Monitor Your Network with the IP Multicast Inventories

After the regular discovery of the IP multicast nodes and PIM interfaces in the NNMi topology, you can access the IP multicast inventories to monitor the status and check the attributes of the multicast-enabled devices. This topic includes the following sections:

• IP Multicast Nodes Inventory
• IP Multicast Interfaces Inventory
• IP Multicast Flows Inventory

In addition, you can use IP multicast inventories to perform the following functions as well:

• See device details in tables
• Navigate and open the IP multicast forms and map views

The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast adds a new workspace to the NNMi console—the IP Multicast workspace. You can access all the IP multicast inventories from the IP Multicast workspace. The IP multicast inventories provide a comprehensive list of all the discovered multicast nodes, PIM interfaces, and multicast flows (S, G) on the network.

Types of IP Multicast Inventories

Inventory Name	Purpose
IP Multicast Nodes Inventory	Provides a list of the multicast-enabled nodes on the network.
IP Multicast Interfaces Inventory	Provides a list of the PIM interfaces on the network.
IP Multicast Flows Inventory	Provides a list of flows along with the monitoring status.

To view the IP Multicast inventories:

1. From the Workspaces navigation panel, click IP Multicast
2. Click the inventory of your interest. For example, IP Multicast Nodes inventory

You can also perform the following actions from the inventories:

• View details about an IP multicast object by clicking (the Open icon).
• Filter the columns in the table views to categorize and view the relevant information. You can filter the table view using more than one column.
• Sort the attributes in ascending or descending order. Sorting is available only for select columns.

IP Multicast Nodes Inventory

The IP Multicast Nodes view provides a list of multicast nodes that are accessible to you.

Use the IP Multicast Nodes view for the following tasks:

• Monitor the IP multicast-enabled nodes.
• View the status of an IP multicast-enabled node. Sort the inventory by Status to view the critical multicast nodes.
• Navigate to the node form or analysis pane to check the other attributes of the node.
• Navigate to the Neighbor map view to find the PIM neighbor topology of the selected node.

Basic Attributes

Attribute	Description
Status	The status of the selected multicast-enabled node. The node state and interface status associated with the selected node contribute in the node status. Possible values are: No status - If a node is not polled or not managed, the status of the node is No status. The newly discovered nodes waiting for the first polling and the nodes that are down (out of service) also display No status. Normal - The status of the multicast-enabled node is Normal if the node is polled and the status of each PIM interface on the node is Normal. Disabled - The status of the node is Disabled if the multicast capability on the node is disabled. Unknown - If there is no SNMP response for the selected node, the status of the multicast-enabled node is Unknown. This is possible only when the selected node is not reachable at the time of polling. Minor - The status of the node is Minor if the node is polled and at least the status of one of the PIM interfaces is Critical or Warning. Critical - The status of the node is Critical if the status of all the interfaces on the node is either Critical or Warning or Unknown.
Name	The name assigned to the multicast-enabled node.
Hostname	The fully-qualified hostname for the device. currently stored in the NNMi database for this device.
Tenant	A tenant is the top-level organization to which a node belongs. If you change the name of a tenant in the NNMi, the new name will appear in this inventory only if you do a manual configuration poll on the node or after the next scheduled discovery of the node in the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast.
Device Profile	The name of the device profile that determines how the devices of this type are managed.
Num (Nbr)	The count of multicast PIM neighbors for the node.
Num (S, G)	The count of multicast groups present in the node.
State	The state of the polled multicast routers. Possible values are: Enabled - The multicast capability on the node is enabled. Disabled - The multicast capability on the node is disabled. Unknown - If there is no SNMP response for the selected node and the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast is not able to determine the state of the node, the value is Unknown. Not Polled - If the selected node is not polled on the basis of the configuration settings, value is Not Polled. No Polling Policy - Indicates the node is being polled, but no polling policy exists in Monitoring Configuration settings for this monitored object.
Management Server	The Management server attribute helps you identify whether the selected node is part of the Regional Manager or Global Network Manager. Possible values are: Local - The node is managed by the same NNMi management server you are currently signed into. Name - The name of the Regional Manager. The name is assigned by the administrator while configuring the Regional Manager. A <name> value means that you are currently signed into a Global Manager, and other NNMi management servers report to this NNMi management server.
NNM Management Mode	Indicates whether the node is being managed by NNMi or not. This field also informs you if the node is temporarily out of service. Possible values are: Managed - Indicates the node is managed by NNMi. Not Managed - Indicates the node is not managed by NNMi. Out of Service – Indicates a node is unavailable because it is inactive or down.
SPI Management Mode	Indicates whether the node is being managed by the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast or not. Possible values are: Managed - Indicates the node is managed by the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast. Not Managed - Indicates the node is not managed by the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast. The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast does not monitor these nodes and you cannot perform any action except Neighbor View on them. Not Applicable – Indicates a node is not managed by NNMi or out of service. The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast cannot manage these nodes. If your role permits, you can change the management mode settings by performing the actions Manage and Not Managed. You cannot sort this field. For more information, see Managing and Stop Managing Nodes.

