Net Inspector incorporates the auto configuration feature, which automatically adds new monitored devices to the system and (optionally) to the workspace when Net Inspector receives SNMP Trap or Inform notification messages and NetFlow or sFlow packets from unknown sources/devices.
Furthermore, auto configuration feature can also automatically add new devices that represent virtual machines hosted by a virtualization server monitored by Net Inspector, as described in the Adding Virtualization Servers and VMs topic.
This topic describes how to use the auto configuration feature to add new monitored devices to a map, based on received SNMP notification and NetFlow/sFlow packets.
Note: Only users with administrator access rights are permitted to configure auto configuration options and add new devices to Net Inspector.
Click the Settings tab in Net Inspector header to display the Settings page.
Click the Auto Configuration button in the Settings page to open the Auto Configuration dialog box.
In the Auto Configuration dialog box, check the Add devices on received SNMP notifications from unknown sources checkbox, to enable adding new devices based on received SNMP Trap and Inform packets to Device Panel.
In the Auto Configuration dialog box, check also the Add to user view checkbox and select the desired user view and map from the corresponding drop-down lists to enable adding newly discovered devices based on received SNMP notifications to the selected user view and map, respectively.
To enable adding new devices based on received NetFlow and sFlow streams, enable the Add devices on received NetFlow streams from unknown sources option (checkbox) in the Auto Configuration dialog box.
In the Auto Configuration dialog box, check also the Add devices to user view checkbox and select the desired user view and map from the corresponding drop-down lists to enable adding newly discovered NetFlow/sFlow devices to the selected user view and map, respectively.
Figure: Auto Configuration dialog box
Click the OK button at the bottom of the Auto Configuration dialog box to close it and apply the settings.
Configure remote SNMP devices to send SNMP Trap or Inform notifications messages to the computer where Net Inspector Server runs. In case of a distributed configuration where two or more Net Inspector polling engines are used, direct the SNMP notification sending to the nearest polling engine.
Configure remote devices to send NetFlow or sFlow packets to the computer where Net Inspector Server runs. In case of a distributed configuration, where two or more Net Inspector polling engines are used, direct the NetFlow/sFlow packets to the nearest polling engine.
Net Inspector will automatically add a new device to the system (Device Panel) and to the workspace (selected user view and map) when it receives an SNMP Trap or Inform notification message or NetFlow/sFlow packets from a new device. New Netflow devices are automatically marked as NetFlow sources and have the “NF” label displayed in the lower-left corner of the device icon.
Note: Net Inspector assigns the default polling and access profiles to new devices. It may be necessary to adjust the polling profile and access profile settings for new devices to enable effective monitoring of these devices. This can be done in the respective Edit Device Monitoring Options dialog box.