Device42 Feature - Automation
Completed
Our biggest reason for looking at Device42 is our unhappiness with existing products and a gaping hole in IT Runbook/network documentation management. We need a tool that can do a few things. After installing and getting Device42 (aka, D42) up and running this tool should:
1. Allow us to setup the environment. Racks/DMARC goes into Rooms, Rooms into Buildings.
2. Autodiscover the environment into "objects". 99% should be found. 1% should be manually entered.
3. Decide what to manage/monitor for change. Application/software level to hardware/network level.
4. Provide a place to document the details of each object, including configuration of the device, circuit ID, description, etc.
5. Generate a document (MS Word, PDF, etc.) that can be printed and serve as the written run book for the facilty.
This tool should emphasize automation. Right this second, there is still a heavy reliance on importing information in and keeping D42 updated. Too much time is being spent double entering information between our network management tool (Manage Engine's OpManager) and Device42.
We really can't proceed with our D42 implementation until we see a more robust automation between autodiscovering devices, snmp data gathering, and managing IPAM.
Very anxious to see what's next, but a bummed as we just paid for licenses and won't get ROI until these milestones are reached.
Jonathan M.
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Here are my responses to the forum post:
#1. We’ll keep an eye on this.
#3. Depending on what your intent with Device42 is, but I assume if your putting in auto-discovery that an element of the software would be detecting “change”.
For example, at the server level, if a memory change has been made, how would Device42 respond to that discovery? How would that discovery even get made (ie, SNMP alert, WMI alert)?
Using that mindset, that feature would extend to the operating system and even as far as the applications itself. Such as if someone updated Microsoft Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010, how would D42 react?
From a DCIM perspective, we’d want to know if these types of changes occur. From a run book perspective, we’d want to document the new server and application configuration as they change. The key is automation and ensuring the documentation is updated.
#4. This is good. I envision stuff like should also include details at the network level (ie, switch, firewall, router), server level (manufacturer, model, IPMI/DRAC details, etc., and application level (details around processes, procedures, specific config detail). Definitely like the role based restrictions. Cool!
#5. Glad to add this as a feature. An approach to look at would run in similar fashion to SYDI (http://sydiproject.com/). An approach that we’ve used in the past to some varying degree was the reports generated from Ecora (www.ecora.com). Ecora started the product out with a documentation focus and took it another route, which was a major bummer. Their documentation is pretty good. Here is an example: http://www.ecora.com/Ecora/sample_reports/pdf/ConfigurationReport_Windows2000.pdf
JMM
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Jonathan,
Just iterating same points here as I mentioned in my email to you(for other users' perspective) plus some extra comments:
1. We are working on setting up device tree where you can see tree of all the devices by building/room/rack/chassis etc. and visual flow is on our road-map.
2. Network auto-discovery is now available and we are making APIs available(included in this version) to populate rest of the objects. We are working on releasing few scripts(in community help section) that would help you get started. Goal is to make it customizable so most of the environments can adopt and populate d42 database.
3. Detecting change would be part of auto-discovery. Right now API is limited on what fields are allowed to be added but those fields can be updated. If there is an OS change or IP change for a device, API would be able to detect that for a device(or object) and update it. We would be adding more choices into API as we get feedback.
4. On our road-map, although we want to get role-based access done before going here.
5. This is a really wonderful idea and would be a great value add. I would bring this up in our next team meeting.
Thanks,
Raj.
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Jonathan,
New script to discover the AD for windows server has been updated. We would recommend following steps to auto-discover and add your environment in device42:
1. Perform a network discovery from device42 web portal(available in release 2.1.1).
Write-up on this can be found at: http://docs.device42.com/tools/setup-network-auto-discovery/
2. Once the subnets are discovered, go back and change the names to more familiar or descriptive names for subnets and add any subnets that were not discovered.
3. Optional: Perform DNS records via zone transfers. This is optional, but if you would prefer to able to search for DNS records and keep the records up-to-date in device42, you can follow the steps mentioned here: http://docs.device42.com/tools/setup-dns-autodiscovery/
4. Perform AD search(from a single machine in domain) to populate windows server: http://docs.device42.com/apis/auto-populate-windows-machines-ad-apis/
We are working on linux scripts as well to populate linux servers.
Regards,
Raj.
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Jonathan,
Auto-discovery client to discover windows and linux devices is now available. More details at: http://docs.device42.com/auto-discovery-client/
Also, for #1, tree view is now available for devices with release 2.3.1.
Thanks,
Raj.
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Few changes since we last updated this forum post, getting closer to the goals in original post.
Easy Navigation between pages and relations
Since v312, you can now go from Building > Room > Rack > Device > And then anywhere else and back.
Automation
Auto-discovery client v201, Ping Sweep utility v200, updated API sample scripts and snmp network auto-discovery would cover lot of automation aspects.
We are working on adding scheduling option for external clients and making the network auto-discovery better.Which objects should be allowed to change
Since v310, we have added option to choose whether the CPU, memory and Operating system properties should be allowed to change or not.
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Just wanted to add, #5 would be a god send as well. It'd be nice if every page had an "export to pdf" function.
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Armar,
Run book type documentation is on the road-map.
Assuming runbook is for Disaster recovery/business continuance(DR/BC), one thing for consideration: each license of device42 allows you to run 1 extra copy of the virtual appliance for backup/restore. So if you have another instance running in your DR facility, and backups scheduled daily, you can restore your data anytime.
And even if you don't have another instance running, you can restore your data to a new download as long as backups are scheduled and available.(And appliance versions are compatible).
For a single page, you can export to pdf using print function. We enabled printing option few versions ago and if you download any "print to pdf" program available for free, you can use print function from your browser to create a pdf version.
Thanks,
Raj.
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Thanks for the response. Is there a publicly viewable roadmap available? I think you have a great product here that meets just about all my needs. If you have something scheduled for the next release that I'm looking for or haven't thought about, that'd make the purchase decision easier. Also, what is your typical release cycle?
Again, terrific product.
Oh, the network discovery tool is great. The only thing I'd like to see (which many tools like this don't' have) is the ability to use multiple credentials--automatically(if one doesn't work, try the next one). We have machines not on our domain, so we have to run multiple scans with different credentials. Not a big deal, but a nice to have.
Thanks for your time and your quick response.
Armar
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Hi,
Our first attempt at the run book is now available in v323. For now, it creates an excel sheet with object data in different tabs. Please share your suggestions on how we can make it better.
Regards,
Raj.
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