Filter IP Multicast Nodes from the IP Multicast Nodes View

You can filter the nodes through attributesStatus, Name, Hostname, Device Profile, Num (Nbr), Num (SG), State, Management Server, and so on available in the IP Multicast Nodes view.

To create, modify, or remove filter in the IP Multicast Nodes view:

1. Right-click any column from the IP Multicast Nodes view.
2. Select any one of the following filters:
• Is not empty
• Is empty
• Create filter
3. To create a new filter, select Create Filter.
4. Select an option from the list.

5. Type the value in the text box if required. Click Apply.

To update and change the filter, right-click the attribute, and then click Modify filter.

To remove the filter, right-click the attribute, and then click Remove Filter.

For more information, see NNMi Help, Filter a Table View and Select Filter Values.

In addition, you can view the specific IP Multicast enabled nodes from the NNMi Node Group of your choice. To select the node group:

• From the Workspaces navigation pane, click IP Multicast -> IP Multicast Nodes
• Click the NNMi Node Group filter drop down option. The autocomplete feature is available for this field. For more information on autocomplete feature, see Use Autocomplete section under the NNMi Online Help for Administrators.
• Choose a node group from the drop down list that you want
• The IP Multicast enabled nodes belonging to the selected NNMi Node Group will be displayed

Analysis Pane

The Analysis Pane displays related information about a selected node. The name of the selected node, the name of the tenant to which the selected node belongs, and the status of the node appear in the left panel. The right panel displays some of the important details of the selected node like the conclusions, management address, list of interfaces, and so on.

The Analysis Pane remains blank until an object is selected. If you select multiple objects or clear a selection, the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast clears the Analysis Pane's contents. Click (the Refresh icon) in the Analysis Pane to manually refresh the contents of the pane.

Manage and Unmanage Nodes

The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast manages all multicast-enabled nodes by default if they are managed by NNMi. The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast provides you an option of managing or stop managing the nodes that are managed by NNMi. You can select the nodes that you do not want to manage and perform the action Not Managed. The nodes that are unmanaged by the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast may still be managed by NNMi.

If your NNMi console is a Global Manager and the selected object is being managed by a Regional Manager, you cannot change the Management Mode setting unless you log on to the Regional Manager.

In the SPI Management Mode column, the managed nodes display the icon - Managed and unmanaged nodes display the icon - Not Managed. If the nodes are Not Managed by NNMi or if they are Out of Service, NNM iSPI for IP Multicast cannot manage them and the nodes display the icon - Not Applicable.

In case of an unmanaged node, note the following:

• Configuration poll and status poll do not take place on the unmanaged node and its interfaces.
• The node's interfaces and multicast groups are excluded from fault and performance polling.
• The status of a node is set to No Status.
• You cannot perform any action except Neighbor View on an unmanaged node.
• The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast does not update the information on the unmanaged nodes. However, the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast displays all previous data, which is based on the last discovery results.
• If the forwarding tree and reverse path pass through an unmanaged node, the path after the unmanaged node may not be visible to you. The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast displays a warning message when the forwarding tree or reverse path encounters any unmanaged node.
• If the number of managed routers participating in a multicast flow becomes zero, the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast deletes the flow from the inventory.
• Your license points are not consumed for the unmanaged nodes.

To stop managing nodes:

1. From the Workspaces navigation pane, click IP Multicast -> IP Multicast Nodes. The IP Multicast Nodes view appears.
2. In the IP Multicast Nodes view, select the nodes that you want to un-manage and select Actions -> IP Multicast -> Not Managed. A message confirms that you are not managing the selected nodes.
3. Click (the Refresh icon). The icon - Not Managed appears under Managed Mode column for the selected nodes.

