Table of Contents

Vector Boostral 7920 Manager

This is an SNMP connector that polls several Vector Boostral 7920 devices and another device (modem) just in front of them. The connector can be configured using a .csv file.

The connector can be configured to poll several devices. For each device, it will poll some parameters and show them in a separate dynamic virtual element. The parameters for all devices are polled in a sequential manner. This means that if one device goes into timeout, all devices must wait until all parameters have timed out before the parameters of the next device are polled.

The parameters are divided into three groups, a fast, a medium and a slow group:

  • The fast group is polled every time the timer ticks, i.e. every 10 seconds. This value is hard-coded in the connector and may change depending on the connector version. However, it is possible to alter the tick speed by overriding the Timer Base parameter (on the General Parameters page).
  • The medium and slow poll group are polled every 30 seconds and every 12 hours, respectively. These values are hard-coded in the connector, and changing the timer base will have no effect on them, except if you make the timer so slow that it ticks less than the defined time. This is because the groups are polled whenever their Last Poll Time is more than 30 seconds or 12 hours ago compared to the current time. This check is performed during the fast poll loop, so there is no separate timer for the medium or slow group.

The connector in fact polls two separate devices, which is why two IP addresses must be provided. However, these are considered to be one and the same device, so all parameters are shown by the same DVE.

About

Version Info

Range Key Features Based on System Impact
1.0.0.x [SLC Main] Initial version - -

Product Info

Range Supported Firmware
1.0.0.x -

System Info

Range DCF Integration Cassandra Compliant Linked Components Exported Components
1.0.0.x No Yes - Vector Boostral 7920 Manager Child

Configuration

Creating an element

To create an element with this connector:

  1. Add a new element and select the Vector Boostral 7920 Manager protocol.
  2. Define a unique name and optionally add a description.
  3. Optionally enter an IP address and port. The address will in fact be ignored by the connector, since there will be many devices. However, the port can be used to define a default port. Note that you can override the port settings for each device.
  4. Preferably, set the retries to zero and select a short timeout time, so that the connector does not get stuck for too long if one device fails to respond.

Configuring the element

Once the element has been created, it is necessary to configure the devices that need to be polled. You can do so by uploading a CSV file to the DMA and having the connector parse the content of this file. For more information on how to configure this CSV file, refer to the "Configuring the CSV file" section below.

It is important to know that this CSV file can be the same for all elements using this connector. This means that there must be a way to filter records from the CSV file and only keep a small subset. This is done by assigning a name to the element. Once the name of the manager is defined, a file can be parsed to add, update, or remove elements from the manager.

To configure the element:

  1. Go to the Setup page.
  2. Set the parameter Manager Name to a valid name. Valid names are not empty and contain no commas or semicolons ("," or ";"). In the CSV file, there will be a column where the name of the target manager is supplied.
  3. Go to the Documents page and upload a new CSV file. This can be added to either the root folder or a subfolder with the name of the element.
  4. Go back to the Setup page and click the Refresh button. A list will be shown containing all the CSV files that were found. Select one.
  5. Finally, click the Parse button next to the Refresh button. This will read the entire CSV file and create, delete, or update the devices polled by the manager.

Note: Below the Parse button, there is an output field where the element displays information about the last executed action. We recommend that you read this after parsing a file, in order to verify if the action was performed successfully. In addition, the Managed Devices table should also be verified.

Selecting a file

On the Setup page, there is a parameter Selected Import File, which can be used to configure the connector. The file can be selected from a drop-down list that lists all .csv files from the root documentation folder of the protocol or the element. The files found under the protocol root folder start with "[P]:", the files found in the element folder start with "[E]:".

Even though only files with the extension ".csv" from the two mentioned folders are shown, other files can also be selected. However, they have to be on the DMA where the element is running. To select such a file, specify the full path instead of selecting a drop-down item, e.g. C:\Temp\MyFile.txt.

Configuring the CSV file

It is important to know that editing a single record is not possible; you always need to upload the data for all elements in the manager. The best way to do this is by editing the element's CurrentConfig.csv file and then parsing this file again.

There are a few rules that the CSV file must comply with and some things that the creator should be aware of:

  • The file does not need to end with ".csv", even though this is advisable. However, the content should be formatted as a CSV file.
  • The first two lines are mostly ignored by the parser (see below).
  • The other lines should have the format [ID];[NAME];[MANAGER];[IP];[IP_MODEM];[VIEWS];[GET_COMMUNITY_STRING];[SET_COMMUNITY_STRING].

