT/NAPT) - use the node's internal IP address. (NNMi Advanced) When providing IPv6 addresses as discovery seeds, use IPv6 notation as defined in RFC 2373. Click here for more information. 16-byte (128-bit) address, composed of eight groups of 2-byte (16-bit) hex values separated by colons (XXXX:XXXX: XXXX:XXXX: XXXX:XXXX: XXXX:XXXX) Uppercase and lowercase (A-F/a-f) permitted for the hex digits. Note NNMi displays IPv6 addresses as all lowercase. Optional. Omit leading zeros in each 2-byte hex value. :: means a single contiguous sequence of all zero 2-byte hex values. However, :: is permitted only one time per address. For example, the following three IPv6 address notations are equivalent: 2001:0D88:0000:0000:0008:0800:200C:417A 2001:d88:0:0:8:800:200c:417a 2001:d88::8:800:200C:417a For the right-most 32-bits, IPv4 dotted-decimal notation can replace the pair of 2-byte hex values. For example, the following two IPv6 address notations are equivalent: 2001:D88::5efe:10.7.150.201 2001:D88::5efe:a07:96c9 Types of IPv6 Addresses IPv6 Address Range Explanation 0::to 1fff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff unassigned or reserved 2000:: to 3fff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff global unicast address(2000:: to 3fff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff) A publically routable IPv6 unicast address, used for communication between nodes anywhere on the internet. The first part of the address is a global routing prefix in the 2000::/3 address space for your organization (assigned by the Internet Service Providers). The complete host address can either be manually configured or automatically assigned using IPv6 auto-configuration and neighbor discovery. fd00:: to fdff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff unique local address(fd00:: to fdff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff) A privately routable IPv6 unicast address used only for communication between nodes within your organization. The unique local addresses cannot be routed to the public internet. The address consists of a routing prefix in the fd00:/8 address spaces, assigned locally by your organization. And the full host address might be manually configured or automatically assigned using IPv6 auto-configuration and neighbor discovery. The IP addresses in the following table cannot be used as Discovery Seeds or Auto-Discovery Hints. NNMi still Discovers and Monitors these addresses within the context of a Node, but NNMi does not gather information about neighbors from these addresses. Invalid IP Addresses for Discovery Seeds or Auto-Discovery Hints IPv4 Address Range IPv6 Address Range Explanation 0.*.*.* not applicable Reserved IP addresses 0.0.0.0 ::0 Any Local (listen) address 127.*.*.* ::1 Loopback addresses not applicable fe80::*:*:*:* IPv6 link-local addressA non-routable IPv6 unicast address only used for communication with other nodes on the same link (LAN or VLAN). Link local addresses cannot be used for communication that must be forwarded through a router. IPv6 auto-configuration automatically assigns a unique link local address in the fe80::/10 address space to each IPv6-enabled interface on a system. 224-239.*.*.* not allowed (ff00:: to ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff) multicast addressUsed to identify a group of hosts joined into a group. IPv4 multicast addresses are in the range 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255 and IPv6 multicast addresses have the prefix ff00::/8. 255.255.255.255 not applicable Broadcast address
Initial Discovery Tenant	For the Initial Discovery Tenant setting, do one of the following: Leave this attribute empty (blank). NNMi assigns each Node to the Default Tenant (and whichever Initial Discovery Security Group attribute value is currently assigned to the Default Tenant). Optional. Assign a Tenant to a particular seed before discovery.
Notes	Provide any additional information about this discovery seed that would be useful to you or your team. Type a maximum of 1024 characters. [Notes & Description]Use any combination of alpha-numeric characters, multibyte characters (such as Japanese), spaces, punctuation, and special characters (~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _+ -).

Related topics

• Prerequisites for discovery
• Configure tenants