This action does not have any impact on the nodes that are already unmanaged by the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast or NNMi.

To manage nodes:

1. From the Workspaces navigation pane, click IP Multicast -> IP Multicast Nodes. The IP Multicast Nodes view opens.
2. In the IP Multicast Nodes view, select the nodes that you want to manage and select Actions-> IP Multicast -> Manage. A message confirms that you are managing the selected nodes.
3. Click (the Refresh icon). The icon - Managed appears under Managed Mode column for the selected nodes.

IP Multicast Node Discovery filter

In addition, you can use the IP Multicast Node discovery filter option to exclude the nodes that you do not want to discover. To exclude the nodes:

1. Create a node group for IP Multicast enabled devices with the name MCASTNoDiscover.
2. Add the devices that you do not want to be discovered to this group.

For more information, see Create Node groups in NNMi Online Help for Administrators

To view the excluded nodes:

• From the Workspaces navigation pane, click NNMi Inventory-> Nodes.
• Click the NNMi Node Group filter drop down option.
• Choose MCASTNoDiscover from the drop down list.
• The excluded nodes will be displayed.

This will ensure that in the next discovery, nodes belonging to the MCASTNoDiscover group will not be discovered. Also, these nodes will no longer be the part of IP Multicast database.

This action does not have any impact on the nodes that are already managed by the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast.

Discover Groups

The action Discover Groups enables you to discover the multicast groups on demand. You can start a real-time check to poll the multicast groups on the nodes. This is in addition to the normal group discovery that takes place in the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast. See Configure the Group Discovery.

To discover groups: 

1. From the Workspaces navigation pane, click IP Multicast -> IP Multicast Nodes. The IP Multicast Nodes view appears.
2. In the IP Multicast Nodes view, select the node on which you want to discover groups, and then select Actions -> IP Multicast -> Discover Groups.

IP Multicast Groups Discovery filter

You can use the Groups discovery filter option to exclude groups that you do not want to discover. To exclude the groups:

1. From the Workspaces navigation pane, click IP Multicast -> IP Multicast Nodes
2. Select a node from the inventory and click (the Open icon).
3. Click the Groups tab. You can view the list of Groups IP address.

4. Using the command line interface, navigate to the following path:

   On Linux:

   $NnmDataDir/shared/multicast/conf

   On Windows:

   %NnmDataDir%/multicast/conf

   NNMi installation process creates system environment variable NnnmDataDir, that is available to all users.

   Open the mcast-group-nodiscover.conf file and enter the Groups IP address that you do not want to discover in the following format:

   • 1.1.1.*
   • 2.2.2.*
   • 3.3.3.*

   Make sure that groups belonging to the groups IP address you entered is not monitored in the flows inventory.

5. Save the configuration.

To exclude the existing groups from the inventory, follow step 1 to step 5. If you have the list of Groups IP address for the groups that you do not want in discovery, you can directly follow from step 4.

In the next group discovery cycle or demand discovery, all groups entered in the mcast-group-nodiscover.conf file will not be discovered. These groups will no longer be the part of IP Multicast database.

Also, if you remove those Group IP address from the mcast-group-nodiscover.conf file, they will be discovered in the next discovery cycle.

IP Multicast Interfaces Inventory

The IP Multicast Interfaces view provides you with a list of PIM interfaces on the multicast nodes that are accessible to you.

Use the IP Multicast Interfaces view for the following tasks:

• Monitor the IP Multicast Interfaces inventory.
• Monitor the health of each of the IP Multicast interface on the multicast-enabled node.
• View the list of interfaces available on the multicast node.
• Navigate to the Interface form to view the incidents associated with the selected interface.

