OM12 SP1 Consoles: Mind The Differences When Monitoring Network Devices…

Even though the OM12 SP1 Web Console has added value for many organizations and many types of operators, there are situations where the OM12 SP1 Web Console simply won’t fit the bill.

For instance, when monitoring network devices one might bump in to Alerts related to ports of those same network devices. And now something happens. The Alert shown in the OM12 SP1 Web Console doesn’t show the network device experiencing issues with a certain port. Instead the MAC address is shown, which is the value of the Path: property of the related Alert:

In an environment where you’re monitoring 350+ network devices this isn’t good. Simply because for the bulk of the monitored network devices this Alert isn’t really critical. Not too many users will be affected, if any at all. But what when the port having this issues is from a key network device? Now we’re having a total different kind of situation.

Therefore the FQDN should be shown instead. As it turns out, the OM12 SP1 Console does that. It doesn’t show the Path: property of the Alert but the Full Path Name: property instead, which is the FQDN of the related network device:

Conclusion:
For network operators using OM12 SP1 it’s better to use the OM12 SP1 Console instead of the OM12 SP1 Web Console instead since crucial information – the FQDN’s of the related network devices – isn’t shown for certain Port related Alerts.