General CommandCenter NOC Features
Release Features
Question
What are the major features for each release since CommandCenter NOC 5.0?
Answer
The following lists the major features introduced, per release, since 5.0:
CommandCenter NOC 5.1
- Raritan branded GUI & Software
- Raritan brand & labeling on existing Hardware
- Scalability testing & tuning
CommandCenter NOC 5.2
- Integration with CommandCenter Secure Gateway v3.0
- SNMP trap support for Raritan devices.
- Delta inventory report
- Allows device level performance threshold configuration
- User enabled on-demand discovery of a single IP address
CommandCenter NOC 5.3
- Raritan Standard Hardware V1 Platform
- Redundant Hard Drive and Fan
- Scalability & Performance
CommandCenter NOC 5.4
- Localization for French, German, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, & Japanese
CommandCenter NOC 5.5
- SNMP Applications Framework - MIB compiler allows adding custom traps.
- Intelligent Network Intrusion Detection
- Data Migration Feature
- New Scalability Guidelines for the V1 Platform
- New license configuration flexibility. Created node equivalent concept.
Changing the Displayed Language
Question
How do I change the language of the CommandCenter NOC User interface?
Answer
The CommandCenter NOC user interface can be displayed in one of six languages—English, French, German, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Japanese—depending on the browser settings of the client PC. In order to change the displayed language, under your browser’s language settings select one of the following as the preferred language or move it to the top of the preferred language list: • English [en-us] • French [fr-fr] • German [de-de] • Simplified Chinese [zh-cn] • Traditional Chinese [zh-tw] • Japanese [ja] The user interface will be displayed in the new language the next time a CommandCenter NOC page is displayed, even if you logged in using a different language setting.
Third party integration
NetFlow support
Question
Can we pull Cisco Netflow data? What functionality does The CommandCenter NOC provide?
Answer
Yes.
Cisco and other router vendors support the NetFlow protocol, which enables a router to provide statistical traffic metrics on TCP/IP traffic flows through the device. The CommandCenter NOC is able to receive these metrics from NetFlow-capable routers and save it locally, making it available in the same format as natively collected performance data. This includes an Application Distribution graph, Top Talkers, and Top Sessions lists. This support is limited to NetFlow version 5.
NetFlow, when enabled and configured on a remote router, will allow a centralized CommandCenter NOC or CommandCenter NOC 2500S appliance to receive bandwidth utilization sent from the remote managed device. For example, in a small network with three remote sites, each remote router as well as the central hub router will be capable of generating a unique stream of data which the CommandCenter NOC appliance will receive and store, associated with the source, so a user can view a bandwidth analysis report for each site, on a site-by-site basis.
NetFlow data will be received and stored from any device licensed as an Infrastructure Device, and data from unlicensed devices will be discarded.
CommandCenter NOC will accept NetFlow traffic information on port 9996. For more information on the NetFlow protocol, see also Cisco's NetFlow page.
Windows Monitoring
Question
What does CommandCenter NOC monitor on a Windows server?
Answer
On a windows server, CommandCenter NOC monitors the following:
- Service Availability (e.g. FTP, HTTP)
- Windows Device Information (e.g. Manufacturer, Hardware Serial Number, Model, Domain, Domain Role, Physical Memory, Virtual Memory, Swap Space, Timezone)
- Windows OS Information (e.g. OS Name, version, Service Pack)
- Installed Applications
- Windows Services (e.g. Event Log, Task Scheduler)
- Interface Information – SNMP MIB II Interface Admin Status (IfAdminStatus), Interface Operational Status (IfOperStatu), speed
- Performance/Throughput Data – SNMP II Performance & Throughput data includes Bits In/Out, Discards, Errors.
CommandCenter NOC can also collect state information for select applications and services such as:
- Terminal Server
- Exchange
- SQL Server
- Active Directory
- DNS
Cisco Device Monitoring
Question
What does CommandCenter NOC monitor on a Cisco network device?
Answer
Using a CISCO 3640 Router as an example, CommandCenter NOC is able to monitor the following:
- All IP Interfaces
- Services on each managed IP Interface
- Managed Interface Information – SNMP MIB II Interface Admin Status (IfAdminStatus), Interface Operational Status (IfOperStatu), speed
- SNMP Performance Data on each Managed Interface - SNMP II Performance & Throughput data includes Bits In/Out, Discards, Errors.
Additionally, depending on the device's SNMP MIB support the CommandCenter NOC may also be able to collect the following data:
- avgBusy5 (what is essentially CPU load)
- freeMemory
- bufferFail
- bufferNoMem
- cpmCPUTotal5min
- sysTraffic
- memoryPoolUsed
- memoryPool.Free
- cpmISDNCfgBChanInUseForAnalog
- cpmISDNCfgBChannelsInUse
- cpmActiveDS0s
Many Cisco devices support the NetFlow protocol, that The CommandCenter NOC can analyze to do traffic analysis etc. See the question on NetFlow support for more information.
Third party helpdesk
Question
Can CommandCenter NOC be integrated with a third party helpdesk application?