Basic Attributes

Attribute	Description
Status	The overall status of the current interface of the multicast node. The Interface state and the state of the Neighbor associated with the selected interface contribute to the health of the interface. Possible values are: No Status - Indicates one of the following: The interface is not managed or not polled. The interface has just been added to the NNMi database and the Causal Engine has not yet determined the status of the interface. The interface is down (out of service) Normal - The status of the interface is Normal if the Interface state is Active and the Neighbor state is Normal. Disabled - The status of the interface is Disabled if the multicast capability on the interface is disabled. Unknown - The status of the interface is Unknown if there is no SNMP response from the node. This is only possible when the node is not reachable at the time of polling. Warning- The status of the interface is Warning in the following conditions: The interface state is Active and the Neighbor state is invalid. The interface state in the transient state as reported by PIMInterfaceStatus MIB. Critical - The status of the interface is Critical in the following conditions: The interface state is NotInService. The PIM neighbor of the interface is inconsistent.
Hosted on Node	The name of the node where the selected multicast interface resides.
PIM IfName	The name of the PIM interface
PIM IP Address	The IP Address of the PIM interface
PIM IfAlias	The alias assigned to the PIM interface
State	The state of the PIM interface. The State Poller does the polling and updates the view. Possible values are: Active - The interface is in the normal and operational condition. Not In Service - The interface is down or critical. Transient state- The interface is in the transient state (Not Ready, Create And Go, or Create And Wait, Destroy) as reported by the pimInterfaceStatus MIB. Not Polled - The interface is not polled based on the configuration settings. Unknown - The SNMP agent is not responding and not able to determine the state of the interface. NoPollingPolicy - No policy is set up to poll the interfaces.

Filter IP Multicast Interfaces from IP Multicast Interfaces view

You can perform the filtering action on the attributesStatus, Hosted on Node, PIM IfName, PIM IP Address, PIM IfAlias, and State available in the IP Multicast Interfaces view.

To create, modify or remove filter in the IP Multicast Interfaces view:

1. Right-click the column from the IP Multicast Interfaces view.
2. Select any one of the following filters:
• Is not empty
• Is empty
• Create filter

3. To create a new filter, select Create Filter.
4. Select an option from the list.

5. Type the value in the box if applicable and click Apply.

The filtered list appears in the view. The filters configured in the IP Multicast view are restored when the views are opened again. This is very useful as you do not have to configure the filtering option again.

To update and change the filter, right-click the column name, and then select Modify filter.

To remove the filter, right-click the column name, and then select Remove filter.

For more information, see NNMi Help, Filter a Table View and Select Filter Values.

Analysis Pane

The Analysis Pane displays related information about a selected interface. The name of the selected interface and the status appear in the left panel. The right panel displays some of the important details of the selected interface like the conclusions, IP address, time of last polling, and so on.

The Analysis Pane remains blank until an object is selected. If you select multiple objects or clear a selection, the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast clears the Analysis Pane's contents. Click Refresh in the Analysis Pane to manually refresh the contents of the pane.

IP Multicast Flows Inventory

The IP Multicast Flow view provides a list of multicast traffic flows active on the network as well as inactive multicast flows, which are marked for monitoring. In multi-tenancy environment, only the administrators can see the inactive flows in the inventory. You can see the multicast flows in this view if you are authorized to monitor at least one of the nodes through which a particular flow passes. For more information, see Controlling Access to the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast.

Use the IP Multicast Flow view for the following tasks:

• Monitor the IP Multicast Flow inventory.
• Access the Forwarding Tree map view.
• Access the Reverse Path map view.
• Monitor the flow rate of the selected flow. The flow rate is only available if the NNM iSPI Performance for Metrics is installed and running.
• Set a baseline snapshot and monitor your flows against this baseline snapshot to find out the rate deviation, RP change, and topology changes (addition or deletion of nodes) if any.
• Monitor the flows instantly by performing the Instant Monitoring action.
• See the number of routers and receivers participating in the flow.
• See the Snapshots.

