Device Profile Form

The description, based on information from the MIB-II sysDescr string provided by the vendor.

Maximum length is 255 characters: alpha-numeric, spaces, and special characters (~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _+ -)

Device family name provided by the vendor; for example Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches or HP AdvanceStack Routers.

Click the  Lookup icon to access the Device Family Form for more details.

Name of the vendor that manufactures the device.

Click the  Lookup icon to access the Device Vendor Form for more details.

The value of this attribute determines which background shape NNMi uses for the map icon representing devices of this type. See About Map Symbols for more information about the possible values.

Click the  Lookup icon to access the Device Category Form for more details.

Indicates who created or last modified the device profile.

If the Author attribute value is Network Node Manager, any changes are at risk of being overwritten in the future.

• Click  Lookup and select  Show Analysis to display details about the currently selected Author.
• Click  Quick Find to access the list of existing Author values.
• Click  New to create an Author value.

If  enabled, Spiral Discovery does not use a MIB-II sysName value for the Name attribute for discovered Nodes of this type. If sysName is part of the current node Name strategy, NNMi uses the next designated node Name choice in the strategy established by your NNMi administrator.

If  disabled, MIB-II sysName can potentially be used as the Name attribute value for nodes of this type.

The vendor's default sysName text string, from MIB-II sysName.

If the SNMP agent responds to a sysName request with a value that matches or starts with the entry in this field (case-sensitive), Spiral Discovery ignores the sysName and considers sysName to be unset. As a result, NNMi instead tries to find a DNS name or IP address for this node (according to the strategy established by your NNMi administrator).

For example, when an SNMP agent responds with a default sysName, NNMi's maps might display multiple icons with the same name (one for every device of that type in your environment that responded to an SNMP query with the default sysName). Usually, the device administrator changes the default sysName value to something more meaningful, so this problem is avoided.

This attribute enables the NNMi administrator to override the IP Forwarding (Layer 3) and LAN Switching (Layer 2) Capability settings provided by Spiral Discovery (displayed on the Node Form: Capabilities Tab).

Note the following:

• The Force Device attribute does not affect default membership for the Node Groups provided by NNMi. For example, the Force to router settings does not add the Node to the Routers Node Group. NNMi uses the Device Category to determine Node Group membership for the Node Groups it provides.
• The Force Device setting does not affect the background shapes displayed on an NNMi map. NNMi uses the Device Category specified in the Device Profile to determine the map background shapes displayed.

The following table describes the possible Force Device settings and subsequent behavior:

An NNMi administrator might want to use this attribute to override the IP Forwarding (Layer 3) and LAN Switching (Layer 2) capabilities setting for the device under the following circumstances:

• The sysServices setting in MIB-II that is used to determine the IP Forwarding (Layer 3) and LAN Switching (Layer 2) capability during discovery is not accurate due to a firmware defect on the device.

• The device serves as a router, switch, or switch and router and the NNMi administrator wants to force the device to be treated as only one of the following: 1) a router, 2) a switch, or 3) a switch and router.

• The device serves as a virtual router, but should not be managed as a router.

  Setting the Force Device attribute to Force to end node enables the NNMi administrator to configure Spiral Discovery to ignore this device (unless the device is within the Default Tenant and an Auto-Discovery Rule is configured to "Discover Any SNMP Device" or configured to include the matching System Object ID).

Your NNMi administrator chooses which interface MIB variable the NNMi State Poller queries to detect interface changes. NNMi can use the following MIB-II attribute values: ifIndex, ifName, ifDescr, ifAlias, or a combination of these (ifName or ifDescr, ifName or ifDescr or ifAlias). See the General Interface Attributes (SNMP Values) in Interface Form: General Tab for information about these four MIB-II attributes that are available to use for this setting.

If you are an Administrator, see Detect Interface Changes for more information.

A network device's interfaces can be configured with proprietary Layer 2 discovery protocols, instead of or in addition to the industry standard LLDP (see the list of Topology Source protocols in Layer 2 Connection Form).

By default, NNMi checks the interface for standard LLDP and vendor-specific IEEE 802 Layer 2 protocol. NNMi uses data from both protocols to calculate the Layer 2 Connection, but by default prefers the data provided through LLDP.

Forwarding Database (FDB) information can cause NNMi to establish wrong Layer 2 Connections in the following cases:

• When the FDB is configured as cache and contains obsolete data.
• In network environments with hardware from a variety of vendors, when each vendor generates different and sometimes conflicting FDB data.

Optional: NNMi administrators can configure Spiral Discovery to ignore the FDB data from one Node Group when calculating Layer 2 Connections (the FDB data is still included in other calculations).

(NNMi Advanced - Global Network Management feature) NNMi must read the Forwarding Database (FDB) tables from Ethernet switches within the network before accurate communication paths between these network devices can be calculated. Because the FDB data is involved, NNMi can produce different results on a Regional Manager as opposed to the Global Manager.

If NNMi discovers more than one IEEE 802 Layer 2 protocol being used by a particular device's interface, the Device Profile's setting controls NNMi's protocol preference:

 Prefer LLDP = Enabled: NNMi gives priority to the LLDP data.

 Prefer LLDP = Disabled: NNMi gives priority to the vendor-specific IEEE 802 Layer 2 protocol data.