Answer
NOC generates SNMP traps for events; this can be used in the external helpdesk application to generate a ticket.
NOC Features
Detecting bandwidth problems
Question
How would I know that I have bandwidth problems on a given network segment if you only have one monitoring port?
Answer
CommandCenter NOC supports SNMP and/or Netflow. Assuming that your network switches and routers support these protocols you could set event notifications based on this performance data.
My own hardware platform
Question
Can I run the software on my systems or only on your hardware platform?
Answer
CommandCenter NOC is available as a fully tested appliance solution integrating hardware with software. In the near future, CommandCenter NOC will be made available as a Virtual Appliance allowing you to run on VM Ware Player or a Virtual Server instance on an existing server enabled to support VM Ware virtual servers.
How many MIBs?
Question
How many MIBs/Traps/Event Types does the CommandCenter NOC have pre-configured?
Answer
As of CommandCenter NOC 5.5, we have around 1735 event types listed, and from the SNMP MIB & Trap Configuration, there are 178 MIBs and 1497 traps pre configured.
Can a 100 or 250 receive forwarded NOC events?
Question
Can a CommandCenter NOC 100 or 250 receive forwarded NOC events, just like a 2500N can? Can we use a CommandCenter NOC 250 to do what a 2500 N does?
Answer
No, a CommandCenter NOC 100 or 250 cannot receive forwarded NOC events. It will silently ignore any events that are sent to it. This is for both technical as well as licensing reasons. The all-in-one CommandCenter NOC 100 and 250 models cannot deal with the same load as a 2500N. The 2500N is specifically designed for customers with this need.
Licensing and pricing
Excluding components
Question
Can I save money by not having the Intrusion Detection/Asset Management/etc. module?
Answer
CommandCenter NOC 100 and CommandCenter NOC 250 are integrated suites and not offered as individual modules.
For larger networks using our 2500 series, Windows and IDS/Traffic Analysis functionality is sold separately as separate appliances.
Licensing Windows servers/workstations
Question
I only have 11 Windows Servers, do I have to pay double the price for just one more server?
Answer
CommandCenter NOC can monitor a reduced set of parameters on an additional 5 Windows nodes called Promoted Workstations. The licenses are not fixed to any given node so can be moved easily. Alternatively, we have an upgrade software license that provides an extra 5 nodes.
How Target Devices Are Licensed
Question
Why do certain devices get a license automatically, and why do some stay unlicensed?
Answer
CommandCenter NOC will attempt to license any and all discovered devices. If a device is listed as 'Unmanaged', this indicates that there are no available licenses of the correct type to be assigned to that device. In the case of CommandCenter NOC 100 or 250 models, this usually means the maximum number license of that type (Workstation, Infrastructure or Server) have already been assigned to other devices. For the CommandCenter NOC 2500 series, this may also indicate that an appropriate appliance has not yet been added to the system (e.g. A 2500N may discover several Windows devices and list them as 'Unmanaged' without an associated 2500M to discover WMI services on those devices).
Note that users can also manually assign "Unmanaged" status to a discovered node.
Question
How are device licenses assigned? How are they assigned in a distributed (2500) system?
Answer
CommandCenter NOC will scan the specified discovery ranges for available devices. When a device is discovered, it will automatically be assigned a device license based on the services CommandCenter NOC is able to detect on that device. Thus, any device that supports an infrastructure service (including a Windows device) is eligible to receive an 'Infrastructure' license. Any device found to support WMI will be assigned a 'Workstation' or 'Server' license depending on their Windows operating system role.
Note that in a distributed CommandCenter NOC system, if a CommandCenter NOC 2500N discovers devices without having an associated 2500M, those devices can only be assigned an 'Infrastructure' license or designated as 'Unmanaged' (meaning they have not been assigned a license) since the 2500N only manages infrastructure devices. Once one or more correctly configured 2500M appliances are added to the 2500N any 'Unmanaged' devices in the discovery range found to support WMI will be assigned a 'Workstation' or 'Server' license. Any Infrastructure devices previously discovered by the 2500N that also support WMI services and have an operating system role of 'Server' will also be promoted to a 'Server' license.
Question
What services indicate a discovered device is an 'Infrastructure' device?
Answer
The presence of the following services will indicate if a discovered device is eligible for an 'Infrastructure' license: FTP, DHCP, DNS, NotesHTTP, HTTP-Management, HTTPS, IMAP, POP3, SMTP, LDAP, MSExchange, Citrix, DominoIIOP, Router, Switch-Hub, Postgres, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, SQLServer, MySQL, ISPGateway
Alerts and Notifications
General Troubleshooting
Question
Why are my notifications (by phone) arriving late?
Answer
Using any third party text paging or email service provider may delay the receiving of notifications depending the message processing speed of the provider. It is recommended to use your own email system for notifications, if possible.
Question
I turned on notifications. Why have I not received any?
I turned off notifications. Why am I still receiving notifications?
Answer
Since using a third party text paging or email service provider may delay the receiving of notifications, some time may pass between enabling Notifications and receiving the first event. Likewise, you may still receive notifications after disabling them if the messages have already been sent to the provider.