Basic Attributes

Attribute	Description
Status	The status indicator of the multicast flow. Possible status indicators are: No status - Indicates one of the following: The flow is not monitored. The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast flow has not completed a single monitoring cycle for the flow. The flow is not managed. Normal - The flow is present. All the receiver routers receive the multicast data and there is no deviation between the baseline snapshot and the snapshot collected for this flow during each monitoring cycle. Warning - The status of the multicast flow is Warning in any of the following conditions: The baseline creation fails The last snapshot creation fails. Critical - The status of the flow is Critical in any of the following conditions: One or more nodes in the baseline snapshot no longer receive the multicast traffic for this flow Some additional nodes, which were not in the baseline snapshot, are receiving the multicast data now Flow rate deviation is more than the threshold set by the administrator Change in the RP
Source	The host name or IP Address of the multicast source. If the source IP address is 0.0.0.0, multicast routing uses (*, G) entry for the group.
Group	The name or IP address of the group
Tenant	The name of the tenant to which the routers participating in the flow are associated.
Flow Mode	The type of multicast flow such as Sparse, Dense, pimSparseMode, or SparseDense
RP Address	The IP address of the RP node of the flow.
Flow Rate	The amount of multicast data (in bps, kbps, or mbps) passing through the PIM interfaces of the participating routers. The flow rate displayed in this column is taken from the PIM interfaces of the starting router.
Num(Routers)	The number of managed routers participating in the selected flow.
Num(Receivers)	The number of receivers receiving the flow. If the flow is not monitored, the number of receivers is not available. The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast displays -1 as the value for all flows that are not monitored.
Active	Presence of a check mark indicates active multicast traffic. The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast retains only those inactive flows for which monitoring is enabled. See Enable Monitoring.
Monitored	The check mark in this column shows whether the flow is being monitored or not.
Management Mode	Indicates whether the flow is being managed by the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast or not. Possible values are: Managed - Indicates the flow is managed by the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast. Not Managed - Indicates the flow is not managed by the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast. The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast does not generate any incident for the unmanaged flows. If your role permits, you can change the settings by performing the actions Manage and Not Managed. For more information, see Managing and Stop Managing Flows.

Filter IP Multicast Flows from IP Multicast Flows view

You can perform the filtering action on the attributesStatus, Source, Group, Flow Mode, RP Address, Flow Rate, Num (Routers), and so on available in the IP Multicast Flows view.

To create, modify, or remove filter in the IP Multicast Flow view:

1. Right-click the column from the IP Multicast Flows view.
2. Select any one of the following filters:
• Is not empty
• Is empty
• Create filter

The filtered list appears in the view.

3. To create a new filter, select Create Filter.
4. Select an option from the list.

5. Type the value in the box if required and click Apply.

To update and change the filter, right-click the column name, and then select Modify filter.

To remove the filter, right-click the column name, and then select Remove filter.

For more information, see NNMi Help, Filter a Table View and Select Filter Values

Analysis Pane

The Analysis Pane displays related information about a selected flow. The group address of the selected flow and the status appears in the left panel. The right panel displays some of the important details of the selected flow like the source address, RP address, flow mode, management mode, active, monitored, and so on.

The Analysis Pane remains blank until a flow is selected. If you select multiple flows or clear a selection, the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast clears the Analysis Pane's contents. Click Refresh in the Analysis Pane to manually refresh the contents of the pane.

Manage and Unmanage Flows

The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast discovers all active flows as well as the inactive flows marked for monitoring by default. The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast manages all these flows by default. You can perform the action Not Managed if you decide not to manage a few of these discovered flows. The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast does not consume license points for the flows that are not managed.

In the Management Mode column, the managed flows display the icon - Managed and unmanaged flows display the message - Not Managed.

In case of an unmanaged flow, note the following:

• You cannot perform the actions related to flow monitoring and forwarding tree launch on an unmanaged flow. The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast displays the previous baseline snapshot and last snapshot of the unmanaged flow, which is based on the last discovery results.
• The status of unmanaged flow is set to No Status.
•  The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast does not generate any incident for an unmanaged flow even if the flow is marked for monitoring. The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast closes all the existing incidents of the unmanaged flows automatically.
• The NNM iSPI for IP Multicast does not delete an unmanaged flow from the flow inventory. In case you need to manage this flow at a later stage, you can manage it.

To stop managing flows:

1. From the Workspaces navigation pane, click IP Multicast -> IP Multicast Flows. The IP Multicast Flows inventory opens.

2. In the IP Multicast Flows inventory, select the flows that you do not want to manage and select Actions -> IP Multicast -> Not Managed. A message confirms that you are not managing the selected flows.

3. Click (the Refresh icon). The icon - Not Managed appears under Management Mode column for the selected flows.

This action does not have any impact on the flows that are already unmanaged by the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast.

To manage flows:

1. From the Workspaces navigation pane, click IP Multicast -> IP Multicast Flows. The IP Multicast Flows inventory appears.
2. In the IP Multicast Flows inventory, select the flows that you want to manage and select Actions -> IP Multicast -> Manage. A message confirms that you are managing the selected flows.
3. Click (the Refresh icon). The icon - Managed appears under Management Mode column for the selected flows.

This action does not have any impact on the flows that are already managed by the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast.

Related Topics:

Actions Available in the NNM iSPI for IP Multicast