Archived - How do I add devices to my network?

Device inventory best practice

To add devices to management using Auto Discovery

To import devices to management using a device file

To add a single device to management

To add a VM platform

To add a custom device

To re-add a device that has failed to add

Permissions

You can take devices under management in three ways:

• Via Auto Discovery.
  • You can use Auto Discovery to discover devices on your network and add them to management. Auto Discovery is most useful when you have many devices, or a potentially unknown set of devices, to manage.
  • This can be configured to continually scan your network, so that you always have an up-to-date, detailed inventory of network assets.
• Via Import from a device file.
  • This imports from a device file (or seed file) that lists devices together with their connection parameters.
• Via addition of a single device.
  • This is most useful when only adding a few devices, or when adding VM platforms.

ENA has two forms of connect definitions it can call on when connecting to managed devices:

• the majority of devices are managed through SNMP, using a standard set of attributes.
• virtual machines are managed through their VM platform SDK, which requires a particular set of connection specifications.

Device inventory best practice:

When possible, you should manage devices through their management IP address. Devices that are managed through their IP address have the following benefits:

• they are not reliant on accurate DNS forward and reverse databases to manage devices.
• they are not reliant on a correctly configured DNS client.
• they are not reliant on ENA being configured with the correct device hostnames.
• they allow specific selection of a loopback, whereas using DNS may not offer as much control.
• they are not affected by DNS look up latency.
• they are not affected if DNS-based load balancing or High Availability is in use.
• during a network upgrade, if you replace a device and retain the same hostname, but with a different IP address, ENA can distinguish between the 2 devices.

You can separately set the Display Name used within ENA (for example to a device-resolvable name) because it is separate from the identifier that ENA uses to poll the device.

To add devices to management using Auto Discovery:

1. In the Main Menu, click Administration.
2. Click Device Inventory.
3. Run the Auto Discovery tool. 
4. When the Auto Discovery has completed, click View Results at the bottom of the window to view the devices discovered in the Inventory Candidates window.
5. Click the check boxes of the candidate devices you would like to place under management.
6. Click Add to inventory.

To import devices to management using a device file (seed file):

A device file (also known as a seed file) allows you to compile a list of objects, by IP address or resolved name, to add to ENA. By default, devices that ENA discovers via device file are automatically added to its inventory, but you do have the option of reviewing results before adding (step 5. below) and viewing the devices in the Inventory Candidates window (step 7. below).

You must define a device file before importing. Please refer to this article for help with defining a device file.

1. In the Main Menu, click Administration.
2. Click Device Inventory.
3. Click Import in the bottom left of the browser.
   
   
   
4. The Import window will open, from where you can browse to locate the device file on the client system that is hosting the browser.
   
   
   
   
5. Click Review Results before Adding to review the devices before they are added to ENA.
6. Click Import.
7. The devices will be displayed in the Inventory Candidates window, and by default all candidate devices will be checked and ready for addition.
8. Click Add to inventory.

To add a single device to management:

1. In the Main Menu, click Administration.
2. Click Device Inventory.
3. Click Add Device in the bottom left of the browser.
   
   
   
   
4. The Add Devices window will open. 
   
   
   
   
5. Specify the default level of device management in the Management Level field, from the following:
   • Full - this is the default.
   • Full (Mgmt Port Only) - ENA v17.0 P08 upwards.
   • Full (No Ports).
   • Basic.
   • Ping Only.
   • None.
     
     
     
     
6. Specify the particular device type in the Device Type field, or leave to the default 'Auto' for ENA to automatically determine the type. Please note, the below instructions apply to all device types except for Cisco APIC, Custom Device and VM Platform.
   
   
   
   
7. Enter the device name (which must be resolvable on the Entuity server) or IP address ENA uses to poll the device in the Polled Name/IP address field.
   
   
   
   The device display name must be unique:
   
   • if you attempt to add a device to ENA, and its name is the same as a device already under management, the device will not be added. ENA will raise an error message reporting the device has failed to add due to a duplicate name.
   • if you modify a device name, ENA checks that the new name is unique. If there is already a device under management with that name, then ENA will append to the name of the device that you are modifying the device's Device ID in brackets. If this would make the device name longer than 59 characters, then it reduces the name to 59 characters but retains the full Device ID.
8. Specify the zone to which the device will be added in the Zone field.
   
   
   
   
9. Specify the device name displayed within the product in the Display Name field, which is one of the following:
   
   
   
   
   • Polled Name/IP address - displays the identifier it uses to poll the device as specified in the Polled Name/IP address field. This is the default.
   • Resolved Name - resolved name of the device.
   • Resolved Name (fully qualified) - fully qualified resolved name of the device.
   • IP Address - management IP address of the device.
   • Custom - manually enter a device display name.
   • System Name - administrator-assigned name of the device.
10. Specify the IP version that will be used to communicate with the device in the IP Protocol radio buttons, either IPv4 or IPv6.
    
    
    
    
11. Tick the Allow Duplicate IP Addresses box if you want to permit the addition of a device with the same IP address as one already managed.
    
    
    
    
12. Specify the SNMP version enabled on the device in the Version field, either v1, v2c or v3. The choice here will determine the next few fields.
    