Example of a CSV file

ID;Name;Manager;IP;IP Modem;Views;Get Community String;Set Community String
Example file -> contains data for two managers named "Main Manager" and "Simulation"

1;Brugge;Main Manager;10.0.58.1;10.0.58.2;;public1;private1 Will generate a new element named "Brugge" in the manager with name "Main Manager" and in the same view of the main manager. 
2;Brugge;Main Manager;10.1.42.1;10.1.42.2;;public2;private2 Will generate a new element named "Brugge (2)" in the manager with the name "Main Manager" and in the same view of the main manager. 
3;Brugge;Main Manager;10.1.42.3;10.1.42.4;;public3;private3 Will generate a new element named "Brugge (3)" 
;Diksmuide;Main Manager;10.1.42.5;10.1.42.6;;public4;private4 Will generate a new element named "Diksmuide" every time the CSV is parsed by the main manager. 
    (This also means that trending information will be lost and masked alarms will be "unmasked".)

1;Lab01;Simulation;10.0.1.10;10.0.1.11;Lab;public5;private5 Will generate a new element named "Lab01" in the manager with name "Simulation", the DVE element will be added to the view "Lab" 
2;Lab02;Simulation;10.0.1.10;10.0.1.11;Lab\|Test;public6;private6 Will generate a new element named "Lab02" ... 
2;Lab03;Simulation;10.0.1.10;10.0.1.11;Lab\|Test;public7;private7 Will be ignored, because there is already a record for the manager "Simulation" and ID "2".

Note: The headers on the first line are ignored by the connector, so you cannot change the order of the data (columns) in the CSV file. 
Note: You can add comments on the first line if the separator character occurs more than the comma or semicolon character. 
Note: You can add comments on the second line without any restrictions. 
Note: You can add comments on all other lines in unused columns. 
Note: Even this line would be considered a comment because there is no data in the third column, which means that no "Manager" is selected. 
Note: Even this line would be considered a comment if there is no manager named "third col" because that is the value in the third column: ;second column;third column

The first line

The first line of the document is only used to determine the separator used. In some regions, the default is a comma, while in other regions the default is a semicolon. As such, the parser will count both the number of commas and semicolons in the first line and select the most frequently used character. This will then become the separator character to parse the rest of the file.

Note: We recommend that you add titles on this line.

The second line

The second line is completely ignored by the parser, in order to allow comments in the file. As such, you should be careful not to add a device here.

All other lines

All the other lines in the file are considered possible data lines. They are split in columns using the detected separator character from the first line, with the following syntax:

[ID];[NAME];[MANAGER];[IP];[IP_MODEM];[VIEWS];[GET_COMMUNITY_STRING];[SET_COMMUNITY_STRING]

The following table provides more information on the different columns:

Column Description
ID A number identifying the device. This must be unique per manager. If this is empty, the line will always create a new element when parsing the file. If this is a number and not already available in the manager, a new element will be created; otherwise the element with that ID will be updated.
NAME The name of the element. This name will be used to create the DVE element (prefixed with the name of the manager.) The alarms will also contain this name. The name must be unique. If it is not, the connector will make it unique by adding a number to it.
MANAGER The name of the manager that should poll the device. This column may not be empty. If it is, the entire row will be ignored. Only if the manager's name matches the Manager Name parameter of the Vector Boostral 7920 Manager element, will the contents of the line be parsed by that manager.
IP The IP address of the Vector Boostral 7920 element. Optionally, you can specify the port by adding a colon and the port number after the IP address. If you do not do so, the default port will be used that was specified in the element's port settings when the device was created or edited. Example: "10.1.23.5" or "10.1.23.5:5422"
IP_MODEM The IP address of the modem linked to the Vector Boostral 7920. Uses the same formatting as in the IP column.
VIEW The name(s) of the view(s) to which the element should be added. Separate different views using a pipe character ("|"). If you leave this column empty, the DVE will be created in the same view as the manager. Example: "Belgium|Europe|Koen VDB"
GET_COMMUNITY_STRING The get community string for the Vector Boostral 7920 node and modem. Example: public
SET_COMMUNITY_STRING The set community string for the Vector Boostral 7920 node and modem. Example: private

Comments

It is possible to add empty lines or comments to the CSV file. To do so, make sure that the content of the third column (Manager) is empty or contains no text that is exactly the same as the manager name of one of the elements.

Usage

Managed Devices

This page contains a list of all the devices polled by the element, along with status information, including IP addresses, timeouts, the time when each group of each element was last polled, etc.

