SNMP, OIDs and Jalasoft Xian Network Manager Io

The last few weeks I am very busy with SNMP, IODs and SCOM. And as stated before, a whole new world has come into my reach.

Today I had the opportunity to combine it with Jalasoft Xian Network Manager Io. This network monitoring solution for SCOM is very powerful – out of the box – but also has the capabilities for creating custom rules, based on OIDs.

Even though it took me some time to master it, it’s very intuitive and straight forward. And the sky is the limit. These are the high level steps when creating custom Rules with Jalasoft (FIRST of all: Test the OIDs with a tool like GetIf):

1. Open the Console, go to Rules > Add Custom Rule;
2. Select the Plugin (basically, the type of network device the Rule is meant for);
3. The <PLUGIN> custom rule wizard is started;
4. The first tab, General allows one to add a name, title and description. I my case I used the OID description as the description for the Rule as well;
5. Rule Type (Performance, Incremental performance Rule or Status Rule) has to be selected;
6. The second tab Performance Parameters, allows for much tweaking and tuning. In my case I skipped it;
7. The third tab, Expression, requires the correct OID and a custom OID name;
8. The fourth tab, Alert data, allows to create your own Product Knowledge.

When all is well the Rule can be saved. Now the network device against which this Rule will be targeted must be opened. The Rule you created earlier must be added, configured and started.

In order to get everything up & running, the Rule must be exported as a MP. The Jalasoft Console enables this feature very nicely: go to Rules > Export Custom Rules. And a MP containing the custom Rule is created on the fly. Import it into your MG and you’re in business!

When you’ve created other custom Rules earlier, those will be exported as well into the same MP. So the MP is an aggregation of ALL the custom Rules you’ve created. Since it’s an unsealed MP it can be imported without any issues like running the same version number.

Conclusion
What strikes me most here, is the easiness to get things on the road and the possibilities of customizations. Really awesome. Again, when you have the OID – and tested it in order to know it really contains information(!) – you can monitor anything! And Jalasoft adds more possibilities to it, without requiring really deep knowledge of SNMP and OIDs. The UI of Jalasoft makes it really easy. Compliments to Jalasoft!