    
    
    
    • if you selected v1:
      • Enter the SNMP read community string in the Read Community field, by default 'Public'.
        
        
        
        
    • if you selected v2c:
      • Tick the Use SNMP Bulk Get box if you want to receive back multiple GetNext responses in a single packet. Leave the box unticked if you want to receive back the normal 1 GetNext response back. 
        
        
        
        
      • Enter the SNMP read community string in the Read Community field, by default 'Public'.
        
        
        
        
    • if you selected v3:
      • Tick the Use SNMP Bulk Get box if you want to receive back multiple GetNext responses in a single packet. Leave the box unticked if you want to receive back the normal 1 GetNext response back. 
        
        
        
        
      • Enter the Username for SNMPv3.
        
        
        
        
      • Enter a Context.
        
        
        
        
      • Select an Authentication Type from the dropdown list (either MD5 or SHA).
        
        
        
        
      • Enter an Authentication Password.
        
        
        
        
      • Select an Encryption Type from the dropdown list (DES, 3DES, AES, AES192, or AES256).
        
        
        
        
      • Enter an Encryption Password. 
        
        
        
        
13. .Tick the Use SNMP Bulk Get box if you want to receive back multiple GetNext responses in a single packet. Leave the box unticked if you want to receive back the normal 1 GetNext response back. 
    
    
    
    
14. Enter the SNMP read community string in the Read Community field, by default 'Public'. If v3 is selected in step 10, the Read Community field will be replaced by v3 credentials.
    
    
    
    
15. Specify on which port the device's SNMP agent receives its requests, in the SNMP Port (UDP) field. By default, this is set to the default UDP port 161.
    
    
    
    
16. Specify the SNMP timeout in seconds in the Timeout (seconds) field.
    
    
    
    
17. Specify the number of SNMP retries in the Retry field.
    
    
    
    
18. Specify the maximum SNMP packet size ENA uses when polling devices in the Max Packet Size (bytes) field.
    
    
    
    
    • the maximum size of SNMP PDUs can be limited on a per-device basis to accommodate SNMP agents with abnormally low PDU size limitations.
    • by default, the maximum SNMP PDU size is 1408 bytes, configurable through entuity.cfg. For some devices, this is too large and causes polling to fail. ENA includes a new configuration file, snmpMaxPDUOverrides.cfg, which contains a list of sysOids each with their own PDU size. These settings are automatically applied to all matching devices. You can amend and extend the shipped settings through a site-specific file.
    • individual devices can have their maximum SNMP PDU size limit set via the web UI.
    • control over the maximum SNMP packet size is particularly relevant when managing Cisco ASA devices.
19. Click Add to queue the device for addition. The window remains open so you can add more devices.
20. Click Close to close the window and return to the Device Inventory page.

To add a VM platform:

The management of VM platforms is through their VM platform SDK. Apart from AWS, ENA can discover VM platforms using autoDiscovery, but it identifies them as Ping Only devices. To take these devices under full management, you must modify their discovered attributes and specify their connection details.

Please see this article for further help and information on adding a VM platform.

To add a custom device:

You can use a custom device type to represent devices that ENA is not managing but you want represented within ENA.

Characteristics of a custom device in ENA:

• they are not polled by ENA, and therefore cannot verify the validity of a device definition.
• they do not have an IP address.
• they do not cost a device license credit, but they are part of the main network inventory.

A custom device is part of your device inventory. It can be added to Views, appear on maps, and is part of inventory reports.

There are two ways to add a custom device, via the Device Inventory page or via the context menu of a map.

Via the Device Inventory page:

1. In the Main Menu, click Administration.
2. Click Device Inventory.
3. Click Add in the bottom left of the browser.
4. The Add Devices window will open. In the Device Type dropdown field, select Custom Device. This will change the fields displayed below.
   
   
   
   
5. The Management Level will be set to None. If you change this value, the fields will change and the Device Type will revert to Auto.
6. Specify the zone to which the custom device will be added in the Zone field.
7. Enter the display name of the custom device in the final field.
8. Click Add to queue the custom device for addition, otherwise click Cancel.

Via the Map:

1. Navigate to the Map dashboard of your selected View or managed object and select the Topological Map display.
2. Right click the map to open the context menu. Click Add Custom Device...
   
   
   
   
3. This will open the Add Custom Device form.
   
   
   
   
4. Enter the custom device's display name in the Name field.
5. Click Add to add, otherwise click Cancel.

To re-add a device that has failed to add:

In the Certified, Reachable and Added columns of the Device Inventory page table, there will be a status symbol:

• Green - device has been successfully added.
• Blue - device is queued for addition.
• Red - device failed to add. The hover text shows the reason for failure.

If a device has failed to add, you can edit the parameters in the Modify Device window and click OK to re-queue the device for addition to the device inventory.

Permissions:

Administrators have full access to ENA device inventory management tools. If you are a non-administrator, your level of access to these tools is determined by the permissions assigned to the user groups of which you are a member.

The Inventory Administration user permission permits you to use the Add Device, Modify and Delete functionality from the Device Inventory page.