Note about DNS errors

It is possible to supply the name of the server instead of an IP address. In that case, the connector will try to translate the name to an IP address just before polling. This will be repeated in every poll cycle, so the IPs can be dynamic. However, it is possible that the name cannot be resolved by the DNS server. In that case, the DVE will be set in timeout and the polling for both the Vector Boostral device and the modem will be stopped. This is indicated by the Stopped (Error) value in the MD - Polling Status parameter. The source of the problem will also be indicated by the value DNS Error in the Timeout and/or Timeout Modem columns, depending on which name(s) could not be resolved.

Once every hour the connector will re-evaluate (or retry) the names, so that polling can automatically resume if the problem is solved. You can force a retry by manually setting the Polling Status to Enabled. It is also possible to set a Stopped (Error) record to Disabled, in which case polling will not resume until you explicitly set it to Enabled again.

Setup

To make changes to the managed devices, you must use this page. Here you can find the parameters to select a file, parse the file, take a backup and view the result of the last action that was executed.

Exported Parameters

This page contains all "single" parameters that are polled for all devices in a table view. Each line represents a DVE. All the parameters of the DVE are also visible as single parameters in the DVE interface. However, there they are grouped and positioned on several pages. This table can be used as an overview to easily compare several elements.

Modem

This page currently contains four tables, all linked to the modem. For each table of the DVE element, there is a master table where all records for all elements are shown. This can be used as an overview to easily compare several elements.

Notes

The Device Manager

One of the most important tables in the protocol is the Device Manager. This table can be found on the Device Manager page and lists all the elements created and polled by the manager.

A brief description of the available parameters:

  • Index: A unique ID identifying the element in the manager. If an ID is specified in the CSV file, that ID will be used. If the ID already exists in the table when the CSV file is parsed, that row/element will be updated. Otherwise, a new row/element will be created.

    If the CSV file does not contain an ID field, a new row/element will be created for the record and it will automatically be assigned a unique ID. Note that if no ID is assigned in the CSV file and that file is parsed twice, one row will be deleted and another row will be created with a different ID. This has an impact on the trending: the trending for that row will be lost.

  • Name: A user-defined name for the element. The name must be unique for this manager. Otherwise, the connector will generate a unique name by adding a number to the name.

    Example: Two elements with name "Brugge" would become "Brugge" and "Brugge (2)".

  • View(s): The name of the view or views to which the generated DVE should be added. If nothing is specified in this column, the DVE will be added to the same view as the manager.

  • IP 1: The IP address of the Vector Boostral 7920 device that is being polled.

  • IP Modem: The IP address of the modem linked to the Vector Boostral device.

  • Element ID: The element ID of the generated DVE (formatted as "[DMA ID]/[EID]")

  • Timeout: Indicates if during the last polling interval of the device (Vector Boostral 7920) at least one parameter timed out. Note that the DVE will be set in timeout if either the device or the modem is in timeout.

  • Timeout Modem: Indicates if during the last polling cycle of the modem at least one parameter timed out.

  • Last Poll "Fast" Group: The UTC date and time when the last fast poll cycle was executed.

  • Last Poll "Medium" Group: The UTC date and time when the last medium poll cycle was executed.

  • Last Poll "Slow" Group: The UTC date and time when the last slow poll cycle was executed.

  • Polling Status: Indicates if the device and modem are polled. Polling can be disabled and enabled by the user or automatically stopped by the connector if the DNS cannot translate the server name to an IP address.

  • Get Community String: The get community string for the Vector Boostral 7920 node and the modem linked to it.

  • Set Community String: The set community string for the Vector Boostral 7920 node and the modem linked to it.

  • Delete Row Button: Contains a button that can be used to delete a row.

Backup & Current Settings

You can take a backup of the current settings by clicking the Backup button on the Setup page. Clicking this button will generate a CSV file in the element's Documents folder, which will also be available in the drop-down list of the Selected File parameter.

The CSV file will contain a list of all elements polled by the manager, with the ID, name, manager name, views, IP addresses, and community strings. The name of the backup file will be "BACKUP [UTC DATE AND TIME].csv".

There should also always be a file named "[E]: CurrentConfig.csv". Parsing this file should never cause any changes to the system. It contains exactly the same information as would be generated by a backup, but is generated automatically after a file is parsed. This means that every manager element that has been configured should have such a file.

These files can be used to create a "master" file containing all info for all managers on the DMA. To do so, search for all "CurrentConfig.csv" files in all subdirectories of the protocol root folder and copy all but the first two lines to a new file (which should start with the first two lines of one of the CSV files.) The protocol's root folder should be "C:\Skyline DataMiner\Documents\Vector Boostral 7920 Manager\.

Note

This can be used to get the actual IDs generated by the connector for each element if they were configured using an empty ID field.

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